Relevance of Bhagawad Gita today

Is the Bhagawad Gita relevant to us today?

Nobody knows for sure when the Bhagawad Gita was written, or if Krishna & Arjuna (the two
protagonists of this book) actually lived as historical figures. Yet, centuries after centuries, this book
continues to exert its influence upon mankind. It is well-known that this book had a great influence on the
Moghul Emperor Akbar and gave shape to his Din-e-Ilahi. It also had a great influence on the Sufi
movement through Dara Shikoh (a Moghul prince, son of Shah Jahan). History has documented the Gitas
influence on Henry David Thoreau, the great Transcendentalist and on how it gave shape to his Civil
Disobedience Movement. Through him, the ideas contained in the 700 sentences of this amazing book
came to influence the thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. It was also through Thoreau
that the ideas of the Bhagawad Gita bore a tremendous influence on Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian
freedom struggle. But our interest is in finding out if this book, or the ideas in this book, have any
relevance for us today, in the 21st century.
One of the greatest dilemmas we face today is the pressing need of work. The other equally
pressing dilemma we all face today is the need to protect our own religious interests harmoniously with
the religious aspirations of others on this planet. Let us see what the Bhagawad Gita has to do for us in
these two areas of human interest.
We all need to work for our mere survival. No one can survive without work. What the modern
man needs today is a rational, psychological basis for work, independent of any theological undertones.
We say independent of theological undertones because, religion seems to be the only sanction for the
work that man does. The Christian works because thereby he pleases His Lord. The Muslim works
because his Prophet has ordered him to work. The Hindu works because his caste rules impel him to
work. It is only in Bhagawad Gita and Karl Marxs books that we find a rationale for work that is
completely free from such theological bases. While Marxs ideas (of class-struggle as the basis of mans
urge to work) are proven wrong by history, it is Bhagawad Gitas theory of work that alone remains today
as a theory of work that is independent of any theological basis. The Gita says that man has to work
because this tendency to work is inherent in man. Man has to work not because some religious scripture
ordains him to. Man has to work because the creative urge in man is inherent in his very being. As long as
man remains as man, he will have to work, irrespective of his other identities religious, political, or
social.
The Gita doesnt stop by merely saying this. It further delineates a general procedure for working
that every man (again, irrespective of his various identities) can follow. Two powers are needed for man
to work efficiently the power to get attached to the details of work, and the power to get detached from
the reactions that arise from work. The Gita specifies that by having faith in the personal and social
necessity of the work we do, we get the power to get attached to the details of the work that we shall have
to do. We will need to be convinced of the utility of the work that we do. But, then, simultaneously, we
need to develop the ability to detach ourselves from the work itself, or from the results that the work will
produce, as soon as a particular action is over, and move on to another activity. The absence of this
wonderful power of detachment is pervasively seen today among people and this lies at most social &
personal problems plaguing the modern man. Frustration, stress, fanaticism all come from the absence
of this marvelous power of detachment. Swami Vivekananda pointed out this marvelous idea in the
course of his lecture on Work & its secret in Los Angeles, California, USA on 4th Jan 1900, That is the
one cause of misery: we are attached, we are being caught. Therefore says the Gita: Work constantly;
work, but be not attached; be not caught. Reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself from
everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it, however great the pangs of
misery you feel if you were going to leave it; still, reserve the power of leaving it whenever you want.
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Relevance of Bhagawad Gita today

