How to apply Bhagavad Gita in our day to day life?
A Class 12 student asked like this:
“ Sir i often read about the mind n conciousness. I was told by some relatives that bhagwat gita is the best book in the world. So i got an audio book of this title. I have listened some of the lectures but i am unable to apply the teachings given in Gita with my life ! I think i m just 17 yrs old so i must be unable to get the proper meaning of the text . Therefore it might be a fault on my behalf.. Now to remove this failure, I read the same chapter again n again ! And each time i study it, i find something new. but then when the application part comes (how to apply that knowledge in the real world) I m unable to make any use of this knowledge…sir !
Moreover as i don’t have anyone to help me out in this area so i need ur help sir.. In wait for a reply. Als recommend a right devotional practice for me”
REPLY:
I appreciate you as you have started the process of Self and God Realization in your age of 17 itself. That is good. Let Krishna bless you.
You need not take any special efforts to apply Bhagavad Gita in your life. If you read Bhagavad Gita with keen interest and devotion, it will automatically change your consciousness and make you to work more perfectly in your life. It will be a natural process.
That is the fact. Bhagavad Gita gives new meaning whenever we read it again and again. Because, it is the topmost transcendental knowledge spoken by Krishna Himself. As we are conditioned souls, we are in different mood at different times. So, we find it new every time we read it.
Bhagavad Gita is taught in M.B.A and other Studies in many universities worldwide. Every business administration needs a balanced mindset to face both positives and negatives equally. Because every business will face gains as well losses and also many other problems. So, they have to be approached with a balanced mindset. Bhagavad Gita gives a perfect approach in facing both positives and negatives.
No other author in this world has given the right way of administration of life as given by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita. Krishna beautifully explains how we can remain balanced in both happiness and miseries. How to avoid twins of happiness & sorrows, ups & downs, etc. This quality is very important in any administration.
The absence of this balanced mindset is the root cause of all the problems in our life. That is why, there are many suicides in our world. I tell you that those who sincerely read and follow Bhagavad Gita, will never commit suicide in his life time. This is guaranteed. Because, such a wonderful explanation to face ups and downs equally that will make every reader energetic and encouraging.
Every reader will know to which things he should give importance in his life and how to deal with every happening in his life. This will give him a life without problems that are faced by others.
Anyone who reads and follows the advices given by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita, will definitely remain very blissful in his life because no miseries can shake him from his firm stand.
So, Continue reading Bhagavad Gita. As you read alone, you face some problems, I think. So, read Bhagavad Gita in the satsangha of devotees and under the proper guidance. Purchase Bhagavad Gita As It Is, by Srila Prabhupada, founder acharya of ISKCON. Because, as he is from a bonafide sampradhaya, he has not invented new concepts, but, has written the purports as it is without changing the views of krishna. So, contact your nearest ISKCON centre for a copy and also contact the devotees there for guidance.
What we learn from Bhagavad Gita?
We learn that we are not this body, but soul.
We are eternally existing, but our bodies change.
Working without attaching to the results and dedicating the results to Krishna.
One should perform his own assigned duties, not the duties of others.
Only our gunas act, not we.
Three gunas and the nature, food, dhaan, etc., related to every guna.
What to eat, what to speak, what to donate, etc.
Total surrender to Krishna giving up all religious practices.
how divine knowledge destroys all doubts.
Renunciation means acting without attachment, not escaping from duties.
Remembering Krishna at the time of death.
Breathtaking vision of Krishna’s cosmic, universal form.
How to get spiritual liberation by overcoming the three universal qualities of nature.
Thus, there are many things to learn from Bhagavad Gita.
Simply speaking, if one follows Bhagavad Gita in letter and spirit, he will definitely grow both spiritually and materially.
Now, let us come to the devotional practices:
Actually, many people are thinking that the devotional practice is like standing in the fire or hot water and doing hardest penances as done by the rishis in the puranas. It is not so. Those puranas have the characters that were existing in other yugas.
The process of sadhanas that leads us to Krishna is different for every yuga. It was long penances in Satya Yuga, Yagas & yagnas in Treta Yuga, and Temple worship in the previous Dvapar yuga.
But, we are fortunate to have taken birth in this kaliyuga, as the process is very simplified in this kaliyuga. In Kaliyuga, we need not do penances for long years; We need not do yagas. In kaliyuga, Krishna lives in His name. So, you are just required to chant His Holy Name and follow a disciplined life. That is enough.
Hope this helps you.
(What is Karma Yoga? Will it reduce our Initiative for not expecting results? READ HERE!)