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                                            ix-Trading is a Business- (Trade Plan)

As said earlier Day Trading is one of the greatest profession in the world but still more than 95% people fail in that because of indiscipline. In day trading only rule book works wherein you need to write your own strategy and follow that relentlessly irrespective of situation. A day trader will have to work in every type of market -euphoric, bearishness, volatile and dull markets. Every market needs to be traded accordingly.

 

You can only master trading or become master in trading in all types of market when you start treating it as a business. Maximum problems vanish once trading is treated as a business. But for most of the people, treating trading as a business does not click. Because if you go through your trades and cross check them, you will begin to realize that for most of the trades you do not stick to your plan.

 

Like any business, traders should have a plan. When to enter, when to exit and how to manage the trade. Make a trading journal to understand the trades you have made. Never trade like a gambler and never lose more money than a predetermined amount in any single day /single trade and once that amount is lost stop the trading immediately because that money can be made in next few trading sessions but if you have taken a big loss which would not only reduce your chances to make profit in next deals but demoralise you. You scale up (only) by executing trades that are logical and follow your system.

 

The successful trader has a trading plan where he adjusts his traded amount per trade, since he knows anything can happen. A mastery of stop losses. Trailing to remain above loss. A mastery of take profit areas. When this trader does not see an opportunity, he immediately closes the trading app.  It is important to thoroughly back test a strategy so you can establish trust and poise and have an adjustable trading plan such that the losses do not decimate your capital before your time to shine comes. It is 80% mental disposition.

 

To succeed, you must master one setup on one market before you move on. If you do not know what to master first, take up to a month to decide trying out all of them on demo and then decide. This market does not reward the jack of all trades master of none.

 

It is very easy to think you understand above thing, but once you begin to ask yourself the questions, you dig into the real answer and that is where the true growth lies. The mind once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions. Once you stop doing gamble trading and start doing trading which follows a system that works, there is no looking back.

 

Remember making money in the markets is not really that hard. Making more money than everyone else, that is hard.

 

Successful intraday traders are set apart from unsuccessful ones by several key factors: Less Expectations: They maintain less expectations from the market (within 5% returns per month). Open Mind: They are open to learning new things and quickly adapt to any changed situations. Emotion Control: They can detach themselves from emotional impulses and make rational decisions based on their trading plans. Money Management: They deploy disciplined risk management strategies, such as setting stop-loss orders, hedging their position, and limiting the size of their trades. They understand the importance of preserving capital and avoiding significant losses is the key. Personality: They often develop a strategy that suits their individual style and personality.

 

Overall, the combination of market knowledge, risk management, emotional control, continuous learning, and a defined trading strategy are critical factors that make successful day traders/businessman in trade.

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                             Viii-Losing Streaks Probability and Money Management:

What is the probability of a losing streak? If your strategy has a win rate of 60% there is chance you will experience a streak of 12 losses in a row.

Win %	Probable streak
40 %	21
45 %	18
50 %	16
60 %	12
70 %	9
80 %	7
90 %	5

Let us say a trading system has 60% accuracy. It means out of 100 trades, 60 are winning trades, and 40 are losing trades.

Automatically, we assume the result will come in this pattern: WLWLWLWLWL. Where, W - Winning Trade and L -Losing Trade. But statistically, there is a possibility of 9 losing trades in one stretch when the accuracy is 60%. It means it looks like this: WLWLLLLLLLLLW. Let us say you have a habit of betting 10% of your capital per trade. In this case, your entire capital will be wiped out (except that 10%), and your situation will be pathetic. But if you risk only 2% of your capital per trade, then you lose only 18% of the capital and still you will be in a better frame of mind to manage trading.

Money management is most important in trading as it ensures capital preservation and long-term success. Setting risk limits per trade helps protect against substantial losses, allowing traders to stay in the game during inevitable downturns. 

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                                             vii. You can NOT be afraid to lose money. –

If you are not mentally and emotionally prepared to lose money, you will never make money and this is why 95% are not successful. Because of their weak psychology, (most traders take losses to the heart and get frustrated why their trading strategy is not working) they(trader) forget to understand that a loss is only a learning lesson for trading. Remember one thing- every day either you would earn or learn and you should be fine both ways. Each loss will only help mould the successful trader you will become in future. It is hard now, but in years, you will be grateful for it.

 

Profitability is based on series of Transactions- Remember, if you trade, you are going to lose (some trade). Losing is not that catastrophic. There are strategies that give you a winning percentage of as high as 90%. That means 10% loss. We make money on a series of transactions (as explained below), not from a single transaction. But most associate losing with failure. They equate success to winning more trades than losing trades. They ignore what matters most; the size of your wins, not the frequency of your wins. A trader can win 1/3 of their trades and make millions, if they know what they are doing. They need to follow and understand a simple formula. (avg win Rs) x (win %) must be greater than (avg loss Rs) x (lose %). Your goal is to increase your win amount, not win % and reduce your loss amount, not your lose frequency.

