The Knowledge of “Self” from the Bhagavad-Gita and Its Significance for Human Capital Development

Abstract

This paper explores the perspective of self knowledge from the Bhagavad-Gita and its significance to human capital development. A review of literature in this field shows that several studies have been done in the area of human capital development from various perspectives; however very few have been done to integrate the Bhagavad-Gita and self knowledge. As a result, this paper not only fills the gap in the literature of human capital development, but also provides some significance and insights on human capital development from the ancient Indian philosophical perspective. Chinmayananda asserted that from time to time an ancient philosophy like the Bhagavad-Gita needs intelligent re-interpretation to apply effectively in the context of modern times. This paper is based on literature review and hermeneutics, a qualitative research methodology which involves study, understanding and interpretation of ancient or classical text. The Bhagavad-Gita is more than 5,000 years old and is written in Sanskrit language. In a nutshell, the Bhagavad-Gita provides an inside-out approach to human capital development unlike the outside-in western perspective.