SP IRIT
Right now, if you’re ready and willing to experience peace,
happiness, health and security in this lifetime, there is no
better path to the goal than the study and practice of the
teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
The Bhagavad Gita is an ancient Indian scripture that
literally means the “Song of the Lord.” The Gita is a
distillation of Indian Upanishads, and its authorship is
attributed to Vyasa, legendary compiler of the spiritual epic
Mahabharata. Although it has been honored by the Hindu
culture for thousands of years, its perennial philosophy is
actually derived from the older oral tradition of Yoga
Science. The exact date of the written form of the Bhagavad
Gita is a matter of conjecture, but most scholars agree that
the scripture is at least 5,000 years old, past down as an oral
tradition. That would mean that the Gita came into the
library of humanity 1,700 years before Moses, 2,500 years
before Buddha, 3,000 years before Jesus the Christ and
3,800 years before Muhammad.
Four fundamental doctrines form the core of the Perennial
Philosophy contained in the Bhagavad Gita.
First: that the phenomenal world of matter and individual
consciousness––human, animal, plant and mineral––are all
manifestations of one Supreme Reality, within which all
partial realities exist, and apart from which they do not exist.
Second: that human beings are capable of experiencing the
eternal wisdom, bliss and fullness of the Supreme Reality by
direct intuition. Experiencing this undistorted truth, the
individual knower unites with the one transcendent Divinity.
W Third: that human beings possess a dual nature: a limited
ego/personality (or lower self) and an eternal Higher Self or
soul––an aspect of the Supreme Reality. If there is a
sufficient desire, it is possible for a human being to unite
with the Higher Self.
The cumulative weight of these factors might feel overwhelming.
But for a truly sensitive and practical person, pain and burnout
begs this essential question, “Is there anything I can do right now
to end the stress and gnawing feeling of worry, anger and
depression?” Fourth: that the purpose of life (and the secret of happiness,
health and security) is to identify with and become an
instrument of the Higher Self. This union is experienced
through spiritual practice––the process of sacrificing the
ignorance of the ego/personality and serving the perfect,
intuitive wisdom of the Higher Self as reflected by the
conscience of the mind known in Sanskrit as buddhi.
“YES,” Yoga Science resoundingly answers––“but only if you are
willing to bid adieu to some old, unhelpful habits.” After all, if you
always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you
always got. The Bhagavad Gita presents this perennial philosophy as an
internal dialogue between the two aspects of mankind’s
dual nature. In this intimate conversation, Krishna
represents the Lord, the Higher Self within each person, and
ithout question, these are the times that try the
soul. Certainly each of us must deal with
occasional traumas like illness, the loss of loved
ones and financial reverses, but recently all of us
have been bombarded by an onslaught of momentous
circumstances, intense challenges and seemingly relentless stress
and anxiety.
38 www.yogicherald.com Dec. 2018