Before the book review, I feel there is a strong overlap between the concept of the book - A journey and my own book reading journey. In the recent past, my reading was heavily tilted towards English books / translations and I used to read the originals only when I had to refer something I may have read earlier. This is perhaps my first Kannada book in last couple of years that I have read cover to cover. Starting with a doubt if I will be able to transcend this peak of reading such wonderfully written book to actually enjoying the journey and completing this today, it has been a journey worth remembering. When I was nearing the end of the book, I realised the theme of the book landed up being reflected in my own case. Aparoksha translates to direct inference rather than indirect or perceived knowledge or experiences. To summarise this book into a sentence - This is a philosophical journey of a human who embarks on a journey to discover herself. What is so special about this sel...
In the previous chapter, we learnt about the omnipresent aspect of the Para Brahman and how Yoga is the way to reach him. Sri Krishna keeps re-emphasising on this aspect of practicing Yoga as the way to reach him. In this chapter, we focus on how to achieve him i.e. Parabrahman at the time of death. There are some concepts that are explained multiple times through out the chapter which is captured in essence below. The chapter opens in a beautiful way with Arjuna posing a barrage questions to Sri Krishna. In our Itihasas and Puranas, questions lead to discussion and discourse through which we get gems that are part of Nitya Anushtana. For example, Vishnu Sahasranama recited by Bheeshma is in essence the response to 6 existential questions posted by Yudhishtira.
In similar fashion, Arjuna poses few simple, yet profoundly important questions. अर्जुन उवाच । किं तद्ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम । अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते ॥ 8.1॥ अधियज्ञ: कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन...