Is the Bhagawad Gita only for Hindus?

The title of the post, also a question, is actually a larger debate in the yoga community about religion. Whether yoga is linked to any religion, whether it promotes a certain religion, who does it include and more importantly who does it exclude?

The question was actually posed to me by my teacher in a Bhagawad Gita study i am undertaking currently. All my previous yoga trainings and my practice has always had me believe that any scripture that has something to teach can not be contained within the rules of a specific society or culture and all of it's teaching can not be shackled to prevent it from benefitting the supposed "others". At the core of it, all religions even though they were meant to classify people into segments, teach love, patience, compassion and kindness. It has how we as humans have chosen to interpret these ancient texts that causes all this "us & them" sentiment in the world. Of course these words simplify the rifts we see around us today - but I am really talking about the very core of what the problem is and that core is quite simple. But I am not writing about problems today - I am instead writing about what unites us all, the solution instead.

I'll start with a brief background on my own discovery of my religion.

I was born into the Hindu religion. Who is a Hindu and what is Hinduism is another topic altogether - again one that I am avoiding today. For the sake of ease, I shall say I am a Hindu today. My parents are religious, growing up we went to many temples during our school holidays, my mother taught us many mantras from the Upanishads, mantras that even today roll off our tongues. We trekked hills and mountains to go see a deity or a god hidden deep inside caverns - stopping in between for many cups of chai. I have grown up hearing my relatives talk about astrology, the influence of the stars on us and our destinies, I have prayed to many of the "330,000 Gods and Goddesses" in the Hindu pantheon - my favourites vary depending on my mood from the naughty Krishna & Ganesha to the mighty Shiva and Parvati to the courageous Durga - the list is frankly endless. 

With the gradual breakdown of religious tolerance in India in the recent years, especially perpetuated by the right-wing Hindu faction, I started shuddering at seeing the colour saffron, hearing Hindu chants or seeing an overt display of Hindu religiosity or sumbolism in daily life. This might have been a sense of curiosity and questioning that came from young adulthood as well - i no longer needed to meekly accept my parents beliefs as mine - i was informed enough to make my own religious choices. And calling myself a Hindu, meant identifying with these people who used their religion to harm others & excluding people of other religions from India- a crime against the constitution of India. So I over-compensated for their wrongs, and distanced myself away from them - and hence from all the gorgeous aspects of true Hindiusm. 

My yoga teachers training then re-introduced me to Hinduism, the softer, more neutral aspects of it. I saw all the beauty that folks who weren't Indian (& hence didn't see the ugly side) saw in Hinduism. The beauty that frankly exists at the core of all religions. Slowly i started to invite chanting and praying to certain Gods and Goddesses back into my life. I wouldn't cringe at the colour saffron anymore, it went back to symbolising purity & sacrifice - the colour monks wore when they left their households in the quest for light and salvation - no longer did i think it to be the colour of mad mobs brandishing swords, full of anger and hatred, in search for people to slaughter, people they consider the "other" and hence not belonging to their Idea of India.

Further yoga studies and trainings only affirmed this belief - and I settled into being a practising Hindu once again. 

Does that make me closer to the science or art of yoga?
Does it mean there are certain sections/concepts/terms of yoga that i can naturally understand ?
Does this mean I can understand the Mahabharatha and the background of the Bhagawad Gita in ways that others can not?

I would be kidding myself and everyone around if I said a loud NO to those questions. The answer is yes. But the answer is also a no. I'll explain.

Yoga, having born from India and out of Indian scriptures, having grown into teenage-hood in the lap of Indian social structures, having matured to adulthood on India soil, amongst Indian cultures and traditions - is definitely more closer to me than it might be to someone born in Australia. However, just because the knowledge exists around you, does in no way mean that you will imbibe its essence by just co-existing with it. Maybe some of it might rub off on you - but you'll never be able to let it shine within you unless you invest in it - invest in the learning. So there will be many Indians, who have grown up knowing about yoga, might have even tried the asana practice once or twice in their lives - but are more or less clueless about it. Please note I have used the term Indian and not Hindu. Similarly there will be non-indians, who will feel the pull of yoga, the urge to study its scriptures, follow through a regular deep well-intentioned practice, and be non-indian and a true yogi together.

In response to the second question, the answer again for me personally is yes. I do not have to spend hours trying to learn the Sanskrit names for all of the yoga asanas - because i hear them once and I remember them - i can break them down so that they make sense and hence learn by association. Similarly for all of the sanskrit verses from various texts on Yoga. Additionally, having grown up in a Hindu household, having heard the concepts of the Hindu Trinity, of a different version of "Creation", the concepts of "birth, death and rebirth", "karma and it's effects"  or the tantric idea of Shiva-Shakti- i can relate to all of the verses that talk about these in certain scriptures. But are these in anyway not learnable by those from outside Hindiusm or the Indian culture - i do not think so. 

The Mahabharata and the Bhagawad Gita. This i will elaborate on a little more.

Those who look at religion in strictly linear terms, might actually not be very happy about it, but everyone in India - or at least everyone from my generation who went to school - studied the two Indian epics - Mahabharatha and The Ramayana. I wish had also studied the history of some other religions to get a more complete view of the world. Hopefully education in India will change in the future to include this. 

