Preface
The Bhagavad Gita, declared or undeclared, is the universal spiritual scripture for mankind. It is also credited to be called a representative book of Indian culture. Although its historicity is as old as five thousand years but its relevance is for all times to come. It has been variously translated in all world languages and celebrated world thinkers and prophets have written commentaries on it. Many more glosses and interpretations on it are still in process. These interpretations have different shades of theme. Religious, philosophical, yoga-based, practice oriented, ethical, transcendental, pragmatic, nationally inclined and humanistic approaches may be traced in these attempts. These are unique in their contents but a common reader may be confused. The difficult terminology used in these interpretations also causes confusion for common readers. How to get inspiration and light and shape our lives to help others to do so should be our simple but sound purpose in reading the Gita. For that it is needed to read the Gita in a simple way and try to seek the necessary guidance to shape our own personality. For this very purpose this book has been attempted and it is entitled as Personality Development and the Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna raised the dissipated personality of Arjuna, his comrade in the hours of crisis. Through the personal council of the blessed Lord, an adverse situation turned into an opportunity and the crisis turned into the solution. This approach will certainly prove to be very wholesome for common readers. It will also save a sincere reader from unnecessary distractions from the path of self-development. Let the world-teacher (Jagadguru) Sri Krishna alone be our teacher (Guru). This should be our conviction.
People in general have no knowledge of Sanskrit and hence the Sanskrit verses have been purposely avoided here. It will be better to keep a simple and small textbook of the Gita to tally the contents of this book with the original work. If needed the commentaries and interpretations of other celebrated figures may also be consulted but it will be safer not to indulge in voluminous works from the very beginning. The simple reason is that to extract the specific view of each and every commentator is beyond the capacity of a common student of the Gita. I have got the opportunity to come into contact with the elite class of society while working as a professor and scientist in university services. The classes have been given to the student community as well as other cultural-spiritual organizations. The central point of these classes has always been personality development. Now, I feel that there is an urgent need of all comprehensive philosophy of life to build up the personality of younger generation. There is a need of a progressive philosophy of life based on our ancient past which can harmonize with the modern challenges and can proceed towards a meaningful future. For that the masterly essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo has been thoroughly consulted. The novelty of the essays is that it follows the pattern of the progressive development of the consciousness. In a true sense what the personality development means is the keynote of this work. However, other commentaries of international importance have also been given due importance in this creative work.
The subject matter of the book has been divided into five parts which are as follows:
The first part is the introductory one which deals with the concept of personality development in general. It is related with the why and wherefore of things. It covers the general notions of people about personality and the need of its development. It has been discussed under ten heads.
The second part gives the preliminary background of spiritual education so as to give a general idea of our central theme. This has been discussed under ten chapters. These chapters throw light on some important terms related with the Gita's view on human personality.
Part three is the further and deeper elaboration of human consciousness in the present world context. Fourteen subjects have been discussed here to show the departure of the Gita's view of life from the current view prevalent in society.
Part four justifies the naming of chapters of the Gita oriented to personality development.
Vedas (1261)
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Journal (181)
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