Bhavesh's Tryst

Everyone has infinite potential and talent. Yet most people live and die without so much as a glimpse of who they really are or what they bring to the world. The Bhagwad Gita helps unlock your potential so that you gain power to rock the world. All it takes is a slight shift in attitude, change in thinking.

M K Gandhi was a timid barrister who transformed into a Mahatma.Swami Vivekananda, who initially trembled at the thought of addressing the Parliament of Religions, became a world-famous preacher! Abdul Kalam rose from humble origins to become President of India.

The Gita says you too can metamorphose from an ordinary to an extraordinary immortal. It takes you step by step to the highest pedestal of human excellence. Not everyone is hugely talented or blessed with a high IQ, but every single person has spirit in equal measure. Just remove the excess matter obscuring the divine spark and you reach perfection.

As you think, so you become. You have been thinking of body , mind and intellect continuously , so you have become weak. Think of spirit with the same fervour and consistency! But how can the ordinary person achieve this when he has obligations in the world? It is impractical to expect people to leave their homes and work places to retire to the Himalayas in search of the Divine.

Do what you have to. Just think of Atman, Spirit. What you do matters little. It is where your mind is that makes the difference. Prayer or worship is not a casual, once-a-week ritual. It is a full time focus on the transcendental. In Chapter 4 Krishna takes you through the cycle of life which consists of three segments: intake of stimuli from the world, reaction to the stimuli and response back into the world. He further splits these three into 12 yajnas or sacrifices.

Yajna is the ancient Vedic ritual of fire worship. It consists of offering grain or ghee in the havan kund, a brick-walled enclosure. When fuel is added, fire is kindled. This process of offering and kindling is applied by Krishna to all life's activities, reminding us of God in our daily routine. Think of all worldly interactions as worship and you do not have to perform the ritual of havan. It is taking place within you 247! You have no control over what the world throws at you.

It could be pleasant or unpleasant. But you do have the power to convert it to worship. Your neighbour may scream at you. Think of it as yajna ­ the offering is the sound, the kindling is hearing. Your attention is on that power that enables you to hear, not on what you hear. Then you become independent of the world, no longer cowering in fear. You have the upper hand.

The world only bullies a weak person. Gain strength and the world will leave you alone. All problems will dissolve in your newfound confidence and you will be free to pursue the Higher.

Whether you are seeing, hearing, eating, breathing or acting, you are reminded of God every moment of your life. Gradually your mind gets anchored in the Higher. Lower desires drop. All yajnas end in wisdom, Self-realisation.The collateral benefit is worldly success and happiness.