My Intro To Geeta.

MY INTRODUCTION TO GEETA


I belong to a religious minded family as my parents believed in God and Goddesses. Every year ‘Durga’ (Goddess of Power) was worshipped on Asthami, the 8th day of navaratras, during October-November. They were not ritualistic but as tradition would have it almost all festivals were celebrated with sincerity. There were of course no regular visits to temples or daily recitation of Ramayana or Geeta.Brought up under such environment, doing all these rituals came naturally to us as grownups.

My official trip to Tamilnadu (then Madras) became a turning point in my life if I may say so. I was sent to Trichy to attend to some official work with BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited). If I remember correctly I reached Madras (now Chennai) by GT express from Delhi. Next I took train to Trichy and stayed there for two days and took a train back to Madras in the afternoon. We were allowed to travel in Second Class (called Intermediate- as it was between Third class and First Class). The Seating arrangement was like two long benches facing each other as far as I can remember now.

There were two other gentlemen sitting on the opposite bench. One of them was a white person may be from USA or UK and the other seemed to be a South Indian. They were talking in English. We had those customary hi hellos and then I started leafing through the pulp fiction I had purchased from the Wheelers book stall on the platform. I think it was by Parry Masson. I was no hurry to read this and so tried to keep myself busy watching those paddy fields. I then overheard the white reciting some verses in chaste Sanskrit. My curiosity got wings and I tuned my ears to what they were discussing, still keeping my face towards the paddy fields. Quite obviously they were talking about the message of Geeta. I had heard about this book but never had the opportunity to own it and worst to read it.

I had Sanskrit as a third language in my High School but my knowledge of the language was just enough to pass the exams. then. I was pleasantly surprised the way both of them were reciting the Sanskrit verses, interpretating them and exchanging notes.

I felt so small. Born in a Brahmin family belonging to the lands of Himalayas also called ‘Tapo Bhumi’, a land of saints and sages, I had no knowledge of the God’s language and worse still no idea about our own scriptures. And here was a foreigner, a white Christian (most probably), who was reciting the Sanskrit verses as if it was his mother tongue. Here was a foreigner interpretating Geeta as if he was a devote Hindu scholar.

The first thing that I did after reaching Delhi was to buy two copies of Geeta one with Hindi and other with English translation. I finished the Hindi version in one night and the English version the second night but could not make any head and tail of it. I persisted with my efforts, attended a few talks on the subject, read more interpretations. Even after some 40 years of efforts I cannot claim I have understood even one percent of it. Today I have Ramcharitmanas, Valmiki Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Bhagwat and many other such scriptures. A few pages from Geeta and Manas form part of my daily worshiping ritual.

Thank you Mr. White, if I may call you by that name!!!!!

 

Syamala,
Thanks. Karma yoga with dispassion is rather difficult. Bhakti yoga seems to be easy. In my humble opinion the essence of Geeta lies in understanding self and act accordingly.

 

[QUOTE="Cielo,
I had a similar experience on a flight when I saw an European student in his early 20s listen to Bhagavad Gita live session recordings of Swami Tadatmananda (a disciple of Swami Sivananda) on the flight. This Swami Tadatmananda, I, later learned from my fellow passenger was an European American who spent years with his Guru Shivananda in India and took to sainthood after being an Automobile Engineer. He now runs an Ashram and spreads his Hinduism teachings in New Jersey.


Here's the link to recordings for you to experience my bliss - I bet you won't stop here![/QUOTE]

 

[/QUOTE]


Interesting. I know one Swami Sivananda who founded Divne Life Society at Rishikesh. I am a member there. I have read some of his books and commentaries.
Thanks for sparing your time.