Stress Management lessons from Bhagavad Gita

Stress - We all knew it, have felt it and seen it in life affecting us or someone around. The most intriguing thing about stress is that while for some people, it shows up their face and behaviour, others manage to hide and cover it.Whatever it is, it will affect both, the ones showing up or suppressing it.In today’s world, people are living lives ridden with Stress due to career, job, relationships, Finance etc.

Few years ago, one of my colleague at work suddenly complained of chest pain, palpitation and an ambulance was called. Within an hour, she was in a hospital ICU getting treated for Heart attack. Everyone, including myself were surprised. How can such a thing happen to her. She was a happy, friendly person, married and the husband works in the same company.?

Stress at Work

Work Overload Stress?

Another time, I went to a Migration agent to invite him for a cultural function. The moment, I saw him, I thought Gee.. He looks stressed out. Initially, he thought I was a marketing person just door knocking. When I told him about the event, he whole mood changed and thanked me for inviting him. I asked him, what he is up to and he told me that he is about to go for MRT – Migration Review Tribunal hearing of one of his client. Way back, I wondered – how people take on the stress and troubles of others because they are getting paid

There was one more colleague of mine, who would come to work with red eyes and looking sleepy. He told me that, he gets woken up by these two birds every morning at 6AM. He was quite angry and wanted to take a gun and shoot them. But, what is the problem ? They are actually doing a service to you by waking up in the morning and you don’t need to setup alarm in the mobile. He told me that, he actually goes to sleep very late 2:00AM by watching late night shows, sports. Why.? Because, he can’t go to sleep early. Why? because he lost all his Super or Retirement Money by investing in wrong shares.

So what to do about stress ? There are numerous things that you hear like, pressing a stress ball, punching pillows, exercise, pets, Music, Meditation,walking,doctors, Psychologists and medicines etc. But, again here there is so many choices to make which, in turn puts people into more stress. Should I go for this doctor or that doctor.? Should I go for Allopathy, Homeopathy or Ayurveda, should I listen to Western music or Eastern Music. While, I think all these have some results, it is actually even better to the cause or root of the problem. In software testing, we have something called Root Cause Analysis which is a method of problem solving used for identifying the root causes of faults or problems. This is where Srimad Bhagavad Gita, a revelation from God, a doctrine of universal truth, said to be the essence of Vedas and Upanishads comes to the rescue in eliminating the Root Cause of Stress.

A number of eminent personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Aldous Huxley, Henry David Thoreau, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Bulent Ecevit, Hermann Hesse etc. read, praised, drew inspiration and strength from this holy book. Bhagavad Gita is a holistic scripture, deals with all kinds of problems, anxieties, troubles, stress the human beings had to go through in day to day life. For example, verse below from Bhagavad Gita informs that the most crucial and important reason for stress, one goes through in life is attachment to a particular outcome or result.

“karmany evadhikaras te
 ma phalesu kadacana
 ma karma-phala-hetur bhur
 ma te sango 'stv akarmani (Bhagavad Gita 2.47)

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty”.

So the universal message given out is that we should carry out our duties and obligations in life towards our parents, society, world with integrity and honesty and not to worry about the results.You have the right to perform your duty but, not the results. Learn to work without attachment and not expecting the returns But, what about the performance and productivity. People think that, if you are not attached to the fruits or outcome, the productivity may go down. But, the opposite is true that, the productivity actually goes up by being detached because, there is less stress.That is why surgeons don't operate on their family members, or the businessman managing his own business is more stressed and the reason, why so many people fail in a driving test.But, as you can see, Karma Yoga or acting dutifully without attachment is an art and science. There are different stages and paths one needs to learn and practice like, Sakama Karma Yoga where one is attached to the fruits of action,Nishkama Karma Yoga where one is selfless and not attached to the results.

As per Bhagavad Gita, A Yogi is not the one who creates things from his hands or stays in the ground with his face buried (as you see in places like Kumbha Mela), but one who can perform his prescribed duty, under most distressing conditions, still remain calm and equipoised. As you can see, all this is from the one verse of Bhagavad Gita. There are numerous Root Causes and solutions explained in the preceding chapters, all the way to the 18^th Chapter.