He who has let go of hatred
who treats all beings with kindness
and compassion, who is always serene,
unmoved by pain or pleasure,
free of the "I" and "mine,"
self-controlled, firm and patient,
his whole mind focused on presence,
that is the man I love best.
The Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as Gita, is a 700 verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata. The Gita means The Play of God. It is actually the most influential treatise in eastern philosophy and it is collection of the eternal message of spiritual wisdom from ancient India.
If you did not read it, definitely, you should put this very deep book on your to-read list. In short the king Arjuna has to lead his army into a war against another army but he refused to do so because he finds a lot of family and friends on other side. He is confused and full of doubts.
Arjuna, as a moral creature, throws down his weapon and refuses to launch a war. Krishna (God) converts him to a creature of right action by freeing him from delusions and Arjuna takes up his weapon and go to the war.
What did Krishan tell Arjuna? He showed him his true being!
From the very beginning you have no knowledge of the nature of yourself. Everything is hidden away from you. And still is.
You are forced into a series of activities and experiences. That makes you a human being, a body with the name. By the time you pick up your religion and duties... Your seemingly purposeful actions follows one another and there is no end to them and no escape. You are lost in your experiences, you are living your life.
Dazzled by the superficial worldly events, inventions and discoveries, that made you lazy, you have no explanations for reality. In reality the facts are what they are. The world is just your own illusion; it is a playground where the same thing is repeated over and over again without you noticing it... great! It is all the play of God.
Others tell you about their experiences; And you rarely receive any information concerning reality; only evaluation in your performance in this play is your personal feeling of happiness. In relation to that you try to organize your behavior accordingly.
It all goes well until you start questioning your beliefs, when you start to see them through something happens, the experiences lose its charm, and you start seeking the spiritual wisdom.
What is The Play of God? It is your dream, it is your intense love for life, your lust for living. In spite of all this closeness and fondness, this game has the end. All the experiences with their peculiarities will vanish and your play will finish.
Now you know Truth. Now you are free to go your own way...
Everyone lead their life as a character, taking everything seriously. Krishna gave advise to Arjuna to start being an actor and that PERFORMANCE IN YOUR ACTS IS ALL THAT MATTERS - NOT WHAT YOU DO BUT HOW YOU DO IT.
If you don't want to sleep your life away like most people do you have to train yourself to wakefulness. Vigilance is the key. You should be shifting from character to actor many times every hour, in all types of situations, so that it happens smoothly and easily and doesn't detract from your performance.
Dis-identify from the character you're playing. There's a you behind the character you project out into the world, and you can't make any progress as long as you identify with your stage persona. You're an actor playing a character on a stage.
We have an eternal fountain of wisdom, bliss and knowledge within us as soon as we get rid of our body/mind identification. That is enlightenment. That is Self-Realization.
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