Reading the Bhagavad Gita: What You Need to Know?
Questioner (Q): Namaste Acharyaji. I am Krishna Goyal I have two questions. My first question is, what things should we keep in mind before reading the Bhagavad Gita? Many people said you should wash hands, take a bath, and all this. So what rituals should we follow? My second question is, how can we know whether we are meant to be spiritual or lead a normal life?
Acharya Prashant (AP): You're Krishna Goyal? (Audience laughing) No, no. Thank you. You get access to the foundation's Gita course. Somebody, please note and provide him with access. That is probably the only legitimate answer to your question. You're asking what one should keep in mind while going to the Gita. That's like asking, ‘What kind of rubbish should I carry before entering the bath?’ Gita is so that whatever you carry in your mind can be washed away. Why do you want to keep something in mind before coming to the Gita?
Whatever you have in mind, is that bigger than the Gita? So why should that be preserved while coming to the Gita? Whatever you have in mind, tell it that you are subordinate to the Gita. So be prepared to be washed away. I'm going to the Gita now. You will be attacked and annihilated. Should I clean my hands before going to the Gita? Cleaning is something that Gita will tell you. The very definition of cleaning will come from the Gita. How do you know what cleaning means?
If you're thinking of cleaning your hands, it means you are the body. The Gita will tell you what the act of cleaning really means. Or are you superior to the Gita that you will do the cleaning first and then go to the Gita? And if you're already clean, why are you going to the Gita? The Gita exists to clean you, but you say you're already clean.
Today, I'm able to teach the Gita to so many of you because when I was young, when I was not even a teenager, in so many days it happened, I would be sleeping with the Gita on my chest. Sometimes, the pages would get distorted. I would get scolded, and even I would not like that the page has become twisted or dog-eared. But that happened.
I would be in love. I'm eating, having my meals, and the Gita is here. I'm not advising that. I'm just truthfully telling you what happened. And the copy of the Gita that I had, some of the pages would be marked with turmeric or some other spices. You see, I was a kid. So, some dal is on the fingers, and it is left behind on the pages of the book. Not that this is something advisable. Not that this is what you're supposed to do, but it used to happen.
I was in love, and I didn't know any rituals or rules. And that was not just with the Gita. To me, Gita is not a book. It is a genre. Any book that teaches me is the Gita. You're talking of the Bhagavad Gita here. Even in the Hindu way, there are dozens of Gitas. And worldwide, from antiquity till today, there are even greater numbers of Gitas. There has to be love.
I don't mean to say that great books, you know, I have taken them with me even to the commode. I'm not recommending that, please. But that's what has happened. So why should I hide? Even today, the 10–15 minutes I spend there, I cannot bear to just waste away that time. The body is doing something. What am I doing? Just waiting. So, I keep reading from my mobile phone. I cannot enter the washroom without my mobile phone, and I don't read trash. I read something that uplifts me. What ritual am I following? I loved wisdom too much to let any rituals come in the way.
Love is not about following certain regulations, and I just didn't bow my head down. I actually quarreled with Krishna. Because I was young, and I couldn't reconcile one shloka with the other. And I was not prepared to just bow down to someone on the basis of his proclaimed authority. If the book is indeed great, then I should be able to see harmony. Things must agree with each other and come to a composite whole. One verse in one chapter cannot contradict another one elsewhere. And it took me time to come to that reconciliation. What rituals?
Even today, it does happen that when I'm with a particular verse of some religious scripture, and if I cannot see that it agrees with the whole of the scripture, I honestly tell that to my people. I say, I do not know how this verse made its way to this book because the rest of the book does not seem to agree with this particular verse.
Go to the Gita. It is the Gita that will tell you how to approach the Gita. You cannot be bigger than the Gita, right? So, what does cleanliness mean? What does obedience mean? What does purity mean? What does loyalty mean? All these things will be taught to you by the Gita itself. You say, I must be pure before I touch the Gita. But without touching the Gita, how do you know what purity means? How do you know?
So go to the Gita as you are. Like a little naked kid goes to the mother, the mother will decide whether to dress up the kid. The kid cannot say unless and until I dress up and that too formally. Necktie and cufflinks and everything. I will not go to the mother. He does not even know how to put on a chaddi (underwear). How will he wear formal clothes?
Go to the Gita as you are in your animalistic nakedness. Just go! Go as you are. Let the Gita be your mother. She will teach you how to eat, how to wash your hands, how to dress up, how to go through the business of life. But we want to be special. We say I will decide these things on my own, and then I will go to the Gita.
What are you going to the Gita for, then, If you have already decided on the important things on your own? No. It is not yet my time to go to the Gita. How do you know whether or not it is your time? Even that is something that the Gita will tell you. You first go to her. She is the father and the mother.
Give yourself fully to learn from what Shri Krishna is saying. And then if you find that that is not of much value to it, then you go your own way. That's fine. Nobody is supposed to follow anything. If those words do not really appeal to you, go your own way. Fine.
At what time should I read the Gita? Are there certain inauspicious times when one should not touch the Gita? The only inauspicious time is when you are not touching the Gita. But there are gurus who will tell you the right time to read the Gita. When you read the Gita, that is the right time. ‘You must be pure when you go to the Gita.’ When you go to the Gita, then you are pure.
Q: Thank you, Sir.
