My Gita

by Devdutt Pattanaik

The Gita does not speak of changing the world. It speaks of appreciating the world that is always changing.

The ability to conjure up a conceptual reality (how the world should be) different from emotional experience (how the world feels) or sensory experiences (what is actually sensed) is unique to human beings and unique for every human being.

The journey from human to divine is to achieve conceptual clarity and appreciate the world as it is, while empathizing with how others perceive it.

We are not rational creatures who feel; we are emotional creatures who rationalize.

An expanding mind can contract to accommodate the limited view of others. A mother, for example, can display mock rage to delight her child.

Yoga may expand our mind, but love demands that we contract ourselves so that our lover does not feel inadequate or inferior.

Sometimes, you can see more than me, but you pretend to know less so that I don’t feel intimidated by you. I do the same for you. We do not feel superior when the other is vulnerable; or inferior when we feel helpless. This is what sustains our relationship.

You may value me for what I have and what I do. But I am not what I have or what I do. If you love me, focus on who I am: my hungers and my fears, and my potential to focus on who you are.

Animals fight because the survival of their body depends on it. Humans fight as the survival of their identity (aham) depends on it.

Arjuna, whatever a noble person does, the world follows. —Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, Verse 21

Arjuna, there is nothing in the three worlds that I need to do or gain. Yet I work, for if I don’t, others won’t, and I will be the cause of confusion and destruction of all that has been created.—Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 3, verses 22 to 24

The kingdom needs the king but the king also needs the kingdom.