The Bhagavad Gita (2 page)
Authors: Jack Hawley
C
HAPTER
T
EN
• The Divine Glories (
Vibhuti Yoga
)
C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN
• The Cosmic Vision (
Visvarupa Darsana Yoga
)
C
HAPTER
T
WELVE
• The Path of Love (
Bhakti Yoga
)
C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN
• Going Beyond the Three Forces of Nature (
Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga
)
C
HAPTER
F
IFTEEN
• Devotion to the Supreme Self (
Purushottama Yoga
)
C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN
• The Two Destinies: Divine or Degenerate (
Daiva-Asura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga
)
C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN
• The Path of Threefold Faith (
Sraddha Traya Vibhaga Yoga
)
C
HAPTER
E
IGHTEEN
• Liberation through Knowing, Acting, and Loving (
Moksha Sanyasa Yoga
)
When Mahatma Gandhi — the “great-souled one,” the leader of India who nonviolently freed his country from British rule — died, a now famous photograph was taken of all his possessions: his simple white cotton piece of clothing, his glasses, his sandals, and his well-worn copy of
The Bhagavad Gita.
It was a book he read daily, a source of endless inspiration to him.
The
Gita
is read daily by millions of people in India, as well as throughout the world; it is in the homes of literally hundreds of millions of people, and is considered by a great many to be the finest source of spiritual teaching in the world.
When Jack Hawley presented us with this extraordinary prose version of it, which tells the story so clearly and beautifully, everyone in our company felt as if we had been given a great gift — one we feel blessed to be able to publish and share with the world.
There is endless wisdom and inspiration in these pages. The
Gita
has proven itself over hundreds of generations to be one of the greatest gifts ever given to humanity, one of the greatest scriptures ever written.
Read it straight through, as a magnificent story filled with great teaching. Or simply open it to any page at random, and ponder the words, applying them to your life experience.
This is more than a book, more than the writings of any mortal man or woman. It is Divine revelation, filled with the words of a vast, illuminated soul — and these words can lead you to a far greater life experience, and even to illumination itself.
Marc Allen
NewWorld Library
LESSONS LEARNED
“The whole and sole purpose of the Bhagavad Gita,
the only reason it was
originally given to humanity,
is to help people rid themselves of their
worldly suffering, find true happiness and achieve
Self-realization.”
— Sathya Sai Baba
Twenty-five years ago my wife and I were traveling across India’s Deccan plateau in a non-air-conditioned taxi in the middle of summer. Late in the day, wet and wrinkled, we stopped at a modest guesthouse to quench our thirst and lay our heads on a pillow. Thirsting also for something to read, I noticed a lone book,
The Bhagavad Gita
, resting on the only shelf in the room. I had been introduced to this ancient text some ten years earlier and had read a few memorable excerpts, but the teachings had never gained a foothold in my awareness.
As I flipped through its dog-eared pages, I stopped at chapter seven where Krishna, the heroic Divinity figure of the
Gita
’s story, begins to describe the very nature of the Divine. I was enthralled and began reading aloud to Louise, explaining that this was “God” talking:
I am Pure Consciousness, the underlying essence of all
elements and beings.
I am the innate nature of everything.
In pure water I am the sweet taste.
In the sun and moon I am the radiance.
In the very center of human beings I live as virility and
courage.
I am the slight, delicate scent, the sweet fragrance of the
earth.
I am the brilliance in both fire and sun, and I am the
light of Divinity in all beings.
I am the subtle spirit in spiritual practices that gives them their existence — the love in the devotee, the simple austerity in the ascetic, the sweet sense of charity in the giver.
This narrative on Divinity picks up several times throughout the book, but in those first few words of chapter seven we are plunged pleasantly into what has become a lifelong love affair with the wondrous
Bhagavad Gita.
Since that encounter in the guesthouse, I have researched and written three books on the
Gita.
This one is the basis, the source, the reservoir of practical spiritual knowledge from which the others rise. Over these years we have traveled the world lecturing and doing workshops on the
Gita’s
teachings.
With the advent of New World Library’s new paperback edition of the book, I would like to share some of things I have learned over the years.
1. I learned that there is a crucial difference between regular and spiritual reading.
This difference makes a
big
difference. Our everyday reading, which is part and parcel of living and working in the world, is primarily for gaining worldly information. Spiritual reading has loftier purposes — to reposition us beyond the worldly and lead us into spaces the mind could never imagine, to touch the Divine in each of us. We may skim during regular reading, but we need to approach our spiritual reading with a higher awareness.
