The Bhagavad Gita

Day 201 / 365

This past year I feel like I have learned more about Indian culture and mythologies from listening to podcasts or reading books written by white people than I have in my whole life. For instance, I learned what Om Namah Shivay from the book “Eat, Pray, Love”. It feels weird listening to people from other countries talking about the spiritual experience of coming to India, yet I myself have not experienced anything close to that even after being here for so long.

I think it might be ignorance from my part more than anything else. So I am making a point to rectify it now, by making an effort to learn more about our history. And it’s obvious where to start, the book that would probably be the most famous Indian book in the world — The Bhagavad Gita.

The Gita is the most important book in our country. It’s essentially our bible, we even make people take an oath by placing their hand on this book. And I would be lying if I said that I have read even a single page of it.

Gita is a part of the bigger epic Mahabharat. It contains 700 verses in Sanskrit. The whole of Gita is the conversation that takes place between Lord Krishana and Arjuna. Gita was written by Veda Vyasa, also the author of Mahabharat. Fun fact, Guru Purnima is actually dedicated to this guy.

Historians are not sure about when the Gita was composed, but they suggest it might be somewhere around 200 BCE.

Whether you believe in the mythology around this book or not, you have to agree that even as a philosophical text, it’s quite brilliant.

Just consider this quote from it

You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward, nor should you long for inaction. Perform work in this world, Arjuna, as a man established within himself — without selfish attachments, and alike in success and defeat.

I still have about 20 or so books left to read this year, and I’ll make sure the Bhagavad Gita is one of them.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog —Push Your Boundaries