...Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita means the “Song of God”. It tells the story of Lord Krishna explaining to Arjuna who he really is. The knowledge would give Arjuna the strength and the persistence to know and to defeat his enemies. Arjuna’s main conflict is that of identity and purpose: Who am I, what am I to do, how am I to see things, what my nature is, what the right attitude is, and how to attain peace and victory. It is said that our world is all an illusion. We are ignorant of our true purpose in life, and we tie ourselves to our wants and needs. This reading is meant to enlighten us by facing our life’s challenges with a positive mindset, humility, and diligence. In chapters one and two, the rival armies are on the brink of battle. Arjuna gave up the will to fight Dhritarashtra’s decision to give control of the kingdom to his son. He didn’t want to kill his family member for the crown he didn’t want. Krishna is the voice of reason, attempting to convince Arjuna to fight to restore balance and fulfill his natural duty—Dharma. In his persuasion, Krishna shares a philosophy for life. Fulfilling your duty, acknowledging God, and surrendering to God with devotion are some of the teachings of the story. In chapter three and four, we learn that as humans we must take on challenges in our lives. By acting selflessly, or without selfish motives, we become liberated and harness good karma, and achieve transcendental awareness of ourselves and the Supreme Ruler. Our actions can...
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...main characters are Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna seeks guidance from the Lord Krishna for many reasons, mainly because he does not want to fight in the battle. The Gita is dialogue between these two characters after Arjuna calls for Krishna. The Gita is formed around the Hindu faith of Hinduism and is written in Sanskrit. This paper will discuss the historical context of the Bhagavad Gita and analyze some of the content. The Bhagavad Gita was written around 50 CE in India, it is the most famous Hindu religious text. Around 1000 and 700 B.C.E two of India’s great epics were written: the Mahabharata and the Ramayana (Spodek, 243). The Bhagavad Gita is an excerpt of the Mahabharata, which is the larger of the two epics. India’s main form of religion is Hinduism, which is the oldest leading religion. Hindu’s core beliefs are the caste, dharma, karma, life stages, samsara, and more (Spodek, 274). The introduction states that many “Hindu’s and non-Hindus use the Gita as a spiritual guide within their own lives, reading or hearing it regularly and bringing it to bear on their own situations by commenting on it to themselves” (Gita, Intro). Also, the Gita summarizes a few of the key doctrines of Hinduism. One of those is Karma. Karma is the set of activities of each creature and the effects that these activities have on its atman (Spodek, 274). Karma yoga states that everyone must engage in some sort of activity in this world. During the Gita Krishna is leading Arjuna through Yoga. There...
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...spirituality is Gita. Whatever India has achieved in these area is poetically preserved in Sanskrit in this short work of seven hundred verses in eighteen chapters. The poetic beauty and the philosophical clarity of the work is unparalleled in the history of the world literature. Every Hindu lives and dreams in Gita, and when he dies, he is given a farewell of chants from Gita. Every practising Hindu makes it a point to recite from it daily, every philosophical Hindu tries to study and understand the work, and every mystic Hindu strives to mould his life according to Gita. Gita belongs to the Bhishma Parva of the epic Mahabharata, and is in dialogue from between Sri Krishna and Arjuna just before the battle of Kurukshetra was to take place. The Background Arjuna and his four brothers were arrayed against their cousins in a deadly battle that was about to be fought out in the name of dharma,...
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...The Mahabharata (composed between 300 BC and 300 AD) has the honor of being the longest epic in world literature, 100,000 2-line stanzas (although the most recent critical edition edits this down to about 88,000), making it eight times as long as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey together, and over 3 times as long as the Bible (Chaitanya vii). According to the Narasimhan version, only about 4000 lines relate to the main story; the rest contain additional myths and teachings. In other words, theMahabharata resembles a long journey with many side roads and detours. It is said that “Whatever is here is found elsewhere. But whatever is not here is nowhere else.” The name means “great [story of the] Bharatas.” Bharata was an early ancestor of both the Pandavas and Kauravas who fight each other in a great war, but the word is also used generically for the Indian race, so the Mahabharata sometimes is referred to as “the great story of India.” The work is divided into 18 books (concerning an 18-day war among 18 armies). The main narrative concerning the war is contained in the first ten books. Pronunciation guide of the main characters: Vyasa [Vee-YA-sha]: narrator of the story and father of Pandu and Dhritarashtra BHISH-ma: half-uncle by marriage of Pandu and Dhritarashtra Dhri-ta-RASH-tra: blind king, father of Duryodhana and the Kauravas GAN-dhari: wife of Dhritarashtra KUN-ti: wife of Pandu and mother to the five Pandavas and Karna Yu-DHISH-thira: leader of the Pandavas, rightful...
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...An Analysis of the Central Themes of The Bhagavad Gita and its Influence on Significant Historical Figures and Literature. Gavin McClung “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt The Bhagavad Gita has been estimated to have been in existence since about 500 BCE although the oldest known handwritten copy is in a museum in London and is dated to 1488. It predates the Bible, the Quran, and 50 Shades of Grey. As one of the oldest pieces of literature known to us it has gained a reputation as one of the most insightful tomes into the human condition and it’s philosophies and themes have influenced many of the most historically significant people and their actions. Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry David Thoreau, and even Albert Einstein all read the Gita and were deeply moved by it. These are not normal run of the mill people, but were great thinkers, people of action and world-changers. Surely, the world has been influenced by such a powerful text through the many people it has inspired and taught with it’s central themes of Yoga and Renunciation, and Dharma and Karma among others. Here we will take a look at some of the major themes of the Gita as well as some of the historically significant figures it has influenced and...
