• A Psychologist and Counsellor shares how the Holy Gita has helped him in both professional and personal lives.

I do not say that I have learned from Gita. If I say that I have learned from Gita, it is a lie and an arrogant answer, it is exactly meant that I did not learn anything from Gita!

Because, for me, Gita is not a cookbook; it is a live guide or a torchbearer in the moonless night, where the night is filled with darkness. The night darkness is complex and scary. I am happy and confident that I don't have to be scared; I trust that Gita is accompanying me as a guide, counsellor, or a friendly torchbearer, where I could rely on, talk, walk along, and argue or have an interaction loudly. When I say that I can argue with Gita because I trust that Gita will understand me and my good intentions, where I am habituated to respond with fear. I trust Gita that I will be forgiven unconditionally.

I don't remember exactly how I got introduced to Gita.

Probably, it was during my school days when we were supposed to chant some shlokas without knowing the meaning of it. We used to chant it for our fear of punishment with a mulberry stick by our ‘respected' teachers. Later, I read many times as a ritual or sometimes with a compulsion to read because it is our holy book. 

Once, I had a talk with Dr. Ashok Sahni, former Professor of IIM, Bangalore,  who suggested I read a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita by Dr. Rohit Mehta. This book, Mind to super-mind, made me aware of unknown aspects of the Bhagavad Gita and also its psychological relevance. Around this time, I also read the Bhagavad Gita by scholar President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan and started thinking about how the Bhagavad Gita was talking about many things of contemporary psychological principles, which we use in the psychotherapy.

I tried to understand the Gita in a larger context, starting from understanding the meaning of yoga to the defining nature of Brahmana, the sect we are part of, shamefully, not knowing the meaning of it as well as practicing it even a quarter of what the Gita defined (18.42).

My understanding of Gita became clearer when I reflected on it rather than reading it. It improved when I began to apply it in a larger context, holistically, rather than word by word. However, due to some confusion and inner conflict,  I could not go further in my understanding of the Bhagavad Gita.

When I started reflecting on the Gita in a background of Srikrishna, it started becoming crystal clear, precise, and meaningful. So I became convinced that any attempt to understand the Bhagavad Gita without understanding Srikrishna is like a blind person understanding of an elephant; incomplete and irrelevant.

As a psychologist, I say that Gita does not provide instant answers or any remedy for your problems. It provides you the opportunity to think and reflect on those choices and use your power of discrimination while choosing an option. We use a similar technique in some psychotherapeutic models.

One of the finest teachings in the Gita is allowing us to be detached in the attachment. So according to Gita, an attachment is essential, but detachment is also equally important in our daily activities (5.10). This helped me in my relationship with clients who are suffering from borderline personality disorder. These clients demand a lot of attention from therapists and are at times emotionally abusive towards therapists. Mere practicing of psychotherapy does not help; it requires a spiritual awareness and maturity to be committed in the therapeutic relationship with these sufferers.

When I reflect on the Gita, it provides solutions to many of my daily problems. It has taught me to be yogic, or more precisely, balanced in my body, mind, and spirit, or self. Whenever I am happy or sad, it makes me be aware of ‘samatvam' and anchors me to the present-a moment in here and now (2.48).

Whenever I don't have clients and end up being insecure and inadequate, I get inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita which makes me see the larger context and pray for everyone's well-being rather than get frustrated with negative thought patterns (18.36,37).

Dr S. Radhakrishnan says: “We should not be defiled by disgust even when we look at the worst that life can do to us, even when we are plunged in every kind of loss, bereavement, and humiliation. If we act in the spirit of the Gita with detachment and dedication, and have love even for our enemy, we will help to rid the world of wars” (P.69). 

The Bhagavad Gita is the only resource that, whenever I don't get the recognition for my work, allows me to  reflect in my head that you focus on Karma yoga but  not desiring the results for my intended action,  soothing me with hope and energy to do much more (2.47).

Whenever I have succumbed to worries, it is the Gita's verses make me come back to the present and not allow me to perish in that whirlpool of thought (2.62, 63, 64). Another important principle I understood from the Gita is that focusing on the big picture and non-rigidity. Whenever I get stuck with clients and not having that scope to move further, the Gita's flexibility makes me change my approach and stay focused on the universal objective and the big picture. This helped in my counselling sessions, handling many difficult cases. 

This point has been emphasized by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan (P.16): ‘the one eternal truth which we are seeking, from which all other truth derives, cannot be shut up in a single formula'.  I feel good that whatever principles of counselling have been emphasized, the same was mentioned in the Gita and make me choose, based on my dialogue with my ‘self'(18.63). This choice is not conditional; makes me choose as a person with a conscious choice and discretion.

The most powerful influence of the Gita was when I was unemployed. Simply put, I had to question my Boss because that is what I learned from the Gita - to be straightforward and authentic (18.26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32). My boss made me leave the job, which I was not prepared for. For a person, the only breadwinner for the family, it is the toughest thing to accept and continue without routine.

The essence of Gita helped me, much more than any theories of psychology, to be resilient.

Those days were difficult to manage, and questioning my own existence. Each passing day without a job was making me lose hope and become more and more worthless; it is the Gita's guidance and trust in that essence that kept me integrated and raised my resilience.  The basic readings of Gita, specifically from Sankhya Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Moksha Sannyasa Yoga made me reflect and provided the purpose to life (18.36, 37, 38, 39).

My understanding is that learning is never-ending.

I perceive the Gita as a live guide or a counsellor, and learning is incidental, experiential, and ongoing. It depends on my awareness of the Gita's essence at that moment, which motivates me to be flexible, authentic, and confident. As of now, it responded to me with an answer or sometimes made me search for an answer in a light of itself (Gita). As I said earlier, Gita is a live guide, where I can have a dialogue, a dialogue between a guiding mother and a child that nourishes as well as facilitates me to grow within myself.  This process of growing makes me happier, confident, and independent within that interdependent relationship (Gita Dhyana Shloka).

References

1. Jayadayal Goyandaka. (2012). Shrimadbhagavadgita: Tatva vivechani tika (kannada). Gorakhpur: Gita Press.

2. Radhakrishnan, S. (1985): The Bhgavadgita, Bombay: Blackie and son publishers Pvt Ltd.

3. Rohith Mehta. (2000). From mind to super-mind: A commentary on Bhagavad Gita. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas Publisher private limited.

4. Sri Swami Sivananda. (2000). Bhagavad Gita. Shivananda nagar, Tehri: A divine life society publication. Down loaded from: WWW site: http://www.SivanandaDlshq.org/

Author is Assistant Professor and Counsellor, Center for Counseling and Career Guidance, PES University, Bengaluru-560085

Also read

1. How Holy Gita taught me to enjoy life

2. Chapter wise commentary in PDF on Holy Gita