 

The amount of loss is way more important to your long-term success, then how often you lose. If you make 10 trades and lose Rs.1 on 8 of those trades, you only need to make Rs.4 on the other 2 trades to breakeven. You could lose 80% of time without losing any money (ignoring fees obviously). If you have a plan that keeps you loses small, and lets profits run, and you trade enough, you WILL make money. How to ride your profits with your day trades is the most challenging task in day trading.

 

Statistically you should win about 50% of your trades, but most traders are just slightly less because they exit loser early, which often may have been winners, so the % is skewed to the downside.  You should risk Rs.1 to make Rs.2 on every trade, at a minimum That means you never close a winner until it is at least twice your stop loss. This ONLY works if you honour your stops. If you put on a trade and it at a Rs.1 loss, get the fuck out. We do not care if it might come back. If you have a winner and it is a Rs.1 gain, let it run. You will feel pressure to take it off, but do not do it. Your emotions will kick in, especially when you see price start to fall back, so you must fight back the urge to take it off. We are looking for Rs.2 or more. When it hits Rs. 2, maybe scale out and take off 2/3 and keep a 1/3 runner, but keep the stop very tight or you can take the whole thing off. That is up to you.

 

The key is to let that profit run. It will not be easy. It will be very hard to do. But it is the only way you will be part of the 5%. There is a saying luck favours brave and prepared mind so better be prepared and brave enough to cut losing position and book your losses and allow profit to run. 

Luck is in your favour which brought you to this profession and God is kind on you that you can day trade.

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                                                        vi. Old habits

 

Old habits that work against you in Trading- There are many habits and are part of our character that may be working against the success in Trading. But I will take only 5.

 

i.Purchasing when cheap- Generally in day-to-day life services or commodities themselves do give benefits/ satisfaction to us, and so when they are available/ offered at lower rates in the market we tend to purchase or purchase more of it to increase our satisfaction. For example, vegetable or oil which themselves has utility, if available cheap, it is good idea to purchase them at low price. Then this (purchasing cheap) becomes a part of habit. 

 

Now consider SHARES / Financial product, which themselves do not have any benefit unless we are able to sale (in future) them at a price, higher than the purchase price. If they are available cheap, it means no body is interested. So, why should we purchase? But because of habit (of purchasing cheap) we do purchase (cheap) and lose. Contrary to it when they are available at higher price (prices going higher), we feel they are costly (and do not play along) and miss the opportunity of profit.

 

ii. Getting success at any cost- From the child hood, (before we get success) we face many failures. So, striving for success (despite failures) is hard wired in our brain system. But this works against us in Share Market, as we cannot accept a single SL a part of trade and take it as insult, humiliation etc and try to convert position in the script (not for money but for honour) by further (forced/revenge) trade, which result in more loss.

 

iii. Short cut Method-Man is used to make conclusion about any situation/ person /thing very easily based on only one or two attributes and is not in habit of making comprehensive analysis. Thus, we conclude about a person based on only what he/she wears etc. We conclude about economy from experience of the group we interact and so on. Our mind is wired to give quick response and not first detailed analysis and then respond. This habit causes loss in trading as we take decisions of entry-exit based on only 1-2 signals which we can grasp at that point of time, ignoring all other factors that are affecting scripts price movement.

 

iv. Not able to sit idle- गीता कहती है- कोई भी मनुष्य किसी भी क्षण कर्म (काम) करें बगैर नहीं रह सकता। This nature of human being is big hurdle in making trade a successful activity. It becomes impossible for us to sit idle in front of trade screen and do nothing or just wait till we get all signals OK (which takes generally long time), and then trade. Feeling of doing nothing bore us and we are forced to act (trade) by mind. Trading is just like ‘FISHING’ you wait -wait -wait till a fish is stuck in your tackle’s hook. Thus, trading is a game of patience, you must understand, like not taking decision is also a decision, doing nothing is also doing.

 

v.Rule Bound/not having flexibility- It is a good idea to play in stock market by certain rules and strategy. Else you will be nowhere. One of them is entry/ exit rules. But following them for the sake of it without realising reality on screen and acting on it is counterproductive. Case - A. like in bull rally not taking entry because entry point is beyond range is losing opportunity or B. when it is clear your trade has gone wrong and that SL is going to be hit but not acting by principle of “भागते भूत की लंगोटी” and exiting trade to minimise the loss or booking whatever profit available.

 

Follow affirmation techniques to get rid of above negative habits. Write down the rules for intraday trading on a cardboard (thick paper sheet) and stuck it against the wall near trading table. Read the rules a few times before the market opened and read them repeatedly whenever you get some free time during the market hours. Someone might follow all the rules without the aid of all these things. But fresher need some external help.

MY EXPERIENCE IS THAT MAKING SUCH LIST/RULE IS EASY. FOLLOWING THEM IN LIVE MARKET IS VERY-VERY DIFFICULT. UNLESS THESE DOES NOT GO INTO YOUR MUSCLE MEMORY NOTHING CAN BE ACHIVED.

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                                                                  V. "I don't know."

