Tried It Myself

Lessons from the Bhagwad Gita

I had an opportunity to attend a discourse recently on the essential teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, following Sri Adi Shankaracharya's commentary. It was organized by Aham Brahmaasmi Foundation (A Unit of Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri). The Speakers were Vidwan Dr. B Mahadevan, Vidwan Sri P V Rajaraman, Vidwan Sri Manikandan Iyer, Vidwan Sri A Krishna.

The Gita is the essence of all the Vedas. The word 'Veda' comes from the root 'vid', to know.

1. Arjuna’s dilemma is our dilemma

Arjuna faced several of life's deepest problems at once: political, family, war, professional, and a threat to his life. If Krishna's words could help him, they can help us too. The big question: why is God asking him to fight? Why do we have to do karma at all? Arjuna wanted to leave, live in the forest and become a bhikshu (a monk living on alms). Krishna does not allow this escape.

Kurukshetra is the field where we must act. Kuru means "do" or "act", and kshetra means field. So "our Kurukshetra" is not just a battlefield. It is our workplace, our family, our relationships, and the difficult decisions where we have to act.

2. The senses (indriyas) and the mind (manas)

Don't trust the indriyas. They do not show you everything, or the truth.

The hair oil story. A bald king wants hair. He says he'll behead any doctor whose cure fails, so they're all afraid. A young boy offers a cure if he's given time and resources. He spends the time enjoying the palace and does nothing. At the end he gives the king a bottle of oil to apply daily for 41 days, with one condition: never think of a monkey while applying it. Of course, the king can't. This is how the mind works: forbid it something and it fixes on exactly that.

Joy versus enjoy

3. The chariot, and refining the mind

The chariot image (the famous Gita picture of Krishna, Arjuna and the horses):

4. The Self, existence and death

A major theme was the difference between what exists independently and what depends on something else for its existence. What exists never stops existing. What doesn't exist never comes to exist. Existence and non-existence cannot meet. (Ref Gita 2.16, nasato vidyate bhavo nabhavo vidyate satah.) The Atma is pure consciousness. It does not rely on matter, time, or a separate creator for its creation or existence. Instead, the material world is what depends on the Atma to be illuminated and perceived.

Death is the biggest bluff. The Self is never born and never dies (Gita 2.20).

Trouble will not go away. What you can change is how you relate to it.

The actor who forgot he was acting

A man wanted to perform in a theatre production, but all the roles had been filled. The company eventually offered him a woman’s part. He accepted, dressed in the costume, and performed brilliantly on Sunday. Invited back, he played the same part the following Sunday. As the play grew popular, the schedule expanded to three Sunday performances, then weekday performances, and finally three shows every day of the week. He became so accustomed to the role that when the play ended and he was offered a man’s part in a new production, he replied: ‘But I am a woman. I don’t know how to be a man.’ He had forgotten the difference between himself and the role he had been playing.

The speakers used the story as an analogy for identification with the body, senses (indriyas), and mind. These are like a costume and stage character; the true Self (Atman) is not reducible to the role. We need not become something new or make the Self pure: in the teaching's terms, our true nature is already that. The work is to recognize the identification and stop confusing the temporary role with the one who plays it.

Connection to the closing insight: liberation is not achieved by perfecting the costume or the character, but by ceasing to mistake the character for our fundamental identity.

To contemplate: "Meghna cannot be free. But I can become free from Meghna."

5. Prakriti, Purusha, the gunas and Maya

Prakriti and Purusha • Prakriti is the cause of action. • Purusha is the cause of experiencing the outcome. • Note: This is Gita 13.20. Prakriti is the cause of the body's and senses' activity. Purusha is the cause of experiencing pleasure and pain.

The three Purushas (Gita 15.16–18) 3 types of Purusha

The three gunas and the rope-snake The rope-snake (rajju-sarpa) came up again and again. If you haven't understood the rope-snake, you haven't really read Vedanta. In dim light, you see a rope and think it's a snake. • Tamas: not knowing what it is (the veiling) • Rajas: taking it to be a snake (the false projection) • Sattva: knowing it is a rope Maya is made of sattva, rajas and tamas together. Maya is ignorance. For more on the gunas: Vivekachudamani goes into exhaustive detail on them.

6. The path: purify first, then still the mind

The order matters:

  1. Chitta shuddhi: purifying the mind. This comes through karma yoga.
  2. Chitta samadhi: a settled, steady mind.
  3. Vedanta shravana: hearing the teaching. Traditionally only sannyasis were allowed this.

7. Qualities to take home from the seminar

These come from the Gita's list of the qualities that make up knowledge (13.7–11, or 13.8–12 in some editions).

Brutal Truth versus brutality. There's a difference between telling the truth and being brutal. Ask yourself: do I want to be brutal, and am I using the "brutal truth" to do it?

8. Other memorable lines

"Religion is not in belief. It is in behaviour." - Dalai Lama

Empasis on experience, not forwarding. Some people spend their time passing messages from Facebook to WhatsApp, with no experience of their own. They'll say "Sanskrit is a great language" but never make the effort to learn it.

Devas and asuras have moved closer with each yuga.

9. A short personal Gita journal

A practical exercise suggested at the lecture: Write your own Gita commentary in the first person. For example: “Today this happened; I reacted in this way; on reflection, I could have acted differently.” This makes the teaching a daily practice rather than only an intellectual subject.

My Kurukshetra today: