OVERVIEW : BHAGAVAD GITA 3rd Century CE AGE : Believed to be composed between 5th and 2nd centuries BCE. NATURE: Part of the Indian epic, the Mahabharata; a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. CONTENT: Addresses moral dilemmas, duty, righteousness, paths of yoga, and the nature of life and death. PURPOSE: A practical guide to applying the profound insights of the Upanishads in the complexities of human life. Gives guidance on leading a righteous life, fulfilling duties, and attaining spiritual liberation. FOCUS: In response to Arjuna's inner turmoil, the Gita introduces Karma Yoga (the yoga of action), Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion), Jnana Yoga (the yoga of knowledge) as avenues to attain spiritual realisation within the world. YOGA: While exploring different paths of yoga, the Gita focuses on how they can be applied within the context of life and duty. TEACHINGS : Rooted in the understanding of the unity between the individual and the cosmos as elucidated by the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita teaches selfless action, detachment from results, devotion to the Divine, and the realisation of the eternal self. It encourages individuals to perform their duties without attachment to outcomes, thereby achieving liberation. LANGUAGE : Written in classical Sanskrit.

Worldly Opposites: The Gita acknowledges life's polarities that create a dualistic perspective, like joy and sorrow, success and failure, birth and death. These opposites are natural in the material world, impacting us all. It's how our senses interact with the world. “From the world of the senses, Arjuna, comes heat and comes cold and pleasure and pain, they come and they go, they are transient. arise above them, strong soul” Gita 2:14 Rising Above: Krishna teaches Arjuna that wisdom lies in realising the impermanence of the material world and the nature of the eternal soul (Atman). This understanding leads to inner peace and stability. “Attachment and repulsion of the senses for their specific objects are Nature-ordained. Beware the influence of this duality. Verily, these two (psychological qualities) are one’s enemies!” Gita 3.34 Attachment and Aversion: Senses (such as sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell) are drawn to specific objects, causing liking (attachment) or disliking (aversion). These two are labelled "enemies." Pleasure attracts, pain repels. The conflicting nature of duality can cause inner strife. If we are watchful, we can not be overly controlled by this duality. Attachment or aversion leads to imbalance, suffering, and confusion. Detachment: Krishna advises Arjuna to stay composed, detached from success, failure, pleasure, or pain. Focus on duty (dharma) without getting swayed by results. “Be in truth eternal, beyond earthly opposites. Beyond gains and possessions, possess thine own soul” 2:45 Liberation Through Unity: The Gita teaches beyond diversity and duality, a deep unity connects all. Symbolised by the Supreme Reality (Brahman), source of everything. “The knower of Spirit, abiding in the Supreme Being, with unswerving discrimination, free from delusion, is thus neither jubilant at pleasant experiences nor downcast by unpleasant experiences."

Krishna expounds on the idea of dharma. Dharma means to stand in true alignment and harmony with the ways of your soul and of nature. It entails living as the whole person you are meant to be, the highest expression of Self. “Do thy duty, even if it be humble, rather than another’s, even if it be great. To die in one’s duty is life: to live in another’s is death.” 3:35 Self-Knowledge Matters: Knowing your true self is crucial. As long as your conduct is in conformity with your essential nature, you are acting in the right way. You are on the path, of least resistance, and through this alignment with the flow of life, openings and opportunities arise, you’ll feel more peaceful, strong, happy and creative. What ‘should’ you do? For Arjuna, who had spent his life becoming a formidable warrior, to withdraw from battle Krishna warns; “But to forgo this fight for righteousness is to forgo thy duty and honour: is to fall into transgression.” 2:33 If you step off your path, becoming out of alignment, you’ll feel the emotional and physical symptoms of blocked life energy: fatigue, illness, sadness, depression, anger, fear, insecurity, and self-doubt. Harmony of the world is on account of everyone conforming to their respective natures; disharmony of the world is due to their nonconformity. The concept of "Karma Yoga" is introduced, which is the path of selfless action. Krishna advises Arjuna to perform his duties through inspiration, without focussing on gain or attachment to the results. This way, one can offer their actions as a service to a higher purpose. “Thy human right is for activity only, never for the resultant fruit of actions. Do not consider thyself the creator of the fruits of thy activities; neither allow thyself attachment to inactivity.” “Even the wise are confused about action and inaction. Therefore I will explain what constitutes true action—a knowledge that will free thee from evil. The nature of karma (action) is very difficult to know. Verily, in order to understand fully the nature of proper action, one has also to understand the nature of contrary (wrong) action and the nature of inaction. He is a yogi, discriminative among men, who beholds inactivity in action and action in inaction. He has attained the goal of all actions (and is free). The sages call that man wise whose pursuits are all without selfish plan or longings for results, and whose activities are purified (cauterized of karmic outgrowths) by the fire of wisdom. That man of action is free from karma who receives with contentment whate’er befalls him, who is poised above the dualities, who is devoid of jealousy or envy or enmity, and who looks equally on gain and loss.” Gita 5.16-22 Knowing that everything is possible, what do you want to do?

