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Get Real — the Gītā, department by department

The same seven hundred verses, sorted this time not by philosophy but by the plain compartments your life is actually divided into — money, work, death, family, fear, the body. Pick the one that is pressing on you today. Many verses belong to more than one department, because life does not keep its problems apart either.

Me, Myself & I
the ego that says "I am the doer"
Family, Friends & Bosses
the people you can't get away from
Money
earning it, hoarding it, giving it
Career & Work
doing the job without being wrecked by the outcome
Food, Sleep & Sex
the body's daily hungers
Death, Disease & Pain
the agony we spend life avoiding — dying, sickness, suffering
Personality
why you are the way you are
Security & Fear
the search for safety
Mental Health
grief, anxiety, and an unsteady mind
The Body & Longevity
posture, breath, and keeping the vessel well
Spouse & Kids
the ones you'd do anything for
Property, Gold & Assets
land, kingdom, and the things you own
Self-Reflection
the honest look inward
Memory & Intelligence
the faculty that decides everything
Duty & Morality
your own work, and the morals that bind everyone
Leadership, Power & Integrity
governing well: power, corruption, and justice
Nature & the Living World
the earth, its creatures, and our debt to both
Pleasures & Addictions
the highs that don't stay high
The Goal of Life
what all of it is for
Simple Routines
the small daily practice that carries you

Why a second arrangement

The thirty Themes follow the soul's inward pilgrimage — the long ascent from Arjuna's crisis to the great synthesis. That is the Gītā read as a spiritual journey. But the Gītā is also, relentlessly, a practical book: it was spoken to a working man in the middle of the worst day of his job, and it has something exact to say about money, about your boss, about what to eat, about dying. Get Real is that second reading — the Gītā met exactly where you stand, in the ordinary departments of a life. Nothing here is watered down; each verse links back to its full text, pronunciation and commentary.