Gita Meeting

The Bhagavad Gita is arguably one of the most important and holy texts in Hinduism. Taking place upon the grand battleground, Kurukshetra, during the epic Mahabharat, right before the great battle between the Pandavas and their malevolent cousins, the Kauravas, the Gita details the conversation between a distraught Arjuna (one of the Pandavas) and his closest friend, Lord Krishna (an avatar of Brahman). Arjuna, lost and distressed at having to fight many of his family, teachers, and friends, asks God (in the form of Krishna), to explain why he must fight. The Bhagavad Gita follows Krishna's teachings to Arjuna.

Krishna illustrates Arjuna's dharma, or duty, that he must pursue in order to accomplish moksha, or enlightenment. He also teaches Arjuna various other paths to moksha.

·         Karma Yoga - The path to moksha through action. This path is pursued by following your duty as a citizen, your morality, and your personality, without the concern of the benefits or detriments of your action and devoting your action to Brahman. In other words, living your life without ego and attachment. In the case of Arjuna, his path was to fight as his dharma was to be a kshatriya, or a warrior. His personality was not fit to be an ascetic and he was a warrior, thus his duty dictated him to fight in the great Kurukshetra War.

·         Bhakti Yoga- The path to moksha through devotion. This path is pursued by devoting your mind, body, and soul to Brahman in whatever form you may perceive. Through following this path, the relationship is so strong that it oftentimes is akin to a human relationship, e.g.- the love between a mother and child, teacher and student, two lovers, husband and wife, etc. A follower of bhakti yoga would love a form of God so strongly that ego and attachment is lost. This is how moksha is attained through bhakti yoga.

• Jñāna Yoga- The path to moksha through knowledge. This path is pursued by devoting yourself to the learning and, more importantly, the understanding of spiritual knowledge. This knowledge is primarily of kshetra, or of the body, kshetra-jna, or of the soul, and being able to distinguish between the two. The follower of this path would attempt to learn this knowledge through spiritual guidance from spiritual Hindu texts and a guru, ostensibly one who has attained moksha and by understanding the physical world. The ability to see through the maya, or illusion, of this world is the most important quality.

These paths to achieving moksha all have a common theme of dharma. Dharma cannot be simply described as a person's duty because the term, spiritually, comprises a much deeper meaning. Dharma is not the same for every person, yet by following one's dharma, Krishna maintains that you attain moksha. The previous three yogas, or paths to moksha, are simply massive categories that your dharma can fall under. Hinduism does not prescribe a formula for people to attain moksha, as every person's persona and situation, in some way, differs from each others'. A current day and personal example would be this author's own mother who is a zealous devotee of the popular saint, Sai Baba. She views Sai Baba as her teacher and guide through her life and often talks to him, definitely an example of bhakti yoga. Not only this, but she studies his life through various biographies and writings of Sai Baba and attempts to implement his teachings as personally as possible. This is a prominent example of jñāna yoga. Finally, she maintains all of her dharma as a mother of two children and provides, cares, and protects them. That is a final example of karma yoga. Obviously, she does not stringently follow any one yoga, but follows her own mixture that has been dictated by her personality, attributes, and situation.

Hinduism does not and cannot tell you what your dharma is and how to accomplish completing your dharma, but it can help guide you to moksha, and, in the end, that is what the Bhagavad Gita tells us.