Essence of Bhagwad Gita
Why did I opt for this class? No, no, this question doesn’t reflect my regret. I want to share why I chose to attend this class. As soon as I came to know about this class, I eagerly filled the form saying yes. Why? One of the reasons is that I have always had curiosity to know about different religion. I like philosophical talks. I like to know what people think about God, religion and traditions. The give and take of thoughts help me to introspect and grow.
The other reason now. In the form I read the profile of the person who was going to conduct these sessions – Mr.Gagan Gupta. When I read his profile, instantly I had the thought that if such a man who is highly educated will be talking about Gita, there must be some logic; nowadays, we all believe in logic.
Our sessions started with chanting of shlokas from the Gita. I was again awed by this man who spoke such pure Sanskrit language in spite of spending 16 years (I think this is what I remember) in the USA. Wooow!! The first lesson learnt. Introspection brought him to India and dedication helped him to achieve what he has achieved today – immense knowledge.
In one such session he talked about “Dharma”. So what is “Dharma”? It is definitely not a synonym for religion which most of us think it to be. It is not just praying to God every morning and worshipping a deity. “Dharma” is doing the right thing in any given situation. Hey!! Isn’t is very familiar? ‘Doing the right thing when nobody’s watching’. Dharma, the Gita says, is having a control over your “ragas” (what I want) and “dhwesha” (what I want not to have) without being carried away by them. Having ‘raga’ on things and people may force you to take shortcuts in life and it may lead you to happiness; however, such happiness doesn’t last long.
Mr.Gupta shared a simple example to explain ‘Dharma’. He said that many times we drive on the wrong side of the road in order to reach our destination. We avoid driving all through the long way. So, are we following our dharma? We do realise that we are doing the wrong thing. Nevertheless, we choose the easiest option. This is also ‘raga’. We let the ‘ragas’ control our ability to think what is right and what is wrong which should not be the case.
The other thing which I liked was the importance of prayer and service. Being a moderately religious person, I also pray everyday. I do puja whenever time permits. Listening to the interpretation of Gita, I realised that by praying we accrue good ‘karma’. The accumulated good karma can lessen the intensity of the pain we might go through as a result of a bad karma. The same is true for service. Lending a helping hand may bestow us with a help required in times of need.