By Reverend Bhakta Dasa, Hare Krishna minister of religion and Faith Communities Council of Victoria chair
In all the various branches of Hinduism the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of God) is a sacred treatise that is surcharged with “hope”.
One of the central personalities in the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Arjuna, after surrendering and listening to the words of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, became filled with hope.
A hope that was grounded in wisdom and animated by devotion.
That hope inspired him to stand firm and tall, ready to respond gallantly to the call of duty.
Arjuna, at the start of this epic, was a broken man crushed with doubt and direction in life.
After hearing directly from Lord Krishna hope was restored to this valiant soldier.
This restoration of his morale represents the potential of Bhagavad Gita wisdom to similarly restore and reinforce ones’ determination, to inspire us to meet life’s challenges with confidence and courage.
Bhagavad Gita wisdom offers us all hope amidst the worst darkness and sadness especially now as we go through this dreadful Covid pandemic.
Hope that there is a way ahead that we can find the way, that we can move along the way and there is help available for us to perceive and pursue the way.
God’s grace can set things right even when everything seems wrong and difficult and even when nothing we do seems to set it right.
Mahatma Gandhi put this hope-inducing nature of the Bhagavad Gita well.
“When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow.”
The same comfort and confidence, especially in these difficult times, awaits us all as one opens oneself to the empowerment of the “Bhagavad Gita As It Is” wisdom.
