What Bhagavad Gita teaches about how to be yourself
In the past decade, I have seen a trend among people of my generation - the children of the '80s - that gives me immense joy. Many of them have left seemingly lucrative careers to do something that they like. The more courageous ones have avoided the career path altogether and have devoted their attention to a subject that they truly love.
Sir Ken Robinson relates many such stories in his path-breaking work The Element (2009). His fundamental observation is that people are "in the element" when natural aptitude meets personal passion. He goes on to speak about how it involves being connected with like-minded people, gently pushing away criticism (that is often well-meaning), and finding mentors along the way. He also assures us that age is no bar to get into the element.
The Bhagavad Gita, composed several thousands of years earlier, surprisingly says something very similar, but with a slightly different spin, as we will see a little later.
Each of us is endowed with several abilities to varying degrees of competence. We also have different passions to varying degrees of interest. With some effort and experimentation, we should be able to find that sweet spot where we are deeply attracted to something that we are really good at. This is the beginning of personal success, which eventually leads to the creation of something remarkable, something so truly "us". Given that each of us is unique, if we stuck with ourselves instead of copying others, we'd be able to offer something unique to society.
All this sounds rather straightforward. But people are still afraid of following their passions into the dark and mysterious alleys it may lead them to. One of the reasons is that our society has already identified a few professions that are safe. If one aspires to be an engineer or a lawyer or a doctor, the chances of getting a decent job are high. If one aspires to be an art historian or a philosopher or a poet, the chances are not as good. Further, society slots the well-paying professions as the better ones. Quite naturally, our role models are men and women from one of these chosen professions. I can't quite remember seeing anyone put a poster of Baba Amte in his room (me included - I used to have one of Diego Maradona).
In spite of this, the new generation of entrepreneurs, writers, social workers, and wildlife conservationists have followed their calling. Perhaps they did so because it was impossible not to be themselves. It was impossible not to give expression to their real nature. And by doing this, they not only found inner peace but also became valuable to the world.
This trend started much earlier in the West. Perhaps with the advent of the self-esteem movement in the US, more and more young men and women began asserting themselves and followed through on their convictions instead of blindly following the herd. There is a famous prose-poem by Virginia Satir called My Declaration of Self-Esteem (1975), which epitomises the ideas of this movement. She says, "In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically me. Because I alone chose it - I own everything about me. My body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears..." Perhaps this reminds you of something in the recent past. But first let's see what the Bhagavad Gita says.
In the 18th chapter, there is an exceptional verse (18.46) in which Krishna tells Arjuna: "One finds fulfilment by working in harmony with his natural abilities and making that as an offering to the One, who pervades this universe and from whom all creatures have arisen." In the next verse, Krishna speaks about working in tune with one's temperament and interests instead of trying to imitate others - an attempt that inevitably leads to guilt and sorrow.
Clothed in different words and an other-worldly idiom is precisely the idea that Sir Ken Robinson so brilliantly espouses in his book. But with a twist. Why does Krishna ask Arjuna to make "that as an offering to the One that pervades the universe"? Krishna could have directly asked Arjuna to dedicate his actions to god, but he doesn't. He not only refers to god as the one that "pervades this universe" but also as the one "from whom all creatures have arisen". Krishna's choice of words is significant, especially when we look at the downside of the self-esteem movement.
A recent example was the short video directed by Homi Adajania starring Deepika Padukone, titled My Choice. It was the subject of much controversy, mostly because it seemed to condone premarital sex and adultery. However, the real problem with the video as with many artefacts of the self-esteem movement is the subtle shift from self-assertion to narcissism. A danger of the quest to be oneself and express oneself is the possibility of becoming an egomaniac. If one is not careful, the chant of "I will follow my heart" can very easily change to "I will do what the f**k I want." And this is why Krishna's words are so telling. He says that while we should follow our passions, we should also keep in mind the welfare of the world. That is what he means by "making it as an offering to the One".
Humans are inexorably connected with nature, society, community, and family. Thus it becomes essential that each one of us is aware of the possible consequences of our actions on our immediate surroundings, if not the society at large. While my passions are important for me, another person's passion is important for her - indeed such mindfulness will bring about mutual nourishment and harmony.
[The Bhagavad Gita translation is from The New Bhagavad-Gita by Koti Sreekrishna and Hari Ravikumar. Mason: W.I.S.E. Words, 2011]