"Nothing in this world is as pure as knowledge. One who is perfected in Nishkama Karma discovers this wisdom within oneself in due course of time.” The words appear in 108 Quotes from the Bhagavad Gita: Ancient Wisdom, New Learnings, but for Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, they are more than a passage from an ancient text. They embody the journey that led her to write the book. In the wake of losing her parents, sister and brother in close succession, the actor, singer and painter found herself returning to the Bhagavad Gita in search of peace. The result was not another commentary on the scripture, but a deeply personal companion to navigating grief, healing and everyday life.
On a quiet evening at Kalakriti Art Gallery in Banjara Hills, Suchitra opened up about grief, resilience, and the unexpected comfort she found in the Bhagavad Gita, which inspired her latest book, 108 Quotes from the Bhagavad Gita: Ancient Wisdom, New Learnings.
In an exclusive conversation with CE, she warmly reflected on her excitement being back to Hyderabad, a city she warmly refers to as her second home.
Best known for Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa and Jazbaat, Suchitra has spent three decades refusing to be boxed into one identity — actor, singer, painter, publisher, and now, reluctantly, spiritual author. Released under her own imprint, The Crackajack Company, the book wasn’t born in a scholar’s retreat. It was born, as she puts it, in freefall.
Asked what had pulled her back to the Gita at this stage of her life, Suchitra didn’t reach for anything abstract. She warmly began, “I had so much loss and turbulence. There was a time I felt the ground beneath my feet is cracking open, literally. So I was looking for some solace. That’s when I reached out to the Bhagavad Gita again, and revisited it.”
Given the many interpretations already written on Bhagavad Gita, why add another voice? Her answer was simple: everyone has that right. “I think every person has a right to do the Bhagavad Gita or whatever text they consider, and I wanted to simplify it and give it my own take,” she explained. Existing translations, she felt, were beautiful but often too dense. Her book, she continues, was an attempt to make the text feel like companionship rather than homework.
She resists the idea that the Gita belongs only to moments of crisis. “It’s as much of a leadership, motivational, self-help book as it is scripture. It’s a manual for mindful living, frankly. That’s how I see it. I don’t see it as a religious text necessarily — it originates there, but it’s a manual for mindful and conscious living,” she said.
Pressed on what surprised her most while writing, Suchitra didn’t hesitate. One word kept surfacing: detachment. She spoke candidly about losing her parents, sister, and brother, alongside financial and emotional setbacks. “It just made me understand that this is the human condition. What I’m going through or what you’re going through is not unique. You just have to accept it and accept what comes to you in the best way possible and approach it with wisdom,” she reflected.
Given that her career has unfolded in the public eye, did practising detachment from outcomes become easier or harder? Her response was immediate. “My whole approach to life, after I researched and wrote the Gita, has become very different. It’s given me a kind of stillness and confidence that I had lost,” she expressed. She still keeps the book by her bedside, occasionally rereading her own words with wonder.
That confidence also shaped how she handled scepticism. “I was mocked when I decided to write it. The first question I was asked was, ‘are you an expert, are you a scholar?’ I said no, but I think I have a right to write it,” she recalled. Rather than seek a traditional publisher, she self-published the book. “It has since ranked among the top thousand self-help and motivation titles globally, selling better abroad than in India,” she noted.
Asked what she hoped readers would take from the book, she smiled: “Read my book, and be happy (laughs). I think ultimately we are all just looking for peace and happiness, and I found a lot of it while researching and writing. Frankly, that is what I wanted to communicate.” She also shared that the audiobook is expected by the end of the year.
The evening ended with Suchitra singing Badalte Mausam, along with Sunita Nagarajan, a fitting close to a conversation that moved from grief to wisdom, echoing the very idea she had spent the evening describing: that ancient lessons find new life each time they are shared.