Pictorial representation fo The Gita.

The picture above is the one which represents The Gita (or a similar picture). This picture is truly a pictorial representation of The Gita. It is pregnant with the essence of The Gita.

You can see that Krishna is driving Arjuna in a chariot pulled by strong, powerful and vibrant horses in the war field. There is a flag on the chariot with Hanuman's picture on it.

Understanding the meaning of this picture by itself is as good as understanding the whole Gita.

Let me first tell what each item in the picture corresponds to in our daily life.

The field in which the chariot travels- The earth, where we live.
The war- Life with problems and challenges.
Chariot- Our physical body.
Horses- Our mind.
Krishna's whip- Human intelligence.
Pandavas Army- Merits earned by us.
Kauravas Army- sins accumulated by us.
Arjuna- Arjuna represent you and me, the individual consciousness.
Krishna- Krishna represents the consciousness in us. The super conscious mind.
Hanuman- Devotion and selfless service to the almighty.

The earth we live in is the field where we experience both good and evil. There are some who support us (like the pandava army that supports Arjuna) and some who are against us(like kaurava army that fights against Arjuna). On deep understanding we will realize that it is our own merits that come to our support and our own sins that act against us. On deeper understanding the previous statement is nullified. Because on deeper understanding we will realize that it was God almighty who did everything. We neither can be proud of our merits nor need to be ashamed of our sins. By which all complexities, that is both superiority complex and inferiority complex, are removed.

The war- Life is like a war. We need to face challenges. We might have to take tough decisions. We can never guess from which direction a problem may come. We often get deluded by false values, we get depressed when the fight is too tough. That is exactly why The Gita has been delivered on a war field. The place where highest tension, confusion and chaos prevails.

Our physical body corresponds to the chariot. It needs to be strong and healthy. As the chariot is pulled by the horses the body is pulled by the mind. In which ever direction the mind travels, in that direction the body does travel. For eg., you want to eat something, immediately you move to the place where you can get something to eat.

There are more reasons for comparing the horse to the mind. Our mind has more than one abilities and personalities. Each horse represents one such personality of the mind. Eg., the mind which has a taste for food, The mind which has a taste for music, The mind which has a taste for sight etc., There can be any number of horses, the more multi-talented you are, the more number of horses. The more number of horses the more difficult to control them. All these horses must be harnessed and trained in such a way that they work in harmony with each other in an integrated way.

Training the mind and the horses is also similar. We can't be too strict with it. It will not co-operate. At the same time if we are too liberal with it, it will tend to go on its own way. So we need to do our work, spiritual practises regularly. At the same time we need to relax ourselves by listening to good music, going for a walk , reading my blogs :) etc etc., The mind will start to co-operate with you fully. And will be as healthy, vibrant as those horses driven by Krishna.

The whip in Krishna's hands is the human intellect. When our intellect is in hold of the consciousness, it never drives the mind in a wrong direction. The curb in the hand of Krishna is the individual's fate. The human mind is in the hold of fate. When we surrender to God, he takes our fate in his hands and drives us in the field of life.

Arjuna is the individual ego or individual consciousness. You and me. We reside in our body, which is the chariot. Krishna, the universal consciousness or the super consciousness, does not drive the life of all individuals on earth. He drives the lives of those who surrender at his feet. Now, by Krishna I don't mean the name and form. It can be anybody whom you can completely rely on. It can be Jesus Christ, or Buddha or even your own parents. Anybody whom you respect and to whom you can surrender your ego completely.

On the flag there is a picture of Lord Hanuman. Hanuman is known for his devotion and selfless service to the Lord. Flag is used to represent for what we stand. Our life should represent highest devotion and selfless service to the Lord.