How To Make Better Decisions In Life— According To The Bhagavad GitaThe ancient Indian text reveals how to make better life decisions
In life, we’re often perplexed with decisions. Some tiny & insignificant ones like what to wear, what to eat or which travel route to take & bigger ones like switching careers, the relationships we forge, or whether to move to a different city or country. Most of the time, we’re caught in the flux of being unable to make a decision, especially if it’s a hard choice. I explored & analysed hard choices at length in an old post on this newsletter, based on a TED Talk by philosopher Ruth Chang (You can read it below). The problem with hard choices is that we, as post-enlightenment era humans, look for the best option. We put logic & deliberation behind picking what we think is the best option in a hard choice, which is a fallacy. Ruth Chang argues that there is no best choice & that we need to put ourselves behind picking an alternative we can stand by — in essence, who we are. But that philosophical debate of how to tackle hard choices is for another day (You can still read my article though). The ancient Indian text, The Bhagavad Gita, has its own intriguing take on how to make better decisions through the lens of its story. The Gita is well documented, but whether you believe in God or a higher consciousness or not, the book has some valid points about the human condition if you take away its lessons and anecdotes. But for those of you who are unaware of it, the Gita tells the story of the great Indian war, The Mahabharata, from the microscope of a sermon by God, i.e. Lord Krishna to the warrior Arjuna who stood for what is right & was, if you’d excuse my poor analogy, on the side of good or the ‘good-guy’ the in the story. Here are a few takeaways from the Gita when it comes to making tough & better decisions: The Right Decision Isn’t The Comfortable OneStanding on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna was confronted with a tough decision. He wasn’t just facing an army, he was facing a tough dilemma: whether to go to war, which was the right decision, or to retreat to safety & abandon the war altogether. Like most people who face uncomfortable choices, he wanted to retreat to safety & comfort & avoid the gruelling battle. To that, Krishna said: Running from what is hard doesn’t make it go away. Choosing comfort over duty isn’t wisdom — it’s fear wearing a disguise. We can all relate to that. It’s oftentimes at the center of our tough decisions i.e. when we know what to do, but we hesitate because it’s uncomfortable. We stay in toxic relationships, we avoid new jobs for the comfort of job security, and we don’t break out of routines or habits that drain us — we avoid change because change is hard & in unknown territory. Fear of the unknown can be daunting, but it’s in most cases where the growth is. However, the Gita reminds us that: The right path isn’t the easy one. And the easy one isn’t right. Don’t Be Swayed By Emotions While Making ChoicesArjuna knew what to do in his head, but his heart suggested otherwise. His dilemma was propelled by emotion. On the battlefield, Arjuna saw his family & loved ones & all the people he knew & cared about going to war & almost certainly to their deaths. So he was torn between doing what needed to be done & his duty as a warrior & what he felt. He looked at the battle from an emotional standpoint, which caused considerable uncertainty & grief before he decided to partake in the battle. Krishna’s advice was this: Do not let your emotions dictate your decisions. Feel them, acknowledge them, but don’t make choices solely based on them. This doesn’t mean emotions are wrong. Fear is a passing sensation, like a breeze in the air, as explored by the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. Anger eventually dies down. If you make a decision based on what you feel in the moment, you could make a mistake & make a decision by impulse that your future self would regret. So it’s essential to take a breath & step back before you make a tough decision and ask yourself — if you strip away the emotions like fear, anger, guilt, grief or whatever it is — what is the right thing to do according to you? Afraid Of Making A Wrong Choice? — Make It AnywayWhen we’re presented with tough choices, we’re often afraid of making the wrong decision. We get into thought processes like — what if I fail? or what if this decision is wrong? or will I regret this choice? or what if the result of this choice is a bad one? Arjuna went through the motions of this as well. Krishna’s advice was this: If you’re afraid of making the wrong choice, make it anyway and even if it’s wrong, you then learn, and you keep moving forward. The plain fact is this, you live & you learn. No choice or mistake is permanent & even if you make the wrong choice, you learn and grow as a result. Despite this seeming otherwise, as Ruth Chang explores in her TED Talk as well, you can always correct yourself & get back to the old choice you neglected at a later stage. Even if you make the wrong choice, your journey doesn’t end, you simply take a slight detour & forge a new path & you can always come back to your old stance at a later stage even if you make the wrong choice, despite seeming otherwise at the time of choosing. You Cannot Control the Outcome — Control What You Can & Let Go of What You Can’tWe need to understand that we can’t control the results of our choices or actions. All we can do is do our best to the best of our abilities & leave the outcome or result for later. You could prepare extensively for a job interview, but you can’t control whether you’ll be selected. You could start a business, but you can’t control whether it will be a success or failure, despite thinking you can. You can study as hard as you like for an exam, but you can’t control the questions in the paper. You could love someone, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll love you back. This is a common problem that people face. They want a favourable result from their choice(s). They want to know for certain that they’ll win & won’t fail. And in many instances, this chasing of the winning result leaves them stuck while making a tough decision. However, the Gita’s message is this: You have control over your actions, but not the results. Take the decision, not because of the outcome, but in spite of it. This also mirrors the Stoic philosophy of focusing on the things you can control and leaving out what you can’t control. There’s only so much you can control, so work on that, and leave the outcome to itself. The Gita’s Wisdom Offers A BlueprintI’ve only scratched the surface while reading adaptations & compiled concise versions of the Gita & not the original. But despite many Indians swearing by the Gita, I don’t swear by it as some text of ultimate knowledge, but I do think it has some interesting concepts & wisdom that can be applied to life & the human condition. But in essence, as a brief summary, this article suggests that we must: Make the right choice, not the easy one. Let emotions flow, but not control your decisions. Make the decision despite fearing mistakes, and trust that mistakes will lead you to learning and a new path. Control what you can, and leave the outcome to itself. Life will throw you curveballs and dilemmas and present you with many forks in the road. But it’s up to you to make decisions standing behind who you are & your core ideals. In this sense, the Gita only offers a blueprint, but it’s up to you to understand how best to make better decisions. In your journey through life, it’s important to understand how to move forward & as my late grandfather who was a journalist before he started a printing press, wrote in an old article from the 1930s: “Be bold, be resolute.” This article was originally published on my Medium. Read more articles like this one:
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Friday, 11 April 2025
How To Make Better Decisions In Life— According To The Bhagavad Gita
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