And suddenly it feels important…

In everyday life, very few things appear with a label that says this is important.
Most of the time, importance is something our mind assigns.
Certain signals influence that judgement. Reputation, Comparison with others, expectations from people around us, the pressure to prove something, the fear of losing face, the desire to be recognized.
When these signals are present, the mind begins to treat the situation as significant.

A project begins to feel like it will define our credibility.
A conversation starts carrying emotional weight.
A small decision in a meeting suddenly feels much larger than it probably is.

The situation itself may not have changed. But our perception of its importance has.
And once the mind labels something as important, our reactions follow.
By the time we observe it, we are already reacting to the higher stakes than they actually are.

A few years ago, I was hiring for a leadership role. We believed we had selected the best candidate. He had done well in the interviews, and I felt confident about the decision when we made the offer.
After he joined, things did not go exactly as expected. The role was demanding for him and he struggled. There were escalations and naturally, questions started coming up in discussions, whether he was the right fit, whether expectations were clear, and for how long we should continue supporting him.
During that time, I found myself defending the decision than I normally would. Every concern had a counter explanation. Every question had a reason.
Part of it was my responsibility as it was my hiring decision.
But another part was something else. My judgement was tied to that call. If the hire was wrong, it meant my call was wrong. Along the way, the situation and how I am perceived had become more important than the issue at hand.
Hiring decisions, even imperfect ones, are part of normal organizational life. People grow into roles, sometimes they don’t. Teams adjust.
But in that moment, it felt far bigger and important than that.

Something similar happened in a different context at home.
Recently, we started looking for a different school for our daughter. Like any other parent, we started exploring options and somehow, the idea of an international school entered the conversation. I cannot remember exactly when that thought took hold, but once it did, it started feeling like the obvious direction.
I spent hours reading about different international curricula, comparing schools, trying to understand which ones were considered “better”
One fine day, when I was particularly stressed about this, my wife asked me a simple question.
Why is an international school so important?
Is it actually better for our daughter, or does it just feel important to you?
And suddenly, it made me reflect – What evidence did I really have that this path was necessarily better for her?
The more I thought about it, the more I realised I didn’t have a clear answer.
Around us many families were making similar choices. The societal pressure and conversations in our neighbourhood were actually framing international schools as the better option.
The situation was rather simple – choosing a school that gives good education to her.
But somehow, international school felt like the obvious answer, even though I wasn’t sure why.

Krishna introduced another idea in chapter 7.

“This divine illusion of Mine, consisting of the three gunas, is difficult to overcome.”
(Bhagavad Gita 7.14)

The word often translated here as illusion is Maya.
It does not mean the world around us is false. The situations we face – work decisions, family choices, responsibilities are real.
Krishna also refers to the three gunas, the natural tendencies that shape how the mind responds to situations which is clarity, desire, and inertia.

These tendencies are always present in different proportions.
At times the mind is calm and clear. At other times it is driven by desire, ambition, or restlessness. And sometimes it falls into confusion or dullness.
According to Krishna, this constant shifting of the mind is what makes it difficult for people to see situations as they truly are.

Relating it to the moments I shared earlier; the situations themselves were fairly simple.
What made them feel so important was the reputation and social pressure I had attached to them.