Challenges Of Life
Every century has presented human beings with its own unique challenges. The caveman’s main challenge was to protect himself from the wild environment and at the same time manage to find food to sustain himself. As centuries progressed and man’s skills developed, some of the basic challenges were more manageable. He could make sharp weapons to protect himself from wild animals, create fire to keep animals away and also use weapons to hunt animals for food. Did his challenges end? Of course not! He now had the challenge of protecting himself from other men who had similar weapons and were out to get his food, women etc. The wild hunter gradually evolved into an agricultural man with a better semblance of society and probably a more protected environment to flourish. Did challenges of life end? Unfortunately no! He faced the challenges of vagaries of nature which could make or destroy his crops. He faced challenges of marauders out to steal his crops and his property. The agricultural man evolved into the industrial man and further into the information technology man. But as man has evolved in the material world with ability to seemingly manage more and more of himself and his environment, have his challenges ceased? Unfortunately not! As man progressed over centuries, he got more and more evolved in harnessing his energy and brain to acquire the means to satisfy his physical desires. However at every stage, the challenges in life never ceased and on the contrary the complexity of challenges seemed to keep on increasing. Compared to the caveman, the current man has multifold many more opportunities to create, excel and enjoy the world. But at the same time he faces many more challenges.
To overcome challenge of the environment, the cave man used his intelligence to create weapons and gradually learned how to till the land and grow food. To overcome challenges of the agricultural world, he learned the skills of managing animals, managing the crops etc. To manage challenges of the industrial world he created machines. To manage the challenges of the information world, he created computers. It would appear as though man was in control of his destiny and he could create a solution for every challenge. But are we really in control? Do we really have the necessary skills to face the challenges thrown at us today? If at home, we have a disagreement with our spouse, are we able to handle the situation calmly or do we erupt in anger? If at work our colleague gets a promotion, are we able to wholeheartedly wish him or do we boil in jealousy? Thinking of potential failure on an assignment, do we stop even attempting to begin the job? In short, do we have the basic skills to manage anger, jealousy, hatred, greed etc? Without having these skills, how can we ever hope to lead a peaceful life as we pursue the various opportunities and manage the challenges in succeeding in this competitive world? Without this ability to lead life intelligently, are we not taking a chance to succeed in leading a happy life? Is there a way to learn the critical skills of life and be able to significantly increase our ability to be happy and successful in facing the various challenges of our lives?
The critical skills of life
To be a good engineer, one needs to acquire skills related to mathematics, physics, mechanics etc. To be a good doctor, one needs to acquire skills related to human physiology, diseases, drugs etc. What are the key skills needed to lead a happy life in which a person can face challenges boldly and yet make full use of the various opportunities this world has to offer? Life skills are the skills associated with managing and living a better quality of life. They help us to accomplish our ambitions and to live to our full potential. The life skills include the following:
By mastering these life skills, any of us can be trained to develop an extraordinarily capable mind – a mind that is profoundly peaceful, happy, and blissful, which makes us extremely efficient in whatever we do.
The source to acquire critical skills
Whereas one can go to an university to acquire various worldly skills like engineering, physics, medicine etc, where can we go to acquire the above critical skills? Though of late, institutions have come up claiming to offer the above critical skills, they may not have the necessary sound foundation of logic and reasoning behind them. What if somehow the greatest and most peaceful people on this earth who were highly successful were to somehow come together and put together a manual of these critical skills? Where can we go looking for such an unique manual of life? Thankfully if we look around, we can find these manuals which have guided people in essential skills to face life across centuries. The great masters of the world, as they lead a peaceful life facing every adversity including death, gave us pearls of wisdom in the form of scriptures. Whereas Christianity has the Holy Bible, Islam has the Holy Koran, Sikhs have the Granta Sahib, for the Hindus, the source of eternal wisdom comes from what are known as the Vedas.
The entire belief system of the Hindus is based on the Vedas. The Vedas have a section in them called the Upanishads which house the treasure of wisdom related to life and how to face it. The Upanishads are the highest level of knowledge that a man can learn and once a man knows this knowledge, he becomes the ultimate in happiness and can face any challenges in life successfully. Considering that the Upanishads are slightly esoteric and not easily comprehensible unless taught by a true Master, the next best source of knowledge to face the worldly challenges is the Bhagavad Gita.
Introduction to the Holy Gita
Many of us from India have been exposed to the wonderful stories from the Mahabharatha. The Mahabharatha is a multi-generational story climaxing in an internecine battle between cousins of a royal family. The Mahabharatha in addition to being a superbly entertaining story has gems within it. The most precious gem of all is the Bhagavad Gita. This portion of the epic runs into about 700 verses and condenses the greatest spiritual teachings of the Upanishads in an easy to understand format. The Gita was told by Lord Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield and motivated him to fight and win the battle.
