The Shrimad Bhagawad Geeta has immense power. It is not a religious book. It reveals the essential knowledge of the soul. It has been experienced that the Geeta has answers for every situation and obstacle in life. The knowledge offered by the Geeta is beyond time, and reflects life itself. The Geeta was revealed around five and a half thousand years ago, but it still provides solutions relevant in our age of computers and globalization.
Shreeguru Dr. Balaji Tambe is a unique modern commentator on the Shrimad Bhagawad Geeta. He is renowned for bringing this ancient knowledge into modern terms and explaining it in a way that everyone can understand – young and old, novice and expert. This series, to be published monthly, will contain glimpses of Shreeguruji’s commentaries on the most important verses from the Geeta. They are extracts from his extensive series of books on the Geeta published as ‘Shree Geeta Yog – Shodh Brahmavidyecha’ in Marathi, and ‘Peacock Feathers’ in English.
The Shrimad Bhagawad Geeta’s message is not only for Indians or a particular group or community of any kind. It is a guide for all people who are eager to listen to a ‘higher call’ that takes them beyond their mundane lives and problems. The Shrimad Bhagawad Geeta’s knowledge has been compared with nectar. Nectar is not for mere thirst. It quenches the yearning of all lifetimes and brings one to eternity. The Geeta provides this guidance and it is complete in itself.
In society today, it seems as though corruption is being rewarded. The dishonest and selfish, and those working against nature (a-dharmi) are the ones who seem to have the most power and resources and it is they who govern society. Seeing this, one often wonders where the whole world is headed. We have doubts about how we can carry on like this. The Shrimad Bhagawad Geeta is an imperative guide in times like this. Along with prosperity, we must attain peace. Without peace, our prosperity is of no value.
Life is not easy. One constantly walks on the edge of a knife or a tightrope. A gymnast uses a stick to balance his walk on a tightrope to reach the other end. One has to make sure to not hurt oneself or lose balance, and that one makes it across to the other side. The Shrimad Bhagawad Geeta specifically assists in all these objectives. Those who study it well, and bring its message into practice, are also shielded in life by the Geeta.
This spiritual knowledge (adhyatma vidya), that brings us beyond the dualities in life, whether it is joy and sorrow, richness and poverty, success and failure etc. can be attained through the practice of the message of the Geeta. The Geeta invites you into a state of contentment. Some like winter more, while others prefer summer. The seasons will keep alternating between warm and cold. Beyond all changes and shifts lies a point where one can find oneself completely balanced. A state of constant bliss, where one can actually experience how the world is continuously being created around us, and still the human being in us can remain steady and continue to participate in life’s actions. This series of articles, summarized from Shreeguruji’s commentaries on the important verses in the Geeta, will nudge us towards a point of balance.
We hope you will enjoy and visit these articles repeatedly and benefit from Shreeguruji’s teachings! Do look out for the 1st verse in February and follow this series over time in the archive section called Glimpses of the Geeta, in this newsletter.