Tatha Shreebhagwadgita Nitischa Vidurodita |
Shreevasudevmahatmyaham Skandavaishnavkhandagam ||
‘Tatha’ links the previous Shloka and so the Bhagwad Gita from Mahabharat is the fifth Shastra. The Bhagwad Gita is from Mahabharat’s Bhishmaparva and spans eighteen Adhyayas (chapters). (It is indeed the most famous of Hindu Shastras - it is to Hindus what the Bible is to Christians.)
The ‘song of Shree Krishna’ is the teaching of Krishna to his foremost friend and disciple Arjuna. At the eve of the great Mahabharat war between the Pandavas and Kaurava dynasties, Arjuna was overcome with grief at the fact that he was about to kill his kinsmen. Feeling this way that war was futile and undesirable, and with its victory also undesirable, he threw aside his arrows and refused to fight.
Krishna then begins his argument as to why Arjuna should fight. He covers all manner of subjects inciting Karma Yoga, Yoga, Sankhya, supreme knowledge, Dharma, Bhakti Yoga, nature of body and self, etc. to persuade Arjuna that his duty is to fight!
The sixth Shastra is again from the Mahabharat and is the Vidura Niti - a code of ethics enunciated by Vidura to Dhritashtra in Mahabharat’s Udhyoga Parva. It spans nine Adhyayas (chapters). This is a code of conduct for Kings.
The seventh Shastra is Vasudeva Mahatmya from Skanda Purana, written by Kartikeya Swami (son of Lord Shiva). The Purana spans seven ‘Khandas’ - Valkilya, Brahmotar, Kashi, Reva, Kedar, Prabhas and Vishnu. Vasudev Mahatmya is from Vishnu Khanda, spanning 32 Adhyayas of teachings by Rishis Nar-Narayan upon the greatness of Shree Krishna. Lord Swaminarayan, in Vachanamrut GADHADA I - 28, glorifies Vasudev Mahatmya as unequalled in greatness, shadowing even the Bhagwat Purana as it propounds Dharma, Gnaan, Vairagya and Bhakti as well as Ahimsa, like no other Shastra.