"I don't know." Concept- In one medical session a person asked - "Doctor, many people say if we keep the painful body part under waterfalls for a few minutes, the pain will be cured immediately. What is your take on this?". Doctor said - "I don't know sir; it is not mentioned in the books which I have studied. So, I cannot say anything. Please let me know if you try this method and if it works!". He still was able to say, "I don't know."  But over 99% of the people cannot say "I don't know," and this attitude is the biggest obstacle to growth in life. Because when we agree that we do not know something, our mind opens for learning. But when we develop an opinion about everything, it indicates our mind is closed to knowledge, and we will not get the life lessons.

 

Improving self for Trade-The same logic applies to stock market trading as well. Most people arrive at some conclusions when they see some fluctuations in the chart, and they opt for the trade(entry/exit). Instead, if they develop an "I don't know" attitude, they walk on the path of successful trading. When you think you know everything in the market, the next day you lose big money. If you lose money on any trade, then you have made a mistake. There is a lesson to learn (no matter what). You are right if you are making money in the market. Profit in trading is inversely proportional to your ego.

 

Never punch an order if you do not understand what are you doing and why, also know your possible loss before entering the trade. Keep a checklist of rules you must follow for each trade, unless you tick the checklist and find all rules in place, do not trade. Ultimately it is about who can remain patient in the process of back testing/demo testing and live testing to build a profitable trading plan.

Stock Trading (Day Trading)-4

                   iv. Root cause of failure/ Essentials of Success- Amygdala hijack

Main reason that makes trading so difficult and prone to failure is mainly due to an aspect of trading which is called the amygdala hijack. It affects the part of our brain called the amygdala or the reptilian brain. It is an evolutionary knee jerk reaction that triggers pain or pleasure, fear, or hope. So, if one wins a trade, there is great euphoria, followed by fantasies of wealth, if one loses, there is great pain, regret, and frustration, usually followed by anger and revenge (trading).

 

On a cognitive level, you can say do this or do that when standing on the sidelines looking in, kind a like yelling at the players when watching a game. However, when an individual is IN the game, that objective perspective is replaced by a very deep and total animal sense of survival. That is why it is hard to see the market clearly when one has something at stake in it. You are mainly just focused on how near or far the market is from your entry point.

 

So, to be good at trading, more than anything else, a person must have a great sense of self awareness and emotional intelligence. Trading is mainly, pattern recognition, which is very straight forward. In truth 90% of trading is- being able to transcend your emotions when they arise. This can be done BUT first you must recognize what the situation is and realize what you are getting into. Then, once you know the playing field, you can mentally prep yourself before getting into it and be ready for when the emotions DO arise. This takes effort and lots of practice.

 

So, the trading is to dissociate (yourself) with the emotions that arise as you watch the rise and fall of the markets. It is the ability to realize that what your emotions say is happening, meaning fear of loss (aka death) or hope of gain (aka safety and immortality), does not actually have any meaning. That is why the people who have traded and succeeded after a certain period usually say that making money is rote, meaning mechanical, even boring. That is because the natural, instinctual sense of life or death that is hardwired in the amygdala is not kicking in to give one great highs or intense suicidal lows.

 

Remember, technical and fundamental analysis both rely on personal decisions. There is no perfect technical or fundamental buy point. It is all a range that will be proved right or wrong by the market. There is no holy grail. DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS POSSIBLE FROM MARKET. ALWAYS CONCENTRATE ON HOW MUCH YOU ARE CAPABLE.

 

So, to remain successful in trade, never trade (wish) for profit targets every day, make the right decisions and let the money be a by-product. It is better to stick one trading system across different market conditions. Your learning curve will not improve if you keep on jumping from one strategy to another. Avoid trading when you see a significant drawdown or when you get a few successive failed trades. Successful trading is all about probabilities. Many people making good profits even with a few non-directional trading strategies. Never bet more than 2% in one trade, and do not lose more than 10% on any trading day. Surviving is most important in trading. "Keep two basic rules about winning in trading as well as in life: 1. If you don't bet, you can't win. 2. If you lose all your chips, you can't bet.".

 To conclude this section/blog, if a trader does not recognize this very root cause that arises during trading and able to override it, then no technique, strategy or amount of academic education will give success in the markets. To those of us who are willing to dig deep into our own selves, then this will be a journey worth taking as it will not only affect our trading account and financial health, but our overall outlook as a human being, as in the end, we will not be as swept away by the tides of fear and hope as most people are.

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                                           iii. Why losses? - It is not that Simple-

Some say- “Trading my friend is simple. You buy low, you sell high.”. “So, what happens if you buy low, and it goes still lower?”  “You buy some more.” And so on. Simple huh. Just do not over-complicate it. It is very easy to cover up(your) lack of adequacy by claiming someone else is over complicating it. Maybe they are, but there is also a large probability that the person claiming that (simplicity), is ignorant of (your/own) why. You see simplicity is not arrived at by simple thinking. That is a delusion. Most people do not think enough. And that includes traders.

 

So, the relevant question is “Do they think enough?” And if they reach judgements very quickly, then they are almost certainly not just not thinking enough, but not thinking much at all. Einstein’s Principle of Equivalence is so simple, and so easy to state. And yet if anyone thinks that it was the product of simple thoughts, they are delusional. Traders generally avoid thinking, form half-baked impressions, and make up strange ad hoc rules and go off in strange directions. Is that complicating? Or is that not doing enough careful thinking.