The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Bhagavad Gita”is the Song of Universal Intelligence. The teachings of the Gita are universal and can be studied, lived and experienced by people of any background, religion, caste, nationality and profession. The Gita provides the following:
What The Gita Is Not
What The Gita Is
The Gita is a source of knowledge which gives out practical advise to lead a blissful life and covers the following:
The Theme of the GitaThe Gita's first word is Dharma, which means nature and the last word is Mama, which means mine. So basically, Gita brings out what the true nature of an individual is. It proves that we are not these small beings trapped in a body/mind/intellect, but are the very embodiment of that universal energy and tells us not to limit ourselves, but to strive to achieve the infinite.
Keeping in view the above theme, the Gita elucidates the following in detail:
The Gita gives us the message that without analyzing, studying, and tuning our mind we cannot effectively face the challenges of the external world.
The Gita as seen by towering personalities
With this introduction to the Gita, I invite readers to begin the exciting journey of self discovery and self development as we step through the masterly wisdom in the Gita.
Every century has presented human beings with its own unique challenges. The caveman’s main challenge was to protect himself from the wild environment and at the same time manage to find food to sustain himself. As centuries progressed and man’s skills developed, some of the basic challenges were more manageable. He could make sharp weapons to protect himself from wild animals, create fire to keep animals away and also use weapons to hunt animals for food. Did his challenges end? Of course not! He now had the challenge of protecting himself from other men who had similar weapons and were out to get his food, women etc. The wild hunter gradually evolved into an agricultural man with a better semblance of society and probably a more protected environment to flourish. Did challenges of life end? Unfortunately no! He faced the challenges of vagaries of nature which could make or destroy his crops. He faced challenges of marauders out to steal his crops and his property. The agricultural man evolved into the industrial man and further into the information technology man. But as man has evolved in the material world with ability to seemingly manage more and more of himself and his environment, have his challenges ceased? Unfortunately not! As man progressed over centuries, he got more and more evolved in harnessing his energy and brain to acquire the means to satisfy his physical desires. However at every stage, the challenges in life never ceased and on the contrary the complexity of challenges seemed to keep on increasing. Compared to the caveman, the current man has multifold many more opportunities to create, excel and enjoy the world. But at the same time he faces many more challenges.
To overcome challenge of the environment, the cave man used his intelligence to create weapons and gradually learned how to till the land and grow food. To overcome challenges of the agricultural world, he learned the skills of managing animals, managing the crops etc. To manage challenges of the industrial world he created machines. To manage the challenges of the information world, he created computers. It would appear as though man was in control of his destiny and he could create a solution for every challenge. But are we really in control? Do we really have the necessary skills to face the challenges thrown at us today? If at home, we have a disagreement with our spouse, are we able to handle the situation calmly or do we erupt in anger? If at work our colleague gets a promotion, are we able to wholeheartedly wish him or do we boil in jealousy? Thinking of potential failure on an assignment, do we stop even attempting to begin the job? In short, do we have the basic skills to manage anger, jealousy, hatred, greed etc? Without having these skills, how can we ever hope to lead a peaceful life as we pursue the various opportunities and manage the challenges in succeeding in this competitive world? Without this ability to lead life intelligently, are we not taking a chance to succeed in leading a happy life? Is there a way to learn the critical skills of life and be able to significantly increase our ability to be happy and successful in facing the various challenges of our lives?
The critical skills of life
To be a good engineer, one needs to acquire skills related to mathematics, physics, mechanics etc. To be a good doctor, one needs to acquire skills related to human physiology, diseases, drugs etc. What are the key skills needed to lead a happy life in which a person can face challenges boldly and yet make full use of the various opportunities this world has to offer? Life skills are the skills associated with managing and living a better quality of life. They help us to accomplish our ambitions and to live to our full potential. The life skills include the following:
- Listening
- Focus
- Mind Control
- Discern perception from Reality
- Emotional Intelligence
- Creativity
- Efficiency in action
- Stress Management
- Relationship Management
- Empathy
- Self awareness
- Self Control
By mastering these life skills, any of us can be trained to develop an extraordinarily capable mind – a mind that is profoundly peaceful, happy, and blissful, which makes us extremely efficient in whatever we do.
The source to acquire critical skills
Whereas one can go to an university to acquire various worldly skills like engineering, physics, medicine etc, where can we go to acquire the above critical skills? Though of late, institutions have come up claiming to offer the above critical skills, they may not have the necessary sound foundation of logic and reasoning behind them. What if somehow the greatest and most peaceful people on this earth who were highly successful were to somehow come together and put together a manual of these critical skills? Where can we go looking for such an unique manual of life? Thankfully if we look around, we can find these manuals which have guided people in essential skills to face life across centuries. The great masters of the world, as they lead a peaceful life facing every adversity including death, gave us pearls of wisdom in the form of scriptures. Whereas Christianity has the Holy Bible, Islam has the Holy Koran, Sikhs have the Granta Sahib, for the Hindus, the source of eternal wisdom comes from what are known as the Vedas.
