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The Relevance & Appeal of the Bhagavad Gita - A Conversation with Dr.Vandana R Singh, Author, Translator & Editor.
You have mentioned in the books Prologue that having been raised in a non ritual home, you knew of The Gita as a nice book that teaches one good things. What made you read The Gita now and why did you write your book? Would you like to share with us your Gita journey and the making of your book?
And that is how I thought that why do I not start writing this down? And to cut a long story short, that is how the writing started. And before I knew it, it had started to look like a book. And today, here I am holding it in my hands, a regular book, which really started as something to fill up my time during the COVID months
Thank you so much for that. The Bhagavad Gita attaches great value to equanimity. In today's fast paced world characterized by sudden and massive changes, we often appreciate people who stay coolheaded. But how can someone develop such equanimity? Especially when emotions such as love and hope bring meaning and fulfillment mentor our life? How can we draw on the teachings of the Gita and have both Equanimity and emotions coexist?
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
So to have your emotions at the same level, irrespective of what situation you may be in other words, to remain poised and composed at all times, the Gita says economy should be the ultimate goal of life. The ability to accept the good with the bad, to live with joys and sorrows, ups and downs, success and failure with the same grace and fortitude. If you can do that, you are in possession of economy
And so when we are faced with the crisis, we just collapse like a house of cards. And that is why it is so important to be in touch with our inner selves, to develop economy, to develop poise and composure which will see us through in a moment of crisis. And therein lies the importance of economy and therein lies the fact that economy can be and is our biggest tool to help us get through with life
So many of us have this standard definition of yoga sitting in a lotus pose, eyes closed and willing all thoughts to simply dissipate. But the gita also offers us another definition of yoga detachment from the attachment to sorrows, pain and suffering is also a form of yoga. That is, yoga of the mind and the intellect. I'd really like to have your take on this
Taking a quick look at the table of contents of the gita and also perhaps of my book, which is an interpretation of the gita as you know, you would see that every chapter has the word yog in it, which means that knowledge, philosophy, action, faith, liberation, everything is yog. And the chapters are named like Khadmyog Dyan Yog Sankayog Bhakti yoga to the extent even Arjun Vishad yog Vishad as we know, means Distress and dilemma
Thank you so much for sharing that vandina. I will leave you with this final question. What is your view of the culture of plurality that India has always taken so much pride in, but which is, to be frank, under threat now? What would you say the Gita might have to offer in these troubled times?
Krishna is not saying that the height and the weight of the woman matters. What Krishna is saying what matters is fame, prosperity, fine speech, memory, intelligence, courage and forgiveness. And to my mind, these qualities are gender agnostic. One would look for the same qualities in a man also. And this I just found to be so refreshing
This has been a deeply introspective conversation for me and I really appreciate the profound insights in your responses. You've given me so much food for thought. So thank you so much. I'd love to have you back on for more conversations around your writing and around spirituality and of course, about the work that you do at Artisanation. And for our listeners, I'm going to be sharing the Amazon link to the book that I'd highly recommend for everyone to check out
