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Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. The Righteous Path i Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. Publishing-in-support-of, EDUCREATION PUBLISHING RZ 94, Sector - 6, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110075 Shubham Vihar, Mangla, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh - 495001 Website: www.educreation.in ________________________________________________________________ © Copyright, Authors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of its writer. ISBN: 978-1-61813-595-7 Price: Rs. 415.00 The opinions/ contents expressed in this book are solely of the authors and do not represent the opinions/ standings/ thoughts of Educreation or the Editors. The book is released by using the services of self-publishing house. Printed in India ii Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. The Righteous Path SriKrishna's Teachings and words of wisdom to enhance your Leadership skills and decision making. Dr. Chaitanya Niphadkar EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011) www.educreation.in iii Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. || Jai SriKrishna || OM AJNANA-TIMIRANDHASYA JNANANJANA-SALAKAYA CAKSUR UNMILITAM YENA TASMAI SRI-GURAVE NAMAH I was born in the darkest ignorance, and my spiritual master opened my eyes with the torch of knowledge. I offer my respectful obeisance unto him. HE KRISHNA KARUNA-SINDHU DINA-BANDHO JAGAT-PATE GOPESA GOPIKA-KANTA RADHA-KANTA NAMO 'STU TE O my dear Krishna, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the gopis and the lover of Radharani. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. TAPTA-KANCANA-GAURANGI RADHE VRNDAVANESVARI VRSABHANU-SUTE DEVI PRANAMAMI HARI-PRIYE I offer my respect to Radharani whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vrndavana. You are the daughter of King Vrsabhanu, and You are very dear to Lord Krishna. VANCA-KALPATARUBHYAS CA KRPA-SINDHUBHYA EVA CA PATITANAM PAVANEBHYO VAISNAVEBHYO NAMO NAMAH I offer my respectful obeisance unto all the Vaisnava devotees of the Lord who can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and who are full of compassion for the fallen souls. JAI SRIKRISHNA CHAITANYA PRABHU NITYANANDA SRI ADVAITA GADADHARA SRIVASADI-GAURA-BHAKTA-VRINDA I offer my obeisance to Sri Chaitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion. **** iv Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. Krishnam vande jagadguru Lord Krishna is the guru of the world. SriKrishna’r pana’mastu, Guru Dakshina Arpan’a Karish’ye I offer myself (Soul) to Lord Krishna and this book is my guru dakshina. Thus, I dedicate this book to my guru, Lord Krishna Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam We all are one family of the Lord (Vasudev) So, this book is my gift to every reader. - Dr. Chaitanya Niphadkar v Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. Acknowledgements First and foremost, to God (Lord Krishna) for good health and wisdom that was extremely necessary. Secondly, to numerous people who accompanied me through this book and provided their support generously that includes my family, friends and relatives. They talked over things, offered comments, debated and so on. All this, allowed me to broaden my horizon and enhance this piece of work. Thanks to the countless people involved, without which this book may not have existed today. These include several spiritual gurus, devotees of Lord Krishna from ISKCON primarily HDG Srila Prabhupada and his thoughts in the form of his writings like Bhagavad Gita (As it is), SriChaitanya Charitamrita, then lectures of Radhanath Swami Maharaj and many other vaishnavas. I am also grateful to people (outside ISKCON) like Chaitanya Saraswat Math of Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Swami Bhaktivedanta Narayana, Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti of the Brahma Madhva Vaisnava Sampradaya and people from various faiths like Hinduism, Christianity, Jainism, Jewish, Buddhism, Islam and Sikhism whom I have met personally in various holy places across the globe. Not only those discussions enabled me to understand „God‟ from different angles and helped me in learning the criticalities involved on this spiritual path but also they offered their understandings about the subject which has been taken into consideration and reflected in some of the chapters. Actually, there is no plagiarism on spiritual texts because only God is original and we all try to learn from Him. Nothing except His words (referring to the Bhagavad Gita) are pure and I have made an attempt (through this book) to bring the same to you. Moreover, this book is an indication of my spiritual progress in search of „The Righteous Path‟. So, it is titled in this way. My gratitude to the publisher for providing uninterrupted support at all times. Last but not the least, I ask for forgiveness from all those who have contributed in the making of this book and their names I may have failed to mention. Yours sincerely, Dr. Chaitanya Niphadkar (Also referred as Professor Krishna) (Spiritual Name: SriKrishna Chaitanya) vi Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. Preface “Man is not at peace with himself till he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realization.” - Mahatma Gandhi No work of Indian literature has ever been revered as much as the holy Bhagavad Gita. It is the conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna. It is the very essence of Lord Krishna‟s teachings. This book is all about that. It brings you SriKrishna‟s teachings in a simple form and discusses various aspects related to it, ultimately allowing you to find and walk on, “The Righteous Path”. Over the years, these words of wisdom from „The Bhagavad Gita‟ has offered humans some respite from restlessness, complications and unhappiness and imparted the light of calmness. The practical teaching(s) offered in this book has a message for everyone. This book could serve as a beginner level guide for those seeking peace through self discovery and those in search of God. It can also be useful for those interested in the Holy spiritual texts and researchers within the scope of theology and Hindu mythology. However, this book shall be better understood after studying the Bhagavad Gita. It is believed that an individual can seek answers to almost every question about universe, his (or her) past, present as well as future through the knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita. It is not just an old, religious, teaching manuscript specifically focusing on Hindu religion rather something that goes beyond the boundaries of religion and race and promising to share the divine wisdom with all who seek to find peace. In this sense, this sacred book addresses humans for all times and rescues them from the bondage of problems, pain, suffering, fear and replaces them with divine qualities like love, peace and eternal happiness. vii Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. It is no surprise that the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita has inspired countless people throughout history. Few are listed below: “When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous.” - Albert Einstein “In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.” - Henry David Thoreau “The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life’s wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion.” - Herman Hesse “The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions.” - Dr. Albert Schweitzer “The idea that man is like unto an inverted tree seems to have been current in by gone ages. The link with Vedic conceptions is provided by Plato in his Timaeus in which it states…” behold we are not an earthly but a heavenly plant.” This correlation can be discerned by what Krishna expresses in chapter 15 of Bhagavad-Gita.” - Carl Jung “The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity.” - Aldous Huxley viii Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. “I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson “In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is necessary to attune our soul to it.” - Rudolph Steiner **** ix Sample Coy. Not For Distribution. Table of Devotional Contents Sr.No. Content Page No. A) God God is everywhere 1 Form or formless 4 Lord Krishna 8 Bramha, Vishnu, Mahesh 10 Gopis of SriKrishna 12 B) You The purpose of life 14 Our original constitutional position 15 You can‟t cheat yourself and God 19 Time is ruling or ruining us 20 Dharma 24 Karma 31 Doubts about Karma 33 Qualities of a devotee 37 Qualities of a spiritual master 41 Being Brahmin 48 Navagraha‟s importance in our life 55 C) Problems Give and Get 63 Dealing with problems 68 Overcome depression, sorrow and worries 72 Technological advancement but spiritual 76 regression Friendship with non-devotees of the Lord 80 D) Solution True love 83 Devotional service to Lord Krishna 90 Be happy forever 92 E) Salvation Attaining Moksha 95 Penance and repentance 100 x Sample Coy.