Start Date: June 15, 2026
End Date: June 24, 2026
Venue: Freedom Land, Doddballapur, Karnataka
As part of BhāratShakti’s teacher education initiative titled ‘Sanskriti च Svādhyāya’, under which various aspects of Indian Culture and Indian Knowledge Traditions have been presented to the teachers in engaging ways over the years (see HERE, HERE and HERE), in June 2026, Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti, facilitated an intensive 10-day study group session on Sri Aurobindo’s Essays on the Gita.
The coordination work was taken up by Ms. Jayashree Ashok from Creative School. The study group included about 15 teachers and educational administrators. About 7 participants joined online while rest of the group met in person every evening for 1.5 hours.
In the introductory session, Dr. Mehra shared with the group that Bhagavad Gita is one of those rarest scriptures of the world in which lie the deepest and lasting solutions to most of our life’s day-to-day problems. This universal and timeless role of the Gita has been confirmed again and again by spiritual masters, philosophers, thinkers all across the world and in various times. The solution lies in sincerely practicing the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.
She also added that the Bhagavad Gita brings to us the essence of all the experiences and teachings found in the Upanishads and Vedas. Just as the Upanishads mark a culmination or fruition of Vedic knowledge, the Gita is considered as another grand synthesis of all Upanishadic and Vedic knowledge.
The following specific topics from the first few chapters of Essays on the Gita were taken up during the 10-day period.
- Our Demand & Need from the Gita
- The Divine Teacher
- The Human Disciple
- The Core of the Teaching
- Man and the Battle of Life
- Work as Sacrifice
Through these topics, the gist of Sri Aurobindo’s unique interpretation of Bhagavad Gita was presented. Selections from Sri Aurobindo’s original essays were read closely and Dr. Mehra provided explanations and elaborations as needed. Participants were encouraged to reflect deeply and engage with the ideas being discussed.
In addition to sharing a few verses from the Bhagavad Gita pertaining to the topics under discussion, Dr. Mehra also gave appropriate examples from contemporary scenarios wherever needed. Many interesting exchanges happened after each session and ideas were explored in depth, thus co-creating a deeper learning experience for all.
On the last day of the study group meeting, Dr. Mehra informed the participants that the entire volume of Essays on the Gita was written by Sri Aurobindo with a silent mind, inspired from the realms above mind. Thus, in the light of his explanations, a study of the Bhagavad Gita becomes more complete, more integral. The important thing to remember, however, is that the study of any scripture, particularly the Gita is only the beginning. The real task is to live the teaching, to practice the teaching.
The study group plans to continue after the initial ten-day-period and go through rest of the essays at a more relaxed pace throughout the year.
READ BELOO MEHRA’S BLOG – A Study of Bhagavad Gita in the Light of Sri Aurobindo
For more of BhāratShakti’s courses and study groups, see HERE.
For more of BhāratShakti’s works done with Creative School, see HERE.