I had the opportunity to learn from one of the most prominent pieces of work on yoga, the notable scripture, The Bhagavad Gita referred also as The Gita. Gita means song. I spent several months on line with a teacher who brought the text to life and gave me a greater depth and understanding about life. The story in the song can be placed as a lens of how we are interacting with our own life.
The course was designed to cover just Chapter 2 over 8 months, it begins with Arjuna the main character and greatest of warriors, full of sorrow, doubt and overwhelmed. It is most certainly a feeling we all have experienced. When life meets us at a crossroads, where there are very challenging situations, an awkward time of not knowing, feeling disturbed, uneasy in one’s self, a sense of loss. The familiarity with these feelings is part and parcel of the human condition. When everything we previously thought we knew falls into question, we doubt our abilities, we lose our composure and our ability to have clarity on a situation.
In his sorrow, Arjuna’s mighty bow falls from his hands. His eyes are full of tears. He wants to know what to do, he is confused and lamenting. His sorrow is regarded as a prompt for change. We can no doubt remember a time in our own lives that was sorrowful and alerted us that change was required. The change often requires us to act in a mental, physical and emotional sense. That alert is prompting us “to let go” of attachments “to our past, our future, to those fears worries and anxieties”
Arjuna had always been the number one student in his archery capabilities and skills set, he was shown favouritism by his teachers, he was popular and loved dearly by the citizens of the Kingdom ruled by his father. He was the favourite and dutiful son.
The Gita’s knowledge is revealed to the reader in the beautiful poetry of the Song through the dialogue with Krishna who is Arjuna’s greatest ally, friend and Guru. The setting is a battlefield in the ancient city of India Hastinapur. The physical thought of war, violence, death of the innocent is a difficult one for many to see it as a place of spiritual teaching and learning. Decoding the layers of the Song, we come to understand that the battlefield is a metaphor for the mind. As the saying goes “conquer your mind and you conquer your world.”
Every Thursday at my yoga class at Derby Arena, there seem to be forces beyond my control of the air con. It has become a battleground. I have repeatedly requested it to be off, as it makes the room too cold and noisy for our calming practices. I have at times been sorrowful, even despair as I have felt no one is listening to my concerns. We all have battles to face and this is just a small example.
When Arjuna looks out onto the battlefield, he sees the opposing army consisting of those most dear to him, his teachers, his family and friends. It is in Arjuna’s sorrow Krishna speaks saying that we are never alone, the inner pilot of consciousness, the inner voice, higher power, we can talk to if we can bring ourselves to tune in, be centred and quiet.
When I first met with Yoga it was on the mat, in the physical sense making shapes with my body, getting it flexible and toned. But overtime with great teachers, I came to an understanding that yoga gives us the practical knowledge to embark on a journey of self-realisation. We all need purpose and fulfilment and this is the journey.
Krishna reminds Arjuna he must put aside his sorrow so that he can rise up to his potential as a human being and carry out his duty as a true warrior, that he was always meant to be!
In a sense we can all be regarded as warriors daily navigating the field of action in which we reside. The characters that Arjuna is required to defeat are representative of the characteristics of what is going on inside our minds and it is that what we need to defeat.
I learnt a difficult lesson here, that in order to get on in life it will require us to detach from things that have been dear in this ever changing world. If we are unable to do so we will be overrun by the forces of limitation.
On a physical level our addictive habits creep in when we are less strong, ambushing us when we are weak. The mind being a creature of all our habits and everything that we have experienced. It is in silence that we can come to exit the mind, away from desires and fears then our true capacities can be realised. This subtle guidance arrives in the silence; in Yoga it is regarded as the divinity within where the gates of the inner wisdom open. It is the wisdom of the deepest part of the heart.
In this world of action we experience duality, at the core of the duality concept is the idea that everything in the universe exists in complementary pairs- light and shadow, creation and destruction, male and female. These opposing forces aren’t just opposite they are interdependent. Without one the other cannot exist. For instance, light only becomes meaningful when contrasted with darkness. This balance is what maintains the harmony. The text invites us to cultivate a steadiness by keeping a steady centre. The true magic comes from that steady balance, not from choosing one side of duality over the other. A balanced approach maintains one cannot reject the darkness in favour of the light. Instead, one learns to walk a middle path, harnessing both sides of every duality. This balance gives power to navigate the world of energy without being consumed by its opposing forces and this maintains our steady feeling.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my small offering of the The Gita, more to be revealed….Namaste