 

Fact is most traders come across this career seeing a successful friend or colleague or from a story or video they read on the internet. That is basically setting them up for failure immediately. Imagine you watched a pro baseball player win a game and at the end of the day you joined a Rec League to learn and decided to go pro a month later. You would be eaten alive. However, because the barrier to entry is so low (for trading), people do just that. As a result, the washout rate is going to be extremely high, 90% plus leave within 24 months. No one knows what works for them when they start so they try it all. Breakouts, pullbacks, ranges, equities, forex, options. They are chasing 13 strategies at a time and going nowhere.  What one need to realize first is that the average window it takes to learn this career and all the nuances and specifics you need to succeed here is between 5–10 years. But one get frustrated if he cannot learn how (to success) in 6 months of weekend work and /or buying a course for Rs.1997.

 

Remember five deadliest factors that cause traders to fail are self-inflicted. The 5 deadly O’s of trading-Overconfidence*(also see below Dunning Kruger effect)- One must have the confidence to trade but this must be balanced with intellectual humility. Over Leveraging-The higher your leverage, the greater your risk on each trade, likely resulting in irrational decision making. Overriding stops- If the market hits your planned stop, then your trade is done. Take the hit and move on to the next opportunity. Over Exposure- You need to be familiar with how currency co-relations can affect the amount of risk you are exposing your trading account to. Over Trading- Do not stress over one loss or even losing a couple days in a row. Stay focused on your trading performance over the coming months and years.

{*The Dunning Kruger effect (is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a particular domain overestimate their abilities.) We know so little about how markets work that we are incapable of assessing our own lack of competence. We believe we know tons about the markets and how they work. But most of what we know is nonsense taught to us by people who did not know anything either, and like us, they lacked a clear view of their lack of competence. There are so many factors that go into the stock market that nobody knows everything.}

 

In another words most people who lose money do things that greatly decrease probability of success. SO DO NOT: a. Think You Will “Get Rich Quick”:                b. Buy Penny Stocks:                c. Take advice from random message boards:               d. Gamble:               e. Involve friends/family: Listen to Talking Heads:  g. Use Money You Can Not Afford to Lose:             h. FOMO:             i. Fight the Market:             j. Think Technical Analysis is All You Need: (If big news about a stock or market comes out, the technical are irreverent, so always keep watch for headlines). k. Lose Control of Your Emotions:     

 

One more thing must be remembered that, what you know or what is your competence is not important, but what is important is where you stand against the persons and groups with whom you are competing. Retail traders must compete with firms and corporates engaged in stock market who have better capability (manpower, infrastructure) to get advance information (if not inside trading) and analyse its effect for price action. So, if your expectations are not moderated with this reality, it is sure way to failure.

 

Further it is one thing being profitable and another thing is to remain profitable. Any amateur can make money in trading but only professionals keep it. Professional knows how to keep the money he or she makes and puts major emphasis on risk management. He or she understands that playing good defence is the only way to stay in this game long term. If the market gets hot, they may be more aggressive but they also recognize when things are cooling off and know how to take their foot off the gas when they need to, to protect those profits. A professional stays grounded head on a swivel at all the times. On the other hand, Amateurs get greedy. He /she do not respect stop losses, has his/her head in the clouds. Clouded by greed and fear.

To conclude section in short -Human emotions are biggest enemy of day trading. Unluckiest person can make profit in day trading provided he follows a back-tested winning strategy 100%. Why algorithm always make profit in market because they are running on logics and strategies.

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 ii. LIMITATION AND IMPORTANCE OF TECHNICAL ANALYSIS-

i.          A. LIMITATIONS-

ii.          I. Technical Analysis was invented in a time when we lacked computational know how to really validate its strategies at a massive scale. Moreover, people have no idea/ differing view about how to interpret them. Buy when RSI is 30, sell at RSI 70. What about 70. 01..? Or 29.99? 

iii.          ii. Inventors of technical indicators never gave mathematical proof, they just drew some lines on a chart, had wrong winners bias, and proclaimed that their idea equals profit. Look at a 5-year bull market. Think of all sorts of technical indicators which always come up with buy. I could have linked the sale of ice creams during a hot summer with the rise of the stock market in a strong bull market. It does not mean that my reasoning is right.

iv.           

v.          Iii. Stock Market may behave contrary to what technical indicator indicates. In other words, if technical indicator X is showing buy at 9 am for stock Y, and a portfolio manager for a complete random reason dumps Y massively, that indicator would never have been able to have forecast the Y to plummet yielding a negative for technical indicator X. Also, any important news, event, statement (pertain to a single stock, a group of companies or the whole market itself.) may change sentiment of the market suddenly about which technical analysis is not able to predict.

vi.           

vii.          Fact is, stock markets attract a lot of people. Most of them are underprepared, and want the money, without the hassle of understanding what is going on. There blind faith in technical words like RESISTANCE, SUPPORT, RANGE AND SO ON prevents them to board the bull rally if they cannot catch the same at entry point (support level).

viii.           

ix.          Traders misses the point that all analysis is nothing but an attempt to explain HUMAN (who are irrational) behaviour on screen. In short Human actions is cause and chart is result. Lay man tends to believe reverse and so fails in market. Thus, before a person develop a technical edge and scale up the trade one should give much importance to MINDSET (of self and group, details down line/next post) and understand भेड चाल.

