Introduction
The Bhagavad Gita can be experienced as a powerful catalyst for transformation. Bhagavad gita means song of the spirit, song of the Lord. This extraordinary poem was sung by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kuruksthetra while multitudes of men stood by waiting to fight the largest battle in history.
In this eternal moment of intense dramatic necessity, we are shown how to live in the world and not be of the world; how to utilize living itself as a means of spiritual growth, no matter what the external circumstance; how to experience all our joys and sorrows and shortcomings as a means of spiritual upliftment. The Gita helps us integrate our separate personality into harmony with the whole. It teaches an alchemy of transforming our raw material as well as transcending it. Spirit and matter are equal partners. The individual and the divine are part of one whole.
This knowledge is revealed through a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. Krishna is the loving teacher; Arjuna is the questioning disciple. Krishna is a king; a married man with many duties. And he's also an avatar—one who descends to earth with the express purpose of uplifting humanity. Krishna is the inner Self—eternal, omniscient, present within each of us; Arjuna is the insecure individuality making its way in the world subject to confusion and doubt. An aim of the Gita is to help us forge a link with this inner Self as we dance through life so we can come to know who we really are. Then genuine self-confidence emerges.
Gradually throughout each chapter, Krishna teaches Arjuna the nature of Truth or Reality. This helps him come closer and closer to his inner Self until at the very end, Arjuna's memory of his true nature returns.
The knowledge of our true identity cannot occur without a battle. This battle takes place on the field of dharma. Dharma means justice, righteousness or the inner essence of a thing. Although the location of the battle is called Kurukshetra, it is really placeless and timeless. It is a battle each of us will be compelled to fight if we yearn for liberation.
Liberation from suffering, liberation from ignorance cannot occur without yearning for freedom. Like Arjuna we must know we do not know. And to gain freedom, we must learn to participate in the battle of life with right knowledge.
What makes the Gita a practical psychology of transformation is that is offers us the tools to connect with our deepest intangible essence-self. Only when the connection becomes ongoing does suffering cease. In order to be able to forge this inner link, much baggage must be discarded along the way. All the external conditioning which is not a reflection of our essence must gradually go. Our anger, fear, greed, jealousy, confusion, worry attachment, selfishness, pride, expectations and desire to control must be given the means to melt down as the beginning process of the work. This occurs not only through technique but also through ever-heightening yearning, spiritual practice and consequent insight that proceeds from deep within each person. First we must recognize the tools and then learn how to use them.
The process consists of many small steps along the way of practice and understanding. As each fresh insight brings new joy and a different obstacle, a flow is established between inner knowing and outer happening. Events are no longer seen as separate and segmented but part of a giant continuity of great nature of which we are all a part. We are each students at the university of prakriti learning lessons from nature tailored to our individual level and inner needs. And eventually we might come to see that what constitutes liberation is the qualitative depth and breadth of our experiential vision.
There is no theory to be internalized and applied in this psychology. Ancient practices spontaneously induce what each person needs as the individual and the universal coincide. The work proceeds through intellectual knowledge of the playing field (jnana yoga), emotional devotion to the ideal (bhakti yoga) and right action that includes both feeling and knowledge(karma yoga). With ongoing purification we approach wisdom.
Each of the eighteen chapters presents a yoga or graduated means of linking the ego-mind with the selfless Self. Yoga derives from the Sanskrit yuj, which means to join. The various philosophies and methods of joining the mind to eternal Truth find expression within each chapter. When the different aspects of oneself become connected to the One center, the goal of yoga is near.
Then all our seemingly individual thoughts and actions become linked to the higher Intelligence. If each individual who experiences an inner calling could work in accordance with his or her capacity to forge this connection, there would be peace and contentment within the individual, the family, the society and the world.
