And in the middle of Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma-parva, this Bhagavad-gītā is inserted. Not inserted . . .
Practically, in the battlefield of Mahābhārata this Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. And it is . . . you will be surprised. In those days television was in the heart, television. This, I mean to say, battlefield of Kurukṣetra was television in the heart of Sañjaya. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the father of one party, Duryodhana, and his secretary, Sañjaya, were sitting in the room, and they were discussing what happened after this. Just like you get television or radio message in the football ground what is going on by sound and picture, so the same thing was being reflected in his heart and he was in the room. He was explaining the activities of the battlefield. This is the story, like that. Sañjaya uvāca. Dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca. The beginning is:
- dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
- samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
- māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
- kim akurvata sañjaya
- (BG 1.1)
Now, the old king and his secretary were sitting in a room, and the first question was, "Well, Sañjaya, what happened again, this, this and that?" And he was speaking like that. That was a television.
So anyway, now this Bhagavad-gītā was written, was spoken to a family man, Arjuna, military man, and the whole Mahābhārata is meant for strī-śūdra-dvijabandhu, less qualified men. Just see. In those days less qualified men were meant for understanding Bhagavad-gītā in half an hour. Just imagine what class of less intelligent persons were at that time.
The same Bhagavad-gītā, now scholars like Dr. Radhakrishnan and others, so many big, big scholars, they are scrutinizingly studying; still they cannot understand. But this Bhagavad-gītā was meant for the less intelligent class of men of that time. Just you can imagine what class of less intelligent class and women were there. It is specially written, you will see, strī-śūdra-dvijabandhūnāṁ trayī na śruti-gocarā (SB 1.4.25).
Because woman class and less intelligent class, and these unworthy sons of the Brahmins and kṣatriyas, they will not be able to understand the original Vedic literature, therefore it has been presented in a story form with historical facts so that they can understand. That was the origin of Mahābhārata.
So Bhagavad-gītā is not very high class Vedic literature. It is the just the entrance, A-B-C-D of Vedic literature. A-B-C-D, entrance. Just like matriculation examination, school-leaving examination, then you enter into college, and then get your graduate, become a graduate, and then post-graduate. So the Bhagavad-gītā is just entrance for . . . entrance examination for spiritual education. It is not very . . . it is written for the common men, common men—common men, householders, less intelligent men, woman class, like that.
And originally the Veda is one, Yajur Veda. And because it was very difficult to understand . . . Veda was spoken by Lord Himself to Brahmā. So seeing . . . foreseeing the condition of the present age, Vyāsadeva divided four Vedas, one Veda into four. The original Veda is Yajur Veda. Then he divided into Sāma, Yajur, Ṛk, Atharva. Then again the Vedic literatures were explained in Purāṇas, eighteen Purāṇas. Then Mahābhārata. Then again he summarized all the Vedic knowledge into Vedānta-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra, summarized. Then again the Vedānta-sūtra is explained by Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. These are the all Vedic literature. When you read this book, in the preliminary, those who have got books, you will find all this description.
So Kṛṣṇa, for understanding of the common people, the highest truth of Vedic literature, the highest truth of Vedic literature is Kṛṣṇa, and nothing else. You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15): "The whole purpose of Veda is to understand Me." That's all. If one has understood Kṛṣṇa, then he has understood all Vedic literature. He has nothing to understand anymore. He has passed all examination.
Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham. And the Lord says that "I am the writer of Vedānta," because Vyāsadeva is an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa for writing this literature. His name is Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa. Therefore, as incarnation of Vyāsa, Kṛṣṇa wrote all this Vedic literature.