The entire belief system of the Hindus is based on the Vedas. The Vedas have a section in them called the Upanishads which house the treasure of wisdom related to life and how to face it. The Upanishads are the highest level of knowledge that a man can learn and once a man knows this knowledge, he becomes the ultimate in happiness and can face any challenges in life successfully. Considering that the Upanishads are slightly esoteric and not easily comprehensible unless taught by a true Master, the next best source of knowledge to face the worldly challenges is the Bhagavad Gita.
Introduction to the Holy Gita
Many of us from India have been exposed to the wonderful stories from the Mahabharatha. The Mahabharatha is a multi-generational story climaxing in an internecine battle between cousins of a royal family. The Mahabharatha in addition to being a superbly entertaining story has gems within it. The most precious gem of all is the Bhagavad Gita. This portion of the epic runs into about 700 verses and condenses the greatest spiritual teachings of the Upanishads in an easy to understand format. The Gita was told by Lord Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield and motivated him to fight and win the battle.
The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Bhagavad Gita”is the Song of Universal Intelligence. The teachings of the Gita are universal and can be studied, lived and experienced by people of any background, religion, caste, nationality and profession. The Gita provides the following:
- A science of human possibilities to extract the full potential of an individual.
- A leadership tool for achieving emotional intelligence
- A management guide to achieve efficiency and proficiency in day-to-day activities
- A psychological solution for achieving the mental equanimity and for being a master of a situation rather than a victim of it
- A means to go beyond the organic evolution and to achieve highest human potential
- A manual for taming and managing our emotional brain
- A scripture that leads us to the ultimate freedom from insecurities and unhappiness
What The Gita Is Not
- It is not a religious text
- It is not outdated.
What The Gita Is
The Gita is a source of knowledge which gives out practical advise to lead a blissful life and covers the following:
- The Need To Fight Desires
- The need to act and the way to act
- A principle of humility and gratitude
- The impermanence of stuff
- Means to reach full potential
The Theme of the GitaThe Gita's first word is Dharma, which means nature and the last word is Mama, which means mine. So basically, Gita brings out what the true nature of an individual is. It proves that we are not these small beings trapped in a body/mind/intellect, but are the very embodiment of that universal energy and tells us not to limit ourselves, but to strive to achieve the infinite.
Keeping in view the above theme, the Gita elucidates the following in detail:
- What is the real nature of “MY Self”, the world around me and the Supreme that sustains me and the world?
- What is the nature of the self perception of a typical individual and the problems associated with that self judgment.
- How can we lift ourselves from the current state of being identified with a false self identity to our actual self and what are the benefits of being identified with our own actual self
The Gita gives us the message that without analyzing, studying, and tuning our mind we cannot effectively face the challenges of the external world.
The Gita as seen by towering personalities
- "When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous." ~ Albert Einstein
- "The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions." ~ Dr. Albert Schweizer
- "The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity." ~ Aldous Huxley
- "The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than a book, with a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization." ~ Rishi Aurobindo
- "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial." ~ Henry David Thoreau
- "The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of lifes wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion." ~ Herman Hesse
- "When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day."~ Mahatma Gandhi
- "The Bhagavad-Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe." ~ Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
- "I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us."
- "The Bhagavad-Gita is an empire of thought and in its philosophical teachings Krishna has all the attributes of the full-fledged montheistic deity and at the same time the attributes of the Upanisadic absolute." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
- "In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is necessary to attune our soul to it." ~ Rudolph Steiner
- "From a clear knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita all the goals of human existence become fulfilled. Bhagavad-Gita is the manifest quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedic scriptures." ~ Adi Sankara
- "The secret of karma yoga which is to perform actions without any fruitive desires is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita." ~ Vivekananda
With this introduction to the Gita, I invite readers to begin the exciting journey of self discovery and self development as we step through the masterly wisdom in the Gita.
When Albert Einstein quotes the following
ReplyDelete"When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous "
does he intend to say that whatever theories of creation the scientists come up with they ultimately have no relevance when the Lord in Gita says that all this phenomenon world is just a sport or my Liila. Then why is that we do not come to accept the fruitlessness of our pursuit in science? and to what end we try to develop our scientific view of the world. In fact most often we tend to destroy what ever in nature in the name of scientific understanding. Has the modern world with all of the amenities provided any more fulfillment?
Appreciate your thoughts and comments.