The Bhagavad Gita ("The Song of God") is one of the world's most revered spiritual works due to its narrative approach, dispensing of practical guidance, and synthesis of non-dual wisdom teachings. In The Wisdom Teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the author takes a cue from traditional Advaita Vedanta to provide commentary on the Gita in a way that unlocks it in clear, modern and practical terms. As a result, the reader is offered the original intent of the teachings as a guide for living a life free of suffering. From the Introduction: The Bhagavad Gita is succinctly summarized at the end of each chapter as "a dialog between Arjuna and Krishna, which is the essence of the Upanishads, whose subject matter is both the knowledge of Brahman and yoga." From this condensed description, we are able to extract that the Bhagavad Gita is about a great warrior prince named Arjuna, who is committed to an epic battle he's unable to fight due to what he perceives as an impossible moral choice. Being debilitated by the emotional weight of his predicament, Arjuna has a nervous breakdown on the front line next to his friend and charioteer, Krishna. Unbeknownst to Arjuna, Krishna encompasses the knowledge needed for Arjuna to overcome his grief, and therefore, follow through with his duty. As the narrative develops, the divine Krishna reveals the knowledge to Arjuna in a way that not only teaches Arjuna how to vanquish his sorrow and continue with the battle, but also discloses to him, the essence of the ancient wisdom teachings (Upanishads). Krishna, who in the Gita personifies God, achieves this by teaching Arjuna of the absolute reality (Brahman) and the means to realizing it (yoga).
Our first impression of the Gita might be that of a somewhat difficult-to-follow dialog between two noble warriors, complete with some great wisdom quotes. However, the Gita has a value that is often lost by commentators who mistakingly focus on only one or two aspects of it, whether that be discipline, devotion or Self-knowledge. The real value of the Gita is experienced when its combined themes are seen as a comprehensive resource for helping to get through life's challenges-because getting through life's difficulties doesn't necessitate just one or two aspects of the Gita, it involves all of them.
We find a clue to the Gita's main message written in the second chapter where the distraught Arjuna expresses his anguish and Krishna accepts the role as his guru. After patiently listening to Arjuna's arguments for renouncing the battle, Krishna responds at the opportune moment by saying:
Although you speak words of wisdom, you grieve for those who needn't be grieved for. The wise grieve neither for the living or for the dead. (2.11)
With this single verse, Krishna hints to Arjuna (and to the rest of us) that what we are missing is a key piece of information-knowledge that has the potential to free us from whatever painful difficulty we currently find ourselves in (and in the case of Arjuna, it's a big one).
