I grew up listening to the stories of Ramayana, Mahabharatam, and Bhagavatam from my father. I was so habituated to it that I still ask my dad to tell a story before bed. While listening to all those stories, somewhere along the way, I started picking up the moral of that story and I strongly reckon all those lessons helped me in my most fazed times. Now when I’m all grown up, I understand how much impactful those stories are. I very much believe that those are not just stories, they are meant to guide every generation to lead a decent life. They are meant to light up our way in the darkest of times. And when I see the youngsters these days unable to realize who Dronacharya is but they know Justin Bieber very well I feel so disturbed. This inclination towards western culture is in a way forcing us to forget our roots and the rich culture we have. Our ancestors gathered so much knowledge about everything, from how we should eat to how we should live and have transferred it all to the next generation thinking it’d help us but we are utterly failing them. So… that’s the whole point of making this post. Now, I’m going to tell you the incredible lessons Bhagavad Gita taught me and I very well hope they’d be helpful for you too.

Incredible lessons Bhagavad Gita teaches us

Bhagavad Gita is one such greatest motivational book that teaches us everything we need to know in and about life. I spent a considerable amount of time reading it and these are the incredible lessons Bhagavad Gita taught me.

1. You should be responsible and give your 100% effort in the work you do but you have to always be detached from the results you get out of it. Every person should have to face their responsibilities now or later, we cannot escape from them altogether and neither we can control the consequences. But when we can stay detached from the consequences, our peace of mind won’t be disturbed. If it’s a success, we wouldn’t be obsessed with it and if it’s a failure, we wouldn’t be disheartened. And anyway, we are putting in all our efforts to get a particular work done, so there would be obviously a higher chance to get positive results, but in case we didn’t, we wouldn’t be disturbed by their negative output as we are detached from it and we only consider it as a learning process. You should not give up on yourself depending on a negative outcome, you must always, always be accountable for your job.

2. You must put your heart into everything you do. Otherwise, it’d be all waste. Most importantly, prayer without focus, help with no heart, meditation without concentration, would be utterly useless and wouldn’t help you in any manner. So, whatever we do, we have to do it wholeheartedly. If not, why are we even doing it?

3. There are three kinds of prayers according to Bhagavad Gita, apart from going to a temple, church or a mosque.

• One, physical prayer. Serving teachers and philosophers, being humble comes under this category. A teacher has a very great role in molding a person. And that’s why a teacher is given a great deal of significance in India. A teacher is given the place next to parents and even before God himself in our life. It’s said, ‘Mother, Father, Teacher, and Almighty.’
• Second, verbal prayer. Whenever you talk softly which wouldn’t provoke anger and that which has good advice, which is truthful, it is equal to a prayer. Words are powerful, indeed. That’s why we are always told to think before we speak.
• Lastly, mental prayer. To have a peaceful heart, a calm attitude, concentration, mental restraint/self-control is synonymous to a prayer. How we are on the inside matters a lot.

4. Our mind keeps wavering all the time. Such variable thoughts should be brought in control and focus on the power within you, me and all the universe. Mind keeps on jumping from one thought to another thought, one desire to another, which is not good and very disturbing. We must learn to keep a tight leash on our thoughts and concentrate more on the necessary things. One who would be able to do that will be the happiest.

5. Our mentality/character should not change depending on the people we are dealing with. The general idea is, we will be in different manners with the people we love and we hate, our friends and strangers, rich and poor, one we assume to be good and the other we assume to be bad, etc, etc. We must always embrace our own attitude and stay the same at all times. The point is, we should decide our own behavior and responses, it must not depend on the people we are with. If we keep on changing our behavior depending on the other person’s nature, there won’t be any end to it and after a period of time, we ourselves won’t have any idea who we are on the inside. Things would become confusing.

6. There has to be a limit to everything. The one who does eat too much and he who doesn’t eat at all, the one who sleeps most of the day and the one who doesn’t sleep very much is always disturbed and they cannot concentrate on anything. Too much of anything is not good. Even too much good is not good. A balance must be stricken.

7. One must always stay balanced in every situation. A person who can be the same in success and in failure, in good times and in adversities, will be admired and be always at peace. Neither the success nor the failure should get to your head.

8. When one can achieve the mental peace, they would be untouched by any adversities life throws at them. At the end of the day, we all strive for peace. Everything else we desire is just what we assume to be the medium to achieve it. Some of us think being rich would make them happy and be peaceful, some other think getting their dream job would help them settle and keep them at peace. No matter what our desire is, ultimately we all wish for mental peace. Truth be told, you can have that mental peace regardless of what you have.

9. Everything that happens – happens for a good reason. So get over it. Whatever you think is the disastrous thing that happened with you might be a reason for your wellness today. Have a close look and I’m sure you will find that one good reason for everything.

The knowledge Bhagavad Gita possesses is huge and anyone who aspires to become a better individual and have an insight into the worldly wisdom, there is no better book/place than Bhagavad Gita. It most certainly has given me some incredible understanding about life and my own self.

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