Bhagawadgeeta

The book that changed my life…

Ever since childhood, I never realized the purpose of religion. Like many, I couldn’t believe God was present and thought if he really did, why he didn’t appear. Like always, I made a few perplexing theories and failed with my natural flair. I started moving along with blind faith leaving the unresolved qualms of religion behind. I called the blind faith wisdom, so be it. Fear of God …the first step for wisdom. I started growing up and understanding some things, that one must not swerve the path of right, should be loyal and honest, should love all and be kind to all. I was praying every day, I explained it as meditation. The chanting of God’s names in Sanskrit somehow gave peace from within. Whenever there was a ritual at home, I (who usually tries to avoid the social gatherings) started trying my best to attend it. But I believed every person is responsible for their own actions and fate, and never asked God anything for myself. Not that much has changed since childhood but I learnt discovering facts from self. I defined God as a form of goodness and strength. As time went by I saw different people, I saw all had both positives and negatives, for some the positive brightness was vividly evident, in them I saw God, those who loved others just for the sake of loving those who served others just for sake of nothing. Yes, in the span of my life…(sounding like 22 going on 60) I came across very few souls with that much goodness. Every person has a weakness, and one day there will be a failure due to it. Ask a person even in the zenith (of whatever field), he might have evaded numerous failures which acted as hindrances to his success.
Bhagawadgeeta is a book of God, defining God as inner strength. Sri Krishna the Godly presence in Bhagawadgeeta preaches Arjuna- (one of the 5 pandava sons) who is depressed with the state of himself, he is guilty of the fact that he should kill his own brothers the 100 Kauravas, who were actually evil and deceived the Pandavas and tried to kill them. Sri Krishna counsels him and in the process delivers this wonderful message that could serve the purpose of a rule book to success for any person seeking it thereafter; success meaning a peaceful journey through life where in every day is an accomplishment, earning the day’s satisfaction that we had done our best to give something constructive to the world.
Atheists don’t believe God, some can’t as they don’t see Him, and some find no reason to see Him. Most of them are too strong minded to accept the fact that there is God, whom they conclude as an external force, and the remaining would’ve gone through serious failures in life and attribute somebody else (Him) for those, and so refuse to trust Him, but a few realize the God in self, ‘Aham Bramhasmi’ an extraction from Yajur veda means that I am Brahman (God) which both theoretically and practically means that I is the most powerful entity in this world. ‘I’ is not an individual but our consciousness that has all the power. From Bhagawadgeeta I is the almighty, when we are able to control the uncontrollable enemies of self- they are- Kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya meaning lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, jealousy respectively. War in Bhagawadgeeta does not impart killing people in this yuga, but killing the six enemies inside self. All of them are related to each other. Referring history one can strongly say Kama (lust) and Krodha (anger) were the cause of many battles. Many kingdoms were ruined just for the sake of them. If lust is mistaken for love then it leads to moha, meaning illusion- madness or obsession about object. Mada is the pride that comes with riches or acquisitions; it is a very dangerous enemy and plays a key role in devastating a successful person. Ego is a diseased version of Self esteem, which would lead to self destruction. Lobha is the greed for anything. The story of King Midas “The Golden Touch” is well known for its moral. Matsarya is envy. It is like the antonym of Mada. The people who consider themselves superior to others have pride and inferior have jealousy. Controlling these 6 enemies of self would bring peace from within. I have heard about other religion books from my friends and read parts of Bible myself during my high school. I really adore the Bible for its essence. It leaves a beautiful feeling of love and oneness in our hearts. I understood the purpose of religion and the meaning of God after reading and listening to recitations of these sacred books. Giving the gist of what I read so far -promote good and defeat evil, whether the evil is external or internal.