Bhagavad Gita consists of the spiritual wisdom revealed by Sri Krishna in the middle of a battlefield. The background of the fracticidal war symbolises the perpetual moral struggles of life. The main purpose of Gita is to make men aware of their true nature, and motivate them to lead a life of righteousness. Some of the fundamental teachings of this sacred scripture are summarised as below :
Human life is full of challenges and dilemmas. The ever fresh smile of Krishna amidst the warring armies gives mankind a message of eternal hope. Instead of running away on one pretext or the other, one must face all situations boldly. Shirking one’s obligatory duty brings material decline and spiritual degradation.
Know that your essential nature is the soul, which is eternal and imperishable. The soul is never born nor it ever dies. He does not get killed when the body is killed. The soul can never be slain or harmed. Hence, there is no cause for fear or grief.
The embodied soul (the self) gives up old bodies and takes up new ones. Understand that the individual self is an integral part of the Supreme Self (God). Realise your unity with Him.
Change is the law of nature. A wise man is not deluded by change. Joys and sorrows do not last forever. One should learn to endure these. Pleasures derived from worldly objects are transient (have a beginning and an end) ; and eventually lead to sorrow. The one not worried about worldly pleasures finds joy within (the happiness which is situated in the self). United with God through devotion, he experiences infinite bliss.
One has a right only to action, and never at all to its fruits. One should, therefore, focus on his work, and not be anxious about the results. One should not act only for the fruits of action. At the same time, one should not abstain from right action. He should have a clear goal and a firm determination. One should do his duty, abandoning all attachment, equipoised in success and failure. After playing his part well, one should leave the rest to the will of God. Accept the outcome graciously, and move on. Working for the sake of duty gives much more fulfilment and joy, than working only for the rewards of action.
One should understand that all actions are caused by inter-play of gunas (the modes of material nature), with one another. Man as the embodied soul is not the doer of actions. Therefore, one should not get attached. Fixing his consciousness in the self, one should surrender all his actions to the Supreme Lord.
All actions ought to be performed, without any attachment and without any expectation in return, just as a matter of duty. Renunciation of the obligatory work (any duty which ought to be performed) is certainly not right. It is indeed impossible for any embodied being to abstain from work altogether. But the one who renounces the fruits of action, he is called a man of renunciation.
It is natural to have likes and dislikes for different objects. One is, therefore, prone to having desires. But a slave of desires never attains peace. One can attain the purity of spirit, even while participating fully in the affairs of the world, by moderating his likes and dislikes. Hence, one must neither suppress nor be dictated by his desires.
Know the Supreme Lord to be all-pervading and all-knowing creator of the cosmos. He can be attained by unalloyed devotion. God accepts man in whatever form one approaches Him. The one who meditates upon Him, by engaging his mind in contemplation of Him, through constant practice, and not letting the mind wander anywhere else, he reaches Him. He who worships God sincerely, he remains situated in Him, howsoever active in the material world he may be.
One is one’s best friend and also the worst enemy. One can himself, through his mind, elevate or degrade himself in life. For the one who does not have a disciplined mind, there can neither be any stability in intelligence nor any power of concentration. There can be no peace or happiness for such people of uncontrolled mind. The mind, by its very nature, is fickle, obstinate, strong, turbulent, restless and difficult to curb ; yet it can be controlled by constant practice and by detachment.
Lust, anger and greed are stated to be the three gates of hell. They are the ways of self-destruction. These must be shunned from the very beginning, by controlling the senses.
The one who is ignorant, is of doubting nature and who is devoid of faith ; perishes. Such a skeptical person cannot have any joy, either in this or in the other world. One must, therefore, remove all doubts by wisdom.
Krishna has time and again stressed upon equanimity of mind. It has been advised that one should treat pleasure and pain, gain and loss ; and victory and defeat alike. The one with an equanimous mind conquers the world in this very life. He who is equal-minded towards different people, he excels.
It has been declared by Sri Krishna that the one who treads the path of good, is never overcome by evil. Such a person does not suffer either in this world or in the life hereafter.