Bhagavad Gita: The Operations Manual for Vedic Leaders

 

Maharishi’s Translation and Commentary on Chapters 1-12

in light of Vedic Leadership

 

Prerequisite:  Careful Reading and Study of

Maharishi’s Bhagavad Gita Chapters 1-6

or

attendance at the 2019 Advanced Forum

​

 

During the first half of the 2020 Advanced Course, Phase II, Phase III, and Phase IV participants will listen to their appropriate continuing tapes of Maharishi's core lectures on leadership begun in Phase I.  The second half of the course will involve a detailed analysis and understanding of leadership from the perspective of key verses found in Maharishi’s Commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, Chapters 1-12.

 

Having established in Gita chapters 1-6 the essential nature of the Absolute level of life and its relationship to the individual level of life and living, chapters 7-12 deepen and strengthen the understanding and experience of the imperishable and divine nature of the Absolute, its sovereign wisdom and secrets, its Cosmic form and the devotion that it inspires. These are all topics to be understood and experienced in the Advanced Forum so that the essential link or unity between Absolute and Relative, becomes a living reality, allowing Unity to be lived in Diversity and Diversity to be lived in Unity.  This ability of living the full range of life in one unified awareness, from the Absolute level of life to its expressions, along with the understanding that the individual IS cosmic, is the essential quality of Vedic leadership. This is what makes Unity consciousness a living reality for Vedic leaders. 

 

As Maharishi explains in the introduction to his commentary, the author of the Bhagavad Gita, Veda Vyasa, records and examines the continual challenge existing between the two fundamental modes of living that we find expressed in today's world— dharma and adharma, or righteousness and unrighteousness.  The role of Master or teacher in this text is assumed by Lord Krishna, the embodiment of the Absolute level of life, who incarnated to remind man of the true values of life and living. 

 

Through the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, Maharishi's commentary restores the importance of direct contact with Transcendental Being, which alone can give fullness to every aspect of life. Maharishi brings to light Absolute Being as the basic reality of life and establishes it as the foundation of all thinking, which in turn is the basis of all action and leadership. 

 

This science of Being, thinking and action, the core philosophy of leadership,  is the basis for an integrated life in Unity Consciousness, the highest state of human development.  It not only helps the leader gain success in his undertakings, but at the same time, sets him free from the bondage of action, bringing with it fulfilment at every level of life.
 

The Bhagavad Gita’s core teaching was promoted by Shankara, one of the greatest Masters of the tradition from which Maharishi comes.  Shankara offered to the world the principle of fullness of intellectual and emotional development in the state of enlightenment, based on transcendental bliss consciousness, in which the heart is so pure as to be able to flow and overflow with waves of universal love.  Fullness of intellectual and emotional development is the goal of the Maharishi Vedic Leadership Forum, and this text of the Gita is fundamental to the Forum’s progress and evolution.

 

The Advanced Course is designed to make the full knowledge and experience of this core Vedic text into a living reality in the life of its participants.  Key verses will be studied down to the essential level of their sanskrit roots along  with a careful study of Maharishi's translation and commentary.   Finally the verses will be related to the personal experiences of the participants in order to show how they are useful in developing true leadership.

 

This course is essential in understanding the importance of purity of Dharma, or action in accord with Natural Law, and the role that Dharma plays in creating a better world. When leadership on this level of understanding and experience is created, effectiveness in life will be achieved, men and women will be fulfilled on all levels, and the historical need of the age will be fulfilled.

 

This is leadership training by the embodiment of Consciousness itself, Lord Krishna, guided and directed by the Absolute's greatest ever commentator, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  It is a meaningful and necessary experience for every Vedic leader.

​

Longer courses develop a powerful momentum of growth towards higher consciousness, deepening both knowledge and experience.  Whenever possible, it is ideal for Advanced Course participants to refresh Phase I immediately before taking their advanced Phase, thus providing an opportunity for an extended period of fine experiences.  Reviewing the Phase I knowledge also provides an opportunity to see how much our experiences have grown.   It has been truthfully said of longer courses, "one day at the end is worth 10 at the beginning.”