Message of the Gita in today's context

It was quite interesting to listen to one of the Gita discourses in Palakkad during the weekend. Its quite apparent that more and more people are flocking towards spirituality and seeking a meaning of life than what it used to be some years back. In addition news of western universities adding panchatantra stories, Gita and Bhagavatham in their curriculum truly suggests that these oldest set of scriptures always have a lesson or two to anyone on this earth. One just need to reach out.
Swami Bodhananda in simple English gave good examples what Swami Vivekananda or Swami Chinmayananda had explained in their works on the Holy Bhagavad Gita.
Some of the key lessons:

• Spirituality is not about going to some cave in Himalayas and practicing silence and doing meditation. It is sincerely pursuing excellence in whatever we do without expecting anything from it. Sounds simple but not easy. A man relinquishes everything and stays in Himalayas and comes back and exclaims - "I haven't told a lie". Is it really a great achievement as compared to the common man who faced a lot of problems in his day to life and solved them? Similarly, is it easy to work like a dog and at the end of day feel satisfied when one is not appreciated for it.
  
• Problems will always be there. As a kid one had homework and problems with school teacher, as you grow up you had problems with your friends, then you got into problems with affairs and employment, then you thought marriage will settle your life - you realized it was a start of another problem :-). Kids, financial planning, promotions at job, etc, etc.. there is no end to problems for anyone. You take a transfer to a different place - problems will come there before you land. Retirement seems like retiring from problems, but it brings the biggest problem - the old age and with it health problems and others. So lesson here is don't run away from it. When Arjuna collapsed on the bed of the chariot, Krishna realized it was time for advice and counseling and the first advise was - stand up, you cannot run away.
• Face these problems with your intelligence and available resources. Don't always react or judge with previous experiences. Be Cool! (sounds like some teenage Krishna telling his teenage friend). There are some very good examples {A man called Buddha a donkey, but Buddha didn't react. When the enraged student asked for an explanation - Buddha said that he never accepted it so the comment went back to the source. In today's world its just like posting on an incorrect address and receiving back the post card. Another practical observation is why did the Student get enraged? Its probably because he felt bad that if his guru is a donkey what about him then. or probably the postcard's address was incorrect and went to him. There are so many ways to react to such a silly situation other than how Buddha reacted. Feel pity for from the man as he was not able to distinguish between Buddha and Donkey. Or, go and seek blessings from him - he was able to identify the common spirit between a Donkey and Buddha.}{Another example is of George Bernard Shaw - a popular Irish Author who was walking near the various canals in London and he hit upon a bridge which could allow only one person to walk across. As he was about to start crossing, he saw another man at the other end crossing towards him. G. B. Shaw requested him to give way, but the man shouted "I don't give way to fools" and started walking. G. B. Shaw quietly gave the way to the man and exclaimed "But, I do"!}.  
• Similarly Gita teaches us in the Karma Yoga that one should be deep rooted in karma while going about doing the daily chores and not getting attached to the chores itself. Gita's teachings should not be interpreted as - "lets not get attached to work - lets just keep quite and do nothing and let life take its own course - anyway nothing is in our control". One should take example from a grand Pipal tree which is rooted to the earth but has all its branches and leaves doing different functions and even swaying heavily and weathering during a wind storm or heavy rain but the trunk, the root and tree stays there without a movement. "Samadhi" in sanskrit is not death. It means a still and leveled mind. So one can get into a state of Samadhi even in life. Most of the inspirational figures like Sankaracharya, Vivekananda and Gandhi did not die in Bed. They left the earth with their boots on.
• Reducing our needs also makes us more disciplined and closer to the idea of a pipal tree. Why do people hate USA so much - thats because they are country with 3% of world population and consuming resources worth 30% of the world's accounted resources. They are now reaching out to others now let it be for scriptures or for offshoring or for climate change. So nothing is permanent and change is continuous. USA is like a Bhogi and India is like a Yogi. It is said that if you eat once a day you are a yogi, if you eat twice you are a bhogi, if you eat thrice you are rogi and if you eat four times you are a rogi!