The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata, the epic Hindu poem, and is a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and his charioteer, Lord Krishn - the embodiment of divinity - taking place just before the great battle between the two sides of the family: the Pandavas and the Kuravas.

Although the text emphasizes devotion to God, I think its lessons can be applied and understood in a broader, non-religious context. The book is honestly not even about the battlefield, and every element is symbolic or representational of what we face in life and the hard decisions that often leave us paralyzed. Just like Arjuna seeks Krishna’s guidance, wanting him in a way to make a decision for him, we too, sometimes overwhelmed by the situation, want to leave things to chance or have someone take us by the hand and walk us through the tough times. So, the Gita is really about the war that goes on in our minds - the self-doubt, the importance of acting decisively, purposefully, and in alignment with our truth. Thus, each one of us is Arjuna, and each one of us has the Lord Krishna within or the higher Self that’s our own savior and most reliable friend.

I personally don’t like the idea of God and think that every answer we need is already within us. It’s just a matter of introspection and self-awareness to find those answers. I know that for many, turning to God means finding solace and comfort in knowing that someone out there cares for you, supposedly loving you unconditionally and doing everything to keep you safe and well. And while there’s nothing wrong with that - because we all feel cornered and desperate at times - to me, it’s a sign of mental weakness and an unwillingness to accept responsibility. Everything that happens is the consequence of our own decisions, actions, or lack thereof - not some higher order.

Saying "I believe in God" to me is equivalent to saying "I’ve stopped trying to figure things out; I just want to take the pressure of decision making off and leave things to God’s will." It’s like being a child relying on its parents for care and support. It’s like being led rather than leading, about acceptance and conformity, and submission to an easier path, because the harder path requires more mental energy and lacks clear purpose.

Overall, it sounds like I’m saying that religion diminishes our capacity for critical thinking and responsibility, and that’s probably what I want to say. But I also want to acknowledge that to each their own, and everything is just a different way of dealing with life, so let everyone believe whatever they want.

Circling back to the Bhagavad Gita, what I really like about it and other spiritual texts from both Hinduism and Buddhism is that they don’t impose certain principles or ways of living on you. Instead, they encourage you to get out, explore, live life fully, and arrive at your own truth through your own trial and error, because life can only be understood through our active engagement with it, not through living in our head and acting out potential scenarios.

I think the message that Krishna is trying to convey in the Gita is that we should live life fearlessly and authentically, knowing that in any situation, there’s a decision to be made. It’s better to make that decision with strength and integrity. Furthermore, there’s no need to be attached to the outcome of that decision, for there is inherently no right or wrong. It simply is, and we’ve done our best to make it as closely aligned with our values as possible. Whatever follows, follows - and we should deal with its consequences just as openly.

In the Gita, the war is inevitable - if Arjuna renounces the fight, it will lead to more deaths down the road and a prolonged conflict. If he fights his kin, there will still be deaths and major losses, but in the long run, it’ll bring peace. In its literal sense, the Bhagavad Gita justifies killing. I might be wrong, but I think in both Hinduism and Buddhism, the idea of a greater purpose is used to justify what’s objectively perceived as acts of violence, even though sometimes it’s more about being forced to choose between two wrongs and is highly context-dependent.

Metaphorically speaking, and I think it’s important not to take the Bhagavad Gita literally, it’s about knowing that both decisions can go wrong but not getting stuck in indecisiveness. It’s about understanding and becoming immune to the negative feelings that get in the way. On a metaphysical level, I believe it’s about recognizing that the end is the same - no matter what decisions you make, you’ll die anyway. So while you’re alive, try to live up to the most virtuous version of yourself and be a better person day by day. Don’t let attachment to outcome dictate your decisions, drive you to recklessness, or deprive you of action.

Stoicism and Buddhism are both similar to Hinduism in this sense, as they teach that we should be removed from the result of our actions or any expectation of either success or failure, and accept whatever comes our way with equanimity. Stoicism is a philosophy I feel deeply connected to - it emphasizes focusing on what’s within our control, our actions and reactions, while remaining indifferent to outcomes and external events, which are beyond our control. Buddhism emphasizes the impermanent, changing nature of all things, so there’s no need to be attached to the current state of things or to crave them to be a certain way. In this regard, they all advocate focusing on action itself because being focused on outcomes, or in other words, desiring a specific result or trying to control external events, causes suffering.

Let me rephrase, also, I do realize there’s a lot of repetition in my articles, but repetition lets things sink in better. Our desire for a specific outcome, or our desire to control the course of events, causes us suffering. Imagine you’re a runner trying to complete 5k in under 20 minutes - if this outcome is all you keep in mind, then if you fail, you’ll likely perceive yourself as a failure, and you won’t be satisfied with the process of running. Instead, if you focus only on the process of running 5k, without desiring a specific time frame, you’re a winner regardless of the outcome. Thus, everything is a matter of perspective, and shifting our perspective toward detachment leads to inner peace.

I might add more later… Also I truly love this quote:

We are not cabin-dwellers, born to a life cramped and confined; we are meant to explore, to seek, to push the limits of our potential as human beings. The world of the senses is just a base camp: we are meant to be as much at home in consciousness as in the world of physical reality.