GITA MAHATMYAM - INTRODUCTION

These stories are taken from padma puranam . I received these stories by mail from a yahoo group , i am sharing here with the intention that everyone will be benefitted through reading these stories .

Lord Vishnu was lying on His Serpent Bed in the limitless "ocean of milk". His beautiful lotus-eyes were half-closed and a blissful smile imparted to His divine countenance a heavenly serenity. Goddess Lakshmi, the Lord's Consort, sat by HIS side with His lotus feet on Her lap. She gently massaged them with Her silky soft hands.

A doubt had been wafting in Her mind for quite sometime, and She mustered up courage to pour it out to the Lord.

"Lord", she said softly, 'I had been wondering at Your unconcernedness (Udaaseenata) and the apparent 'sleepishness' which is extolled as Yoga-Nidra. Tell me what is all this about. What is the secret behind it? And what are you actually lost Yourself in?"
The Lord gently opened His eyes and smiled at Lakshmi. "Dear! I am perceiving my own glorious splendour with my inner eye which is tuned upto my innercore. I appear to be apparently asleep and unconcerned, lying idly on this Serpent Bed in this milky ocean, but the truth is that I am ever immersed in the joyous vision of the Supreme Essence in myself. It is this Essence, this Glory, this Splendour that is perceived by the great Yogis in their meditations with the help of their subtle mind and intellect."

"It is THIS that is glorified in various ways in the sacred scriptures as the Essence of all Knowledge, as the Changeless Substratum in all. experiences, the Sorrowless State, the Unbroken Stream of Spritual Bliss, the Actionless Factor in all actions, the ONE without a second, the Causeless Cause for the entire universe devoid of which nothing exists. It was on realising this Supreme Truth that Vyasa composed the Bhagawad Geeta embodying the essence of all knowledge which he got by churning up the ocean of scriptural literature ... I am ever immersed in this Spiritual Splendour."

Mother Lakshmi did not understand. "Let me ask You plainly", she said, "In all the three worlds, people meditate on You and gain liberation from their sorrows. But You seem to be meditating on someone else. What anachronism! Whom are You meditating on?"

"Lakshmi, the Lord said. "There is no name or form for the altar of my meditation. It is neither dual nor non-dual in nature. It is unbroken Spiritual Bliss. It is the Self attainable only by the self. That is all!"

"How can a nameless and formless thing be meditated upon?" the Mother asked.

"Well, broadly speaking, there are two levels of the Consciousness which can be termed as Para and Apara. And then…
"Oh, please!" intercepted Sri Lakshmi. "I don't understand these complicated things. Kindly tell me all about it in a language and style which is easily, readily understood by me."

(This problem of Sri Lakshmi is also everybody's problem, the same question that arises in our minds in spite of repeated hearing and study of the scriptures). "Alright then", said the Lord with a shrug, shifting from His relaxed lying position, His ever serene face now sporting a broader smile.
"Listen now, carefully. In a way, the Bhagawad Geeta can be considered as my own form. The first five chapters of the book can be considered as my five faces, the next ten chapters as my ten arms, the next one chapter as my belly and the last two chapters as my legs. Thus, my form can be mentally conjured up as composed of eighteen parts corresponding to the eighteen chapters of the Geeta. He who reads and practises a chapter of this Geeta everyday, or even one stanza or at least half a stanza of this book will attain liberation from worldly sorrows like Susharma."

"Who was Susharma? How did he attain freedom from sorrows?" asked Lakshmi, her doubts multiplying.

"I will tell you. Listen carefully", said the Lord.

And then the Lord narrated the story of Susharma which related to the glory of studying the first chapter of the Geeta. And thereafter the Lord extolled the glory of studying each chapter of the Geeta through interesting stories relating to the respective chapters