The Bhagavad Gita
“The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity.”
― Aldous Huxley
One day, during the time of the summer vacation after my 10th class, I happen to watch this T.V. news discussion on the discovery of the God particle, Higgs Boson. The name, "God particle" attracted my attention because it denoted the inter-linkage of science and religion. There was always a gap between science and religion so when I heard this name I thought the gap had finally being fulfilled. Anyways, in the discussion, one of the guests spoke about Einstein becoming a devotee of Bhagavad Gita, the holy text of Hindu religion. I was surprised to hear about a person like Einstein becoming a devotee of a religious text.
― Aldous Huxley
When I was a 13 year old kid my father put a book called "Unlimited Power" in my hands and said, 'take this as your Bible'. I asked him how this book is important as the Bible. He said that, 'people learn Bible in order to become better than they already are, that is to grow. This book also does the same thing, develop you. The difference is only in the approach. The Bible takes God, morals, values, duties, punishment etc. as its approach while this book "Unlimited Power" uses the way of science and research'. So ever since then I began to read personality development and self-improvement books. I have found out various ways and methods to develop myself and experimented it on myself. However, every method couldn't satisfy me completely. I expanded my scope of understanding to Psychology, Sociology and other such subjects and found out various techniques like mind mapping and NLPs( Neuro-linguistic programming) etc. I always was asking to myself about why I am trying to develop myself. I thought that it is about the survival instinct of a human being or it was just my interest or a desire to become great among people. However these weren't and the reason was nature. Nature is always changing. In fact it is growing. Growth is one of a common determining factor of everything in the universe. We are part of the nature, and it is natural for us to have an urge to grow. Every living being in the universe is growing in one way or other. I am a part of nature and the urge to grow in me is what is making me trying to develop myself.
One day, during the time of the summer vacation after my 10th class, I happen to watch this T.V. news discussion on the discovery of the God particle, Higgs Boson. The name, "God particle" attracted my attention because it denoted the inter-linkage of science and religion. There was always a gap between science and religion so when I heard this name I thought the gap had finally being fulfilled. Anyways, in the discussion, one of the guests spoke about Einstein becoming a devotee of Bhagavad Gita, the holy text of Hindu religion. I was surprised to hear about a person like Einstein becoming a devotee of a religious text.
Just like my father, I was also against the so called religion. I thought that religious texts are books that aimed at teaching people moral values using God as an imaginary superior judge who determines the good and evil. However, my father had a higher understanding of religion. He often told me about the scientific theories in the Hindu philosophical texts that are now proven with the modern science. For example, VIBGYOR being compared to the Seven Horses of the sun god. He was against religious leaders who takes advantage of the vulnerability of the ordinary people by luring them to religion for acquiring money.
I wanted to understand Einstein's shift in mentality which leaned towards a mere religious text. For Einstein, religious texts were structured lies for disciplining primitive men. A person with such belief considering a religious text can only be understood as a miracle. So I wanted to understand his shift in mentality. I began to start learning Bhagavad Gita. At first I couldn't comprehend the theories that was explained in the text. It explains about the existence of soul, the immortality of man and about the misunderstanding of taking body as the self. I was against all these propositions and often asked 'Is this proven?' I didn't truly believe the existence of a soul. I thought that ancient people from their insecurity and vulnerability created the idea of a soul. By reading the text alone, I could only understand a little bit about it. So I thought about finding some lectures about it. I found one after some hard searches in the internet. It was discourses by Swami Sandeep Chaithanya. It was really interesting to listen to those discourses. It was explained in a lucid and simple way which was very easy to understand for me. After completing the discourses, unknowingly Bhagavad Gita had become a part of me. Though I couldn't accept its propositions, I relished the beauty of the text and that was the starting point of my journey of spirituality.
I understood that the Bhagavad Gita is not a religious text at all. In fact, it is a scientific text. Just like the book "Unlimited Power", in Bhagavad Gita too, rational and scientific approaches are used. The Bhagavad Gita tells about yoga. "Yoga" literally means union. Union of man with the eternal. In the book there are 18 chapters each dealing with specific set of yogic principles. Mainly three concepts are proposed in the text, that is, the principles of karma(action), jnana(knowledge) and bhakti(devotion). Through theses three ways man could attain union with the eternal. This is what the Holy Gita is expounding. However, in my mind a problem aroused about the validity of the eternal and man becoming it. The solution was simple. The philosophy proposed that the whole world is eternal and it only changes its form. We human beings are part of this world and we already are eternal.
