Don't Argue, Just Read It

Another sign that i'm apparently supposed to make the time to read "Essays On The Gita" sooner rather than later...

The first sign might have been when i first mentioned that i was thinking about reading it. Immediately after posting that thought, i received comments telling me that i had to, with one commenter even pointing to electronic copies of most of Aurobindo's works. And, given the source of those comments, they were pretty persuasive.

I could have read the pdf version; i could have even read it on my Sony Reader. But, for reasons i can't explain, for me, some books just have to be read in the paper version — so you can touch the words with your hands as your eyes take them in. To that effect, i ordered a used copy of the book on Amazon Sunday night. We all know that it always takes several weeks before these books arrive, so i ordered it now in order to take with me if i do the Grand Illinois Trail ride in just over three weeks. My plan was to spend a few hours with the book each night after riding (plus possibly a few paragraphs sprinkled here and there throughout the day to give me something to ponder while peddling along).


This morning i found an email in my inbox from the book seller. They shipped the book this morning (only 12 hours after the order) and sent it via UPS Ground. I should have it within three days. Apparently the book is in a hurry to get here.

It's hard to argue with necessity.

So, i'll start reading when i get the book this Thursday, and look for why Gandhi said,

"The central teaching of the Gita is detachment — abandonment of the fruit of action. And there would be no room for this abandonment if one were to prefer another's duty to one's own. Therefore one's own duty is said to be better than another's. It is the spirit in which duty is done that matters, and its unattached performance is its own reward.

and why Aurobindo said,

The central interest of the Gita's philosophy and Yoga is its attempt, the idea with which it sets out, continues and closes, to reconcile and even effect a kind of unity between the inner spiritual truth in its most absolute and integral realization and the outer actualities of man’s life and action.

In this hand, detachment and abandonment. In the other, reconciliation and unity. The hands seem separate, but when willingly held together in gassho, realizations can appear.