‘What is Bhagavad Gita’ is an age-old evolutionary question and many of us have our own views and interpretations about Gita. But many times, the real answer to a question lies in another evolutionary question. And the answer to this lies in the question ‘Who are you’ at this stage of your life’s evolution? Today on Gita Jayanti 2023 (the day on which thousands of years ago, the essential knowledge of life was given by Sri Krishna to his friend and disciple Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra), let us dive deep and explore it from a different perspective.
So, what is the Bhagavad Gita?
It is an entertaining tale
To a child Buddhi (someone having the intellectual understanding of a child), Bhagavad Gita is a great tale, an engaging and entertaining story of a war between heroes and villains where, in the end, heroes win.
It is a great Epic Story
To a young adult’s Buddhi (someone having the intellectual understanding of a youth), the Bhagavad Gita is an epic story that has certain moral values. Often with the belief that it is just a story that never happened in real life. Psychologists say that the majority of mental growth of humans stops at this age and rest of their lives people just gather more experiences but not more mental growth.
It is a factual Historical Event
To a researcher’s Buddhi (someone who is analytical and logical but low on feelings, emotions and heartfulness), the Bhagavad Gita is a historical event that happened a few thousand years ago at the battlefield of Kurukshetra. For the researcher’s Buddhi, this can be equitable with any other war in human history between good and bad people.
It is a Dharma Shastra – A Guidebook for Life
To a householder’s Buddhi (someone who is totally engaged in his/her personal, professional and social life), Bhagavad Gita is a great guidebook on how to live a life of righteousness. It gives answers to many of life’s conflicting and complex situations and tells us what is the right thing to do when faced with certain moral and ethical dilemmas. It is a great source of understanding Dharam Niti (righteous policy), behavioural conduct, cunning war (competition) strategies and it even gives insights into leadership traits (yes, many corporate leadership programs have references from Bhagavad Gita on leadership qualities).
It is a great text on Human Psychology
To many learners, the Bhagavad Gita is an ancient source of understanding human psychology. Many people believe that Sri Krishna is the first enlightened psychologist on Earth, the way he understands Arjuna’s dilemma and the way he takes him out of his mental delusion is really the work of someone who knows human behaviours and mental makeup inside out.
In fact, the very first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is titled ‘Arjuna Vishad Yog’ – The despondency of Arjuna. Bhagavad Gita actually starts from the point where Arjuna is on his chariot on the battlefield and Sri Krishna is his charioteer. Arjuna is feeling depressed, his mind is clouded with confusion, and he wants to run away from the battlefield – he doesn’t want to face and fight with his own cousins, uncles and teachers who are on the opposing side with Kauravas’s army, led by Duryodhana. He is feeling very drained in body and mind and doesn’t know what to do. It is a psychological condition that Arjuna is suffering at that critical moment of war, and Sri Krishna can see and understand this, and very craftily he takes Arjuna out of his mental delusions.
It is an Adhyatam Shastra – teachings for Spiritual Awakening
And finally, there are a few people who feel Bhagavad Gita is a pure Adhyatam Shastra. It has profound insights given by Sri Krishna to awaken one’s Buddhi from the outer-gross world of everyday life to the innermost subtle levels of spiritual awakening. At this level of understanding, the meaning of every shloka (verse) and the essence of every character totally transforms.
One of the greatest masters of Bharat, Sri Lahiri Mahasaya, guru of Sri Yukteswar Giri and great guru of Sri Paramhansa Yogananda, explained Bhagavad Gita to his disciples as a very advanced spiritual text. Here, Sri Krishna is considered as our pure divine, inner consciousness, Dhritarashtra and the entire Kaurava clan become the blind mind with all its impure and uncontrolled mental modifications, Pandavas are considered as five chakras (energy centres in human body) and Draupadi is considered as the Kundalini shakti (hidden life force) which once awakened, activates all the five chakras in their perfect balance and helps a human being move from the lower tendencies of uncontrolled mind (manas) to the higher tendencies of awakened intellect (Buddhi).
Yes, the Bhagavad Gita is a literary marvel written by Maharshi Ved Vyas. It has endless layers of mystical knowledge. But what the Bhagavad Gita is to you depends on where you are in your life’s evolution. Whichever stage of evolution one is in, he or she will look, read and comprehend Gita from that level only. Great gurus like Sri Lahiri Mahasaya have opened even the most subtle layers of Bhagavad Gita for all of us, and finally, our understanding of Gita depends on two key things:
- Where we are in our life’s evolution
- Where do we want to take this evolution to become a better householder, a better leader, a better storyteller, a better psychologist, or an awakened human being established in Sri Krishna’s consciousness (which is basically our own real divine nature).
Om Tat Sat
The author is a visionary spiritual teacher, leadership mentor and public speaker. He works in the areas of creating awakened leaders, bringing consciousness to education and running regular spiritual talks and retreats. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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