B. Importance – Others believe technical analysis has its own importance and Two views come up –

i. Those believes that there is secret in trading strategy and why should they reveal their strategy? - Many authors (on trade) believe that sharing your strategy will destroy your advantage. A few successful traders, have a similar opinion and say one trader’s target is other trader’s stop loss. Thus, fear of losing advantage stops us to share knowledge. If you go to any successful businessman and request him to share his business secrets with you, no one will share his strategy with you and trading is also a business,

ii. Contrary view- Others say, fact is many trading strategies are available online free of cost (books, you-tube channels, blogs etc.), nothing is a hidden secret here in the share market. Successful traders also use these strategies (but with a précised fine tuning). No one can guarantee you that a strategy will work for you or not, it is up to you only, whether you can convert that strategy into a profitable one.

So, question is should we go begging for strategy (from successful traders) or go for what is available in public domain? Books are someone’s life story in paper form. Trading books are exceptionally helpful. Read a book a month if not a week. There is so much knowledge you can learn this way. Find a mentor or a coach but only if they help you work on you. Only copying someone’s else’s system is guaranteed failure long term. You will always be buying their new system or doubting their calls when they have a few losers.

Ultimately a (self-developed) simple and easy strategy will be profitable, but one will have to practice it for a considerable amount of time and will have to fine tune it according to different market scenarios. Developing a real system with an edge often takes years. It is mainly because of experience and screen time it takes to get there - those cannot be rushed/acquired overnight. 

 

In other words, if you are not in the game for long term, do not even start. Traders who put their own time limit on (learning trade) fail. It might take you 10 years to master this. If it does, would you still do it?  Money is the reason most start trading. Working from home, making more money, financial freedom, whatever it is. That can be a starting factor but it will not give you the motivation to stick with the grind. Find your why, and you will get through the throat punches rather easily.

 

When you master a system, then trust your edge once it is there, get it coded and automate as much as you can. The goal here is to build an edge and keep yourself out of the equation as much as possible. This way, whatever personal demons (explained in later post) you have and that show up in trading, you find a way to get past them.

 

Again, I emphasis, ultimately you will realise knowing and mastering strategy is not that important as everything depends on probability (not a mathematical formula), and what separates successful trader from unsuccessful trader is Mindset, Expectation, Timing, Discipline, and Money Management.

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 i. Introduction

1.  It is not Gambling but a professional skill. - "Drawing a circle and waiting for a cow to enter is GAMBLING. Finding a cow and drawing a circle around it is TRADING." Real risk management is not turning a Rs.5,000 into Rs.50,000. That is massive gambling. Anyone who says, that is the way to succeed is a colossal salesman. If that was truly repeatable repeatedly, they would not sell a system for Rs.500- Rs.5000, they would just rinse and repeat their system. Remember trading is a skill that must be learnt like any other professional skill. Trading is not an easy skill to acquire. It will require years of learning and making mistakes before you become good at it.

 

It is not luck and not a get rich quick scheme where you will magically turn a pocket change into something big. However, if you are consistent, hard-working and have a long-term mindset, this endeavour can change your life. Treat trading like a career. You cannot do trading Part Time, but Trading as a full-time career without any other source of income is very difficult if not impossible is also true.

 

2. Trading is not a 'prediction' game- Trading is a probability game and not a prediction game. It is impossible to catch all the excellent trade opportunities every time. Day Trading is volatile. People should remember that being a day trader is not that easy and it is not a guessing game.

 

3. Encourage yourself -Learning to trade is a lot like when babies first learn to walk. In the process, they stumble, fall, and even may hurt themselves but it is just that, part of the learning. You encourage baby to get up and keep trying until they can fully walk on their own. Similarly, you are learning skills that are not taught (while) growing up. So, it may take a while and a few accounts to find your stride, so encourage yourself.

 

4. Toughest game on the planet- The journey to success in trading is not as glamorous as people may think, especially whilst you are going through the process. Spend majority of time with charts, working on them, that many feel as boring but need to love it. Love laying the brick every single day and building the foundation. Because it is the day after day of consistent action, which will provide the results in long term. This is the toughest game on the planet.

 5.People just fail because they have wrong expectations on how it should be done. So, the first thing about day trading is to set your expectations straight.

