. Srimad Bhagavad Gita Message                                                           Message of Gita is for all persons and for all situations. That is why it is accepted by saints and seers that even a single verse of Bhagavad Gita acts on man like a preceptor or a Guru, what to talk about Gita as a whole scripture whose influence on man is unbelievable. There are certain verses in the Gita which are so potent that even a portion out of them tell us how to elevate ourselves while living in the world. Take for example verse 7 of chapter 8 whose opening line reads “Remember me at all times and fight” which is the subject matter of this write up. The complete verse reads like this “Therefore remember me at all times and fight with your mind and intellect devoted to me, shall attain me alone, there is no doubt about this.” There are two distinct things in opening of line of this verse . One is Remember me (God) at all times and two is fight, which need to be elucidated. That does Remember Me at all times mean. Can you put your mind on work if you are remembering God at all times. Is it possible for a man living in the world to remember God at all times and at the same times perform his day to day work. There are some of the questions which needs to be answered. It is certainly possible to do both the things, remembering God and doing your work at the same time. If that was not so God would not have said that. Remembering God at all times does not mean chanting God’s names while doing work. It only means doing work in God consciousness. Remembering God constantly is possible when you advance in your sadhna (spiritual practice). Then remembrance of God continuously becomes an uninterrupted meditation and results in attaining a meditational mood. Then you remember God at all times while doing work, then all actions are ruled by righteousness and we also get strength to perform our daily tasks with enthusiasm. Yet there is another advantage in that you are performing actions as per God will rather than on your personal will based on likes and dislikes. When you have reached a State when you can remember God constantly, then you need not do any other Sadhna. Since we have developed a prayful attitude. Your mind can be constantly established in God consciousness when one has unshakable faith in God and you are a true devotee of Him and not a part-time devotee who visits temples as a ritual and does some sort of puja either at home or in temple. Those who are true devotees of God it becomes their second nature to remain in God consciousness throughout and their attention from the work in hand is not diverted. They work in world retaining consciousness of eternity. Now we come to the word fight which is the last word of the opening sentence of Verse 7. Does fighting mean fighting a battle against enemy physically present on the ground. In the context of the Gita, the answer is Yes because Arjuna refused to fight the battle at Kurukshetra against Kurus. But for human beings not involved in a physical battle, fight means fighting the battle of life inner as well as outer. The Gita wants us to fight both the battles of life of enthusiastically with full support of heart and soul. It lays utmost emphasis on self effort or struggle as the end results taste sweeter. Gita asks man not to accept any short cut in life as short cuts can lead man to a wrong route. By practising the teachings of the Gita one knows every inch of the ground or every inch of the way which one has to traverse in life. The status of such a person is much higher than those who seek blessings from noble persons or those who have dip in holy waters. Let us try to understand the purpose of fighting the inner battle Dr Radhakrishnan in his commentary on Bhagavad Gita says that life is a battle between spirit and matter, between knowledge and ignorance, between self control and temptating between discriminatory and sensual life. How true it is when we look in wards and find that this battle we are fighting non-stop. It is a different thing that some are fully aware of this inner battle while others may not be conscious of it. Man is born with a member of traits-some positive and some negative. Sum total of there traits of our personality constitute our nature. At an average state of our existence we all have some negative qualities like desire, anger, greed, pride, attachment and jealousy. Once we are aware of these prominent negative traits we can reduce their impact on us by focussing in some positive of qualities which all of us have in some proportion. When you move towards goodness, you automatically distance yourself from the evil. Our aim of life is not to live life at the mercy of our nature but to control our nature to achieve. Self elevation. The Gita provides a solution for fighting our inner battle successfully when it says that let scriptures be your authority in ascertaining what out to be done and what ought not to be done . To get rid of the evil inside us we should seek the advise of our scripture and act righteously. This is the change we have to bring about within ourselves. Fighting the outer battle of life means providing solution to our day to day problems relating to family society, business, financial and health. These are our duties related to our family, society and place of work. As a householder it is our duty to maintain our family, educate our children and battle them in life. Then as a member of the society we live in. We must contribute our share for the well being of others who constitute society. Man lives in two worlds simultaneously the outer and the inner world. The outer world is open to all and no special effort is required to know it. On the contrary the inner world is closed which requires self effort to know it and correct it. Once we get hold of the inside in us, the outer world gets conquered without much struggle. The aim of fighting the inner and outer battle is to ensure that life becomes beautiful and meaningful with a spiritual orientation. This precisely should be our aim in life.