The Hindu : Treatise on Uddhava Gita released

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 15, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Treatise on Uddhava Gita released

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, FEB. 14 .A treatise on Uddhava Gita (Part II), the philosophical farewell message of Lord Krishna to his disciple Uddhava, forming part of Srimad Bhagavata Gita has been brought out by Vishnu Sahasranama Satsangam at Ramakrishnapuram here to coincide with its 36th anniversary.

The Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy, presided over a function at the Sringeri Sarada temple in Vasant Vihar on Saturday for the release of the book by Vachaspati Upadhyaya, Vice-Chancellor of Lal Bahadur Shastri Sanskrit Vidya Peetha (deemed university).

Mr. Krishnamurthy lauded the Satsangam's efforts to propagate Vishnu Sahasranamam among the people, particularly children. He said India's rich cultural heritage had given Indians the necessary mental make-up to face challenges abroad and come out in flying colours. Prof. Upadhyaya explained the significance of Lord Krishna's message in this book. He said Uddhava Gita was as important as Bhagavad Gita, if not more.

Prof. Panduranga Rao distributed prizes to the winners of the Vishnu Sahasranamam recitation competition among school children.

M.S. Venkatachalam, who has rendered the English translation for the Sanskrit slokas, said there was not much difference between the basic tenets of the Bhagavad Gita and the Uddhava Gita. While the former was expounded in a battlefield environment addressed to the warrior-devotee Arjuna, Lord Krishna delivered the latter to his most intellectual devotee, Uddhava, at the sober moment of his avatara, when He decided to leave this earth and return to Vaikuntha.

According to the Trustee, T. Subramanian, the Satsangam was formed in February 1968 by V. Ramanatha Iyer and a few others with the sole objective of bringing devotees together for group recitation of Vishnu Sahasranamam on Sundays. Over the past 36 years there has been an uninterrupted weekly recitation with multicrore chanting of divine namas.

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