The idea that there is a goal…is wrong. We are the goal

7 Lessons From The Bhagavad Gita

By Cat O'Connor

"Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?" - John Keats, English Poet

"The idea that there is a goal…is wrong. We are the goal; we are always peace. To get rid of the idea that we are not peace is all that is required."  - Ramana Maharshi, Hindu sage

The Bhagavad Gita – the world’s oldest known text, speaks to this truth. Ultimately, let go and let God and ALL is God (or oneness, divinity, universal energy, whatever term you would like to use). We are all one. If you’ve yet to read this book, pick up a copy and get ready for a timeless piece of art and knowledge that will be dog eared and weathered before you know it…

This poem contains so much knowledge, inspiring deep awe and wonder. It’s difficult to wrap it up into bullet points, but here are seven of my takeaways:

1. This physical world is all delusion. Do not fret, fear or ruminate… Hold fast to the awareness that you are following a path, the exact path, which you are intended to be following.

2. Choose your path, based on your nature; whether it be Karma yoga (the path of action), jnana yoga (the path of knowledge or wisdom), raja yoga (the path of meditation) or Bhakti yoga (the path of devotion or love)… all path’s lead to divinity. All paths are divine. You are divine.

 

3. How you enter truth is irrelevant; whether you call your path Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Islam etc is not important, all paths lead to divinity. If your focus is on right action, action for the greater good, offering this action without attachment, you will arrive in the light. You are light. 

4. The importance lies in the letting go, just be. Be. Trust in the Self. 

 

5. Act out of love with no attachment to the outcome. 

 

6. Have Faith in the knowledge of oneness.  

 

7. Simply know that there is so much more, infinitely more, beyond what can be seen, felt, heard by your physical senses. 

Once you hold this truth in the palm of your hand, the depths of your belly, the crevices of your soul – all feelings of attachment to scriptures, books, or gurus will fall away, unnecessary to your enlightened being; you will suffer the pains of this world no more, and you will know what it is to be light and free in the light of being. 

My yoga practice helps me to connect to this oneness, each and every time I take to the mat.  In all of my humanness, as I go through my daily life, I strive also to be mindful off the mat; to see all others as myself, to see myself as all others. My intended focus on: Kindness. Gratitude. Detachment. Love. Yoga. Atma.

Namaste.