My Gita
In My Gita, Devdutt Pattanaik examines the Bhagavad Gita, or God’s Song, a discourse in the Mahabharata between Krishna and Arjuna. Arjuna is hesitant to battle against his kin. Krishna’s job is to explain why he should do exactly that. The Gita forms the foundation of Hindu philosophical thought.
First, it helps to understand that Hindus don’t share the same concept of conversion that Christians have. The recent emphasis on ghar wapsi (homecoming) seems to be more about a reaction to Christian evangelization and conversion techniques and less about an idea that’s inherently Hindu. As Pattanaik notes, Hinduism “does not talk of conversion, only the realization of potential.” Thus, a Christian can read the Gita and draw wisdom from it without declaring, “Now, I am Hindu.”
Second, I’ve always thought of the Bhagavad Gita as female. I’m not really sure why. I don’t know if there’s any theology that would back up my viewpoint. After all, how is it possible to see a discussion between two men about going to war as feminine? Perhaps it’s that “Geeta” or “Sangeeta” are popular Indian female names. Perhaps, it’s that I am female, and since Hindus celebrate male and female gods, my brain logically chooses the side I identify with. Perhaps, it’s none of those things.
Third, for me, the Gita is a harbinger of change and rebirth. The Gita first came to me as I was leaving India in 2014. I had just finished beta reading a friend’s book, which used the Gita as the foundation for its hero’s journey. I decided to pick up what I later realized was an atrocious poetic translation of the text. Yet, even that poor translation helped ground me in the Gita’s ideas and gave me a thirst for more.
The Three Guna of My Gita
Among the topics covered in My Gita are the guna. These three material tendencies comprise the nature of the natural world. All material objects on Earth possess them in different measure. Pattanaik expresses them as a wave:
Rajas is the upward movement of the wave or the tendency toward action. Tamas is the downward movement or the tendency toward inaction. Sattva is the crest of the wave or the tendency toward balance.
In the spirit of applying what I learned from the book, here are my three guna of My Gita.