Bhagavad Gitanu Swarup Chintan

About This Book

Bhagavad Gitanu Swarup Chintan (ભગવદ્ ગીતાનું સ્વરૂપ ચિંતન) — “Contemplation on the True Nature of the Bhagavad Gita” — is a 93-page Gujarati work written by Sv. Shri Hemendrakumar Indrashankar Desai (Kumarbhai), elder son of Sv. Mu. Va. Shri Indrashankar (Lalbhai) Prabhashankar Desai, the last constitutionally recognized ruler of Vasavad.

The book was completed on 17 November 2014, and represents the culmination of a lifetime of spiritual inquiry. Where Kumarbhai's father Shri Lalbhai had studied the Gita every morning without exception, Kumarbhai took the practice one step further — he wrote his own comprehensive interpretation of the sacred text, distilling decades of reading, contemplation, and lived experience into a work that is both scholarly and deeply personal.

This was Kumarbhai's step towards spirituality in the last phase of his life — a conscious continuation of his father's devotion to the Gita, transformed into a written offering for the next generation.

The Dedication

The book opens with a dedication that establishes its deepest purpose. In just one line, Kumarbhai reveals that this is not merely an academic exercise but an act of filial devotion:

The parents in question are Sv. Mu. Va. Shri Lalbhai Desai and Sou. Pushpavatiben (Pushkalben) — whose life together is described in the Smarananjali as “an absolutely joyful and exemplary married life of more than sixty-two years.” That Kumarbhai's book on the Gita begins by honouring his parents as his spiritual guides is itself a statement — it links this work directly to the family's tradition of Gita study that the Smarananjali so carefully documented.

Structure of the Book

The work is organized into three distinct parts, each building upon the previous:

Part 1: Gita Outline of Teachings (ગીતાની સમજણનો સાર)

The opening section provides a bird's-eye view of the Bhagavad Gita's teachings. Kumarbhai begins by establishing the context — the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna's crisis of conscience, and Lord Krishna's decision to deliver what would become one of humanity's most profound philosophical discourses. He outlines the core concepts: Dharma (righteous duty), Karma (action), Bhakti (devotion), and Jnana (knowledge) — and how these four paths converge in the Gita's teaching.

This section serves as both introduction and framework, giving the reader the conceptual vocabulary needed to appreciate the chapter-by-chapter commentary that follows.

Part 2: Gitopanishad — Chapters 1 Through 18

The heart of the book is a comprehensive chapter-by-chapter commentary on the entire Bhagavad Gita, treated as a Gitopanishad — an Upanishad in its own right. Each of the 18 chapters receives careful attention:

For each chapter, Kumarbhai provides not a verse-by-verse translation but a thoughtful synthesis — explaining the chapter's central teaching, its relationship to the chapters before and after, and its practical application in daily life. The commentary reflects the perspective of a man who had lived in both worlds: the boardrooms of industrial Gujarat and the quiet spiritual discipline inherited from his father.

Part 3: Ved and Upanishad (વેદ અને ઉપનિષદ)

The final section places the Gita within its broader philosophical context by providing an overview of the Vedas and Upanishads. Kumarbhai traces the lineage of thought from the Vedic hymns through the Upanishadic dialogues to the Gita itself — showing how Krishna's teachings on the battlefield of Kurukshetra represent the practical distillation of millennia of Hindu philosophical inquiry.

This section demonstrates Kumarbhai's scholarly range. He doesn't treat the Gita in isolation but shows how it connects to the entire corpus of Hindu sacred literature — from the Rig Veda's invocations to the Upanishads' metaphysical dialogues.

About the Author

The book's back cover provides a biographical note on the author. Sv. Shri Hemendrakumar Indrashankar Desai — known as Kumar Lalbhai Desai or simply Kumarbhai — was born in Rajkot as the elder son of Sv. Mu. Va. Shri Lalbhai Desai. He completed a BSc degree and then became the first member of the Desai family to travel overseas for education, journeying to the United States by steamer to study Chemical Engineering.

In America, he worked at a chemical company in Chicago before returning to India to join Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd (GSFC) in Vadodara, where he rose to the position of Executive Director. After GSFC, he served as a consultant on projects for the Essar Group. His career involved extensive international travel.

In 1963, he married Sou. Neelaben (née Ch. Kokila Mehta) in Bhavnagar. Together they raised three children: Manish, Deval, and Minal. The family lived at 1/305, Punitnagar, New Sama Road, Vadodara.

For a complete account of Kumarbhai's life, see his life account page.

Why This Book Matters

The Bhagavad Gitanu Swarup Chintan occupies a unique place in the Desai family's legacy. It is the third generation of a family tradition of documenting and preserving knowledge:

• Shri Prabhashankar (Nanubhai), the Talukdar, maintained the formal governance and administrative records of Vasavad.
• Shri Lalbhai lived the Gita — his son Vyomesh captured that lived practice in the Smarananjali.
• Kumarbhai took that family tradition of Gita study and produced a written interpretation — transforming a private devotional practice into a permanent text.

The dedication — “to our parents, who showed us the path of divinity” — makes explicit what the Smarananjali implies: that Shri Lalbhai's daily Gita study was not just a personal habit but a teaching by example. Kumarbhai absorbed that teaching and, in the last phase of his life, gave it back to the family in written form.

This is also one of the few family documents that provides the author's own biographical details on the back cover, making it a primary source for Kumarbhai's life history — his education, career, family, and the international experiences that shaped his worldview.

From steamer voyages to America, to the boardrooms of GSFC and Essar, to the quiet contemplation of the Gita in Vadodara — Kumarbhai's life traced an arc that began and ended with the sacred text his father had lived by. This book is the written proof of that arc.