On December 7th was Gita Jayanti, the festival celebrating the first recital of the Bhagavad Gita by Lord Krishna to his friend and devotee, Arjuna. This took place on the battlefield called the Kurukshetra, situated in the modern Indian state of Haryana, several thousand years ago.

Through the millennia, the Gita has inspired some of the greatest minds in the world, as well as given solace and meaning to the lives of millions of people from all walks of life.

From inspiring freedom struggles, to helping high level corporate executives deal with stress and struggle, the Bhagavad Gita continues to help many eminent personalities fulfil their potential.

At this point, many sceptics would ask: "Well that is all well and good, but how can the Gita help ME live my own life? What guidance does the Gita offer on the problems I face every day?"

This is a question I can sympathise with. When I first read the Gita, I read it with reverence and I could see many practical moral teachings in it, but I could tell I was missing something. Certainly I could not appreciate Mahatma Gandhi's intensity of feeling when he proclaimed:

"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."

I thought to myself, "Surely there is something great and timeless in this book, with immense importance and practical relevance to my life; but how do I tap into it?

The difficulty in approaching the teachings of an ancient scripture such as the Gita are inevitable. The Gita depicts a conversation between Lord Krishna to one of the greatest heroes of the time (Arjuna) in an era long past. For us to straight away understand the depth of the meanings and teachings contained in every verse is difficult, because we are in another age and are not even familiar with the concepts and terminology that are used! A good commentary is usually needed as the very least requirement.

Over time, my study and meditation on the teachings of the Gita allowed me to grasp more and more of the meanings of the Gita, and I was flabbergasted by the distance between what I initially understood when I read the Gita compared with the fathomless ocean of knowledge contained therein.

It is important for the individual who is reading the Gita to learn to reflect on the teachings and to think for him or herself as to how to apply them to one's individual context. It is then that the Gita opens up its true potential to the reader.

The Gita offers its guidance to all who approach it with reverence and respect. Its teachings are of value helping us to approach the struggles of life with coolness and poise, and guiding one in the journey towards the supreme goal of mukti.