Bhagavad Gita’s key message is ‘go with your conscience’

When I was a student, I heard many people talk and debate over the messages of Bhagavad Gita. Some maintained that it was a doctrine of karma yoga. Others did not quite agree. They held that it was a philosophical text and a spiritual document. They quoted texts from various commentaries and critiques such as the Sankara Bhashya, the Gita Rahasya and many others.

Confused by such esoteric discussions, I went to my English teacher, Mr Daniel, a Sanskrit scholar. He was a strict teacher but he also had a reputation of being thorough and fair. He could take a piece of text, explain the context and argue for and against it.

It was with trepidation that I approached my teacher to ask him to explain the central message of the Bhagavad Gita. He looked hard at me to gauge whether it was idle curiosity, an attempt at banter or a genuine enquiry.

After he was convinced that it was a serious query, he said: “A great text can be interpreted in many ways. But for a common man, the message is that one should always work. Ask yourself honestly whether the work you are going to do is good or bad, and you will always get the right answer. If your conscience says yes it is a good deed, go ahead. Don’t worry about opposition, think not of success or failure, criticism or praise. Son, this is what the Gita is all about.”

Since the time I must have read many commentaries of gurus and scholars on the Gita. But I’m yet to get a better interpretation of the great text than that the teacher explained to me when I was 11 years old.