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Essence of the Gita

 Struggle is part of growth. Failure is part of success. As Buddha said, life itself is full of misery, so there is no escape from it. It is not possible for one to completely run away from the difficulties and challenges of life, but to face it and grow stronger. The purpose of their repeated occurrence in our lives is only to lead us towards self-discovery. Because in the midst of uncertainties, fear, confusion, discontent and delusion, we are able to see where we stand and start questioning existence itself. The beginning of the search for a meaningful purpose of life and self-discovery is the start of one's spiritual journey. Our struggles and challenges play a very big role in that. The first chapter in Bhagwat Gita is called Arjuna's Vishaad Yoga not without any reason.

At the center of Gita is the scene on the battlefield, where Krishna is exhorting his friend Arjuna to perform what is expected of a warrior in a battle for righteousness. The eighteen chapters capture the dialogues between the two. Krishna has been considered an avatar of the Supreme Lord. `When Arjuna refuses to fight against his cousins, friends, elders and gurus, Krishna asks him to rise to the occasion. That is what seems to be going on the surface. But Gita is deeply spiritual and is considered as the essence of all Upanishads. It actually guides mankind on how life should be lived, what right action is, what right state of mind is, what the ultimate purpose of life is, etc.

But there is another perspective, which is even deeper. In the ultimate analysis, Krishna is the spark of divine, which is inside us, the antar-yaami, and is our true self. Arjuna represents our personality, the ego-self, the body-mind mechanism, which goes out and does things in the world. Arjuna is the usual man of the world, an accomplished warrior who represents a worldly man of success who is attached to his kith, under the delusion of maya. He represents us. Like us, he is confused about what he should be doing in a given situation. He thinks that running away from his field of action is a great virtue and likens it to the high ideals of sanyasa. In his bewilderment, he declares to Krishna that in the situation that life has put him in, non-action is better than action. Every now and then, this is the predicament that all of us find ourselves in. 

The real guidance from Gita is that we need to surrender ourselves to the inner being, which is guiding us all the time. The agitated and restless mind that Arjuna represents has to subside and settle down completely so that the inner being can take over the reins. This can happen only when the mind is fully fixed in the stillness of our hearts. By keeping our minds there with Krishna, we must perform our actions, with full faith and complete awareness. Slowly and gradually mind will dissolve and the personality will die, only the inner self which is the spark of divine will remain, guiding our actions in the world. Desire-driven motives behind our actions will disappear and the necessary work will be performed by the body only because they need to be done. 

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