The Geeta Jayanti Day or the Birthday of Srimad Bhagavad Geeta is celebrated traditionally on the 11th day (Ekadasi) of the bright half (Sukla Paksha) of the month of Margasira (Dec./Jan.). (Coincides with Vaikuntha Ekadasi). This was the day on which the teachings of Lord Sri krishna was revealed to the world through Sanjaya (who was blessed with the Divine Sight to witness the war of Mahabharata by Bhagavan Vyasa)!
The Mahabharata
Geeta or song is a well-known composition, being the dialogue between Krishna and Arjun, just before the Mahabharata war. In the Geeta, Krishna says, "Of all the months I am Margashirsha." Hence the importance of this month.
The Geeta is a small part of the Mahabharata, the greatest epic in the world, composed of more than one, hundred thousand slokas.
Kauravas and Pandavas
"The main story of the Mahabharata is the war between two branches of the Kaurava family- the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, led by the eldest brother, Duryodhana, on the one hand, and on the other, their cousins, the Pandavas or sons of Pandu, led by their eldest brother, Yudhishthira.
Yudhishthira had been cheated out of his kingdom in a game of dice to which he had been challenged. He lost and was thereby condemned to cede his share of the kingdom to Duryodhana, while he and his four brothers had to go into exile for thirteen years, the last of which they had to spend in concealment. All this they did, but when Yudhishthira asked for his kingdom back, Duryodhana bluntly refused. Yudhishthira, who was by nature a pacifist, and had an instinctive loathing for war, reduced his demands to a mere five villages; still Duryodhana refused. As a final gesture Yudhishthira sent his friend Krishna, son of Vasudeva, and head of a neighboring clan, the Vrishnis, on an embassy in which Krishna was to make a final bid for peace... Duryodhana then, knowing full well that Krishna was God, rejected for the last time Yudhishthira's offer, thereby defying God Himself. Yudhishthira, having gone to the utmost limit to avoid war, now reluctantly gives in and the scene is now set for a battle that was to prove ferociously destructive. There is, however, a last minute hitch; Arjuna's nerve fails him.
Throwing away his weapons, begins to dialogue with Krishna, his charioteer and bosom friend. Krishna tries to convince Arjun that fight be must. In this setting the entire doctrine of the Geeta is presented. Geeta is perhaps the only scripture that was taught in the battlefield. That's why it relates so much to all of us. Arjuna was a man of action and not a renounced person sitting in Himalayas. Geeta teaches us how to live a righteous life, how to make conscious choice to act according to Dharma, while performing all our day-to-day duties.
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