The Gita Way- Secret Recipe to achieve the purpose of life

Shweta Chandra, Santosh Srivastava | 4.21 | 766 ratings and reviews

Ranked #6 in Hinduism

'The Gita Way' is an irreligious take on the tenets of the Bhagavad Gita. Without delving into either mythological or God-centric discourse, the book attempts to understand and explain various insights from the Gita through, in the author's words, derived theory and application. The Gita Way attempts to shed light on matters of self-realisation, and identifying and following the path to achieve the purpose of life.

Within the framework of Vedic philosophy represented by Gita, this book explores:
How to discover the swa-bhava, the inherent natural strength of our real-self?
Is my profession aligned with my swa-bhava? What is my purpose of life?
What is the real meaning of moksha, the liberation? How the realization of individual purpose leads us to attain supreme purpose we are born to achieve?

Using the principles of Gita, this book presents innovative findings on theory of prarabdha, the luck or destiny, role of knowledge and karma, continuous improvement, yoga of universal harmony and yoga of devotion. To highlight few, in chapter combined discipline of knowledge and karma, authors introduce most important part of their research—Centring. Centring summarizes power of combined application of yoga of knowledge and karma along with simplified theory of spirit and supreme spirit. Chapter Vision of Universal Form and Yoga of Liberation simplifies the meaning of moksha, the state of liberation by linking it to the attainment of supreme purpose of life. Chapters on Yoga of Devotion and Continuous improvement focus on recipe of staying on the unique path of achieving individual goal.

Unlike other books on Bhagavad Gita, the Gita Way is not a chapter wise discourse. Instead it presents deduced concepts in first place supported with relevant reference from the whole Gita. For example, in the first chapter of the Gita Way, you may get a reference of last chapter of Gita relevant to the topic of discussion.

Contents:
1. INTRODUCTION TO ‘THE GITA WAY’ 11
Development of ‘The Gita Way’ 17

2. DEVELOPING A SENSE OF PURPOSE IN LIFE 25
Goal 28
Finding Unique Strength and Developing It 32
Joy of the Self-Hobby vs Profession 35
How to Set a Goal? 39
Doubt in any form is the Biggest Enemy
to Self-realisation 45
The Story of Barbarika: Why was Barbarika Sacrificed? 47

3. YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE 51
Knowledge of Self 54
Elements of Self 56
Consciousness of Self-Identity 57
Intellect 60
Primordial Matter 62
Source of Perception and Action,
One Mind and Five Senses 63
Physical Body and Fitness 63
False Goals such as Desire, Aversion and Pleasure 64
Required Qualities in Self 64
How Does One Achieve ‘Absolute Knowledge’? 67
Lack of Knowledge is Ignorance which creates Fear 71

4. KARMA YOGA 74
Prescribed Act and Prohibited Act 76
Yoga and the Attributes of a Yogi 79
How does One Achieve Equipoise? 80
Desire-Entrap 84
Hierarchy of Control 86
Theory of Prarabdha or Destiny 88
Butterfly Effect 90
Hurdles in the Path of Karma-Yoga 93
Vikarma 95
Law of Growth 96
Ultimate Dispassion: Nishkam Karma 97
How to stay on the Path of Karma-Yoga? 99

5. COMBINED DISCIPLINE OF KNOWLEDGE AND KARMA 101
Self-Realisation 102
Wisdom 104
Sacrifice 108
Centring and Power of Real-Self 112
Power of Real-self 113
Centring 116
Yoga of Self-Control 119

6. YOGA OF DEVOTION 121
The Cycle of Liberation 123
How does devotion come to us? 127
Devotion to Tame the Mind 129
Relevance of Devotion to the Theory of Prarabdha 130
Symptoms of Lack of Devotion 134

7. VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM 136
Universal Form of Goal 140
Concept of Self 147
Redirecting the Purpose of Desire 150

8. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ON THREE MODES OF NATURE 152
Inner Purification by Knowing Sattva, Rajas and Tamas 159
Sattva 159
Rajas 161
Tamas 164
The Gita Way of Continuous Improvement 165
Elimination of Waste 166

9. YOGA OF LIBERATION 170
How is Sattva linked with the Supreme Goal? 173
How does one attain sattva? 174
Non-violence in thoughts and Action. 175
Absence of Pride 175
Internal and External Purity 176
Steadfastness of Mind 176
Control of Body, Mind and Senses 176
Sincerity 177
Forbearance 177
Uprightness of Speech and Mind 177
Devout Service to the Preceptor 177
Austerity of Mind 178
Sattvika Intellect 178
Sattvika Sacrifice 179
Leadership by Creating Order Around 180
Yoga of Liberation 182 less

Buy on Amazon

Similar Books

If you like The Gita Way- Secret Recipe to achieve the purpose of life, check out these similar top-rated books:

Learn: What makes Shortform summaries the best in the world?

Learn More