Bhagwad Gita

My walking buddy during COVID always had a spiritual bend. Like all of us who nurtured our interests during the first year of the pandemic, she decided to learn more about yoga and Hindu scriptures. I remembered how excited she was when she signed up for an online Gita learning course offered by one of the local temples. She completed the rigorous course and stayed involved. Once my work travel started, it was hard to coordinate walks and I started going alone. It was also meditative for me as that was the only time during the day when I could completely disconnect.

She called me a few weeks ago asking if I would be interested in attending a Gita chanting event at Allen Civic Center. I was intrigued but since I barely knew a handful of shlokas, I was also hesitant. She assured me that the recital would be done by the trained students and I could just listen. I had never attended an event like this before and said yes.

I went to the event thinking I would listen and observe. I came out changed! There were 750 people including children as young as 3 who had memorized the Gita shlokas and chanted them with perfect Sanskrit pronunciation. Many in the ten thousand audience also were well versed and chanted with the trained chanters. I saw my friend on the stage with her group of students who she had diligently trained over the last 10 months. I was so proud of her journey starting from learning the Bhagwad to now teaching it to the next generation of learners.

Initially I tried to chant by reading the Sanskrit shlokas from the online link provided to all attendees. However, the analytical part of me couldn’t let me continue chanting shlokas that I didn’t know the meaning of. Plus I had trouble reading sanskrit shlokas written in English script. I then decided to read the Gita and found a link of the Bhagwad from Gita Press – https://vedpuran.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/455_gita_roman.pdf

Now if you grew up in north India, all your prayer/ religious books were always purchased from Gita press. I even visited their headquarters a few years ago. Their online version had the shlokas written in Devnagari script and the meaning below each one was written in English. It was perfect for a novice like me.

That day during the chanting I read 11 adhyays (chapters). I understood what Bhagwan Krishna meant when he said ” Karm Karo, Phal ki chinta mat karo”. I understood that there were multiple paths to attain moksha. I understood that many aspects of our daily lives lead us to become one with our creator. I was blown away by the 11th adhyaya and reread it after coming back home. I have now finished 15 chapters and am taking my time to read the remaining 3. I plan to reread them all after next week. I am just puzzled that we have such a great treatise and yet most of us never even attempt to open the first page. We live our entire lives following religious traditions without making any effort to dig deeper on the why. Gita is not a religious book but a spiritual one where Bhagwan Krishna explains to Arjun on why he should fulfill his duties instead of getting emotional. A message all of us need at various times during our personal and professional lives.

I can’t end this post without acknowledging the efforts of the Karyasiddhi Hanuman Temple organizers. This was a very well organized event with everything working like clockwork. Their army of volunteers ensured timely and proper execution to make it a huge success. Last but not the least, a BIG Thank You to my dear friend for inviting me and showing me a path I had been contemplating for a while. From our walking paths to our spiritual ones, we have traversed quite a distance dear S.