15 Benefits of Reading Bhagwad Gita

Whether one is a Tamilian or not, the epic tale of Mahabharata is familiar to one and all. Especially the popular thoughts and quotes from Bhagwad Gita are relevant the world over.

The famous saying “yadaa yadaa hi dharmasya, glaanirbhavati bharata, Abhyutthanam adharmasya, tadaatmaanam srijaamyaham…” were words reverberating at every nook and corner of India as you go back 30 years and remember the BR Chopra T.V Series on Doordarshan.

Bhagwad Gita as a text has hundreds of thoughts and real-life advices given by Lord Krishna to warrior Arjuna.

So what are the top 15 benefits of reading Bhagwad Gita? Here it is:

1) Brings peace of mind

2) Teaches valuable lessons to children as well as adults

3) Instills strong value system in kids

4) Acts as a Management guide in every way

5) Teaches us rules of the war

6) Guides us to stand up for what is right

7) Allows us to improve our literary skills

8) Allows sufficient room for interpretation and debate

9) Explains the importance of dharma as compared to adharma

10) Tells us about what the world is all about

11) Helps us understand and gauge people

12) Answers many difficult questions asked by Arjuna.

13) Talks of importance of the soul and the fact that our body is just an outer cover for the soul.

14) Explains the momentariness of life, situations and relationships.

15) Explains how and why self-realization is the highest form of self-achievement.

Here are some very popular quotes from the Gita.

Whenever dharma declines and the purpose of life is forgotten, I manifest myself on earth. I am born in every age to protect the good, to destroy evil, and to reestablish dharma.

As they approach me, so I receive them. All paths, Arjuna, lead to me.

I am the beginning, middle, and end of creation.

Among animals I am the lion; among birds, the eagle Garuda. I am Prahlada, born among the demons, and of all that measures, I am time.

I am death, which overcomes all, and the source of all beings still to be born.

Just remember that I am, and that I support the entire cosmos with only a fragment of my being.

Behold, Arjuna, a million divine forms, with an infinite variety of color and shape. Behold the gods of the natural world, and many more wonders never revealed before. Behold the entire cosmos turning within my body, and the other things you desire to see.

I am time, the destroyer of all; I have come to consume the world.

That one is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen.

Just as a reservoir is of little use when the whole countryside is flooded, scriptures are of little use to the illumined man or woman, who sees the Lord everywhere.

They alone see truly who see the Lord the same in every creature, who see the deathless in the hearts of all that die. Seeing the same Lord everywhere, they do not harm themselves or others. Thus they attain the supreme goal.

With a drop of my energy I enter the earth and support all creatures. Through the moon, the vessel of life-giving fluid, I nourish all plants. I enter breathing creatures and dwell within as the life-giving breath. I am the fire in the stomach which digests all food.

There are three gates to this self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Renounce these three.