The best detail of Bhagavad Gita study guide is available in Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism. As per Bhagavad Gita unless one was truthful in life… nothing in field of pure spirituality could be understood… accomplished. One could travel spiritual path only if one was totally truthful in life. Most human beings complained about reading Bhagavad Gita again and again but not being able to understand the hidden inner meanings.
One failed to realize that gist of Bhagavad Gita could not be understood remaining untruthful in life! In my 50 years of spiritual travail I have yet to come across a person who was absolutely truthful in all affairs of life. Such people are difficult… almost impossible to come by! In India… the spiritual citadel of world… truthfulness is never practiced at its best. The untruth is distinctly writ large on faces of all. One can read faces and easily make out one was untruthful in life.
Comparatively people in West were more truthful than Indians. As per my minute observation in United States of America… most Americans lived Bhagavad Gita every day of life. Even though ignorant about teachings of Bhagavad Gita… most Americans still followed teachings of Bhagavad Gita ceremoniously in their life day after day… month after month… year after year! Truthfulness is writ large on their faces all the time.
Whether you commit a robbery for one dollar or $1 million… it amounts to same as per Bhagavad Gita. One was a thief in both the circumstances. On path of pure spirituality… path of absolute truthfulness… not a single lapse was permitted by God Almighty. For gaining enlightenment… practice of absolute truthfulness for a minimum period of 12 years in continuation was necessitated. This is what absolute celibacy all about!
If we truly desire studying Bhagavad Gita… understanding inner meanings of spiritual texts contained in Bhagavad Gita… our becoming truthful in life was an absolute must. Most human beings on mother earth underestimated power of absolute truthfulness. Only when we were truthful… could we hear the sweet small inner voice of our soul atman that seemed to come from within our heart. Prompted by voice of our soul atman human beings finally reached stage of enlightenment… end of cosmic life! In Hinduism a soul is termed atman.
Another aspect of studying Bhagavad Gita is indulging in Satsanga (spiritual discourse) with like-minded people. To cut across shackles of karma… queries existing within us must reduce step-by-step. Clarifying our doubts directly with people more intelligent than us leads to our soul atman becoming purer than before. As queries within dissolved slowly… one scaled higher levels of spirituality! The moment our karma negates to zero… one becomes an enlightened one forever.
Bhagavad Gita is not a textbook… its content could never be understood literally. For understanding Bhagavad Gita, for studying Bhagavad Gita… we must learn to read in between the lines. At this stage of life if we could find a spiritual preceptor (spiritual master) of the level of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa or Maharishi Ramana… our spiritual journey would not only expedite but complete early. Swami Vivekananda was a lucky spiritual traveler in this respect.
In the early stages of his life Swami Vivekananda discovered his spiritual preceptor… the famous saint of Dakshineswar who had already realized God. Satisfactory answers to all queries of Swami Vivekananda were provided by Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa… so much so that Swami Vivekananda developed absolute faith in God Almighty. Thereafter Swami Vivekananda never had to look back. He became a wandering monk who truly worked for welfare of community all the time.
In his lifetime, Swami Vivekananda did not realize God. The goal of life for Swami Vivekananda always was serving community to its level best.
Swami Vivekananda was one disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa whom he trusted blindfolded. Such was the spiritual bondage between Swami Vivekananda and Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa that at many times… both understood each other without ever saying a word. Any human being on mother earth who displayed willpower possessed by Swami Vivekananda was fit enough to indulge in Bhagavad Gita… travel spiritual journey and reach stage of enlightenment in present life.