Integrating spiritual wisdom into occupational health practice: Insights from the Bhagavad Gita
Khagendra Neupane
International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health July 10, 2026 DOI: 10.3126/ijosh.v16i2.91691 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Psychosocial Mental health Psychological resilience Action physics Occupational stress Engineering ethics Environmental ethics Workplace spirituality |
| Key points | Argues that integrating Bhagavad Gita teachings into occupational health and safety frameworks can enhance employees' emotional resilience, ethical behavior, and mental health, offering a holistic approach that complements modern OHS practices. |
Abstract
This paper explores how the teachings of Bhagavad Gita contribute to enhance occupational health and safety of the employees in the workplace. Modern occupational health and safety (OHS) practices have become effective in addressing physical and psychosocial risks. However, they fail to deal with emotional challenges faced by employees Hence, the spiritual approaches have drawn the attention of both employer and employees to enrich workplace resilience and integrity. This study answers how the spiritual teachings of the Bhagavad Gita contribute to promoting holistic approaches for the safety of employees and their ethical culture. The research seeks to integrate core Gita’s teachings into modern OHS frameworks with a view to enhancing emotional resilience and ethical behavior of employees. The teachings such dharma (righteous duty), vairāgya (detachment), abhyāsa (practice), ātma-jñāna (self-knowledge), and sthita-prajña (emotional stability) offer deep insights in order to foster mental health, ethical conduct and purposeful action in high-pressure occupational settings. The study develops a psychospiritual model for occupational health and safety. The study draws its reference from Eknath Easwaran’s translation of the Gita. It also focuses recent research in positive organizational psychology, mindfulness-based stress reduction and psychosocial risk frameworks. This interdisciplinary study illustrates how ancient wisdom can complement modern practices. The proposed model emphasizes inner transformation as a foundation for external well-being. It offers a holistic approach to OHS that includes ethical clarity, emotional regulation, resilience and self-transcendence. Ultimately, this article argues that the Bhagavad Gita, acting as a practical manual for cultivating occupational health in the modern era, makes a paradigm shift toward psychospiritual integration in workplace policies, training and leadership development.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |