Suppose someone is starving. If they are given food and they spend all their time examining the food, such behavior would be strange indeed.

Food is meant to be eaten, not just examined. Of course, we need to examine food before we eat it, especially if we are eating at an unfamiliar place that may be unhygienic. But if the food has been eaten and relished by many, and if we have examined it duly, then to keep examining it without eating it is to deprive ourselves.

The same principle applies to the study of spiritual texts such as the Bhagavad-gita. The Gita is essentially a guidebook for living. If we are new to it, we need to analyze it to check if it makes sense. For those wanting to analyze it, the Gita offers an intriguing worldview whose fundamentals are as follows. We are spiritual beings; our life becomes meaningful and fulfilling when we evolve spiritually; we can evolve spiritually by connecting with the supreme spiritual being, Krishna. 

The Gita explains that these spiritual truths can be not just realized but also relished by those who practice bhakti-yoga (09.02). By bhakti-yoga practice, our knowledge blossoms into realization, granting us sublime satisfaction (06.08). The Gita has served as a trustworthy guidebook for millions for millennia, including for many of the wisest people to have walked the earth, who have all feasted on its wisdom and found enduring bliss.

Given the Gita’s potency to fulfill our longing for happiness, why should anyone merely analyze it without applying it? Why keep oneself hungry when food is ready?

 

Think it over:

  • What is the Gita’s fundamental worldview?
  • How can we relish  Gita wisdom?
  • How can you better apply any one teaching of the Gita in your life?

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