I started learning Bhagawad Gita in a quest to find peace, happiness and also some answers to life's questions. The more I read the more I feel that this life I am leading really has no purpose or meaning. Everything is so transient. Everything is just Maya. I wonder if its just a phase that everyone goes through it some time or the other in their lives or if there is more to it.
You too! I swear man this book should be banned. : ) A friend got me hooked to a video series by Swami Tadatmananda. I skipped chapter 1 as not much interested in a description of Arjuna's grief. I have only watched a few so far as we are watching it in book club style, and discussions are in person or sometimes video call. I also am reading a tattered old print book my friend's father gave me in my last India trip. I sometimes feel like you have written - there is no purpose or meaning, everything is so transient. I got borderline concerned when major events found me rather undisturbed as 'well this won't matter in the long run.' I don't know the answer to your question - "everyone goes thru it or there is more to it?" My current reaction to that thought when it comes to my mind is: "Ati sarvatra varjayet." "Excess should be avoided; excess of anything is bad. Some of us are attracted to Good. But the universe tries to maintain balance. So what is good for some may end up being bad for others." Or, in the words of Oscar Wilde: "Everything in moderation, including moderation." So, I put away the Gita once in a while, and treat it more like a general guide, than a bible. : ) When reading such books, I feel, I have to define what is for me the line between overthinking and thinking deeply. Overthinking is a less desirable mind exercise. An "Ati" in thinking is not conducive to a pleasant or peaceful state of mind. Right now, I watch the videos or read it only when I am waiting outside for something, often in car, and never before going to bed (sleep not perturbed by unanswerable questions is precious).
Atleast I am not alone . I started with ch 12 and even though its been a week its impact is profound. Cant believe it took me so long to get started on the Gita. Someone once said you can start learning the holy Gita only when Lord Krishna wants you to learn it. You need to get called by Him. In my Gita class there are so many kids some as young as 7 year old who render shlokas with perfect diction. Makes me wonder how many more layers to interpreting the Gita will they uncover through their lives...
I have to agree - learning the Gita can only happen when one is ready. I have to confess or repeat - I am watching videos and reading it. No way near or similar to learning from it. Each observation you have made in this thread so far is worthy of a separate discussion by itself. I often wonder what if the Gita were available at least as an elective in middle to high school. Then again, in some ways I am glad I am discovering it for the first time myself and not having to undo any earlier interpretations which would have been influenced by the one teaching it. Which is why, I am so grateful for my current book club format. We have specific rules such as you share your interpretation of the day's verse, link it to your life, share your thoughts, your unanswered half-questions, question another's inference but only to understand it better. No one is allowed to or would even think of saying "this is the way it should be interpreted. this is the truth and all else untruth." I am hosting the next meeting. Lord help me, I chose a winery with an outdoor picnic area and a roach-coach. : ) Just scrolled up and checked, this is in general section of IL, so a bit of non-reverence should be fine and no one should find their knickers in a knot.
I read a book titled 'Roadmaps to Self-Realization' written by Jack Hawley and especially focused on how to be a most loved Devotee of God. It said the following: 1) Harbor no ill will 2) return love for hate 3) Be friendly and compassionate 4) Be beyond I and Mine 5) Be unpertubed by pain and pleasure 6) Possess firm faith 7) Be forgiving 8) Be ever contented 9) Be ever meditating on God 10) Be always peaceful 11) Be neither agitator in, nor agitated by the world 12) Be free of fear 13) Accept the knocks of life as blessings in disguise 14) Do worldly duties unconcerned, untroubled by life 15) Expect absolutely nothing 16) Be pure internally and externally 17) Be ready to be God's instrument 18) Be ready to meet any demands God makes 19) Ask nothing of me 20) Do not rejoice or feel revulsion 21) Do not grieve 22) Do not yearn for possessions 23) Be unaffected by bad or good 24) Be full of devotion to God 25) Live in the Self, not in worldly commotion 26) Hold the same attitude toward friend or foe 27) Be indifferent to honor or ignominy 28) Be the same toward heat or cold 29) Be the same toward praise or criticism 30) Control talking and be silent within 31) Be generally content with life 32) Be unattached to worldly things 33) Be unattached even to home 34) Have the sole concern in life to love God Surrender the mind and heart completely to God and He will love you most dearly and will let this devotee go beyond death to immortality. This book is based on Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners.
Just imagine how a Soul that has never born and never die come into existence because of its encrypted Karma committed by Jiva. It has been provided with tools such as body, mind and intellect to experience the world. They experience the world and create further impressions. These tools think they are in control and connect all of the experiences together and consider that as life. The tools think there is nothing before birth and nothing after death. The mind trusts the senses for feeling the world and creates emotions. The true Self remain a witness to all of it unaffected by all of that. Everything we experience is Maya and our purpose is to cross this Maya and reach the Truth.
But @Viswamitra sir, by that logic of the 34 points mentioned, Mahabharata should have never happened. First, Pandavas shouldnt have expected the throne of Hastinapur back after their exile and should have accepted that knock as a blessing in disguise. Second, Draupadi should not have been affected by her ignominy going by those principles. Instead she vowed revenge against injustice and her humiliation also was one of the driving forces that led Pandavas to wage a battle against the Kauravas. Doesnt the same Gita say that it is sin to commit injustice,but it is a greater sin to tolerate injustice. The entire Kurukshetra war was against injustice. Yet the Pandavas and Draupadi are not mere witnesses nor unaffected. Yet at the end they do end up walking all the way to Swarga Loka.
@gamma50g, You are right about how they felt about the throne and taking a revenge against the cousins initially. But Krishna made them go through a lot of spiritual development while waiting to commence the war. He convinced Drapaudi that she should forgive the Kauravas and let the war to take place only for the well-being of the people in Hasthanapura. He also told her that in the war, there will be losses on both sides and she would lose everyone in the war expect her 5 husbands. Eventually, she lost all her 5 children as well and only a grandchild through Abhimanyu was the only progeny left to succeed the throne. Arjuna learned Bhagavad Gita in the battlefield because he put his weapon down as he found it hard to fight against his Guru, Grandfather and other elders he revered. Pandavas were told by Bhisma also to fight for their rights for the well-being of the people of Hasthinapura even in his deathbed. He gave the knowledge they needed to rule with righteousness. It is Bhisma's Sankalpa to establish righteousness in the kingdom of Hasthinapura. Even Krishna went to negotiate a deal with Kauravas before starting the war and it is Dhirudarashtra and Duryodhana's selfish interest that made them reject the proposal of giving just 5 villages to Pandavas. Pandavas went through the war only to establish righteousness as an instrument of Krishna and in the process Arjuna lost his dear son Abhimanyu, his father in law, brother-in-law and all the Pandavas lost their children as well. Krishna has to do so many unrighteous things in order to establish righteousness including Indra seeking the Kavacha Kundala of Karna, Krishna asking both Bhisma and Drona to drop their weapons and surrender to Him, and finally, to kill Duryodhana, Bheema was asked to attack his thigh so that he would be killed.