This is where the immense relevance of the Gita lies. While theological sanction for work impels man to
go headlong into the details of productive work, the absence of a similar theological sanction for desisting
from work, or results thereof, is poisoning our society with exploitation, greed and consumerism on the
one hand and hatred, violence and fanaticism on the other.
Religious identity is a fundamental necessity for man. Although we are seeing the phenomenal
rise of the SBNR (spiritual-but-not-religious) population in the present century, even that is nothing but
another religion-centered identity, conspicuous by absence of official affiliation to any of the major world
religions! We share a common space in this world. We share the resources of this world. When we
compete for our share of space and resources, our identities clash. Although it is the geographical and
political identities that clash in this competition, religious identities too come into the picture, because our
religious identity is very closely linked to our geographical, racial & social identities. Furthermore, this
competition for the resources of the common world we share is just another name for work that we do.
As we saw before, most of us sadly draw our inspiration for this work from our religions. Hence the
mess we find ourselves in today.
What we need today is therefore not so much as religion (we all seem to have sufficient of that!)
or a new religion (or the absence of that!), as much as a facilitator, a harmonizer, that can help us all
accommodate one another in this mad rush for our share of the resources of this common world. We find
such a quality in the Bhagawad Gita alone and in no other book available today. Swami Vivekananda
made this marvelous statement in his opening address at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893, The
present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a
declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: Whosoever comes to Me,
through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me.
Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth.
They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed
civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society
would be far more advanced than it is now.
The whole problem lies in Hindus claiming that the Bhagawad Gita is their holy scripture. An
idea that is as universal as this cannot be claimed by any particular sect or community. It would be absurd
if the Jews were to claim the theory of Relativity as a Jewish idea since Albert Einstein discovered it,
wouldnt it? Universal ideas may come out from the genius of a particular community or race or region,
but once such an idea has been articulated, it becomes the property of the entire mankind. Similarly, the
Bhagawad Gita may have a Hindu origin, but men all over the world, irrespective of their various
identities stand in need of its ideas. I end my essay by quoting Swami Vivekananda who pointed out this
quality of the Gita in the course of his conversation (as recorded in Saying & Utterances in Vol-V of his
Complete Works), The scriptures of different religions point out different means to attain the ideals of
universal love, freedom, manliness, and selfless benevolence. Every religious sect is generally at variance
as to its idea of what is virtue and what is vice, and fights with others over the means of attaining virtue
and eschewing vice, instead of aiming at realizing the end. Every means is helpful more or less, and the
Gita (XVIII.48) says, "Every undertaking is attended with defects as fire with smoke"; so the means will
no doubt appear more or less defective. But as we are to attain the highest virtue through the means laid
dozen in our respective scriptures, we should try our best to follow them. Moreover, they should be
tempered with reason and discrimination. Thus, as we progress, the riddle of virtue and vice will be
solved by itself.
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Relevance of Bhagawad Gita today

The Bhagavad Gita has been highly praised by people like Aldous Huxley, Henry David
Thoreau, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Bulent Ecevit, Hermann Hesse, and
others. Turkish Ex prime minister Bulent Ecevit, when asked what had given him the courage to send
Turkish troops to Cyprus . His answer was "I was fortified by the Bhagavad Gita which taught that if one
were morally right, one need not hesitate to fight injustice". Sir Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist
and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the
original, citing it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. Upon
witnessing the world's first nuclear test in 1945, he later said he had thought of the quotation "Now I am
become Death, the destroyer of worlds", verse 32 from Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita.
We give below certain famous sayings pertaining to the Gita:
When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on
the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in
the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new
meanings from it every day.
- M K Gandhi
The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than a book, with a
new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization.
- Sri Aurobindo
Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of
the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring
value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity.
- Aldous Huxley
The Bhagavad Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of
action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander
purpose of the universe.
- Jawaharlal Nehru
In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad
Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.
- Henry David Thoreau
Bhagavad-Gita is perhaps the most beautiful work of the literature of the world.
- Hermann Graf Keyserling
The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables
philosophy to blossom into religion.
- Hermann Hesse
I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or
unworthy, but large, serene, consistent,the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate
had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

This entire section has been culled from Wikipedia

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Relevance of Bhagawad Gita today

