Preface
In Taitrīya upaṇisad Bhṛgu, the son of Varuṇa, approaches his father Varuṇa and requested him to teach, Brahman. To him Varuṇa explained Brahman is that from which beings are born, by beings live, into which they enter on departing.
yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante, yena jātāni jīvanti, yat prayanti-abhisaṁviśanti, tad vijijñāsasva, tad brahmeti.
The life force is the same in all beings which is repeatedly echoed and emphasised in Vedas, Vedānta (Upaniṣads), Sarva Vedānta Sāra (Bhagavad Gītā) and many of our scriptures.
I always approach my father Śrī. R. Nagaswamy, my Guru, to clearlify myself with our scriptures, he would say read this chapter of Bhagavad Gītā. I would go back to him for more clarification, he would say read this chapter of the Taitrīya Upaniṣad. While reading Taitrīya Upaniṣad; Bhṛguvalli, the very first verse gave me joy and look upon my father as Varuṇa teaching me Brahman. There is no doubt that for every student learning Bhṛguvalli his Guru is Varuṇa and he himself is Bhṛgu.
Śri. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan who is a great teacher, and his birthday is celebrated as Teacher's Day. My father, Guru presented me The Principle Upaniṣads by S. Radhakrishnan and taught me Kaivalya Upaniṣad with S. Radhakrishnan's commentary. There is also another treasure which I cherish reading The Bhagavad Gītā with S. Radhakrishnan's commentary.
While reading the invaluable scriptures with the help of a noble teachers commentary and guided by a scholarly guru, important verses caught my eyes. These verses has a great slogan which is repeated many many times, which is Samadarśan. Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad Gītā says:
sarvabhūtastham ātmānaṁ
sarvabhūtāni cā 'tmani .
ikṣate yogayuktātmā
sarvatra samadarśanaḥ ..
What is the core teachings and message of Bhagavad Gītā? this has been a question in my mind and many others. The answer to the question is in Bhagavad Gītā itself which Śrī S.Radhakrishnan points out very nicely in his book. The beautiful concluding verse viśva rūpa darśana yogo no 55 from Chapter 11 and its commentary is given below.
matkarmakṛn matparamo
madbhaktaḥ saṅgavarjitaḥ .
nirvairaḥ sarvabhūteṣu yaḥ
sa mām eti pāṇḍava ..
Śrī. S.Radhakrishnan:- He who does work for Me, he who looks upon Me as his goal, he who worships Me, free from attachment, who is free from enmity to all creatures, he goes to Me, O Pāṇḍava (Arjuna).
This is the essence of bhakti. See XII.13. This verse is the substance of the whole teaching of the Gītā. gītāśāstrasya sārabhūto'rthaḥ
Svāmi Śivānanda:- This is the essence of the whole teaching of the Gītā. He who practices this teaching will attain supreme bliss and immortality. This verse contains the summary of the entire Gītā philosophy.
I take pleasure in sharing this compiled collection of Verses which teaches us Samadarśan from Vedas, Vedānta, Bhavad Gītā, Dhammapada, Tirukkuraḷ, Tevāram, Divya Prabandam and many others.
Several of the Commentaries for these verse are by Śrī. S. Radhakrishnan. from his books The Principle Upaniṣads, The Bhagavad Gītā and The Dhammapada. Śrī Śaṅkara's commentary has also been included.
My sincere thanks to my Gurus, and the Noble Soules who made these great works available to me (us).
Mohan Nagaswamy