Geeta Saar
Krishna: Change is the law of this universe!
Today I went to Hindu temple Sunnyvale with some of my friends after my dance practice. As I was sitting in the mandir, listening to the chants, observing people, I saw Geeta Saar (summary of the holy book - Geeta) posted on the wall.
The one sentence that caught my attention was "Change is the law of this universe!"
Growing up, my grandma used to enforce daily chanting of Geeta Saar in the evenings with all kids together (I used to live in a joint family of 10-12 people, with an incoming, unannounced, no-appointment oriented load of guests, friends, coming over to stay, visit, etc.)
Those were fun times, and as a kid, you don't really give any thought to the bigger meaning of life especially when you are chanting philosophically deep book like Geeta. So, after reading this Geeta saar today again, I felt so overwhelmed, so connected with my roots.
For those who don't remember it, here's the hindi and english version:
अतीत में जो कुछ भी हुआ, वह अच्छे के लिए हुआ, जो कुछ हो रहा है, अच्छा हो रहा है, जो भविष्य में होगा, अच्छा ही होगा. अतीत के लिए मत रोओ, अपने वर्तमान जीवन पर ध्यान केंद्रित करो , भविष्य के लिए चिंता मत करो (Whatever happened in the past, it happened for the good; Whatever is happening, is happening for the good; Whatever shall happen in the future, shall happen for the good only. Do not weep for the past, do not worry for the future, concentrate on your present life.)
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जन्म के समय में आप क्या लाए थे जो अब खो दिया है? आप ने क्या पैदा किया था जो नष्ट हो गया है? जब आप पैदा हुए थे, तब आप कुछ भी साथ नहीं लाए थे. आपके पास जो कुछ भी है, आप को इस धरती पर भगवान से ही प्राप्त हुआ है. आप इस धरती पर जो भी दोगे, तुमभगवान को ही दोगे. हर कोई खाली हाथ इस दुनिया में आया था और खाली हाथ ही उसी रास्ते पर चलना होगा. सब कुछ केवल भगवान के अंतर्गत आता है. What did you bring at the time of birth, that you have lost? What did you produce, which is destroyed? You didn't bring anything when you were born. Whatever you have, you have received it from the God only while on this earth. Whatever you will give, you will give it to the God. Everyone came in this world empty handed and shall go the same way. Everything belongs to God only.
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आज जो कुछ आप का है, पहले किसी और का था और भविष्य में किसी और का हो जाएगा. परिवर्तन संसार का नियम है. Whatever belongs to you today, belonged to someone else earlier and shall belong to some one else in future. Change is the law of the universe.
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आप एक अविनाशी आत्मा हैं और एक मृत्युमय शरीर नहीं है. शरीर पांच तत्वों से बना है - पृथ्वी, अग्नि, जल, वायु और आकाश। एक दिन शरीर इन तत्वों में लीन हो जाएगा.You are an indestructible Soul & not a body. Body is composed of five elements - Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Sky; one day body shall perish in these elements.
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आत्मा अजन्म है और कभी नहीं मरता है. आत्मा मरने के बाद भी हमेशा के लिए रहता है. तो क्यों व्यर्थ की चिंता करते हो? आप किस बात से डर रहे हैं? कौन तुम्हें मार सकता है?Soul lives forever even after death as soul is never born & never dies. So Why do you worry unnecessarily? What are you afraid of? Who can kill you?
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केवल सर्वशक्तिमान ईश्वर के लिए अपने आप को समर्पित करो. जो भगवान का सहारा लेगा, उसे हमेशा भय, चिंता और निराशा से मुक्ति मिलेगी. Devote yourself to the Almighty God only. One who takes the support of God, always gains freedom from fear, worry and despair.source: http://www.gitablog.com/2014/03/gita-saar-in-hindi-with-english.html
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Such powerful lines! written in one of the ancient most text known to mankind. I realized that the traditions that my grandma drilled into each of us have not been lost, were not a colossal waste of time (as I used to think when I wanted to play, but she insisted on all of us getting together as a family and chanting these mantras). Somewhere, whenever I was challenged, I was able to turn inward thanks to my grandma - we used to call her Bai affectionately. I was her favorite :) As I sit today, miles apart from my family on the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya, I want to be the person, who carries forward her legacy towards the next generation.
This is my family (me with my awesome buas (aunts)) -
"What did you bring at the time of birth, that you have lost? What did you produce, which is destroyed? You didn't bring anything when you were born. Whatever you have, you have received it from the God only while on this earth. Whatever you will give, you will give it to the God. Everyone came in this world empty handed and shall go the same way. Everything belongs to God only."
Ignoring the religious aspect of the above lines, philosophically it touched me on so many levels:
- Why have we all become so objective and materialistic? we did not produce anything that could be destroyed, so nothing should worry us.
- Everyone comes empty-handed and leaves empty-handed.
- Change is constant
Stithpragya is a state of mind that does not get impacted by either profit or loss. It is extremely difficult to practice being in equilibrium and not giving into either too much happiness or feel too much sadness.
source: https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/13573/what-is-the-term-stithpragya-steady-wisdom-according-to-bhagavad-gita
Food for thought! More later ...
xoxo
