Power of the BhagvadGita
“Perform your obligatory duty, because action is indeed better than inaction.”
A little background: The BhagavadGita is the great epic detailing the conversation between lord Krishna and his friend and disciple Arjuna, during the battle of Kurukshetra. It is only a fraction of the immense Mahabharata and the entire conversation occurred in only a fraction of a second at the onset of battle.
Arjuna is heartbroken and filled with doubts and hesitation before the battle. The reason being that he has to go into battle against his own teacher, friends, cousins and other loved ones. At a time when family and relationships were above the individuals own life, he was faced with the inconceivable thought of slaying his dearest for his dharma. The Gita is a detailed dialogue between Arjuna and lord Krishna and how the lord reveals to Arjuna the knowledge of this material existence and gives him the enlightenment and courage he needed to go ahead with his responsibility.
“Death is as sure for that which is born, as birth is for that which is dead. Therefore grieve not for what is inevitable.”
For me, the Gita has been the greatest source of wisdom to deal with many a dire situation in my life. One such time was when I was graduating from college. I loved my college life. I squeezed it for every ounce of joyful experiences and relationships it could deliver. Those 4 years had been the biggest blessing of my life. At the end of the day though, when the time came to leave, I was devastated. The future looked so scary. Work, responsibility, earning for a living, living alone. It all seemed so overwhelming and daunting that I wished for life to just remain the same, remain unaltered.
But change is inevitable. In my sad state of despondence, lethargy, misery and angst, I remember flipping through the pages of the Gita for some sort of miraculous consolement that others, over the ages, had received from it. I was not disappointed.
Within only a few texts I found my spirits lifting. I was becoming less emotional and calmer. My mind had been racing so fast into the future that the doubts of the unknown and the fear of losing the past had both overlapped onto me like the supposed ends of a circle. I needed to realign with the PRESENT and get my bearings right. The desires and characteristics of this material existence had clouded me to the divine and real REALITY of my life as a human being.
It gave me the wisdom and strength to understand that change is inevitable. We have to be grateful for what we have/had been given and when it's time to go, you got to just be ready to pack your bags and say goodbye. Life is great. It has its ups and downs. Rather than mourning about the loss of something of something, you have to celebrate the fact that it came into your life in the first place.
I realized that the world had conditioned me to always try to hold on to things, situations and people. I had to possess things to be happy, to feel comfortable. Losing them made me sad, or so I perceived it that way. The Gita woke me up to the fact that we all came here with nothing and we are going to leave with nothing . Not only in the grandness of life but it is also true for the microcosmic details of our being.
My happiness had become so dependent on factors outside of my being that I had become dependent EXTERNALLY for feeling good. I then realized that even though I loved my college life, all throughout the 4 years my happiness was a function of conditions outside of my being. Having a girlfriend, a rock band, a college designation, popularity. These were all variables that I couldn't take with me anywhere and had there own place within the college context.
I had built my house with ice and now I was moving into the fire realm.
The Gita brought me this understanding of basing my happiness on something more internal, something more to my core. Once I realized this, I understood why it was a blessing that I was leaving it all behind. Now I had the freedom to recreate my life anew. To be able to direct my actions in a direction that, I know, would bring me sustained fulfillment regardless of external conditions. For that I’m thankful to the Gita.
