Gist of Mahābhārata, the epic that contains the Bhagavad Gīta
Mahābhārata, literally ‘the great story of the Bharat dynasty,’ contains 100,000 verses. It begins with a claim of completeness, stating: “What is found here may be found elsewhere. What is not found here will not be found elsewhere.” It is believed that it contains all possible story-lines and character-types that human mind can ever conceive of.
When its author, the great sage Ved Vyāsa, was asked to choose one representative verse out of the 100,000 verses that captures the essence of the entire epic, he chose the following half-verse:
श्लोकार्धेन प्रवक्ष्यामि यदुक्तं ग्रन्थकोटिभिः ।
परोपकारः पुण्याय, पापाय परपीडनम् ॥
ślokārdhena pravakṣyāmi yaduktaṁ granthakoṭibhiḥ |
paropakāraḥ puṇyāya, pāpāya parapīḍanam ||
“I will present the gist of a million treatises in half a verse: The highest pious act is doing good to others; the highest sin is causing pain to others.”
This then is the essence of all practical spirituality.
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