Although it’s a dying art, Hollywood movies may still be popular among some people. If you used to watch movies sometimes, then you might remember one from the year 2000 called “The Legend of Bagger Vance”, directed by Robert Redford, with a host of top level actors like Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. Did you know that the idea for the story was based on the ancient Sanskrit text from the Vedas called Bhagavad Gita?
The movie is based on the novel written in 1995 by Steven Pressfield, who used to read Bhagavad Gita every time he went on a flight. He thought that if there was going to be a crash, then he wanted to be reading something spiritually appropriate in case of a major accident, which can sometimes occur with flights.
While reading the Gita he decided to write his own novel using the theme from the Sanskrit classic. He changed the story from one of a military general filled with doubt who gets advised by his chariot driver and friend, to one of a golf star who loses his swing and gets advised by his caddy.
In the Gita the speaker of the instructive message is Krishna, who is known by the label Bhagavan, so the author called the caddy Bagger Vance, which is a play on the original name. And the military general is originally called Arjuna, which the novelist changed to R. Junnah. Naturally novelists have used the ancient classics for inspiration throughout history to good measure, and this is one of those times. By modernizing the story, the novelist was able to convey some of the profound message of the Gita to a modern audience using a metaphor to which they could relate, namely golf.
The name for the caddy in the novel – Bagger Vance – comes from Bhagavan, which can be seen throughout the Gita as a reference to Krishna, for example in this verse:
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अनाश्रित: कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति य: ।
स सन्न्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रिय: ॥ १ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ
kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ
sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca
na niragnir na cākriyaḥ
“The Blessed Lord said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic: not he who lights no fire and performs no work.”
Bhagavad Gita As It Is chapter 6:1 translated by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta (www.prabhupadabooks.com)
The initial phrase opening this chapter here is “Sri Bhagavan uvaca” which translates as “The blessed Lord said”. The phrase “Sri Bhagavan” refers to Krishna the instructing speaker of the Gita. Even the title of the book itself – Bhagavad Gita – comes from the word “Bhagavan”. It literally means “Song of Bhagavan”.
Now the word “Bhagavan” translates to mean God, and is used throughout the Gita to refer to Krishna, who speaks the instruction to Arjuna, the military general. Krishna is described as one of the numerous incarnations or avatars or the original supreme personality of godhead in numerous literatures of the Vedas. Krishna is actually described as the source of all avatars, the original.
The word literally translates to mean “one who has all the opulences in full”. There are six opulences which are strength, intelligence, wealth, beauty, fame and renunciation. We may posses one or more of them and great people are usually great because they have one or more of these opulences. But “Bhagavan” means the one who has all of them to the fullest degree. And that is the description of the godhead.
You may be very wealthy or very famous, etc but no one can say they have all of the opulences. Or even if someone can, for a brief moment in time, think that they have all six opulences, no one can say they have all six in full, and always, except god. And that is why Krishna is called “Bhagavan” throughout the Gita. The original Bhagavad Gita was written down with the direct understanding and instruction that the person Krishna who is giving the instruction throughout the Gita, it god.
The speaker of the Gita – Krishna - appeared around 5000 years ago as god, under divine circumstances, displaying divine powers way beyond mere human mystical powers, and the battle that took place during that time in history is narrated in the greater epic book called Mahabharata, of which Bhagavad Gita is just a single chapter. In fact the Mahabharata is known to be the longest epic poem in history.
So however you wish to take the tale of the Gita, or interpret the pastime and people in it and the advice and instruction, the original author Vyasadeva, who compiled all of the Vedas and subsequent commentaries like Bhagavat Purana (also named for its reference to Bhagavan) made it clear from the start that the speaker of the Gita is the original supreme personality of godhead. He did this by calling him Bhagavan.
And that’s where the novelist who wrote the book that became the movie called “The Legend of Bagger Vance” got the title. There have of course subsequently been occasional pretenders to the title Bhagavan, who come along throughout history and claim to be god, and tell their easily bewildered followers to call them Bhagavan, but such foolishness is easily smashed if you know what the Sanskrit word Bhagavan means.
And no person has yet been able to display all the six opulences in full and qualify to bear the title of Bhagavan. Those that do, like Sai Baba, Rajneesh (Osho) and others, are pretenders and frauds, no better than tele-evangelists who con the people into parting with their money by using their charisma and skills as a charlatan.
Sometimes Shiva is also described as Bhagavan, and that’s all right because Shiva is one of the expansions coming from Krishna or Vishnu, and Shiva possesses up to 96% of the qualities of the original godhead. Shiva is described to be like yoghurt in relation to Krishna who is like milk in the analogy. They are non-different, except for a minor shift, and the milk is always the original from which the yoghurt is transformed.
All of this is to be known by simply studying the Vedas themselves in the original Sanskrit and English translations from a bona fide translator coming from an authentic traditional lineage or school of teaching (sampradaya) in India, of which there are four in the Vishnu tradition and perhaps more in some sub-sects.
(image Wikipedia)
I actually loved this movie and it was one of my favourites from that era.
Such a great cast and for whatever reason, sports and golf especially makes for great movies. Will smith just makes them good but i had no idea of this back story. Very interesting stuff.