"Of that which is temporary there is no eternal existence. Of that which is eternal there is no destruction or change. Seers of the truth have realized the constitutional position of both"
-Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 16.
This simple fact proved the existence of soul, and made myself to become a devotee of Bhagavad Gita. Soul, when viewed through our perspective, obliterates its reality. We can't understand it nor could we explain it. What we could only tell about soul is, that which is not changing amidst the ever changing. The general misconception among people about soul is that people view it as a thing. Soul is a word to denote the ever-existent. Union of man with the eternal doesn't mean about a person becoming an immortal being or God. It just refers to the annihilation of the misinterpretation of man identifying himself as his body. It is about the realization that he is already eternal and there is an "I" other than the body. Getting your mind detached from the body and tying it to the eternal in oneself is what is called as yoga.
Spirituality is a journey to ultimate perfection, the end of growth. One can be religious without spiritual and be spiritual without religious as well as be both religious and spiritual. Being religious means traveling to perfection by following set of rules and regulations, disciplining oneself. True religiousness will only lead to spirituality. Spirituality is about exploring all the facets, including science, for getting to ultimate perfection. It is broad while religiousness is narrow. So whatever religion one is engaged in, if it is truthfully maintained and understood, spirituality will be the result. Let me re-quote, religious text Bhagavad Gita to spiritual text Bhagavad Gita. For the journey of spirituality, I came across to meet my Guru: The Bhagavad Gita.
I wanted to understand Einstein's shift in mentality which leaned towards a mere religious text. For Einstein, religious texts were structured lies for disciplining primitive men. A person with such belief considering a religious text can only be understood as a miracle. So I wanted to understand his shift in mentality. I began to start learning Bhagavad Gita. At first I couldn't comprehend the theories that was explained in the text. It explains about the existence of soul, the immortality of man and about the misunderstanding of taking body as the self. I was against all these propositions and often asked 'Is this proven?' I didn't truly believe the existence of a soul. I thought that ancient people from their insecurity and vulnerability created the idea of a soul. By reading the text alone, I could only understand a little bit about it. So I thought about finding some lectures about it. I found one after some hard searches in the internet. It was discourses by Swami Sandeep Chaithanya. It was really interesting to listen to those discourses. It was explained in a lucid and simple way which was very easy to understand for me. After completing the discourses, unknowingly Bhagavad Gita had become a part of me. Though I couldn't accept its propositions, I relished the beauty of the text and that was the starting point of my journey of spirituality.
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| The Bhagavad Gita |
I understood that the Bhagavad Gita is not a religious text at all. In fact, it is a scientific text. Just like the book "Unlimited Power", in Bhagavad Gita too, rational and scientific approaches are used. The Bhagavad Gita tells about yoga. "Yoga" literally means union. Union of man with the eternal. In the book there are 18 chapters each dealing with specific set of yogic principles. Mainly three concepts are proposed in the text, that is, the principles of karma(action), jnana(knowledge) and bhakti(devotion). Through theses three ways man could attain union with the eternal. This is what the Holy Gita is expounding. However, in my mind a problem aroused about the validity of the eternal and man becoming it. The solution was simple. The philosophy proposed that the whole world is eternal and it only changes its form. We human beings are part of this world and we already are eternal.
"Of that which is temporary there is no eternal existence. Of that which is eternal there is no destruction or change. Seers of the truth have realized the constitutional position of both"
-Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 16.
This simple fact proved the existence of soul, and made myself to become a devotee of Bhagavad Gita. Soul, when viewed through our perspective, obliterates its reality. We can't understand it nor could we explain it. What we could only tell about soul is, that which is not changing amidst the ever changing. The general misconception among people about soul is that people view it as a thing. Soul is a word to denote the ever-existent. Union of man with the eternal doesn't mean about a person becoming an immortal being or God. It just refers to the annihilation of the misinterpretation of man identifying himself as his body. It is about the realization that he is already eternal and there is an "I" other than the body. Getting your mind detached from the body and tying it to the eternal in oneself is what is called as yoga.
Spirituality is a journey to ultimate perfection, the end of growth. One can be religious without spiritual and be spiritual without religious as well as be both religious and spiritual. Being religious means traveling to perfection by following set of rules and regulations, disciplining oneself. True religiousness will only lead to spirituality. Spirituality is about exploring all the facets, including science, for getting to ultimate perfection. It is broad while religiousness is narrow. So whatever religion one is engaged in, if it is truthfully maintained and understood, spirituality will be the result. Let me re-quote, religious text Bhagavad Gita to spiritual text Bhagavad Gita. For the journey of spirituality, I came across to meet my Guru: The Bhagavad Gita.
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