A book of life, meditation & meditative life

© Puneet Srivastava, Feb 2015
A Book:
of life, meditation &
meditative life.

Bhagwad Gita is India’s most powerful book.
Yet so many people know little about it.
This short slideshow explain a few basics.

Bhagwad Gita is a 5000 year old book.
The original script is in Sanskrit.
Now translations are available in several
languages.

Bhagwad Gita is a conversation between
a teacher and his ‘devoted’ disciple.
The disciple asks and the teacher answers.
The word ‘devoted’ here is of extreme
significance.

The teacher is the supreme master of the
Universe.
The disciple is an ace-archer,
a representative of the mankind.

Despite the mythology,
Bhagwad Gita is a book of life.
It tells: How the human life must be lived?
Rather, in what all ways life could be lived.

I share my experience:
When, I first read Bhagwad Gita,
I was 25 years age.
I understood nothing.
I only got a feeling of calmness,
which I experienced nowhere
and in nothing before.

Few years later I met my teacher.
Our teacher gave us the mantra of SDM.
• Satsang
• Disciplined Life
• Meditation
Our teacher told us to
follow SDM every day in life.

Our teacher never taught us Bhagwad Gita directly.
He asked us only to practice SDM instead.
He taught through little stories and simple examples.
He said, what must, shall come to you by itself.
Practice SDM everyday! He said.
Besides: “Watching Thought Flow”
Was our technique for Meditation.

Somewhere Bhagwad Gita came to me again.
May be, it became my support in wake of
geographical separation from the teacher.
10 years later I discovered,
SDM was the message of Bhagwad Gita.
Now both are my
constant companions.

So, What is Bhagwad Gita?
In simple words, it is a book that tells
science of 5 things, as stated beautifully
in the commentary by Sri Prabhupada.

At first it tells the Science of the Supreme.
I speak not much about this.
This is a subject better experienced than told.
So you shall have to make your own discoveries
on this.

The second thing it defines is the Science of ‘us’.
Yes, ‘us’; meaning ‘we’ – the ‘living creatures’.
It tells about the genesis of our being.
What are we? Who are we?
Why are we, what we may be?
It tells secret
of existence of all the creatures.

Third, Bhagwad Gita tells Science of the Nature.
It tells why the world is like the way it is.
It tells how various forces of nature run this world.
It tells how those forces are governed.
They include physical forces and also…
emotional forces like kindness,
compassion, cruelty, fear etc.

Fourth, it tells the Science of Time.
The Sanskrit word is ‘kaal’,
which is the destructive aspect of time.
What is this ‘kaal’?
How it governs this world?
How it work with the forces of nature?
How that impacts us?
Bhagwad Gita lays clear description of it all.

Finally, it tells the Science of Karma.
In popular perception ‘Karma’ is believed to be ‘Action’.
But my teacher clarifies. ‘Karma’ is ‘Thought + Action’.
Thus Bhagavad Gita states the Law of Karma and why
none can escape it.
It also tells how the cycle of Karma
can be won over.
How true freedom can be attained. It tells it all.

I Quote from the book:
That very ancient science of the relationship with the
Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My
devotee as well as My friend and can therefore
understand the transcendental mystery of this science.
BG 4.3

The next question may be:
How may one learn the message of Bhagwad Gita?
One may not know Sanskrit.
One may not understand the big
commentaries as written by experts.

Here I suggest a methodology.
At first, one must learn to believe.

My teacher tells a wonderful example.
In schools they teach us: H2O is water. We believe.
Have we seen ‘H’?
Have we seen ‘O’?
No! Yet we believe.

Similarly, the message of Bhagwad Gita comes only
to the true believers. So, be one. That’s the first
requirement.

Next, pick up a book of your comfort
and size, preferably in your Mother Tongue.

There are countless commentaries on Bhagwad Gita.
Choose any one of liking.

Each commentary (or most) will have three parts.
First, the Sanskrit Shloka (verse);
Second its translation in your language.
& third, the expert’s commentary on the shloka.
As a beginner, please avoid
reading the commentary at first.

That is because:
The commentary may confuse you terribly.
Besides, parts may be difficult to understand in
perspective.
Instead, read the translation.

The shlokas of Bhagwad Gita are laid
in a sequence of their own.
You have to do nothing,
just keep reading the translations
one after another.
This shall bring you something.
Guaranteed!

If you have liked what you have read and wish to
learn more;
Then now search for a teacher.
You shall find one, no matter which part of the world
you may be.

Go to the teacher and listen carefully.
Read, Listen, Practice, Read.
Follow the instructions of the teacher.

Few words of caution:
First, Bhagwad Gita is not easy.
It is subtle.
At places the message is extremely subtle.
Thus mind must be alert.
It may require lot of patience.

Secondly, Bhagwad Gita cannot be understood
without devotion.
But for a devotee the wisdom opens up by itself like
the flower of lotus.

Finally, since there are several commentaries on Bhagwad
Gita, there is also confusion.
It may so happen that you get to listen/read two different
interpretations of the same thing.
Sometimes they may seem conflicting.
What may one do in such moments?

My suggestion:
Follow your heart
or still better follow your teacher.
On this I quote my teacher,
‘What must, shall come to you.’
So believe truly.

This was Bhagwad Gita in 108 sentences.
In my experience, I would know perhaps less than 1%
of this endless ocean.
Yet that in itself has been life-transforming.
Such is the power of
this 5000 year old book.

Bhagwad Gita is the purest essence
of all the spiritual wisdom of India.

A mere reading of this work can make any person
embrace meditation & meditative life without going
to forest or renouncing the world.

It is a message for everyone & I hope this shall inspire
and motivate people all over the world to read
Bhagwad Gita.

Dedication:
To my revered teacher Swami Amartayananda & the
message of SDM.
• Satsang
• Disciplined Life
• Meditation

A book of life, meditation & meditative life

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (9)

Similar to A book of life, meditation & meditative life

Similar to A book of life, meditation & meditative life (9)

More from Puneet Srivastava

More from Puneet Srivastava (14)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

A book of life, meditation & meditative life