I saw a query whether there was any restriction in reading Bhagavat Gita
My evaluation of the issue
The puranas and Itihasas were written by Vyasa with a two pronged agenda..
One, for those who learn Vedas or at least are eligible for it, can have their complicated doubts cleared somewhat..
In fact it is stated that shruthis and smrithis were feeling afraid that because of their intricate contents, they were worried that the readers are likely to misinterpret and misrepresent their content.. They became happy only when Vyasa wrote Puranas and Itihasas explaining their contents in true colours ..
Secondly, those who are not eligible for Vedas, were suffering from lack of enlightenment and Vyasa in his great kindness, penned the Itihasas and puranas for the benefit of ladies and those who were not eligible for adhyayanam of Veda in the old tradition( I am referring to the traditional view.. and that does not mean I agree with that view) also could have some knowledge of the philosophy and contents of the Shruti and smrithi.
There are many slokas and quotations to support both the views above.. And many have posted those slokas, in many fora..
Judging by this standard there can be no prohibition for anyone to read Gita, a part of epic Bharatam..
And personally, I am a devout brahmin, but I cannot digest anyone clamping any taboo placed on anybody from reading any book.
. Knowledge should be beyond such narrow considerations..
And when the bhashyams of Gita are discussed, we can find that most commentators differ and even fight with one another on many issues mostly on an academic plane..
I have a huge compendium with me with sixteen bhashyams of Gita.. running to a few thousand pages.. But what could be found is only rhetorics and fight..
Scholars and debators were as bad in old times as we find in discussion groups here..
Knowledge is not the copyright of any individual..
If what is meant by eligibility is the capacity to read and understand the language, to evaluate the contents with reasonable diligence, the tolerance to look at the ideas with impartiality and reasonable empathy even on issues which may not be to the reader's liking, such eligibility should be there to read any book and that includes Gita too...
And these eligibility criteria are so natural that a reader will drop off himself in the process of interactaion with the idea or study thereof. and no disqualification order from any external player may be required..
If the caste, creed etc are to be taken as the eligibility standards, I feel that the idea is obscurantist.
Yes, for a diligent and impartial reader even some parts of Gita might be found as not free from controversy.. This feeling is the hallmark of a thinking mind.
The traditional people might call it blasphemy..And the people who propagate Gita sitting withing the framework of religion and its disparate sub divisions, have either emotional or commercial interests to perpetuate exclusivism...
That class can be found everywhere..
Ultimately it is not the quote in Sanskrit that is important, but what the reader feels emotionally or intellectually or both, on being exposed to the contents of the text that counts..
Gita is great literature and carries sublime messages..
That should be the primary reason for a person to get attached to Gita..
No one can ever be sure about the fictional part of krishna talking to Arjuna.. and that is not very material too.
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