The journey of life

Descartes, the famous French philosopher, made one of the most iconic metaphysical statements of all times but according to Geeta missed one very important word.   I think, therefore I am …. unhappy . This in essence is the summary of Chapter 5. We can just end the chapter now but that would make it a cryptic aphorism, so let’s go deeper. After the dire warning at end of last chapter, Krishna in the 5 th chapter dives into the root cause of unhappiness and reveals a stunning perspective on life which we are all leading. It’s also a brilliant preamble to the 6 th chapter which takes you into a journey to bliss through Dhyana (loosely defined as Meditation). In fact, doing meditation without understanding this chapter is futile and can be quite a frustrating experience. So, what is this stunning reveal? Krishna says you are living a life of slavery and you don’t even know it. The first reaction of most people at this bombshell would be… Naah, not me! Krishna not only systema...

As you start to understand the happiness journey better & deeper, two things will (or should) start happening. One, you will start having uncomfortable questions about your world view and priorities. Secondly & more importantly, it will seem to be a very daunting journey. As mentioned in the last chapter, it is easy to say "have no ego and attachment, treat each action as  yagya " but is it really applicable in the world we live in or is it only for saffron clad  sanyasis  who have renounced the world? If you are having these questions, brilliant! You are completely in sync with Arjuna’s mindset who asked this question in 3 rd  chapter. Krishna the charioteer knows how to steer you out of this conundrum, so he shares some amazing techniques to start executing this in everyday life. He shares not one, not two but twelve techniques to convert your every action into  yagya ! Some are simple, some complex and a few mind-boggling but each is intricately relat...

It’s great to know a brilliant happiness equation but it’s of no use if you don’t know what to do with it. Arjuna is thinking along the same lines and he starts the 3 rd chapter (aptly named Karma Yoga ) with a striking question: All this knowledge is good, but why are you asking me to fight my relatives and feel happy? Well, Krishna not only reveals the positive ladder of happiness but also delivers a startling message: If you think you know which actions will lead you to happiness, you couldn’t be more wrong ! Before we begin, think about the hundreds of actions you have done in the last week. How many of these gave you real peace and happiness? If you are lucky your answer would be close to 30%, if you had an average week the answer would be around 10%. Surprising, isn’t it? If the single biggest goal that we aspire for is happiness, then why don’t we act so that majority of our actions help us reach that goal. The answer: our understanding of our own actions is flawed! The fir...

Let us begin where we left off last time: Meaningful purpose is half the battle won! However, per the equation there are two more factors which decide how far you can climb on the happiness axis.  Engagement:   Simply defined, this is the ability to be focused on excellence in whatever you are doing. It is defined many times in the sports parlance as being “in the zone”. The 50 th verse of the 2 nd chapter defines this beautifully by describing Yoga as "Karmasu Kaushalam" : Yoga is excellence in action . Just pause for a moment and think about when was the last time at work that you felt immersed in the flow of what you were doing? Not anxious about the outcome of the work, not worried about what others would think, not even thinking about yourself as you do it! All of us have felt this way (hopefully often!) & when you are in the zone, that is the point of peak engagement. By the way, this engagement is not dependent on the enormity of the work at all. As the famous...