Now that I teach Vedanta, many students ask me how I got into it. Most are surprised to know that I didn’t grow up with the stories and mythology of Hinduism. In fact, I grew up in a house where even rituals weren’t given too much importance. Religion was always present, but always in the background. It was quiet in its dignity, accepted and unchallenged.
I believe this gives my teaching a freshness which is what prompted my teacher to encourage me to teach, despite a life lived largely away from the culture and birthplace of Vedanta darshana. My approach to Vedanta is shaped by my approach to literature, where we endeavor to understand ourselves and our lives though the characters we are reading. A student of literature analyses and empathises, and in the process learns how to to think critically about human values and behaviour and to even make allowances for human nature.
Which is why when we started studying the Bhagavad Gita and my teacher told us to put ourselves in Arjuna’s shoes, I slid seamlessly into them. And once I did, the Gita came alive for me.