Builders in Mumbai at a Bhagvad Gita session

Mumbai, Aug. 8: A million newly built homes lying unsold and no sign of the market picking up, Mumbai’s realtors have turned to the Bhagvad Gita for solace.

Gita crash courses are mushrooming in every neighbourhood as the message of stoic focus on work and steadfast disinterest in results has suddenly become fashionable.

“The Bhagvad Gita is very relevant in the current scenario of recession in the real estate market. The doctrine of Karmanye vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kadachana (One has the right to work but not to results) brings a lot of solace when the prospects of healthy bottomlines look bleak for most builders,” said a course guide at the Chinmaya International Foundation, a wing of the Ernakulam-based Chinmaya Mission, whose Bhagvad Gita and Vedanta classes are very popular.

Sanskrit and theology tutors who otherwise render selected chapters from the Gita and Vedanta at corporate workshops or at posh satsangs have attained celebrity status, their appointments almost as hard to get as those of top city doctors.

Mall lobbies and even seedy shopping arcades are letting out space on a day-to-day basis for Gita-Vedanta classes.

Depending on the class size, the course fee varies from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 for a week-long course on the Gita rendered in English.

The price tag is pegged at Rs 25,000 for a year-long course, which includes the study of Sanskrit.

“But those are less popular and for older people as they are more time-consuming,” says Anil Tripathi who, with three other tutors, runs Gita classes in and around upscale Bandra. They also give tuitions at home or in the office of the realtors.

The Chinmaya Mission’s courses at their Marine Lines and Powai branches are overbooked.

“We decided to launch a full Bhagvad Gita appreciation programme from 15th July given the tremendous enthusiasm — it was sold out in a day and now we are directing people to register for our online and postal courses. The response has been phenomenal,” said Rahul Arya, programme and admissions co-ordinator.

Over 10,000 have registered for the online courses, of whom 60 per cent are associated with the realty industry which has been hit hard by the rise in EMIs as well as inflation, the two factors that have pushed people to put off their home buying decisions.

“The biggest realtors are taking classes in the academy or opting for Net courses with us,” said Arya.

Top Mumbai builder Niranjan Hiranandani, who changed the face of Powai, is one of the star students of the Bhagvad Gita e-learning and appreciation course at Chinmaya Mission.

“Learning the Bhagvad online is a good opportunity. The Bhagvad Gita is not only a religious book... We should definitely read it, learn it and understand it,” he said in a statement.