We had teachers who explained the core concepts of the two epics, we had television serials which showed these "shows" every weekend, we celebrated Diwali, which is a festival based on the Ramayana, and is one of India's biggest festivals. This might all sound a very Hindu thing to do - but I have friends from other religions who have participated in these festivities as I have in their religious festivals as well. 

The concept of good over evil, to work honestly & truthfully without the expectation or anticipation of results or gifts, to treat animals & those who are less fortunate than us kindly and with compassion, to always speak the truth, to stand in the face of evil and be strong even when all the odds are stacked against you - these are all not just values & virtues that the Hindus in India learn from the two epics, this is somehow in the very fabric of India.

The Bhagawad Gita, for me personally and I am just now beginning to learn more about it, is a guiding light when you're utterly confused about what path to take in life, when everything around you seems to be crumbling, I believe the Bhagawad Gita has the power and ability to help support you, hold your hand and guide you in the right direction & empower you to move from inaction to action, from confusion to clarity, from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy, from attachment to blissful detachment, from seeing others from being different to you to seeing the divinity in everyone. From the little that I have learnt of the Bhagawad Gita so far, it is Krishna teaching Arjuna, the meaning of following his dharma, or duty or the work he has been entrusted with. And to do so without emotion or attachment, knowing that you are merely the medium through which the universe is carrying out it's own work, to know the impermanence of all things in life - when the breath itself has an inhale and an exhale, how will joy and sorrows be permanent? And as you recognise these states of impermanence, you also understand that there is a purer being that resides inside of this impermanent body, which is permanent and untarnished from everything you go through in life (or lives). 

The Bhagawad Gita is not a religious text, although sadly it has been interpreted to be one. In it, we find - or at least I personally find, solutions for how to be in this world, how to be with ourselves, how to find calmness amidst adversity, how to take control of your mind, instead of letting it run havoc on your thoughts and emotions. There are lessons in this text, that beat all of the Chicken Soup for the Souls by a 100 times. Actually, there are lessons here that beat ALL self help books you find in bookstores today. These lessons, unfortunately have been twisted in various ways, some have used it to call for war (since Krishna is encouraging Arjuna to follow his Dharma, which in this case happens to be to go to war and fight for justice and on the side of the good), some have used it to give up all hope and effort and pray to God to manifest things for you anyhow. Unless we find a good teacher, or a very well translated work, which has the foresight to apply the timeless nature of the lessons the epic teaches us in today's day & age, we too might lose out & see it in a half-bright light.

This is not just the essence of the Bhagawad Gita. Those familiar with Sufism will find echoes of the Bhagawad Gita there too. The Sufi drinks in the delights of the universe, dances in the ever-flowing bliss that surrounds all matter, and strives to join his/her soul with the ever-blissful Divine Consciousness. All other religions, when interpreted correctly teach you Love, teach you to be the best you can be, to carry out the tasks laid out for you, to spread the power of love, truth and compassion to all those around you - irrespective of whether they are born into the same faith or not - humanity, the whole of humanity, and not just of a certain colour.

This is also the teaching of yoga - to realise the duality of matter and energy, of impermanence and permanence, of the individual soul & the Universal soul. In a text of Swara Yoga by Swami Muktibodhananda, it is stated that even though yoga is often said to be the union of body, mind, breath, and soul - we use that unity to actually realise and experience that duality between what is impermanent and what is time-less. Hence using that knowledge to transcend to a higher plane.

In one of the verses of the Bhagawad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna :

Chapter 6, verse 46 

तपस्विभ्योऽधिको योगी ज्ञानिभ्योऽपि मतोऽधिकः ।
कर्मिभ्यश्चाधिको योगी तस्माद्योगी भवार्जुन ॥

Again, there are a million ways to interpret this and I haven't yet reached this stage in my studies yet. However, for me personally the verse means that Krishna advises Arjuna to aim to be a yogi (the meditator), because they are considered to be better than the ascetics (tapasvis), they surpass the knowledgeable (jnani) and are superior to the doers of action (karma yogis). While Krishna speaks about the benefits and strengths of these three paths, he says that there is a danger of getting stuck in each of these and thus being stuck in the material world. A tapasvi performs many austerities which might take an extreme turn, a karma yogi might get stuck in the result of the action itself, a jnana yogi might in the pursuit of knowledge and the study of holy scriptures limit himself/herself to the material world and not translate that knowledge into any tangible learning. 

Instead, Krishna urges Arjuna to be like the meditator, who focuses on the indivisible nature of the individual spirit that is one with the Supreme Universal Consciousness. To be a yogi is to see the oneness of the individual atman with the universal Atman and hence see the oneness in all that exists in the Universe - all beings arise from the same source.

This is the essence of yoga & is in no way religious. Krishna might be a Hindu God, Arjuna might be a Hindu prince, the Gita might a Hindu song found in a Hindu epic - but the message is universal. And one that you will find in all religions.

This knowledge is open to all who want to learn - all who have the urge or the calling to find this oneness and nurture their practice to experience that union and the duality, to make efforts on the path of liberation. 

Everyone is welcome. 

namaste.