Everyday Geeta

August 1, 2012 Our dear Maheshbhai was someone I looked upto in my college years. A silent teacher and contributor of innumerable laughs in his inimitable manner, Maheshbhai passed away on July 10th. I saw this evocative picture in his home.... completely in keeping with the theme of this blog. Dedicated to that great Geetacharya, Param Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji , the first love of Mahesh's huge heart. The verse displayed is Geeta 18-68.  Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

July 31, 2012 There is a very effective point made in lesson 1 of the Chinmaya International Foundation's   e-Gita course . It was brought up again by Swamini Vimalanandaji while introducing the context of the Bhagavad Gita at the Dharma Sevak program in Chinmaya Gardens, Coimbatore last week. Reading chapter 1 of the Bhagavad Geeta, one should never be surprised if we find ourselves nodding at Arjuna's arguments. After all who wants war? As someone said, "War never settles what is right. Only what is left!" Yet, there are many other reasons why Arjuna reminds us of ourselves. Like me, Arjuna is an accomplished individual who likes to win. He is ambitious.  Frequently, we do not consider ourselves spiritual and are only seeking an answer to a topical problem.This contrasts to the Upanishads where the student is usually a spiritual person who has set out to seek the Truth.   We have all been through a situation which has taken an unexpectedly fearful turn. Or where my...

July 30, 2012 I have recently been reading " Lokmanya Tilak, A Biography" by AK Bhagwat and GP Pradhan published by Jaico Publishing House . I felt really bad when I realized today that I had missed his Jayanti (birth anniversary) on July 23 when I was on vacation. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, respectfully called,  Lokmanya Tilak , was a giant among the early Indian nationalists, who gave India the dynamic call to freedom: "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it." When you hear it in Marathi, "स्वराज्य हा माझा जन्मसिद्ध अधिकार आहे आणि तो मी मिळवणारच!" or in Hindi, स्वराज हमारा जन्मसिद्ध अधिकार है और हम इसे लेकर रहेंगे (translation as above...)! You realize what a Vedantic declaration this is and it could just as easily have been said by a Swami Vivekananda. Until now, I felt I owed a personal debt of gratitude to Lokmanya Tilak since he was the genius who launched the celebration of Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav that has grown into such a sacred source of joy for mi...

July 28, 2012 Just back from a camp with Param Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayanandaji and Swamini Vimalanandaji at Chinmaya Gardens trust. An interesting thing that was mentioned by both Guruji and Swamini was the existence of multiple Geetas in our spiritual texts. The literal translation of the word Gita or Geeta is song. However, Swamini explained that in the scriptural sense, Geeta refers to a discussion between teacher and disciple where the focus is on the Truth. We were fortunate to hear talks by Pujya Guruji on: Vibheeshana Gita , a dialog between Shri Ramachandraji and Vibheeshana found in Goswami Tulsidasji's Ramcharitmanas Purajana Gita , an address by Shri Ramachandraji on Bhakti found again in Tulsidasji's Ramcharitmanas  Param Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji , himself has spoken on two other Gita texts as far as I am aware: Sri Rama Gita , a dialog between Shri Ramachandraji and his brother, Lakshmanji sourced from Adhyatma Ramayana Ashtavakra Gita , a di...

July 8, 2012 Have you checked out www.mkgandhi.org . This is a wonderful resource for all things related to Mahatma Gandhi. I received this beautiful quote in an email from them a couple of days ago: Pujya Swamini Vimalanandaji very kindly pointed out the verse that is possibly the closest match to Mahatma Gandhi's quote pictured above. It is Geeta 12-15: यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः | हर्षामर्षभयोद्वेगैर्मुक्तो यः स च मे प्रियः ||१२-१५|| yasmaannodvijate loko lokaannodvijate cha yaH . harshhaamarshhabhayodvegairmukto yaH sa cha me priyaH .. 12-15.. He by whom the world is not agitated (affected) , and who cannot be agitated by the world, who is freed from joy, envy, fear, and anxiety --- he is dear to me. Mahatma Gandhi is clearly linking the quality of the devotee who is serene, is neither disturbed nor does he cause disturbance in others to the attitude of non-violence. Going by this shloka, one could make the argument that a non-violent person must seek to be fre...

July 4, 2012 Imagine my surprise when I found a link to this article on Mahendra Singh Dhoni by Greg Chappell in the Hindu. Clearly neither needs introduction, yet since I am not a huge follower of cricket, I can vouch for this remarkable line in the article: It was clear to me that Dhoni was a captain in the making. Whenever I thought of Dhoni, I was reminded of the quote from Bhagavad Gita, ‘It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of someone else's life with perfection.' For those who want to know the shloka referred to in that quote: श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् | स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ||३-३५|| shreyaansvadharmo viguNaH paradharmaatsvanushhThitaat.h . svadharme nidhana.n shreyaH paradharmo bhayaavahaH .. 3\-35.. Better is one's own 'duty' , though devoid of merit, than the 'duty' of another well discharged. Better is death in one's own 'duty' ; the 'duty' of ano...

July 7, 2012 Continuing my posts on role models based on Geeta 3-21 , let me share another one that came to my attention. This is a talk titled 'Paths Are Made By Walking' highlighting Nipun Mehta's interesting "honeymoon trip". I will just highlight one quote to whet your appetite. For us, this walk was a pilgrimage -- and our goal was simply to be in a space larger than our egos, and to allow that compassion to guide us in unscripted acts of service along the way. Stripped entirely of our comfort zone and accustomed identities, could we still “keep it real”? That was our challenge. We ended up walking 1000 kilometers over three months. In that period, we encountered the very best and the very worst of human nature -- not just in others, but also within ourselves. The conclusion is wonderful: May you be blessed. Change yourself -- change the world. and in keeping with my previous posts on change . Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post