Mahabharata / Gita Lessons — my notes & learnings

Here are my notes from the Bhagavad Gita podcast and Mahabharata TV series

• The winner is decided based on a comparison. You can be a winner today but may not be tomorrow. And your winning depends on other people in the competition. You may win but don’t know anything about the game or have skills. The right thing to do is to focus on becoming the BEST instead of just winning. You keep learning more while trying to become the best and making progress. You will not have the problem of a winner who, when they lose, feels disappointed/unhappy.
• Parents take care of kids because their future actions will bring a good name to them, but in doing so, they are more focused on securing their future, which leads to kids not doing the right things when they grow up and instead bring not such a good name to the parents. So, parents should focus on developing their kids’ personalities (values, actions) rather than on securing their future.
• Live in the moment, and life is what happens now in this moment. Life is gone if you think of the past or the future.
• We make plans to climb a mountain. And while climbing it, we face new situations and environments. If we continue to follow the existing plan, it will not lead us to success and may also make us fall. And we can’t adjust the mountain to match our plan. So, we need to adjust our plan to the mountain situation. Similarly, in a life journey, make a plan and make adjustments to the plan based on the life events.
• Fear is because you think of some future event.
• Enemies of life: desire, jealousy, intellect, memory, anger
• Jealousy of people around us, Raga, Dvesha
• Relationships often lead to sadness. However, it is because we try to change others (if they are not accepting our way). The right way is to work on yourself instead of trying to change others. This will lead to more happiness in the relationship.
• Take decisions while having a clear and calm mind/heart. When we face any challenging situation, we try to make decisions to make us calm, but that will lead to more tough situations in the future. The right way is to calm ourselves down and then decide.
• Sometimes our decisions may seem harsh, but taking decisions as per the Dharma will give us satisfaction (and no sadness), if not happiness.
• Gandhari decides to blindfold herself as she really wants to understand her husband. Any maid can help him see, but no one can really understand how it happens without actually doing it.
• There is no point in trying to solve future anticipated problems now. And when a problem arrives, it opens up opportunities. The person who wins over that problem will benefit himself and society.
• Don’t follow the traditions blindly. Following traditions is not Dharma. Just like there is a statue inside the stone, we need to find out the Dharma in traditions. Either mindlessly following or not following at all does not lead to Dharma.
• We want to make our future secure and comfortable, so we make decisions based on our future imagination. But the future depends on many things and often doesn’t go as we imagine. The decisions we make based on our imagination may turn out harmful. So the right way to make decisions is based on Dharma.
• We make mistakes/offences and will have an influence on future events. Feeling guilty only will not automatically change the influence of our past actions. But feeling guilty and understanding the mistake will prepare us to face future situations in the right way.
• Sukham = following Dharma.
• Self-confidence = mindset. When a problem arrives, having the mentality of the problem will help us grow, similar to how ‘exercise’ to tune the body will help improve our self-confidence.
• Power = influence on normal people. If people try to get power in the wrong ways, then the power is not True. It is temporary. It leads to people hating. Power should be in spreading love and freedom, which comes from Dharma.
• The person who understands “he doesn’t do anything” becomes responsible for the greatest things in life.
• When we help someone, our energy increases. Keep helping people always.
• Dharma 5 roots: Love, Courage, Knowledge, Dedication, Patience
• When injustice happens, we shouldn’t get angry; it will lead to revenge. The right way is to be patient, which will lead to Dharma and give justice.
• People who wish for happiness will not get it. People who understand happiness will get it.
• Thinking with heart and loving with the mind is the first step to Adharma
• Optimise for the greater good
• Our decisions can be unusual in unusual situations, but in normal situations, taking unusual decisions is maha papa. Context: Draupadi married five brothers.