The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgita-1.9

30/09/2018
Chapter 1: The Universal Scope of the Bhagavadgita-9.

Yes, the problems of life are not merely religious problems, and we should not be under the impression that we can be happy merely by a so-called religious message. If by religion we understand what is in our minds usually—and we know very well what we understand by religion : -

A scripture which has to be carried on the head and worshipped with a tremendous piety and fear in an atmosphere which has to be uncontaminated by secularity of any kind, cut off from the atmosphere of the give-and-take attitude of people, of shops and streets and thoroughfares, a temple, a church, a priest, a ritual—

*"we have to study the Gita a little differently."

We have our own notions of religion. Religions there are and have been many, and we are practising them, yet grief-stricken. We are sorry people, indeed, with all our religion. We are weeping every day, either openly or secretly, and the religion that we have been hugging as our dear child has not brought any consolation to us.

We run to other sources of protection and solace when we are in need of support, and we do not run to religion under every circumstance. We have difficulties of various types, which are not necessarily those which can be solved by the religion that is in our heads today, and this does not require any further explanation. We run about in ten directions every day for solution of our problems, and we do not always go to a mosque, church or a temple if we have some difficulties.

This means that our life is something which is not always capable of being confined to the religion of the mosque, church or the religion of the temple. We have not been satisfied with the God that we worship, with the religion we practise, with the scripture we read and the message we have received.

 We are always unhappy for some reason or the other. Man has been always unhappy and he is unhappy today, and we do not know how long he will continue to be such. Is there a solution for this unhappiness of people? Is it possible for us to be really happy? If this is a possibility, it is worthwhile investigating.

*"And the Bhagavadgita takes up this task of tackling the problems of life in general and not just any one side of our nature."

We know very well, every one of us, that our devotions and our religious practices do not cover the whole of our lives. We have a piety inside our rooms, and a different religion altogether when we walk on the road or purchase a packet of biscuits in the shop, or are travelling in the bus or journeying in the train.

If our confrontation of life in these various aspects in which we are unwittingly and necessarily involved can be charged with the spirit of religion, we can be said to be truly religious, and that God will help us everywhere, and we need not run to another temporal God for solution of our daily problems. All temporality is a manifestation of eternity, and that which is eternal should be capable of interpreting temporal situations, also.

*"And the Bhagavadgita as an eternal message is supposed to be a protection to us even in our temporal dealings and our work-a-day life. It is all things put together, like a mother to us. Our relationship with our mother is not merely religious, it is everything. We can run to it for a cup of tea, a spoon of sugar, and we will see that the Gita has specifically pinpointed even these little things to relieve us of tension in all the layers of our being."

To be continued ..