Bhagawad Gita - What is in it for you?

Bhagawad Gita - What is in it for you?

Bhagawad Gita is undoubtedly the most popular amongst all of Hindu dharma saastra texts and possibly the most commented upon text too.Any attempt to write about this text appears almost redundant since there are so many resources already available. However, it still looked pertinent to provide a quick answer to the question of 'what is in it for me' from someone who has not had  the opportunity to look deep into Bhagawad Gita.  Therefore, here is a humble attempt .

Context of Bhagawad Gita

Bhagawad Gita appears in the middle of the great epic of Mahabharata. It is a collection of 700 verses that are organized into 18 chapters,   As the Kaurava and Paandava  armies faced off each other, Arjuna who was the commander of the Paandava side asks Sri Krishna was acting as his charioteer, to position their chariot between the two armies so that he could have a close look at who all have assembled on either side. Once positioned in the middle, Arjuna's perception all of a sudden shifts and he now sees on the other side his cousins, nephews, friends, grandfather, teachers etc. instead of enemies. Arjuna who is overwhelmed by the dilemma of having to fight his own family, drops his weapons and asks Krishna for his guidance so that he may do what is right. Krishna's response to Arjuna is the Bhagawad Gita.

This context of Bhagawad Gita is important to us because it is not different from the everyday dilemma that we also face in life, except that in Arjuna's situation, the severity was many, many times than ours. Therefore what worked for Arjuna in Bhagawad Gita should possible work for us too!

Take a look at what we experience in our everyday life.

If this is our everyday state, then here is the million dollar question: Are our key decisions in life influenced more by how we feel emotionally and not our intellectual reasoning?   If you think the answer is latter, I would point you to the latest behavioral psychology researches that are saying otherwise. Bhagawad Gita has an answer to how one can train oneself to lean more towards the latter than former.

Pre-Requisites

The Bhagawad Gita instructions are listened to not just by Arjuna. Sanjaya, who is the charioteer of blind king Dhritarashtra, is able to relay the happenings of the war field to Dhritarashtra, thanks to a blessing he receives from Sage Vyaasa. It is important to note that while the teachings of Bhagawad Gita makes an impact on Arjuna and Sanjaya , it fails to make any impact on Dhritarashtra. This is because, just like any academic course you may take,  there are few pre-requisites needed for this learning to be effective and Dhritarashtra, unfortunately, had none of it. These pre-requisites are:

 In the absence of these pre-requisites, the ability of a student to derive benefit from Bhagawad Gita's  teaching diminishes considerably. In fact,  Sri Krishna starts his teachings to Arjuna only after Arjuna says:

"karpanyadoshopahrata swabhavah

 prichaami twaam dharma sammooda chetah

Yatsreyaan nischitam bruhi tanme

Sishyasteham saadi maam twaam prapannam" (B.G Ch 2, Verse  9)

"Overcome by weakness, I am unable to determine what is Dharma. Please tell me for certain what will bring good in the  long run. I am taking refuge in you as a student"

As evident from his words, Arjuna is clearly looking within himself, analyzing what has become of his character and intelligence, expressing his desire for doing what is good and not necessarily easy, and is eager to know what his Dharma is that he may do it. Finally, Arjuna is ready to embrace the attitude of a student offsetting all his established beliefs. The metaphor of Arjuna positioning himself between two armies and dropping his weapons further emphasizes this point.

Central Themes of Bhagawad Gita

The central themes of  Bhagawad Gita that is relevant to everyday life is masterfully concealed within two sets of opening and concluding words. The Bhagawad Gita text begins with the word 'Dharma' (righteous action) and ends with 'Mama' meaning 'Mine'. How one should approach determining 'Mama Dharma' or 'my righteous action' is one of the key questions that Bhagawad Gita tries to answer conclusively. Sri Krishna's instructions in Bhagawad Gita start with the word 'asochya', meaning 'do not grieve' and ends with the word 'maa sucha', again meaning 'do not grieve'. Grief is an emotion that completely destroys one's character, giving neither an immediate gain nor a long term gain. How to fortify oneself so as to be able to effectively deal with situations that cause grief is the other central theme in Bhagawad Gita.