4 paths of Self development to unfold the infinite potentials, can be drawn from the Bhagavad Gita. Knowing the different tendencies of people, one common path wouldn’t yield results, so options are made available, corresponding to the varied natures of individuals. Even though these paths appear different, there is really only one goal, one Yoga, one Union. While we may be drawn to one path initially, the paths complement, cross over and eventually meet. Karma Yoga: This path revolves around selfless action inspired by one's higher Self, without attachment to outcomes. It also emphasises performing all actions with the awareness of the Universe as the ultimate Doer. Bhakti Yoga: This path entails total surrender and devotion, aspiring to perceive and love divinity in all creatures and things, thus upholding constant worship. Jnana Yoga : The path of wisdom, where discriminative intelligence is applied to attain spiritual liberation. Raja Yoga: Also known as the royal or highest path of Yoga, this path was formally systematised by Patanjali. It encompasses the essence of all other paths and serves as a comprehensive approach to spiritual growth. (Double click the images below for more)

Krishna, in chapter 13 of the Gita, reveals everything that is created is a result of a union between consciousness/spirit purusha and nature/matter prakriti. From Prakriti comes the 3 strands of nature called the gunas: Sattva ; calm goodness | Rajas ; passionate activity. | Tamas ; dark ignorance. All of these 3 gunas are present in everyone and everything. Like 3 primary colours which combine in an infinite number of ways to form all the hues in the universe. It all seems real, but as it is constantly changing it is not real. People tend not to look beyond the veil of illusion to the unchanging consciousness. Those oblivious of their own higher nature sink to their lower nature, swayed by ignorance and driven to action by the Gunas. All people have all of these 3 forces within them in different proportions and will exhibit the nature of their predominating guna. The Sattvic person will be calm and harmonised. Rajasic; full of restless energy. Tamasic; lethargic, unmotivated and unwilling to act. The objective is to reshape our lives upward in search of a higher ideal, changing from indolence tamas, to passionate activity rajas and then channeling that into calmness sattva. Of these, sattva being pure, provides an unobstructed view of Self, atman. Over the day, all 3 gunas ebb and flow within each person. Sattva rises to the fore by overpowering rajas and tamas. Rajas rules when sattva and tamas are weak. Tamas prevails when the other 2 qualities lie dormant and yield to lethargy. We can become aware of when each guna dominates. When sattva rises it is as though the light of the true self shines, your seeing thinking and action is more precise. when rajas takes over, it is as though impatience greed and longing have sprung to the forefront, as if your own restlessness is compelling you to action. You know that tamas has taken charge, when your mind feels lazy, bewildered and uncaring. Suffering is the training ground, where we shape good character and right conduct, dharma. It is dharma, living a truth based life that lifts us to the serenity of sattva. The enlightened yogi feels no attraction or aversion to any of the gunas, no desire, even for the calm goodness of sattva, or the excitement of rajas, and no repulsion towards the lethargy of tamas, they cease being uplifted or depressed by their own likes or dislikes. Balanced in the face of pleasure and pain, these wise yogis dwell always within self, atma. To them lumps of clay, stone or gold are all the same. They have progressed beyond time, space and circumstances. To the place where the mind is tranquil and ego disappears.