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2019 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

15. Epilogue: Timeless Teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā

verfasst von : Satinder Dhiman

Erschienen in: Managing by the Bhagavad Gītā

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This chapter distills the essential teachings of the Gītā on life and leadership. It draws together all the myriad strands presented in the foregoing chapters and offers pointers on the path of action (karmayoga), knowledge (jñānayoga), meditation (dhyānayoga), and devotion (bhaktiyoga). The path of Self-knowledge as taught in the Gītā garners self-awareness, an essential quality of effective leadership. This self-awareness makes us aware of the fact that, at its very core, all life is essentially one. The diversity and multiplicity that we see is an expression of that one Reality in which everything is irrevocably connected to everything else. According to the Gītā, this understanding helps us live a life of selfless service and contribution, the key to personal happiness and social harmony. The Gītā teaches us that true peace can only come by serving the common good and surrendering to the Divinewithin us.

The path to leading others starts with self-awareness through self-discipline and ends with self-transcendence through selfless service. The Gītā calls it enlightened leadership. Enlightened leadership is essentially servant leadership. It represents a shift from followers serving leaders to leaders serving followers. Enlightened leaders are not motivated by personal desires or interests. They become instruments of the whole and selflessly serve for the well-being of all beings (sarvabhūta hitae, BG 5.25; 12.4). Only those who have relinquished personal ambition can truly serve. According to the Gītā, the path to enlightened leadership is paved with authenticity, humility, service, and compassion. The Gītā teaches us that our choice lifework, svadharma, is a supreme means to discover who we are. The goal is Self-knowledge; service is the means.

The chapter presents 101 maxims of life and leadership according to the teachings of the Gītā.

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Vorheriges Kapitel lokasaMgraha: An Indigenous Construct of Leadership and Its Measure

The verses of the Gītā are referenced in the ‘chapter, verse’ format: 5.25 denotes chapter 5, verse 25. All translations are author’s unless otherwise stated. Throughout the book, the masculine pronouns have been used in their universal sense. The teachings of the Gītā are gender-neutral and applicable to all human beings alike.

The Gītā is among the most translated and most commented upon book of the world’s sacred texts. See: Koti Sreekrishna and Hari Ravikumar, trans., The New Bhagavad-Gita (Mason, OH: W.I.S.E. Words Inc., 2011), 35.

Ibid., 36.

Ādi Śaṅkara, perhaps the most important commentator on the Gītā, says that he undertook to write his commentary precisely for the reasons that there were many highly conflicting meanings (atyanta-viruddha-anēka-arthatvēna) and that the real meaning of the Gītā is hard to fathom (durvijñēyārthaṁ).

Mysore Hiriyanna, Outlines of Indian Philosophy (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 2005, reprint Indian Edition), 117.

Huston Smith, Foreword. In Winthrop Sargeant, trans., Bhagavad Gītā, the 25th anniversary edition (New York, NY: New York State University Press, 2009), ix.

Satinder Dhiman, trans., Kripāmayi Bhagavad Gītā: The Benedictory Gītā: Selection and compilation, Rajendra Kumar Dhawan (Gorakhpur, India: Gita Prakāshan, 2014), 39. Based on Paramśraddheya Swāmījī Shrī Rāmsukhdāsjī Mahārāj’s Discourses. (Gorakhpur, India: Gita Prakāshan, 2014), 39.

Ibid., 19.

yataḥ tadartha-vijñānē samasta-puruṣārtha-siddhiḥ ataḥ… tat idam gītā-śāstraṁ samasta-vēdārtha-sārasaṅgraha-bhūtaṁ.

For further details, see a chapter titled entitled, ‘The Real Message of the Gītā,’ in this author’s book, Gita and Leadership: A Catalyst for Organizational Transformation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

Swami Nikhilananda, Trans. & Ed., The Upanishads: A One-Volume Abridgement (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), 71. [Slightly revised].

See Śaṅkara’s commentary on Brahma-Sūtra 1.1.12: सदयमकतकरणमपयतमजञनम sadyomuktikāraṇamapyātmajñānam. ‘Self-knowledge leads to instant liberation:’ V. Panoli, trans., Prasthanathraya, Volume VI—Bramasutra (Kozhikode, Keralam, India: Mathrubhumi printing & publishing Co. Ltd., 2011), 90.

In the opening verse of chapter nine, Śrī Kṛṣṇa declares: “Now, I will clearly expound this most secret knowledge and its realization, knowing which you will be released from all that is inauspicious (yaj jñātvā mokṣyaseśubhāt). Śrī Śaṅkara’s comment: ‘On realizing this knowledge, you will be liberated from the bondage of saṁsāra, conditioned existence.’ See Alladi Mahadeva Sastry, trans., The Bhagavad Gītā with the commentary of Sri Shankaracharya (Chennai, India: Samata Books, 2001), 238-239.

The Gītā tells us that although the Supreme Lord of the universe has nothing to attain personally in the three worlds, still the Lord keeps on performing the duties for the benefit of all (3.22). Even so, those in power should model their behavior since majority of people follow whatsoever an important person does (3.21). What an object lesson for the leaders to follow!

To study the Gītā is to study yourself—the real “You,” with ‘Y’ capital, ‘O’ capital and ‘U’ capital, as my present Vedānta teacher is wont to say.