Three sets of instructions in Bhagawad Gita

There are many different ways to summarize the teachings of Bhagawad Gita. Looking from the perspective of what it offers as teaching, it can be said that Bhagawad Gita essentially offers three distinct sets of instructions. They are:

Why gain 'Right Knowledge'?

Sri Krishna starts the Bhagawad Gita giving a very clear indication of what happens when one lacks right knowledge and perspectives:

asochyaan anya sochyastwam

 prajnaa vaadaamcha bhaashase”  B.G Ch .2 Verse 11)

In the absence of right knowledge and perspectives one would "grieve upon what not be grieved about and become eloquent in justifying the grief arising out of delusion".  Therefore in the absence of right knowledge we will become overly concerned about what we shouldn’t be concerning about and as a result get mired in unnecessary confusion

What is 'Right Knowledge'

 There are three components for 'right Knowledge'. They are addressed in the different chapters of Bhagawad Gita as below.

Why have the 'Right Attitude' ?

In the absence of right attitude, the attraction of experiencing pleasure and gaining success will completely overcome our intelligence and lead us to a state of permanent unrest.

“bhogaiswarya prasaktaanaam

 thayaapahrita chetasaam

 vyavasaayaatmikaa budhi

 samaadhau na vidheeyate”  B.G Ch .2 Verse 44)

"One who has given primary importance to enjoyment of pleasure and gaining of success and has allowed his intelligence to be dominated by desire for them, such a person will never be able to have a focused mind that enjoys peace"

What is 'Right Attitude' ?

Again, there are three key themes that Sri Krishna brings up in discussing the right attitude: They are:

Why take 'Right Guidance' ?

Right guidance is required for one simple reason - this is not easy and it can be extremely confusing as to how one should proceed. Arjuna flatly tells Sri Krishna in the sixth chapter of Bhagawad Gita that he doesn't see this instruction of Krishna as pragmatic because gaining control over the mind is as difficult as controlling the movement of air. Krishna agrees with Arjuna on the challenging nature of the task but disagrees that it is impossible. With right guidance and patient and perseverant practice, it is possible to live in this world basing one's understanding on the 'Right knowledge' and performing actions with the 'Right attitude'.

Krishna mentions one more reason why getting the right guidance is important.

“karmanohyapi bodhavyam

  bodhavyam cha vikarmana

  akarmanacha bodhavyam

  gahanaa karmano gati”    B.G Ch .4 Verse 17)

"One should become aware of what are right actions one should do, what are wrong actions one should prevent and what are wrong actions one shouldn't do for the chain of cause and effect triggered by performance of actions are extremely complex and undecipherable"

What is Right Guidance?

The guidance offered in Bhagawad Gita can again be summarized into three categories:

The final message of Bhagawad Gita: Become a 'Yogi'

Yogi means one who has achieved Yoga. Yoga again means to yoke or unite. While the ultimate spiritual goal is said to be the yoking of individual self with the supreme self, Bhagawad Gita also guide us to think of uniting the four different spiritual paths that it lays out. These four paths are:

1. Janaana Yoga - The path of knowledge
2. Bhakti Yoga - The path of devotion
3. Karma yoga - The path of action
4. Raja yoga or Dhyaana Yoga - The path of meditation

In Sri Krishna's words:

“thapaswibyodhiko yogi

 jnaanibhyopi mathodhika

 karmibhyachadhiko yogi

 thasmaad yogi bhavaarjuna”  B.G Ch .6 Verse 46)

"The yogi is superior to the austerious one, the knowledgeable one as well as one who has mastered the vedic rites; therefore Arjuna, become a Yogi"

Metaphorically, it could be said that Arjuna's chariot driven by Krishna is pictured to be pulled by the four horses, Janaana, Bhakti, Karma and Dhyaana yogas respectively. One who manages to yoke these four horses together in his spiritual quest could fare better than a single horse rider :-)

(Some of the concepts discussed above may require a deeper discussion. If there is sufficient interest,  will try to get to them  in future blog posts)