Everyday Geeta

January 28, 2011 If you ever wanted a modern day example of निष्काम कर्म or selfless action, read the story below. It is typical to use examples such as Mahatma Gandhi or Baba Amte when discussing selfless action and truly their stories are indeed examples of a lifetime spent in selfless action. However, our challenge always is that "In todays' world, no one acts selflessly". Then one might say that "In my life, it is impossible". Well Gil Meche is a professional baseball player, a species that is known to contain innumerable self-centered celebrity player. Well Gil Meche is different. Yesterday's New York Times had a fascinating headline . "Pitcher Spurns $12 Million, to Keep Self-Respect". Saying he wanted to do the right thing, Kansas City Royals baseball pitcher, Gil Meche told the Kansas City Royals he did not want any of the $12 million due him in 2011 and retired from baseball. The story goes onto say: The Royals signed Meche to a five-year,...

January 24, 2011. I have a deadline to meet. My clients are keenly following the progress of this deliverable.  Yet, I procrastinate. I somehow can't force myself to deal with that critical deliverable. OMG! This is the time that all my favorite sites,  Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog and guardian.com  have the most interesting articles on the topics I care about everyday. Can you believe it, Digital Inspiration even has an a post showing me how to block time wasting websites. ! Sound like a familiar dilemma? Don't tell me you have never experienced any of the following: Do I really have to stay back and cleanup after volunteering at my favorite charity. I'm tired, I have a family, have to get my kids going in the morning.....  Ever been single and lived by yourself abroad? Remember those visions of the sink piled high with unwashed dishes? You wash up only when you can't even find a clean cup for drinking water Paperwork? Who has time? Let it pile up, I'll...

January 19, 2011 In an earlier post , I discussed Geeta in the Hollywood film, "The Legend of Bagger Vance". Today, I'll take an example from Bollywood. Some famous shlokas of the Bhagavad Gita have become part of the idiom, in most Indian languages. There is an obvious favorite in this category - the one that embodies the fundamental attitude of karma yoga. कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन | मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ||२-४७|| karmaNyevaadhikaaraste maa phaleshhu kadaachana . maa karmaphalaheturbhuurmaa te saN^go.astvakarmaNi .. 2-47.. Your right is to work only, but never to its fruits; let not the fruit-of-action be your motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction. Unfortunately, the idiomatic can easily become idiotic. One example is the song based on this shloka in the 1975 film  Sanyasi , starring Manoj Kumar and Hema Malini. The song begins with chanting of the shloka followed by the line " karam kiye ja phal ki iccha mat kar ai insaan ...

January 17th, 2011 My colleague Vijay stopped by today to share the prasādam that he had got when he had darshan of Śhri Venkataachalapati at Tirupati. This reminded me of Shri Krishna's statement Śhri Krishna's statement in the 13th shloka of chapter 3. यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः | yaGYashishhTaashinaH santo muchyante sarvakilbishhaiH . Our Guruji, Pujya Swami Tejomayanandaji , explains that those who first share the results of their actions offered as worship, and then take for themselves, are freed from all sins. How beautifully this concept has come through in my friends' thoughtful gesture. It is simply second nature for numerous devout Hindus to make sure that they get enough prasādam to share with other when they go back home. When you realize that प्रसाद (prasād) in samskṛtam also indicates 'grace' and 'serenity', through this beautiful gesture my friend is trying to share the grace and serenity that he experienced when he had darsh...

January 14th, 2011 Today is the 10th anniversary of Wikipedia. Click here for a detailed view of Wikipedia in Wikipedia. In todays world, this crowd-sourced encyclopedia is wonderful example of what Pujya Gurudev refers to as the Yagna spirit as described by Śhri Krishna in chapter 3. यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः | तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ||३-९|| yaGYaarthaatkarmaNo.anyatra loko.aya.n karmabandhanaH . tadartha.n karma kaunteya muktasaN^gaH samaachara .. 3-9.. The World is bound by action other than those performed 'for the sake of Yagna' ; do thou, therefore, O son of Kunti, perform action of that sake (for Yagna) alone, free from all attachments. Gurudev in his commentary defines the Yagna spirit as "any self-sacrificing work, undertaken in a spirit of self-dedication, for the blessing of all" What is creditable in all the 10 years of its existence is that Wikipedia has remained free for anyone to access the world over and does not accep...

January 9, 2011 In teaching my son to chant Bhagavad Geeta chapter 6, I was experiencing some frustration when he seemed to be taking a very long time to learn a simple passage. I should have known that Śhri Krishna has a solution in the same chapter. In verses 25 & 26 in the same chapter, Śhri Krishna says: शनैः शनैरुपरमेद् बुद्ध्या धृतिगृहीतया | आत्मसंस्थं मनः कृत्वा न किञ्चिदपि चिन्तयेत् ||६-२५|| shanaiH shanairuparamed.h bud.hdhyaa dhR^itigR^ihiitayaa . aatmasa.nsthaM manaH kR^itvaa na ki~nchidapi chintayet.h .. 6-25.. Little by little, let him attain quietude by his intellect held firm; having established the mind in the Self, let him not think of anything else. यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् | ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ||६-२६|| yato yato nishcharati manashcha~nchalamasthiram.h . tatastato niyamyaitadaatmanyeva vashaM nayet.h .. 6-26.. From whatever cause, the restless mind and the unsteady mind wanders away, from that let him restrain it, and bring it back und...

January 6th, 2011 I like to look for interesting images that depict the Gita on the web. Here is a beautiful one by Philippe Raffard that I found. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FeteVarkala.jpg

January 2, 2011 Just back from a camp at Chinmaya Vibhooti . Pujya Guruji, Swami Tejomayanandaji taught from the text Yoga Vasistha Sara Sangrah . Those who have heard Guruji know the high that one gets from listening to his teaching. I am on that nasha and my mind keeps going back every now and then. There are numerous interesting parallels between the Gita and Yoga Vasishtha. I have time only to discuss a couple of them: 1. Arjuna as Shri Krishna's disciple v/s Śri Rāma as Vasishtha's disciple. Guruji pointed out that in the case of the Yoga Vasishtha, the seeker is an avatara of the Lord himself and the Guru is the Rishi Vasishtha whereas in the Gita, Arjuna is the seeker and the Lord is the Guru. 2. The state of a "Man-of-Realization" In the 54th verse of Chapter 2 in the Gita, Arjuna asks Shri Krishna स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव | स्थितधीः किं प्रभाषेत किमासीत व्रजेत किम् ||२-५४|| sthitapraGYasya kaa bhaashhaa samaadhisthasya keshava . sthitadhiiH ki...

January 1, 2011 Over the years, I have come across a few good instances of Gita websites that I would gladly recommend to anyone as an electronic resource. Gita Guidance based on Swami Chinmayananda's Teachings . It has good links for specific topics addressed in the Gita that direct you to the relevant verses with a brief explanation. A minor complaint, I have is that none of the verses are in Devanagari. However, all the verse references are clearly indicated for the reader to refer to in their own copy. Gita Supersite : While currently, this site works mainly for IE users, there is a beta version under development that has unicode support and has more features. This site is great for those who want to review different commentaries / translations of the Bhagavad Gita and look at them side-by-side. They continue to add more languages and editions - definitely a must-visit site for those who want to study the Gita from the great masters, present and past, who have commented and...