See: BG (2.16) नसत वदयत भव नभव वदयत सत nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ: The unreal never is; the Real never ceases to be. A.R. Orage, the great British philosopher and critic, was a great admirer of Indian wisdom. He is reported to have requested that this half-verse should be inscribed on his gravestone. He considered this verse the highest expression of perennial philosophy, philosophia perennis. Orage, whom George Bernard Shaw once called the “the most brilliant English editor and critic of last 100 years,” studied Mahābhārata concertedly for 15 years. He believed that it embodied absolute truths emanating from the Objective and Universal Consciousness. See: Philip Mairet, A.R Orgage: A Memoir (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1966), 121. Also see: Wallace Martin, The New Age under Orage: Chapters in English Cultural History (New York, Manchester University Press, 1967).

Īśa Upaniṣad declares: What sorrow or delusion for the one who is established in universal Oneness? ततर क मह क शक एकतवमनपशयत ॥ ७ ॥ tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvamanupaśyataḥ || 7 ||

What can be favorable or unfavorable for the wise? The wise welcome all situations and experiences as opportunities for self-learning and growth.

Verse 14.3 of Pañcadaśi, a philosophical sub-text of Vedānta, declares: A Self-realized person is ever-blissful on four counts—absence of sorrow (duḥkhābhāvaś), the fulfillment of all desires (kāmāptiḥ), the satisfaction of having done all that was to be done (kṛtya-kṛtyo) and the satisfaction of having achieved all that was to be achieved (prāpta-prāpyo). See: H.P. Shastri, trans, Panchadashi: A Treatise on Advaita Metaphysics by Swami Vidyaranya (London: Shanti Sadan, 1982, reprint edition), 448.

See also BG (6.22) yaṃ labdhvā cāparaṃ lābhaṃ manyate nādhikaṃ tataḥ /

yasmin sthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate //

Having attained which, one does not reckon any gain greater than that, and established in which one is not affected by even a great sorrow.

Yu-Lan Fang, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy: A Systematic Account of Chinese Thought from its Origins to Present Day (New York: Free Press; Reissue edition 1997)

See: John Cooper, ed., Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997)

Digha Nikāya II. 156. Cited in Roberto Calasso, Kā: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 396.

Retrieved June 10, 2017: https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-great-quotes-of-Aristotle

Mission statement of Ramakrishna Order, slightly modified: Ātmano mokṣārtham jagat hitāya ca (आतमन मकषरथम जगत हतय च) is a mantra in the Rigveda. Literally, it means, ‘for the freedom of the Self and for the welfare of the world.’ Since Self, ātmā, is never bound and is ever-free, by ‘Self-freedom’ the mantra really means ‘Self-knowledge.’ Through Self-knowledge, one realized one’s intrinsic freedom. See Karan Singh, Hinduism (New Delhi, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2005), 71.

See: Gītā (5.25 and 12.4). labhante brahmanirvāṇam…sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ: 5.25: Working for the well-being of all beings, sages attain liberation in the Absolute. We have Gandhi’s testimony which was inspired by the teachings of the Gītā: “What I want to achieve,—and what I have been striving and pining to achieve these 30 years,—is self-realization, to see God face to face, to attain Moksha. I live and move and have my being in pursuit of this goal. All that I do by way of speaking and writing and all my ventures in the political field are directed to this same end.” See: M. K. Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (New York: Dover Publications, 1983), viii.

P. Lal, The Mahabharata of Vyasa: Condensed from Sanskrit and Transcribed into English (Lake Gardens, Kolkata: Writers Workshop 2010), p. 370.

My Vedānta teacher used to reiterate: “With Self-knowledge, one can weather all existential storms aplomb and can swim in any ocean.”

For further clarification of this point, please refer to Ira Schepetin’s three excellent talks on Bhagavad Gītā on YouTube. See: Ira Schepetin gives a talk about The Bhagavad Gita: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Vl6OUezVY&t=2070shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHbiTNsoYi4&t=1shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxamejEBPQ4&t=2063s

Alladi Mahadeva Sastry, trans., The Bhagavad Gītā with the commentary of Sri Shankaracharya, 497.

सरवष कलष मम अनसमर यधय च: sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara yudhya ca (8.7).

See: Francis Bacon, The Essays (New York: Penguin Classics, 1986), 209.

This captures the essence of all three paths, yogas: jñānayoga, karmayoga, and bhaktiyoga—the paths of knowledge, selfless action, and devotion. In short, jñāna culminating in bhakti: Self-knowledge culminating in surrender to the Divine within. When this occurs, niṣkāma karma, selfless action, happens on its own accord.

These yogas, paths/disciplines, and their application to life and leadership, is the subject-matter of this book.

See: Śrīmad Bhagavadgītā (with English Transliteration and Translation) (Gorakhpur, India: Gita Press, 2011), 108.

Scott Teitsworth, The Path to the Guru: The Science of Self-Realization according to the Bhagavad Gita (Rochester, Vermont, Inner Traditions, 2014), 3-4.

A. Parthasarathy cited in Dennis Waite, Back to the Truth: 5000 Years of Advaita (Winchester, UK: John Hunt Publishing, Ltd., 2007), 519.

M. K. Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1983), 302.

See Sonja Lyubomirsky, The how of happiness: a scientific approach to getting the life you want (New York: Penguin Press, Reprint Edition, 2008)

Sri Ramana Maharshi used to say that this verse (BG, 10.20) contains the essence of the entire Bhagavad Gītā.

Titel: Epilogue: Timeless Teachings of the Bhagavad Gītā
verfasst von: Satinder Dhiman
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Managing by the Bhagavad Gītā
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99610-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-99611-0

Copyright-Jahr: 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99611-0_15

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