Decision making dilemmas in life

Abstract

There is a widespread perception that ancient Indian wisdom is outdated, irrelevant and unscientific. An average well educated Indian firmly believes that serious perusal of ancient Indian wisdom will only promote blind thinking, irrational approach to addressing issues that one faces and a fatalistic attitude to life. Therefore it is hardly surprising that modern day experts in the fields of Management, Technology or Medicine talk low of ancient Indian wisdom. To add fuel to the fire, experts and policy makers in the field of education have time and again mounted a spirited defence to this position and have been opposing any effort to bring this into curriculum in any manner. On account of these, the younger minds have been kept away from the treasure of knowledge contained in texts such as Bhagavad Gita. Facing difficult decision making situations in one’s life is not an ivory tower idea. Every one of us faces this in our life from time to time. When we face difficult decision making situations, we seem to collapse like a pack of cards and try to run away from the situation. In some cases, we hide behind some other issue and avoid taking decisions. These issues were beautifully brought out in chapter 1 of Bhagavad Gita by analyzing the character called Arjuna. How can one brand such treasured knowledge as irrelevant to today’s situation? Senior leaders in organizations and elderly members in families and social circles face difficult decision making situations. How does one react under such situations, what dilemma does one go through and how to get out of such dilemmas are valuable knowledge. Let us turn our attention towards Bhagavad Gita and see what help we can get on these issues.................