I once met a young man in a local restaurant in India. His English was good but he had a thick European accent. I found myself leaning a bit closer to make sure I could hear. He told me how much he was enjoying reading and rereading my
Bhagavad Gita
book.
I asked how he liked the German translation. “Oh,” he said, “I’m reading it in English — and I like reading it in English because it makes me think. If I was reading it in German, I would go through it too fast, like I always do, and then, when finished, I would fool myself that I had understood it. But that would not be true!
“Reading it in English, not my native language, makes me think about every idea and word, and ask myself, ‘Do I truly understand this?’ The extra work puts it deeper inside me, and I end up knowing it better.”
We all zoom through our reading piles as he does. Whether the content is important or not, we click into a mindless, autopilot mode and thus take in a tiny percentage of what we skim. Speeding might be appropriate for most reading jobs, but speed kills spiritual reading. We have to lean a bit nearer to it.
2. I learned that two of the points I made in the earlier edition need to be emphasized.
First, contrary to its title, this book is not a simple “walkthrough.” When the book first came out, I wrote in the Introduction that the stroll may not be bump free. In retrospect, that wasn’t clear enough. The book is written in easy English,
but reading it entails positive effort. One reviewer said it’s a book that asks much and gives back so much more. Moving through it is a great exercise for your spirit, and like any exercise, physical or soul based, you emerge in better shape.
Second, when I wrote the how-to-read-it pointers in the Introduction a decade ago, I conveyed the idea that getting the most out of this book is largely a matter of one’s attitude and mood. At that time I
sensed the
importance of this, but now, having lived with the book in the real world, I
know
it! One’s frame of mind while reading truly does make a difference. So when you read the Introduction (especially the last two paragraphs on page xxiv), inhale the suggestions — turn your reading into a receptive meditation.
3. I learned that the spiritual journey is the central expedition of your life, and this book may well be the most important reading you ever do. Period.
4. I learned to communicate the
Gita’s
vastness by narrowing my own focal point.
A few years ago I struggled mightily for days, weeks, trying to write an article on what the
Gita’s
splendor and utility mean to me. The prospect of composing yet another intellectual analysis or codification of the principles bored me. As I pondered, an ancient voice within me whispered, “Share your love.” The
aha
doors opened....
I love the
Gita’s
basic goodness, and how it pushes me beyond merely striving to be a good person, toward becoming my own Divinity within. I love that it provides me with page after page of methods for calling forth that extreme goodness. And I love how it continually reminds me to do that.
I love my inner peacefulness whenever I enter the
Gita’s
teachings. I love how almost all my anger has been eliminated, and how worldly agitations are largely things of the past for me.
I love the
Gita
for its depth, its breadth, and mostly its
height — the way it pulls me upward. I love it for its humanness as well as its sublimity.
I love the ultra-honesty in the
Gita
about religion — how it lives in the open space beyond religious dogma and yet embraces a reverence for the scriptural teachings of all faiths.
I love the
Gita
’s insistence that we consciously live by our own inner truth. I love how it doesn’t compromise an iota on this, how it won’t put up with any excuses where truth is concerned.
I love the
Gita
’s clarity about how we have to live with the consequences of our actions, good or bad, but with no hint of punishment. I love how it neither excuses nor overlooks humanity’s dark side, and yet doesn’t dwell there. Sanskrit, the precise, spiritual language of the
Gita
, has no word for
damnation
.
I love the antiquity of the
Gita
, appreciating that it precedes by thousands of years the societies we Westerners think of as the cradles of civilization. This isn’t merely “older is better” snobbery.
The Bhagavad Gita
has passed the persistent tests of countless centuries, and yet it remains the basis for all the spiritual teachings known in the world today.
I love the
Gita
’s teachings on
acceptance
— not mere compliance, but acceptance as an overpowering state of mind and way of being, a receptiveness so elevated that one’s life forever soars when touched by the magic of it. This all-embracing acceptance is the most shining facet of love, the very essence of spiritual surrender.
I love the happiness in the
Gita
and thoroughly appreciate its careful explanation of how to attain real bliss. I also appreciate that it lays out what happiness is not and is so clear about the pitfalls in the way of lasting happiness.