The most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing in any known tongue ... perhaps
the deepest and loftiest thing the world has to show.
- Wilhelm von Humboldt
I hesitate not to pronounce the Gita a performance of great originality, of sublimity of conception,
reasoning and diction almost unequalled; and a single exception, amongst all the known religions of
mankind.
- Warren Hastings
When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else
seems so superfluous.
- Albert Einstein
The idea that man is like unto an inverted tree seems to have been current in by gone ages. The link
with Vedic conceptions is provided by Plato in his Timaeus in which it states behold we are not an
earthly but a heavenly plant. This correlation can be discerned by what Krishna expresses in chapter 15
of Bhagavad-Gita.
- Carl Jung
The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is
manifested by actions.
- Dr Albert Schweitzer
In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is
necessary to attune our soul to it.
- Rudolph Steiner
Literary Influences of Bhagavad Gita2
While one expects the Bhagavad Gita to influence India as a country and Hinduism as a religion,
this influence has spread beyond India to many other countries and cultures and has even veered outside
the bounds of religion. One influence that is readily known is the influence of the Gita on
Yoga. However, there are many other influences that the Gita has on many aspects of different cultures.
The Gita affected many influential Americans and Europeans in the past centuries. Henry
Thoreau read the Gita during his time at Walden Pond. According to Ian Chadwick, a Canadian
journalist, Thoreau wrote in his book Walden, In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and
cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed
and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial". There are
many overt references to the sacred texts of India, as in "How much more admirable the Bhagvat-Geeta
than all the ruins of the East!" (Walden 63) There are also many less obvious references, such as flute
playing, his own and that of John Farmer, is also mentioned and is reminiscent of the god Krishna's
favorite musical pastime. Most significant of all are the many references to the river and the definite
equation of Walden Pond with the sacred Ganges. To dismiss all of these references as simply part of
Thoreau's affinity for India is to underestimate the extraordinary influence of the Orient on his own
thinking and to misunderstand the purpose of Walden.

This entire essay is copied from Wikipedia

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Relevance of Bhagawad Gita today

Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, who wrote an introduction to one version of
the Bhagavad Gita, is reputed to have stated, The Bhagavad Gita is the most systematic statement of
spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive
summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but
to all of humanity.
According to Dr. Neria H. Hebbar, Ralph Waldo Emerson received a copy of the Bhagavad Gita
and its influence reflects itself in his work as the poems Celestial Love, Woodnotes and Brahma describe
nature and immanent God, akin to that seen in the Upanishads. Hebbar also indicates that Emerson
believed in the Supreme Being, and was a believer of immortality and reincarnation. Furthermore, many
believe that the Gita directly influenced Emersons essay Over-Soul. William Torrey Harris and John
Smith Harrison after him insisted that Bhagavad Gita-verse No. 8.3 was Emerson's prototype.
Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, literary scholar, educator, artist, playwright, and
esoteric gave a series of lecture (now in book form) called The Bhagavad Gita And the West: The Esoteric
Meaning of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to the Letters of St. Paul. In these lectures, Steiner
essentially connected the Bhagavad Gita and Lord Krishna to Jesus Christ and his teachings.
President Obama stated the following in his book The Audacity of Hope concerning the Gita: In
[my mothers] mind, a working knowledge of the worlds great religions was a necessary part of any
well-rounded education. In our household the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf
alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology.
President Obama was also given his own copy of Bhagavad Gita As It Is (which is considered to
be one of the bestselling versions of the Bhagavad Gita in the West) by Krishnalaulya Dasi, a disciple of
Srila Prabhupada, right after his inauguration last January. Dasi attended school with Obama back in
Hawaii and with her gift, she wrote a note to him that read:
In modern times, Bhagavad-Gita provided guidance, wisdom, and solace for Mahatma
Gandhi, who regularly turned to it. Even the great American transcendentalists Thoreau and
Emerson found great wisdom in the Gita and often quoted from it. My hope is that you will
also find the same support in this classical Vedic text. Please let it speak for itself.
The Gita's influence even reaches the American cinema. According to Steven J. Rosens article
in Hinduism Today, Robert Redfords film The Legend of Bagger Vance is based on the book The
Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield, who in turn, based his text off the story of Krishna and
Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. Rosen states, In his work, Pressfield introduces us to the mysterious
caddie known as Bagger Vance, a variation on Bhagavan, a name for Lord Krishna, who knows the
parallels between the secrets of golf and the secrets of life, and the famed but troubled war hero,
Rannulph Junuh, that is "R. Junuh. Get it? Arjuna...
All in all, Albert Einsteins quote regarding the Bhagavad Gita sums it up succinctly, When I
read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so
superfluous".
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