Why and What is this blog?

Before starting this blog, I had some consternation. which I think, I should share here just to help the readers to decide whether (s)he should follow this blog or not.
 
Why this blog ?

There are millions of blogs on the web. Everyday some are getting added and some others would be getting dead, like people in the world. After all why people blog, apart from some who do for solely monetizing? As a reflection, there appears variety of reasons like;
- a simple desire to express oneself in any way, or
- to share views on an interesting and popular issue or
- to impart knowledge on specialized subjects. Etc.
 
The number of followers, a blog will attract depends upon the subject and the style. Obviously there would be large no of followers for blogs on popular topics e.g. fashions,health, entertainment and education etc.

This blog on Bhagvad Gita, certainly cannot fit into the popular class and as a result there will be a fewer readers.

In fact, this point is expressly stated in Gita Chapter 7 Stanza 3.
"Among thousands of human beings, a rare one strives for Siddhi i.e knowledge
Even among those seekers who strive, a rare one knows the essence in reality."

Having said that, one should not think that the knowledge of the Gita is not meant for everyone. Rather it is universally useful to all irrespective of age, gender, nationality or religion. It does not change from time to time or does not become outdated. It is easy to understand if properly presented. It is free from any dogma and always useful and beneficial. One may find the concepts of the Gita in the scriptures of Hindu and other religions and books of science but in Gita they are all in one place neatly integrated. It is said that after knowing the Gita, nothing is left out.

This blog is aimed to present  the utility angle of the Gita in simplified way which can help a person to improve the quality of the life. 


Gita and me:
 
After working in a multinational for about 5 years, I joined a partnership business of manufacturing electronic products. Though during the job years, I had faced a few problems but in the business there were all sort of problems. It was the indoctrination of Bhagvad Gita, partly from childhood and a little more during the engineering education years, that proved to be a great help to face the problems with equanimity and presence of mind for over 25 years in business.

As I used to sometimes suggest Gita-inspired solutions for business problems,to my friends and colleagues, they used to suggest to me, probably in a light vein, to write a guide book based on Gita.

Writing was one thing but publishing was not an easy task for me so nothing happened then.
 
After many years, as is now, the internet based free publication has become popular and that has inspired me to share my thoughts on Utilitarian angle of Bhagvad geeta.

Some stanzas of Gita have become inseparable part of Indian ethos, such that they are quoted on all important occasions, but understanding of whole book and its possible impact on our life is farfetched.

Through this blog, my aim is to explore entire Gita for Utilitarian guidance for our day to day living and its problems.
 
Style of content:
 
The original Gita is a poem in Sanskrit. It is simply superb fantastic poem. But to enjoy that, a reader should know Sanskrit and have an understanding for poetry. Those who do not know Sanskrit have to be content with translations. A translation should be faithful to the original. In my opinion, all translations of Gita, fall short of original. Some translations also entail commentary by scholars. Commentaries often include some similes and some anecdotes to explain the meaning of stanzas of Gita. Though this style is almost universal, it may not work equally well with readers of different cultural back grounds. I therefore have decided to use a different style which is as follows.


i)  Though Gita is divided in 18 chapters according to different subjects,on studying Gita, I understood that further subdivision of each chapter in smaller parts  based on the change in topics would help for deeper  insight.This method has an advantage of ease of understanding of each part related to a certain topic and then integrating several topics of a chapter to grasp a whole picture.

ii) Instead of Sanskrit stanzas, English transliteration is included, which is though not any help to a reader who does not know Sanskrit, but included here to maintain the reference with original text.

iii) Translation is verbatim as far as possible but words in brackets are added to make it comprehensible. 

iv) The aim of this blog is to highlight the Utilitarian doctrine of Gita. Utilitarian means applying the Principles of Gita to find solutions of problems of day to day life and as a result live in perennial joy.
 
It is observed that our response to the problems of everyday life is based on the indoctrination of certain conflicting axioms which are not eternal and universal and hence lead to dissatisfaction and stress.

The doctrines of Gita can lead to highest goal of life i.e. Self realization which is also known as liberation from the cycle of birth and death and Union with God. It is mentioned in the Gita that this highest goal can be attained by  only a few in one's life time but each and every person can pursue that. This goal can not be achieved by negating the joy of day to day life. 

As a matter of fact Gita dictates the inevitability of performing tasks of mundane life such that they do not  with become stressful. This aspect is known as 'Karm Yoga' and which is entirely utilitarian. By living the life according doctrines of Karm Yoga, one's personality is transformed. Karma Yoga if properly understood and practiced will bring amazing changes in your personality. A person will stop fearing failures and feel less stressful. Failures which are bound to be there but they will not break a person but will serve as new lessons and strengthen him to confidently continue on the path to success. The practice of Karm Yoga is not meant for illusive promises for next birth. You get many benefits in this life itself. A modern person is concerned about the problems of this life. The Gita is the right guide for that.      

We shall endeavor to point out the what are the Utilitarian doctrines from Gita for for everyday life. This will be done in the form of inferences on stanzas and also presenting the essence at the end of the parts of each chapter.

For that, though not necessary, I have thought it fit to include transliteration and translation of each stanza along with its inference. This will serve as one to one correlation. Also one can compare easily with others' comments. 
 
Sanskrit text is not included but a reader can get it free online.

Time frame:
I read somewhere that, on an average people write a blog post in about 4 to 5 hours. Though this would be fine for the popular blogs, I find it difficult for this blog.

You may leaf over the full Gita in a few sessions, to get overall picture; but to get the deeper insight, you have to read and deliberate. You have to read repeatedly. That is an ongoing process. It is studying, rather than reading the Gita. The Gita though appears to be simple it is cryptic and contradictory in some places. Also in Sanskrit, unlike in other languages, the words can be used in any order to make a sentence or a stanza. Due to that, sometimes there can be difference of opinions about which adjective qualifies which word. This can lead to different meanings and one has to be wary of that.

I look at several commentaries on one or a group of stanzas for a certain theme and shall present how that would apply for a real world problems. Though I have some freedom in choice of words for clarity, I have to adhere to the original thought of stanzas.

All these lead to longer time for writing a post. As of now I figure out it can be one post per week or two or longer in some circumstances. 
Stanzas in each chapter are grouped with respect to a topic. Each topic covers a few stanzas i.e. 5-10. It is planned that one post will cover one topic. Accordingly there will be about 100 posts.

Readers’ comments
I am not an authority either on Bhagvad gita or its Utilitarian teaching. I think I am a fan and ardent student.This blog may work as a forum. The readers’ interaction can help to refine the ideas further and take them to higher level so as they become worthwhile for those who need them most.




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