Some people will tell you that the Bhagwat Geeta is not a Hindu scripture while some others will tell the opposite. The confusion arises because the meanings attached to the word Hindu has changed over time. It started as a word which represented people who lived in Hindusthan, a place across the Hindukush river. Then there were foreigners who came to this place as traders, some made it their home and the culture of its inhabitants expanded. There were invasions and divisions of land and what we have left now is a multicultural country called India where some citizen organizations call themselves Hindus while others don't, some have even hijacked the teachings of the belief system and established ownership of it redefining it in their own terms.
Now, I was probably lucky my mother never gave importance to religion when I was young so I grew up to question the belief systems of the world and see them in a different light than accept the oneness of an omnipotent, omnipresent being who runs the universe through many religions with opposing views.
You can control what you do (your karma) but not what you become (your destiny). Like it is said in the Bhagwat Geeta:
2-47. karmaņyevādhikaras te
ma phalesu kadacana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango 'stv akarmani
What it says is:
You can have a control on the actions you perform
But none to the results of those actions
Never become attached to the results of your actions
Never let this attachment become the cause of your inaction.
Having the latter as your goal is what leads you to get entangled in material bondage and adopt hypocrisy as the solution to all problems. Problems are always material in nature so they will vanish eventually but while they prevail, it is important to have a spiritual guide to help you understand them and learn from them. Nowadays, I turn to the Bhagwat Geeta everytime I feel frustrated about something and Krśņa almost always has an answer to the 'whys' that my mind wants to dwell in. Heres the next verse following above:
2-48. yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi
sańgaḿ tyaktvā dhanañjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā
samatvaḿ yoga ucyate
What it says is:
Perform all actions situated in yoga
abandoning attachment, oh winner of wealth,
having the same mindset during success and failure
Such evenness of mind is called yoga
Now the word yoga can be explained with a lot of words in English, yet they all point towards a balanced state of mind or union of mind body spirit.
Samatvam is being able to maintain one's balance in success and failure, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, remaining equipoised in all circumstances. That is the path to yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi. In the next verse Krśņa tells Arjun exactly how to move towards this state of mind:
2-49. dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma
buddhi-yogādhanañjaya
buddhau śaraṇam anviccha
kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ
What it means:
Leave behind all the abominable actions (actions that displease your conscience)
to your steady intelligence oh winner of wealth
And surrender your desires to this intelligence
For those who desire the fruits of their labor are misers
They say the buddhi (or intelligence) is above manas (the mind) which is above Ahamkāra (the ego) but it takes a little bit of an effort to know the difference between them all without undermining the importance of any one of them. Listening to your Ahamkāra is important for making sense of this material world yet Ahamkāra alone can not help you make decisions so, listen to your mind to attain control over your ego and listen to your buddhi to attain control over your mind. The soul is said to exist above buddhi.
The question now is what is this intelligence or buddhi? You can call it Spiritual intelligence or simply speaking it is the collective mental quality that represents the faculties of intellect, instincts and intution. Or in other words Jeevatma, Aatma and Paramatama (or Bhagavan) with intellect being just the first stage of realization, we mature and get more intelligent as we learn to follow our instincts and be guided by our intutions while caring less about the worldly opinions.
Now, I was probably lucky my mother never gave importance to religion when I was young so I grew up to question the belief systems of the world and see them in a different light than accept the oneness of an omnipotent, omnipresent being who runs the universe through many religions with opposing views.
Hinduism is a very mystical belief system. And one thing you need to understand about it is that where mystique is concerned, misinformation spreads faster than information; fear spreads faster than trust and ignorance spreads faster than knowledge. They say Science is not an easy concept to capture for the average mind whose only goal in life is survival. But Hinduism with all its mythological gods and stories makes the scientific concepts accessible to the masses. So think before you judge.
The reason why so many superstitions and myths prevail in our society is not due to some inherent flaw in the scientific principles that shaped the belief, rather it is mostly so because people fail to realize that the sole purpose of this life is to learn and gain knowledge, not become someone learned and knowledgeable.
2-47. karmaņyevādhikaras te
ma phalesu kadacana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
ma te sango 'stv akarmani
What it says is:
You can have a control on the actions you perform
But none to the results of those actions
Never become attached to the results of your actions
Never let this attachment become the cause of your inaction.
Having the latter as your goal is what leads you to get entangled in material bondage and adopt hypocrisy as the solution to all problems. Problems are always material in nature so they will vanish eventually but while they prevail, it is important to have a spiritual guide to help you understand them and learn from them. Nowadays, I turn to the Bhagwat Geeta everytime I feel frustrated about something and Krśņa almost always has an answer to the 'whys' that my mind wants to dwell in. Heres the next verse following above:
2-48. yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi
sańgaḿ tyaktvā dhanañjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā
samatvaḿ yoga ucyate
What it says is:
Perform all actions situated in yoga
abandoning attachment, oh winner of wealth,
having the same mindset during success and failure
Such evenness of mind is called yoga
Now the word yoga can be explained with a lot of words in English, yet they all point towards a balanced state of mind or union of mind body spirit.
Samatvam is being able to maintain one's balance in success and failure, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, remaining equipoised in all circumstances. That is the path to yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi. In the next verse Krśņa tells Arjun exactly how to move towards this state of mind:
2-49. dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma
buddhi-yogādhanañjaya
buddhau śaraṇam anviccha
kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ
What it means:
Leave behind all the abominable actions (actions that displease your conscience)
to your steady intelligence oh winner of wealth
And surrender your desires to this intelligence
For those who desire the fruits of their labor are misers
They say the buddhi (or intelligence) is above manas (the mind) which is above Ahamkāra (the ego) but it takes a little bit of an effort to know the difference between them all without undermining the importance of any one of them. Listening to your Ahamkāra is important for making sense of this material world yet Ahamkāra alone can not help you make decisions so, listen to your mind to attain control over your ego and listen to your buddhi to attain control over your mind. The soul is said to exist above buddhi.
The question now is what is this intelligence or buddhi? You can call it Spiritual intelligence or simply speaking it is the collective mental quality that represents the faculties of intellect, instincts and intution. Or in other words Jeevatma, Aatma and Paramatama (or Bhagavan) with intellect being just the first stage of realization, we mature and get more intelligent as we learn to follow our instincts and be guided by our intutions while caring less about the worldly opinions.
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