Lessons from Bhagwat Gita

8 things that I learnt from the Bhagwad Gita.



1. There is only one God. He is formless (Nirakar) and does not have human qualities (Nirgun). He is beyond being a human or spirit. He is unborn, has always been, and will always be. He is the Creator, the Sustainer and Omniscient.
2. Whenever adharm increases, God sends (books and prophets) to protect the good ones, destroy the evil ones and establish dharm.
3. This life is a test, wherein man is required to obey and worship God and strive in His cause (karm yog) and perform selfless deeds (karm sanyas).
4. Upon death, man's spirit is taken away from his dead body. It is returned to a new body on the Day of Judgement so as to hold him accountable for his deeds. He would then be admitted to an eternal Heaven of bliss or to Hell where he would keep dying again and again.
5. Instead of renouncing the world and its obligations (sanyas), man should renounce the fruits of his labour (tyaag). This essentially means that man should seek not the world, but only God's pleasure in everything that he does.
6. Man's love for the world (kaam) deceives him.
7. Men have three gunas.
a. Sattvik: Wherein man does good deeds with good intentions.
b. Rajas: Wherein man does even good deeds with ulterior motives.
c. Tamas: Wherein man does bad deeds with evil intent.
Only those who lead a Sattvik life would enter Paradise. Others, hell.

8. Man can enter Paradise only with God's grace and mercy, and he needs to make himself eligible by following the divine law and performing selfless deeds. Man should keep his temptations in check and focus on pleasing God.

P.S.: As for the Varna system, in the 18th adhyay, it says that men have innate qualities. Some are born with a scholarly (Brahman) inclination, some with warrior/administrator (Kshatriya) inclination, some with an acumen for business and trade (Vaishya) and some others are suited for manual labour (Shudra). So all men should do what their innate (by birth) quality demands them to do, even if they are not very good at doing it. It does not say that these are hereditary or rigid castes.

رضيت بالله ربا وبالاسلام دينا وبمحمد صلى الله عليه وسلم نبيا و رسولا

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