A Short Introduction to the Bhagavad Gita

What is the Bhagavad Gita, and why does it still speak to everyday life? In a short introduction, Umesh Guruji reads this holy book of India as a teaching from a spiritual teacher to a student, drawing from it a few ideas about intention, the soul and life as a play.

What is the Bhagavad Gita about?

For Umesh, the Gita is above all a lesson from a guru to a disciple. The teacher is Krishna; the student is Arjun (Arjuna), a warrior who, facing the enemy, says he does not want to kill. Krishna teaches him to look with the inner eye: the physical world the outer eyes see will die one day, while the soul never dies, because it is part of God.

Intention and the rules of karma

Umesh calls the Gita a great science of karma, the law of action and its consequences. Arjun fears that fighting will bring him negative karma; Krishna answers that what counts is the intention behind an act: selfishness makes bad karma, protecting people and nature can make it positive. Honest work becomes a spiritual path: "Your karma, you do, this is your meditation." Umesh develops the idea in the lesson on karma.

Life as God's play

The image running through the lesson is the stage: people come to earth like actors, to play their roles in "the God play". Seen this way, Umesh says, life becomes easier: you understand your mind, your emotions and your karma towards yourself, your family, society and the environment. A farmer, a painter or a singer can each reach a higher state of mind in their own way, because every path leads to God.