गीता जयंती-2023 उद्-बोधन।

 

उपस्थित सभी भक्तो को नमस्कार व गीता जयंती कि शुभकामानायैं। गीता  के अध्याय 10- विभुतियोग तथा  अध्याय 11- विश्वदर्शन योग में वर्णित भगवान के एश्वर्य, सर्वशक्तिमानता और सर्वव्यापकता का वर्णन जानकर और फिर - ।।4.7-8।। यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य और ।।9.22।। योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् श्लोको को कंठस्त कर हम मान लेते हैं कि सब कुछ भगवान करेगें पर भगवान द्वारा हमारा भार वहन करने के लिये उनके द्वारा हमसे क्या अपेक्षा है इस पर हमारा ध्यान नही जाता । गीता के समापन मे भी भगवान ऐसा कुछ निश्चित नही कहते, वे  कुछ आश्वासन जरुर देते हैं पर वह सशर्त है, और अंततः सब कुछ अर्जुन अर्थात स्वंय मनुष्य पर छोड़ देते हैं । अतः दैनिक जीवन में उन्नति के लिये हमारा जीवन  किस प्रकार का हो यह हम पर ही निर्भर और उसे गीता के कुछ श्लोकों से समझने का प्रयत्न आज हम करेगें । प्रारभं में -अर्जुन कहते हैं ।।।1.36।। हे जनार्दन! इन धृतराष्ट्र-सम्बन्धियों को मारकर हम लोगों को क्या प्रसन्नता होगी? इन आततायियों को मारने से तो हमें पाप ही लगेगा । पर भगवान कहते हैं ।।2.33।। अब अगर तू यह धर्ममय युद्ध नहीं करेगा,  तो अपने धर्म और कीर्ति का त्याग करके पाप को प्राप्त होगा । यहाँ हमें दो बाते समझना होगी। 1. अर्जुन वर्तमान में सामने खडे शत्रु को भुतकाल के संबधी या बंधु-बांधव समझने की गलती कर रहा था । अतः हम हमेशा वर्तमान मे रहकर प्रतिक्रिया दे या Respond कर उस अनुसार कार्य करे तो गलती नही होगी । 2. जो कुछ हम सोचते हैं वह सत्य नही होता वह एक दृष्टिकोण होता है, यहाँ युद्ध के प्रति दो अलग-अलग दृष्टिकोण है। हमारा दृष्टिकोण , हमारे संस्कार द्वारा निर्धारित होता है । इसको समझने के लिये मन में जयचन्द का नाम ले और फिर भीबिषण का नाम ले यद्यपि तर्कानुसार दोनो के कार्य एक जैसे है, हमारे संस्कारो के कारण दोनो के प्रति हमारे मन मे अलग-अलग भाव उत्पन्न होते हैं । अतः यदि हम यह समझ ले और अपना ले कि एक दुसरा दृष्टिकोण भी होता है और वह उचित हो सकता है तो जीवन कि बहुत सी कटुता और परस्पर संघर्ष से बचा जा सकता है।

आगे बढते हैं -।।2.14।। हे कुन्तीनन्दन! इन्द्रियों के जो विषय (जड पदार्थ) हैं, वो तो शीत (अनुकूलता) और उष्ण (प्रतिकूलता) - के द्वारा सुख और दुःख देनेवाले हैं तथा आने-जाने वाले और अनित्य हैं। हे भरतवंशोद्भव अर्जुन! उनको तुम सहन करो। ।।5.22।। क्योंकि हे कुन्तीनन्दन ! जो इन्द्रियों और विषयों के संयोग से पैदा होनेवाले भोग (सुख) हैं, वे आदि-अन्त वाले और दुःख के ही कारण हैं। अतः विवेकशील मनुष्य उनमें रमण नहीं करता । पर हम, हमारे सामने जो अच्छी या बुरी जो भी परिस्थिती आती है उसे हम स्थायी मान लेते है, और फिर हमारा व्यवहार बदल जाता । हम या तो घमण्ड से फुल जाते हैं या निराशा मे आत्महत्या कर लेते हैं। यदि हम स्वीकार कर ले कि यह सब अस्थायी है और बदलता रहेगा तो हमारा मानसिक स्वास्थ बना रहेगा।

पर यदि मनुष्य इन विषयों-भोगो के चक्कर में पड जाय तो क्या होता हैं -। ।।2.62 -- 2.63।। विषयों का चिन्तन करने वाले मनुष्य की उन विषयों में आसक्ति पैदा हो जाती है। आसक्ति से कामना पैदा होती है। कामना से क्रोध पैदा होता है। क्रोध होने पर सम्मोह (मूढ़भाव) हो जाता है। सम्मोह से स्मृति भ्रष्ट हो जाती है। स्मृति भ्रष्ट होने पर बुद्धि का नाश हो जाता है । बुद्धि का नाश होने पर मनुष्य का पतन हो जाता है। संक्षेप में भगवान कहते हैं।।16.21।। काम, क्रोध और लोभ -- ये तीन प्रकार के नरक के दरवाजे जीवात्मा का पतन करने वाले हैं, इसलिये इन तीनों का त्याग कर देना चाहिये।

