Gita for Teacher

I could never have interest in this book until the age of forty though I have read hundreds of books including mythology. Arjun feeling dejected in the battlefield and Krishna preaching him to get to His shelter. Forget the fruit of the action and all that. But one fact bewildered me why these hundreds of scholars and sages for centuries been advocating Gita? There must be some substance in these 700 stanzas that makes the book live for five thousand years. Now I believe Gita has solutions for life problems irrespective of the age in which we live.

The best course would be to have a copy of it and read one chapter a day. If you prefer Hindi, Gita press large font edition is good. If you are comfortable with English, there are commentaries by K.M. Munshi ( Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan), Swami Chidbhavanand, Mahatma Gandhi, C Rajgopalachari, Tilak or Sri Aurbindo.

If you can’t read the whole book, Mahatma Gandhi suggests daily reading of second chapter would suffice. It has seventy two stanzas. I have drawn three important lessons for the modern teacher.

1. Keep Your Cool – Your inner peace is most important to live life of significance. Never be a victim of circumstances. This world is made up of all type of people – robbers, thieves, cheats, murderers, exploiters and divine souls in proportion. You can’t change that. Cycles of sufferings and triumphs, death and birth, profit and loss, health and disease are inevitable. Come what may, never lose your inner calm and composition. When you are agitated or angry, you are most likely to take wrong decisions.
2. Be Non-judgemental – We start our day with analyzing everything as good or bad, right or wrong and thereby becoming a party to happenings. Just be a witness of what happens. Let people think the way they do. The idea of changing the world is foolish. Don’t judge. Start practicing non-judgement for one hour to start with and increase the period gradually.
3. Detachment- Attachment and hope become the source of frustration. Never be too attached to a place, person, possession or even an idea. This applies to your job as well. This principle relates to Lord Krishna’s advice to detach oneself from the fruit of action. Do your duty and proceed.

The fundamentals may look impractical in the beginning because we have enslaved ourselves to inherited thinking and living patterns. Once you become a regular reader and practitioner of the axioms of Gita, it begins to shape your life over time.