The Essence of Bhagavadgita in Two Words

 The Essence of Bhagavadgita in Two Words

If we have to summarize the 700 verses of Bhagavadgita in two words, those two words would be "svadharmamācaret स्वधर्ममाचरेत्." 

Goal

स्वधर्म Svadharma is the duty of the Self. 99.99% of our day-to-day activities are related to our body and we take out very less time to really look into our true self. If we can take out some time and start reflecting within and understand what is that, that we really require to live the most meaningful life? Then we would find the most surprising answers.

Instead of having reference point of we as our bodies, if we can change our reference points to our true self or soul, then it makes a lot of difference. And, what we feel, and get so much attached to, and give highest important aspects of the external materialistic life will vanish away into oblivion just like that.

Mindfulness or Meditation practices are the only way to take that 180 degree turn and shift our attention to within and become aware of the true presence of what is that is eternally present within us. We have to own this process of shifting. Someone else will not be able to do this for us.

The Process

If the goal is to carry out the activities of the self, then what is the process? How to do it?

To carry out the activities of the Self, the process is very simple and it is again given in two words - abhyāsa vairāgya अभ्यास वैराग्य - meaning practice of detachment. What does this mean and how to practice it in a day-to-day life?

Every time we get involved in an activity, we can ask the following questions:

• how much mindful I am in carrying out this activity?
• am I identifying myself with the emotions involved in the scene and getting hijacked with it? or
• am I able to dis-identify from the scene and look at the screen?
• how many times I identify with my body? and
• how many times I identify with my true self?
• in my thinking, how much time I am spending in the past or future, rather than in the present?

Strategy

Once we have the data on the above questions over a minimum period of 6 months, then we can develop our strategies. The data will provide us information on:

• our reference points where we got hijacked with our emotions, identities, egos, opinions or pre-conceived notions
• the number of times we got identified with our bodies rather than with our true self,
• the number of hour or days that we were thinking about either the past or future rather than being completely present and aware of the present moment

The strategies to change the patterns would be:

• changing the reference points from the scene to the screen
• making a conscious effort to dis-identify from the body, thoughts and shift the focus to the true-self
• entering more into the now, stillness, silence or the nothingness

With the above strategies we can enhance our well-being and along with that we can also enhance the well-being of the human species and make the world a better place.

The duties of true self would be in harmony with nature and all the surroundings and understanding every being more on the level of heart rather than on the level of mind. This approach will enhance compassion towards every being and instead of having conflicts and rages over opinions or pre-conceived notions, there would be more of compassionate conversations and exchange of heart's energy rather the heated argumentative energy of a conflict.

People would start looking more on to the heart rather than the mind or body, more on the spiritual front and the sustainability of the human species and the ecosystem rather than the mundane non-meaningful existence.