उपरोक्त श्लोकों से एसा लगता है कि हमे सुख शातिं चाहिये तो संसार से विमुख होना पडेगां, संबध तोडने होगें आदि-आदि । इसी भ्रम मे हम सोचते है गीता वृद्धावस्था मे पढने का ग्रथं है और हम हमारे नवीन पिढ़ी को इससे दुर रखते हैं। मगर गीता के अनुसार ।।6.17।। दुःखों का नाश करने वाला योग तो यथायोग्य आहार और विहार करने वाले का, कर्मों में यथायोग्य चेष्टा करने वाले का तथा यथायोग्य सोने और जागने वाले का ही सिद्ध होता है। शर्त है ।।2.70।। जैसे सम्पूर्ण नदियों का जल चारों ओर से जल द्वारा परिपूर्ण समुद्र में आकर मिलता है, पर समुद्र अपनी मर्यादा में अचल प्रतिष्ठित रहता है ऐसे ही सम्पूर्ण भोग-पदार्थ जिस संयमी मनुष्य को विकार उत्पन्न किये बिना ही उसको प्राप्त होते हैं, वही मनुष्य परमशान्ति को प्राप्त होता है, भोगों की कामना वाला नहीं । इस प्रकार गीता किसी भी अति- अर्थात Extreme way of life  के विरुद्ध है और जीवन में मध्य मार्ग का समर्थन करती है, वह सभी भोग पदार्थ के सेवन का आग्रह करती है। वह केवल यह अपेक्षा करती है , भोग पदार्थ सेवन करते वक्त कोइ विकार अर्थात कामना उत्पन्न न हो। यानि, गुलाब जामुन खाना कोइ बुराई नही है पर कल भी ये खाने को मिल जाय यह कामना बुरी है।

अब गीता मे कही गयी समता को ले- ।।5.18।। ज्ञानी महापुरुष विद्या-विनययुक्त ब्राह्मण में और चाण्डाल में तथा गाय, हाथी एवं कुत्ते में भी समरूप परमात्मा को देखने वाले होते हैं। और ।।14.24-25।। जो धीर मनुष्य सुख-दुःख में सम तथा अपने स्वरूप में स्थित रहता है; जो मिट्टी के ढेले, पत्थर और सोने में सम रहता है ----- आदि- वह मनुष्य गुणातीत कहा जाता है। इन श्लोकों का भी हम लोग गलत अर्थ निकालते हैं, और उसे अव्यवहारिक कह देते हैं। कैसे हम गाय और कुत्ते से एक जैसै व्यवहार कर सकते हैं या मिट्टि या सोने को एक समझ सकते हैं । मगर ध्यान पुर्वक श्लोक 5.18 संस्कृत मे पढें ते वहां शब्द प्रयोग समदर्शिनः है न कि समवर्तिनः है। अर्थात, उन्हे आत्म स्वरुप एक मानना है, उनसे व्यवहार एक नही करना है। हम व्यवहार अलग-अलग कर सकते है। ऐसा ही मिट्टि या सोने के बारे में हैं उनके मिलने या खोने से हमारे मन स्थिती मे फर्क नही पडना चाहिये मगर उनको, उनके मुल्यानुसार, सोने को तिजोरी में और मिट्टी को सडक पर रखे। विज्ञान भी यह मानता है कि सभी जीव व पदार्थ मुलतः, क्रमशः समान सेल्स व समान कणो से बने हैं। इस संदर्भ में एक और बात, कोई व्यक्ति यदि अलग-अलग प्राणियों, पदाऱ्थों का विश्लेषण कर उनकि भिन्नताओं का संपुर्ण वर्णन करता है,तो हम उसे विद्वान,ज्ञानी,ज्ञाता कह कर सबोंधित करते परतुं गीता कहती  है-।।18.20।। जिस ज्ञान के द्वारा साधक सम्पूर्ण विभक्त प्राणियों में विभागरहित एक अविनाशी भाव-(सत्ता-) को देखता है, उस ज्ञान को तुम सात्त्विक समझो।

अब सफलता-असफलता के बारें में- हम अपनी सफलता अपने प्रयत्नो को मानते है और असफल होने पर किसी बाहरी कारण को दोष देते हें, जैसे गरीबी, बिमारी इत्यादी, पर हम आसपास देखें तो पायेगें, हमसे भी खराब हालात में अन्य लोगो ने सफलता पायी हैं। अभी-अभी 12वीं फेल, सिनेमा आया है वह एक युवक की पुलिस अधिकारी बनने के संघर्ष कि वास्तविक कहानी है। वास्तव हमारा मन ही हमारी हार जीत निश्चित करता है कोइ बाहरी कारण या व्यक्ति नही। श्रीकृष्ण कहते हैं  ।।6.5।। अपने द्वारा अपना उद्धार करे, अपना पतन न करे; क्योंकि आप ही अपना मित्र है और आप ही अपना शत्रु है। -किसी भी परिस्थिती के लिये स्वंय को ही उत्तरदायी  मानने से आपका व्यक्तित्व सुधरेगा और सामाजिक संबध भी सुधरेगें ।

