Saturday 13 June 2015

GITA A BOOK OR  AN EXPERIENCE ?

When Sri Krishna spoke the Bhagavad- Gita to Arjuna, it was an experience which Arjuna could only relish in the core of his heart. Experiences are different from events.  Events can be reproduced, but experiences are difficult to reproduce.  A mother experiencing  childbirth cannot experience child birth again with the same child . She can officially celebrate the birthday, but the birth experience of the same baby ---not possible.
When someone gets married, it is an event, but more so it’s a powerful experience, which can be recollected as a memory, “oh it was great experience.”   The marriage album does not give the feelings they can only give memory.

For Arjuna hearing the Gita was an amazing experience. After the Kurukshetra war when Arjuna asked Sri Krishna to speak the bhagvad gita again as they were strolling along the river Yamuna Sri Krishna declined, saying it is impossible to repeat.

One may raise the question ," then why do we take shelter of the Gita, if the experience cannot be repeated?"
The Gita teaches us, to learn the concept of experiencing divinity but experiencing it is our responsibility.

How can we experience what Arjuna experienced? It is possible, Sri Krishna gives the process, which when applied has the power to make us experience.  Process and result are one and the same as we progress on the path of Yoga, specially the yoga of bhakti. Everybody has a different  experience. To expect that we can relish the Gita only if Krishna comes and speaks to us is outrageous.  Speaking the gita is a prerogative of God. Our situations will allow us to experience Krishna, if we decide to take shelter of the Gita. It was Arjuna’s choice to take shelter and krishna took him through the journey of the Gita, and that experience, Arjuna, recounted when Sri Krishna departed from this world. The beauty with spiritual substance is that it not only gives memory but gives experience.

The power of spiritual substance is that it has the power to influence our experiences.  We see that all of us have the same situation as Arjuna confusion and conflict, to do it or not, so Gita’s wisdom is not information centric it is transformation centric.  Gita was spoken historically a few thousand years ago, but it can be heard  even today by every one those who has the same  predicament as Arjuna. In fact everyone has similar situations  and if we are ready like Arjuna, then we will be able to access the experience. Simple political history is a collection of facts, but the Gita while being a fact has an impact.  Let us try to take wisdom of Gita and see the difference.

1 comment:

  1. Yoga Vasishta is a complex version of Gita.

    This creation is a dream city of the infinite consciousness - Vasishta to Rama. Movie Matrix :-)

    ReplyDelete