BookMarks #126: The Bhagavad Gita for Millennials

Title: The Bhagavad Gita for Millennials

Author: Bibek Debroy

Genre: Non-fiction, Spiritual, Self-help

Published: 2020

BookMarks

The book serves as an introduction to Bhagavad Gita. It is not a direct interpretation of the full text but more of a commentary carrying key messages, and also how to read the Bhagavad Gita itself. A few key learnings from the book both about the Gita as well as its messages.

About Gita

• Ved Vyasa is not a single entity. In our present cycle of creation, there have already been twenty-seven Veda Vyasas.
• “The book, Gita, had not been much known to the generality of people before Shankaracharya made it famous by writing his great commentary on it. This has led some infer that Shankaracharya was the author of the Gita, and that it was he who foisted it into the body of the Mahabharata.”- Swami Vivekananda's commentary on Gita
• Writing of Mahabharat - from the original to the final version covers a period of 1000 years, from 500 BCE to 500 CE.
• There are four people who speak in the Bhagavad Gita: Krishna, Arjuna, Sanjaya and Dhritarashtra. Of the 700 shlokas, Dhritarashtra speaks only the first one

Messages from the Gita

• The Bhagavad Gita is about evolution, from a lower plane to a higher one.
• Knowledge, when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti.
• The heart is associated with bhakti, the mind is associated with jnana and the body is associated with karma.
• The definition of Religion is four-fold; Veda, Smriti, Sadacharah (good conduct) and Atmatushti (self-satisfaction).’
• One would need to have a very bloated sense of ego to presume that one could change the external world and others. All of us are insignificant. What we can change is our own selves.
• Quid pro quos, giving something in return for something else taken, is a feature of human relationships, not a divine one.
• One who considers oneself free is free indeed and one who considers himself bound remains bound
• Everything depends on perseverance and effort. The success or failure of any message depends on the transmitter, as well as the receiver.
• The jivatman does not die. Death does not come as an end. It marks a new beginning.
• ‘What is the greatest wonder?’ Yudhishthira answered, ‘Day after day, living beings go to Yama’s abode. Yet, those who remain, desire to live forever. What can be a greater wonder than that?’
• A king must learn from the conduct of a crow, a cuckoo, a bee, a crane, a snake, a peacock, a swan, a cock and iron. Perseverance from the crow, accumulation from the cuckoo, collection of taxes from the bee, patience from the crane, concentrated virulence from the snake, extension (of the kingdom) from the peacock, discrimination from the swan, arising at the right time from the cock and hardness from iron. Towards the enemy, a king must behave like an owl. At the right time, the king must act like an ant.
• It is extremely difficult to know what dharma and karma are. Therefore, what should be done is never evident.

General Knowledge

• A Kshetra is a place of pilgrimage where there is no flowing water and tirtha is a place of pilgrimage where there is flowing water.
• ‘Money is the root of all evil.’ We have heard it and we often quote it. The original is from the Bible. The correct quote, in an English language translation is, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ The entire meaning changes.

Overall, an interesting read. However, the narrative does go all over the place at times probably like the original Mahabharat text itself. 

Previously on BookMarks: Corporate Chanakya on Leadership