Bhagvad Gita – Spirituality Defined

“Set thy heart upon thy work but never its rewards.” – Bhagvad Gita.

Understanding the essence of ‘Bhagvad Gita’ has been a great experience. Although I had read ‘Gita’, this workshop gave me a newer understanding.

Gita says:

• Whatever happened, happened for good; whatever is happening, is happening for good; whatever will happen will also happen for good. It is a fact that all of us go through many experiences in life that bring us sorrow and pain. The shastras gives us direction and ways to handle grief.
• The entire universe runs on the combination of three powers – Icha shakti – the power of the mind, Kriya Shakti – the power of senses and Gyan Shakti – the power of the intellect.
• Fear, pain and frustration are the root causes of anger.
• Welcome fear with open arms.
• Do not react when angry. In a state of anger, we hurt our near and dear ones. We should control and calm our mind in order to control anger.
• Pause before you react. This will ensure that you don’t hurt anyone.
• Desires come from attachment and anger comes from unfulfilled desires.
• We are the creators of our own dreams.
• Human beings have been bestowed with privileges like having desires and fulfilling them; animals are programmed. It is good to have ambitions and desires. We should work towards achieving our goals in life; having the bigger picture in mind.
• We all have Ragas and Dweshas. Ragas are binding desires (It will cause unhappiness if not fulfilled). Dwesha – Aversion for something, implying a dislike for that.
• We should focus on managing our ragas and dweshas.
• Our happiness is tied to the fulfilment of the ragas and dweshas.
• Take life as a Prasada.
• We can control our actions but we cannot control the results. Laws take care of the results.
• We all have the knowledge that just like we don’t want to be hurt, other people also do not want to be hurt.
• Morality has to be untaught.
• Nothing is right or wrong, but some things are appropriate and some are inappropriate.
• Karmayoga is the expertise to choose the correct action.
• A karmayogi is a person who has the knowledge of choosing the right action; a person who follows the path of righteousness and accepts destiny as it comes.
• Dharma is duty, to be done, the sense of right and wrong and has to be interpreted. It is the manifestation of Ishwara.
• We are in pursuit of security(Artha) and pleasure(Kama). We want to be secure in life. We want financial security, security in the form of name, fame, power and prestige.
• We crave for the fulfilment of our ragas and dweshas (Artha kamas) but we forget that they are time-bound and hence we need to follow dharma. We also need to examine the road that we are walking on.
• We should invest in our own growth (Keeping dharma over artha kamas).
• We should acknowledge that we have a problem and need help.
• We should live life for ourselves, setting a larger goal for ourselves.
• To earn punya, we should pray and lend a helping hand to someone in need.
• Despite knowing what is right, we do the wrong thing.
• Prayer is an action and produces results. It neutralises the dhuritas(papa karma) and attracts punya.