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Volume 21
International Journal of Emergency Mental
Health and Human Resilience
ISSN: 1522-4821
Mental Health 2019
March 07-08, 2019
March 07-08, 2019 | Barcelona, Spain
5
th
International Conference on
Mental Health and Human Resilience
Resilience in the Bhagavad Gita: A discourse analysis
Ruchika Garg
Christ University, India
T
he Bhagavad Gita is a book of dialogic conversations between Lord Krishna and Arjuna in the battlefield during a
time of confusion and crisis. It has since then been adopted by many as a book of spiritual guidance, and known to
provide insight into profoundly important aspects of life and death, one of them being resilience. Resilience refers to
an individual’s responses to stressors that empower him to bounce back from those situations and function efficiently.
It represents the dynamics between an individual’s risk, vulnerable and protective factors. Research literature has
shown innumerable frameworks wherein the interaction among several elements promote resilience as a cumulative
effect, making it a multi-dimensional concept. The current study aimed at uncovering the picture of resilience in the
Bhagavad Gita from a positive psychology perspective. It also highlighted the contrast between traditional research
literature and Bhagavad Gita in presenting resilience. For this purpose, the method of foucauldian discourse analysis
was adopted in order to view resilience as a discursive object, and various constructions of this discursive object were
identified in the Bhagavad Gita. These were then placed into the wider discourses of attainment, letting go, control
and learning. The significance of these discourses, their implications for action and subjectivity were discussed. The
impact of this study on mental health was also explored.
ruchikagarg39@gmail.comInt J Emerg Ment Health 2019, Volume 21
DOI: 10.4172/1522-4821-C1-027