गीता कि एक और महान देन है।  दैवी और आसुरी संपती तथा तीन गुणानुसार मनुष्यों का विभक्तिकऱण । गुण व उनके परिणाम क्रिया के अनुसार न होकर, करने के भाव अर्थात मनोवृत्ति के आधार पर हैं। वास्तव में संपुर्ण गीता पद्धति आधारित न होकर भावानुसार ही है। इस प्रकार गुण के आधार पर न केवल हम स्वंय को पहचान सकते बल्कि हमे मिलने वाले अतिंम परिणाम का भी पुर्वानुमान लगाकर स्वंय मे सुधार ला सकते हैं। गीताअनुसार- ।।14.11।। जब इस मनुष्य शरीर में सब द्वारों-(इन्द्रियों और अन्तःकरण-) में प्रकाश (स्वच्छता) और ज्ञान (विवेक) प्रकट हो जाता है, तब जानना चाहिये कि सत्त्वगुण बढ़ा हुआ है। ।।14.12।। रजोगुण के बढ़ने पर लोभ, प्रवृत्ति, कर्मों का आरम्भ, अशान्ति और स्पृहा -- ये वृत्तियाँ पैदा होती हैं। ।।14.13।। तमोगुण के बढ़ने पर अप्रकाश, अ-प्रवृत्ति, प्रमाद और मोह -- ये वृत्तियाँ भी पैदा होती हैं।

इसी प्रकार -आहार के भी तीन प्रकार कहें गये हैं और- ।।17.8।।आयु, सत्त्वगुण, बल, आरोग्य, सुख और प्रसन्नता बढ़ानेवाले, स्थिर रहनेवाले, हृदय को शक्ति देनेवाले, रसयुक्त तथा चिकने -- ऐसे आहार अर्थात् भोजन करने के पदार्थ सात्त्विक मनुष्य को प्रिय होते हैं। यहां पर आहार में केवल भोजन के बारे मे कहा गया है, पर इसका विस्तार हम हमारी  अन्य इन्द्रियो, विशेषतः, कान और आंख द्वारा ग्रहण करने वाली जानकारी पर भी लागु करे तो, मन-मस्तिष्क भी स्वस्थ रह सकता है। वास्तव में आध्यात्मिक ग्रंथ, हमे देह पर ध्यान देने के बजाय आत्मा पर ध्यान केन्द्रित करने को कहते हैं, पर जिस तरह से हम  इन्द्रियों द्वारा कुछ भी ग्रहण कर लेते, Junk Food लेते हैं और Whatsapp University से ज्ञान प्राप्त करते हैं मैं नही समझता हम देह का भी ध्यान रख रहे हैं। प्रथम चरण के रुप में हम अपने शरीर का ही  संरक्षण कर ले तो हमे बहुत लाभ होगा।

अंत मे गीता में प्रतिपादित मुख्य विषय कर्म ।-भगवान स्वंय कहते हैं- ।।18.46।। जिस परमात्मा से सम्पूर्ण प्राणियों की उत्पत्ति होती है और जिससे यह सम्पूर्ण संसार व्याप्त है, उस परमात्मा का अपने कर्म के द्वारा पूजन करके मनुष्य सिद्धि को प्राप्त हो जाता है। अपना कर्म कौनसा है। ।।3.35।। अच्छी तरह आचरण में लाये हुए दूसरे के धर्म से गुणों की कमी वाला अपना धर्म श्रेष्ठ है। आदि----- और ।।18.59।। अहंकार का आश्रय लेकर तू जो ऐसा मान रहा है कि मैं युद्ध नहीं करूँगा, तेरा यह निश्चय मिथ्या (झूठा) है; क्योंकि तेरी क्षात्र-प्रकृति तेरे को युद्ध में लगा देगी। ।।18.46।। गीता में वर्णित धर्म का Religion अर्थ नही हैं । यह वर्णधर्म (Aptitude) ही है। मनुष्य स्व को अर्थात् अपने को जो मानता है, वह उसका स्वधर्म (कर्तव्य) है । जैसे कोई अपने को कोई विद्यार्थी या अध्यापक मानता है तो पढ़ना या पढ़ाना उसका स्वधर्म हो जायेगा  । अतः मनुष्य के रुप में सफलता के लिये हमें क्या करना है अर्जुन ने किया वही - अर्जुन बोले ।।18.73।। -- हे अच्युत ! आपकी कृपा से मेरा मोह नष्ट हो गया है और स्मृति प्राप्त हो गयी है। मैं सन्देह रहित होकर स्थित हूँ। अब मैं आपकी आज्ञा का पालन करूँगा। गीता कि शिक्षा अनुसार हम भी सर्वप्रथम- स्वंय का स्वभाव (Aptitude) जाने, उसी के अनुसार लक्ष्य निर्धारित करें,स्व-स्वभाव के विरुद्ध परिवार या समाज के प्रभाव मे कोइ कार्य न करे,  मन में कोई द्वन्द न रखें, मन को संयमित करे और बुद्धि को स्थिर रखे। फिर मेहनत करें (कर्मयोग), ज्ञान प्राप्त करें(ज्ञानयोग) और अंततः विश्वास रखें (भक्तियोग) कि आपको समृद्धि, सफलता, प्रभुत्व, स्थिरता आदि जरुर मिलेगीं। धन्यवाद।