Background articles
The Dru Bhagavad Gita
Story and Foundation – Mansukh Patel
Commentary – Chris Barrington, John Jones, Savitri MacCuish
Compiled by Yamuna Loyal
The philosopher Nietzsche once asked the question, "Man is a something to be transcended. What have you done to transcend him?"
The path of the hero is the journey of transcendence.
The Dru Bhagavad Gita by Mansukh Patel, Savitri MacCuish, Chris Barrington and John Jones, tells the story of an invincible warrior prince, Arjuna, whom destiny has placed against people he doesn’t want to fight. For the first time in his life he experiences fear and weakness. Like every other hero, Arjuna’s task is to overcome the weakness in his mind and his experience is actually an allegory for the inner battle we all have to fight. Mansukh Patel points out very clearly that in this sense our human predicament has not changed over millennia.
We all want overcome limitations and to identify with the higher, transcendent part of ourselves. In the Bhagavad Gita this is achieved through the guidance of Arjuna’s wise friend and mentor, Krishna. As Arjuna stands on the battlefield unable to fight. Krishna reveals the profound knowledge that allows Arjuna to rise to the very pinnacle of his human potential and to be victorious against impossible odds. Ancient and mystical secrets are the fascinating ingredients of the Gita’s message.
This knowledge gives people the power and strength to resolve any of life’s challenges and thereby make their lives successful at every level, both personal and professional.
In The Dru Bhagavad Gita Mansukh Patel’s interpretation of the relationship between Arjuna and Krishna is poignantly portrayed in a hitherto unknown form. He weaves a story around the dialogue between the two heroes in such a way that we are all drawn intimately into their minds and deepest feelings. Mansukh has a profound understanding of this relationship and how it relates to each one of us. The lofty teachings of the Gita become simplified into language we can all relate to. Suddenly the Gita is no longer a dusty volume containing 700 incomprehensible verses. Mansukh Patel makes the relationship three dimensional and so real, we cannot help but feel what Arjuna feels. At the same time Mansukh makes the god-man Krishna’s highest wisdom accessible to us. We can understand for ourselves that what he describes is actually how we are all meant to be. Mansukh’s poetic and vibrant re-telling of the story helps us all to see that we have each come here for a much higher purpose than we ever previously imagined.
Mansukh Patel distils the most ancient teachings into a form we can all relate to, understand and apply to our lives on a daily basis. In the commentary which follows the story just described, the Dru Bhagavad Gita according to Mansukh and his colleagues John Jones, Savitri MacCuish and Chris Barrington, offers practical ways to make wise choices, with a quiet assurance that we will get where we want to go and become who we want to be. Each verse is followed by a simple, practical application – something we can do or think that will alter the way we are approaching our life and all the difficulties that each day presents.
Savitri MacCuish runs Life Foundation International in the Netherlands and runs many courses on the Bhagavad Gita. Savitri’s knowledge of the Gita is vast and penetrating and extremely refreshing, coming as it does from a ‘Scottish’ point of view. Savitri most definitely sees things from the High-lands of life and her wisdom is based firmly in experience.
Chris Barrington has created a perfect blend between science and spirituality, seeing life from both ends as it were. Chris spent many years teaching mathematics and exploring quantum physics while delving into the Gita’s secrets at the same time. The result is Chris Barrington’s no-nonsense approach to profound spirituality that helps us all to see that we can be and do everything we want to be and do while taking the highest wisdom into our activities. Every great entrepreneur has used the wisdom of the ages in a modern form. John Jones was introduced to the Gita at a very early age by Mansukh Patel’s father, a man whose mastery of the yogic principles led him to encourage Mansukh to apply Dru Yoga to the West in many different ways. Mansukh’s production of the Dru Bhagavad Gita is only one of those ways. John is a forester by training and again, a man fascinated by the esoteric while keeping his feet firmly rooted, just like the trees he has studied in so much depth. There is nothing airy-fairy about the Dru Bhagavad Gita. It has been written by westerners for the west and Mansukh will be the first to tell you that it is a book that can change the way we feel and also the way we act in the world.
The Dru Bhagavad Gita by Mansukh Patel, Savitri MacCuish, Chris Barrington and John Jones and The Dru Bhagavad Gita Correspondence Course by Yamuna Loyal and Chris Barrington is available from:
UK: the Life Foundation School of Therapeutics, Snowdonia National Park, Nant Ffrancon Valley, Bethesda, Gwynedd, North Wales, LL57 3LX, tel: 01248 602900 and Maristowe House, Dover Street, Wolverhampton WV14 6AL tel: 01902 409164;
gita@druexperience.org, www.drugita.org
Europe Continent: Life Foundation International, Postbus 88, 6670AB Zetten, NL
tel: +31-488-491 387; contact@lifefoundation.nl, www.druyoga.nl
Australia: Life Foundation Australia, 4 Pandanus St, Fisher, ACT 2611,
Tel 02 6161 1468, sales@druyoga.com.au; www.druyoga.com.au
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