Gita Acharan

  Krishna says, "A person who doesn't agitate (udveg) the world and who is not agitated by the world, who is free from pleasure, jealousy, fear and anxiety; who is free from expectations, pure, skillful, neutral to circumstances, free from selfishness in all undertakings -he (devotee) is dear to Me" (12.15 and 12.16). 'Not getting agitated and not agitating others' is the highest form of living. Krishna earlier answered the question of why we get agitated. He said that the polarities of pain and pleasure (sukh-dukh) are generated in us when senses meet sense objects like when ears hear our praise or criticism. He advised us to learn to ignore them (polarities) as they are anitya (impermanent) (2.14). These polarities are nothing but the agitations we go through. In our daily lives, agitation works like the game of  'passing the buck'. For example, we gather agitation from a superior in the workplace and pass it on to some junior or to a fami

Krishna says, "Those devotees are very dear to Me who do not hate any being, who are friendly and compassionate, who are nir-mama (sans-I) and nir-ahankaar (sans -I am doer), who are balanced in pleasure and pain (sama-dukh-sukh) and forgiving (kshami) . Who are ever-content, self controlled yogi, having firm conviction, and who have their mind and intellect dedicated to Me" (12.13 and 12.14). At the outset, this appears to run contrary to Krishna's earlier assurance that none is dweshya (hateful) and none is priya (dear) to Him (9.29). While HIS blessings are available to everyone like rain, possessing these qualities is like keeping our bowl upright.  'Not hating anyone' is at the core of the Bhagavad Gita. Earlier Krishna advised to perform karmas (actions) by dropping hatred (5.3). When hatred becomes a part of us, shedding it becomes painful as it makes us lose a part of ourselves. It's like removing a harmful cancerous tumor, removal of

  Krishna earlier advised abhyasa yoga (yoga of practice) in case one is unable to fix the mind on Him. He further says, "If you are unable to do abhyasa , be diligent in performing actions in thought of me. Even by engaging in activities for my sake, you shall attain divine bliss (siddhi) . If you are unable to do even this, remaining attached to Me as your shelter, relinquish the fruits of all actions to be centred in the self (atma-vaan) " (12.10 and 12.11).  Every karma (action) has a kartha (doer) and karmaphal (fruits of action). One path is dropping Kartha which Krishna referred to as 'performing actions in thought of Me'. In other words this is dedicating the sense of doership to Paramatma . Another path is renouncing the fruits of action.  Krishna says, "Better indeed is gyan (awareness) than abhyasa (practice); better than gyan is dhyan (meditation); better than dhyan is renunciation of the fruits of actions; peace immediately foll

Krishna advises, "Fix your mind on Me alone and surrender your intellect to Me. Thereupon, you will always live in Me. Of this, there is no doubt" (12.8).  Our mind is trained to continuously divide. This ability helped us protect ourselves by quickly identifying unsafe situations which increased our chance of survival. Hence, fixing the mind, amidst ever changing situations around us, runs contrary to our daily practices. Krishna is fully aware of our difficulties and says, "If you are unable to fix your mind steadily on Me, O Arjun, then seek to reach Me by Abhyasa Yoga (Yoga of practice)" (12.9). Krishna earlier advised to control the mind by practice (abhyaas) and dispassion (vairaagyam) (6.35); and to do regular practice with determination (6.23) to bring the restless mind under control (6.26). He cautioned that Yoga is hard to attain by the ungoverned man but it can be attained by means of striving (6.36).  While miracles do happen, they are rar