When to start studying the Bhagavad Gita?
The Bhagavad Gita, in addition to being a Hindu holy text, it is also a Book about how to live truly happy and in peace, how to overcome suffering
How to study the Bhagavad Gita
When to start studying the Bhagavad Gita?
Reflection by Pedro Nonell based on the lectures and explanations of Swami Sarvapriyananda, a Hindu monk (Sannyasin) belonging to the Ramakrishna Order. He is the current resident Swami and director of the New York Vedanta Society, a position he has held since January 2017. He is one of the world's leading experts on the Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta.
Sri Ramakrishna said that the goal of human life was the God Realization. Swami Vivekananda stated that the goal of human life was to manifest the divinity within us.
Swami Vivekananda met Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in 1881, and asked him:
Faced with these two profound statements, our first reaction might be that this may be the goal of human life, but perhaps it is not at this moment in my life. Now I have other goals: making money, taking care of my family, my job, my mortgage, my health... In short, being happy in general.
But if you analyze all these legitimate aspirations, and delve deeper into what exactly we are trying to do, we would surely deduce that we are trying to achieve happiness and peace as well as overcome suffering.
If I earn money, I can buy a new car, and I will be happier. If I pay off my mortgage I will be able to go out to dinner more and go on vacation with my family and we will be happier. If we reflect we will realize that these are our true motivations, whatever we do or pursue, both worldly and spiritual.
At first we think that we can find happiness in our worldly activities. If I am poor or blind, I think I am unhappy. If I make a lot of money, I think I'm happy. If I live alone and don't have friends, I think I'm unhappy. If I get married and have friends, I think I'll be happy. If I have a family, as is usual, I think I am happy. If no one knows me or values me, I think I am unhappy. If I get fame, I think I'm happy.
In reality in all these cases we are chasing happiness and we think that happiness is outside.
The Bhagavad Gita: A Book on How to Be Happy and Live in Peace.
The Bhagavad Gita, in addition to being a Hindu holy book, is also a book about how to live truly happy and in peace, how to overcome suffering, stating that what you are really looking for will not be found where you are looking for it: The outside world, but it is within ourselves, whatever you call it: Soul, Atman, the Self, Brahman, God, Sat-Chit-Ananda or the Absolute Reality.
«The yoga-centered man sees everyone impartially, seeing Atman in all beings and all beings in Atman» Bhagavad Gita 6-29.
The Bhagavad Gita is a “Moksha Shastra”, that is, a book that deals with liberation. We can classify all those external activities that we believe should lead us to happiness into three: Karma, Arta and Dharma.
A) Kama (pleasure): we seek pleasure because it is what we believe will give us happiness. It is usually our first attempt at being happy. If I meet an old friend, I will be happy. If I eat a cake, I'll be happy.
«The contacts of the senses with their objects bring pleasure and pain; They come and go, they are transitory. Bear them, O Arjuna» Bhagavad Gita 2-14.
b) Arta (Wealth, worldly successes). Another type of pursuit of happiness, in one way or another, is through the acquisition of wealth, worldly power, achievements or social status
«That will is Rajasic, O Partha, when desiring the fruits, it clings with attachment to righteousness (Dharma), to desire and to wealth.” Bhagavad Gita 18-34
C) Dharma. It is a difficult word to specify because in Sanskrit it can have several meanings: morality, decency, religion, duty.. In this analysis we will understand it as “all the good we do in the broadest sense.” According to Vedanta, this good that we do generates good Karma and good results for us and if you have good Karma you will get more Arta and more Kama, that is, more pleasure and wealth.
If we look at the different external activities of ordinary people, whatever they do, they can be characterized under these three objectives (Kama, Arta, Dharma).
When a seeker realizes that he can no longer be happy by following these three, when he discovers that the search outside is no longer enough, then he is ready for spirituality, for religion, whatever it may be, and for understanding and applying in his own life the infinite wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita.
«Who finds happiness only within, who rests only within, whose light is only within, that yogi, having become one with nature, attains unity with Brahman» Bhagavad Gita 5-24.
Bhagavad Gita: a Path of liberation
All religions, all spiritual paths, promise in one way or another, a kind of liberation, no matter what their name is: Moksha, salvation, Nirvana, heaven, Tao, it doesn't matter.. They promise a state in which true happiness is achieved and suffering is permanently overcome. The Bhagavad Gita is a book that deals with this liberation (Moksha).
«Attain unity with Brahman (Moksha), those sages (Rishis) whose sins have been annihilated, whose doubts have been resolved, those who have mastered themselves and who are absorbed in the welfare of all beings.” Bhagavad Gita 5-25.
And this is essential to understand. It is not a book that teaches you how to enjoy life, nor how to be rich (although in some ways it can help you), nor is it a book for corporate management (although it is increasingly used in business management).
In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna does not refer to the above, nor is he even talking about a conventional religion. Instead of worldly pleasure or success, Krishna is explaining his teaching on Moksha, true spirituality, achieving true peace and happiness, and overcoming suffering.
The Buddha's search for the existence of suffering and that there is a solution to freedom from it is the pillar of Buddhism. Likewise, the Bhagavad Gita is a book about Moksha, and forms the pillar of Hinduism. The teachings of the Bhagavad Gita can be applied in different fields: human resource management, business strategy, marketing, social relations, stress reduction, meditation or even to be a better person, but never, never forget that it is a book of liberation, enlightenment through spirituality.
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