Buddhiyoga - Intro

Preface:

I have something to say about Geetaa. After reading many great commentaries and books, I was left with a feeling that, one, reading is insufficient for the understanding, and two, for those uninitiated in Sanskrit and Geetaa, the message of Geetaa is left out of reach. I found it much more difficult to put the message into practice than it ought to be.

My next thought was that my sons and then future generations will find Geetaa an even more distant philosophy, if it just remains a philosophy of some far away land, even if it was the land of their parents and grandparents all of whom they knew closely. Therefore, there had to be a way for me to impart my understanding of Geetaa to my sons and anyone in their generation or future generation, so that they would be drawn to study and practice the message of Geetaa on their own and also to impart it to future generations very willingly and ably. This understanding has to transcend the distance from the land of its origin, the local language and predominant culture and the current times which are dominated by scientific scrutiny of the physical phenomena ad infinitum.

The world is moving inexorably closer to modeling the physical world in a way that human being can put to use to advance wordly living standard. At the same time the world seems to be gradually losing grip on Self, in that remedies for mental troubles are sought in chemicals and surgeries, and moving away from a definite finding of our ancestors that the mental faculties are very much under individual control, if only one exerts such control. There is also growing evidence of the effect of control of mental self on the health of the physical self. This too was propounded by our ancestors, but not in terms amenable to modern day scientific scrutiny.

This book is an attempt to provide that perspective on the message of Geetaa which transcends the geographical, cultural, racial, linguistic, gender or any other boundaries we create or acknowledge. The purpose of this book is to induce you to think on the message of Geetaa and appreciat its imense practicality. Your final understanding will be your own; I just want to give you a jump-start to begin this journey.