Essence of Spirituality in the Upanishads & BhagwadGita

Essence of Spirituality in the Upanishads & BhagwadGita

When we are performing any work in which we are completely engrossed in or are completely in the moment, sometimes we feel that the work is happening through us as a medium. Those are the real moments where we are in touch with the “source” within. True spirituality is not about having blind beliefs; the Advaita Vedanta philosophy talks about the ‘unlimited’ source within each person and object that needs to be inquired into.

“Who am I?”; “What is my true self?” “Am I the body?” “Am I the Thoughts?” The Upanishads, or Vedanta, are all about these inquiries, which go much beyond the basic perceptions of objects in the world.

A passionate artist, athlete, or innovative scientist who frequently experiences moments of complete engrossment or focusing very deeply on something, is the closest that a normal human being can get to this ‘unlimited’ potential that lies within all of us. The art of concentration and bringing the mind to be laser-focused on a single thing for a longer period of time can also be called a form of “meditation.” It is actually helping a person use the faculty of thoughts properly. People misunderstand meditation to be something very tough and just don’t do it because they try to cease the thinking process completely during meditation and that is very tough to achieve. On the other hand, if anyone wants to achieve excellence in any work, there has to be a complete single-point focus on that activity. How does one practice that single-point focus? This practice is what needs to be inculcated in schools and at home. Thoughts cannot be forced to be stopped, but single point focus can be practiced in the activities and areas of interest.

Therefore,’ spirituality’ is not something that is for a “sanyasi” only; rather, it is for everyone, and the more a person inquires into the deeper aspects of themselves, the more focus, concentration, and the ability to control the mind are enhanced. This therefore needs to be introduced in the education system in schools, and all children need to understand and practice this art, to build more concentration and focus just by having a single point focus on their “activity of interest”.

What are “Upanishads,” and why are they important to be introduced as a subject matter in schools?

The Upanishads are an amazing set of documents that comprise the basic inquiry “Who am I?” and the word “Atman” or “Brahman” which literally means the “true self”. The Sanskrit word “atma” means “self” ( eg. ‘atma-nirbhar’), and therefore the understanding has to be as per the true meaning of the word. It is made interesting by narration of stories where there are real life situations and discussions between the role players in those stories. The connectivity of the universe and worldly objects to the human body, mind and matter is discussed and inquired upon, and it also touches upon the concept of “reality” in terms of “dependent reality” called “mithya” and ‘independent reality’ called “sathya”. The objective of this inquiry is to help people realize true ‘happiness’ and ‘bliss’ within by unleashing their true potential in a way that they are truly aligned from inside to the outside world so that they develop a purposeful and meaningful way of life.

The “BhagwadGita” is also an Upanishad and is in fact an amazing document that every school needs to include in their curriculum so that children and teachers have healthy debates on these inquiries, so that it enables every child to build much better decision-making capabilities in life. The best part of these documents is that there is no defined rules or gospels which one would expect in a “spiritual” book. This document is a “psychological” discourse between a great psychologist “Krishna” and his patient “Arjuna” and how the psychologist uses different strategies and techniques to enable the patient to take decisions in times of crisis and in situations with dual paths available to choose from.

Every student or youth is akin to a patient in this world of dualities and therefore the discourse brings out analogies that demonstrate the dual paths and difficult situations in day to day life and relationships and how one wrong decision can lead to a series of disastrous consequences. The aspect of “cause” and “effect” is aptly brought out, yet not directing the patient but allowing the patient to use “free will” and then enjoy/ endure the corresponding effects of any action undertaken.

What can be a better way to build “Life skills” than to have a chapter/ paragraph of this amazing document to be discussed in class each day and hold healthy debates on various current situations and understand the principles and laws that govern the Universe and create the consequences as per the actions taken? Interestingly, this is what is called as the law of “karma”. The Bhagwad Gita is a golden document which is relevant for every age and relatable to every situation of the current day and age.

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