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...Philip, Standish & Edward, 1997).They also started the domestication of animals like the. Goats, sheep, and cattle were among the first animals to be domesticated. The main problem addressed in the Bhagavad Gita The most fundamental concepts that Bhagavad Gita outlines in his scriptures includes; the nature of human existence, a righteous lifestyle that is divine centered, self-discovery and the purpose of living. The scriptures spell out how humankind differentiates the right from the wrong, and the relationship with God. It gives deeper meanings of life aspects, for example, knowledge (Mascrio, 1962); Arjuna receives a piece of advice from Krishna to gather knowledge and wisdom selectively. Action is also another life aspect; one should act without getting worried or entangled with the consequences and the outcomes of the actions. (Mascario, 1962), Krishna tells Arjuna to get a clear distinction...
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...as far as Cambodia(Kamboja), Kazakhistan and/or Scandinavia(Uttarakuru), Mathematics: Nos to the range of 10 raised to powers of 16 and -16. Descriptions of Weapons which resemble modern day weaponry including Nuclear and/or Chemical Weapons. Complex Military Formations and Strategies. Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Spirituality, Religion, Politics. Even Management Lessons. • Has “mind-boggling” revelations. – – – – – – – Logistics • Kauravas :11 Akshouhini • Pandavas : 7 Akshouhini 1 Akshouhini = 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 65,610 horses and 109,350 foot-soldiers (in a ratio of 1:1:3:5). Generals Kauravas : • • • • • • • Bhishma Drona Karna Shalya Kripacharya Ashwatthama Duryodhan Pandavas : • • • • • • • Arjuna Bhima Dhrshtadyumna Abhimanyu Ghatotkach Shikhandi Satyaki Background Pandavas : Exiled for 13 years. Have no kingdom. Their main strength both in terms of political and financial power depends on their friends and relatives : The Pancalas, The Yadavas, The Magadhas and The Chedis. Kauravas : In power for 13 years. Duryodhan has been a benevolent king. There was no guarantee that the Subjects really miss the Pandavas. Not only have they the wealth and power of Hastinapur, but also that of Indraprastha, the kingdom that the Pandvas had taken such labors to build and which had surpassed the Hastina of old in all degrees. Karna had gone on a nationwide conquering on behalf of Duryodhana. They are the national...
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...The Male Divine | Characteristics of The Male Divine | Bhagavad GitaHinduLeonard and McClure (2004, pp. 208-220) | * Bhagavad Gita: Savior/Sage * Purely a spiritual document that encompassed everything relating to human beings and life on mother earth. The Gita is believed to bring supreme peace, immortality and eternal piece. * Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna find themselves on the battle field of Kurukshetra. The two begin to talk about profound spiritual truths and believes. * Prince Arjuna becomes stuck between wanting to be forcefully and powerful but remain spiritually correct. * Lord Krishna is the opposite. He is a powerful aggressive warrior who has already destroyer of both armies. * In the 11th teaching the gods revealed Lord Krishna and not just a destroyer but also a creator. With Krishna killing everything for the outlook that they were destine to die and be reborn. As a creator the god brings everything back to birth and responsible for the human order where good things come. | Enki and NinhursangaSumerianLeonard and McClure (pp. 220-227) | * Enki and Ninhursanga: Tricksters and Shamans * Enki : Water God later became known as the God of Wisdom * Ninhursanga: Earth Goddess and also the highest ranking also known as Mother Earth * Once the land was “pure” or completed, Enki provided the land with fresh water from the mountain ranges to the water that flows underground. * Enki began to fertilize and help with reproduction. First...
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...sects with their own scriptures. Early on, the oldest and most sacred texts, the Vedas (meaning “knowledge”) declared Hinduism’s argument that “Truth (God) is one, wise men call Him by different names”. The Vedas were composed during the Vedic period (1500BC – 600BC). These texts are possibly the oldest documented literature available today. We will now review love in one of the most important Hindu scriptures, the Bhagavad Gita which was documented in the later Vedic period. This text comprises of 18 chapters and is translated literally as the “song of the beloved God” (Gita means song and Bhagavad means beloved God). Love is the primary theme in this text. In this scripture, God in the form of Krishna, speaks to his friend Arjuna on a battlefield in India. On a metaphorical level, it is suggested that when we overcome our inner struggles, we will be victorious in finding God. Topics include, loving God as well as God Himself, the soul and the goal of human existence; which in the Bhagavad Gita is to ultimately merge with God. Like any classic, the Bhagavad Gita is timeless and considered relevant even today. Many extraordinary individuals such as Gandhi and Einstein were inspired by its content. In Chapter 4, verse 11, of the Bhagavad Gita, it is stated that: However men try to reach me I return their love with my love; whatever path they may travel, it leads to Me in the end. This verse is very optimistic to the reader as it initially states that God returns...
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...The key point that I took away from looking at the Bhagavad Gita was the idea of oneness, that there is an underlying consciousness that connects all things. In the Gita, we see Arjuna battling with the idea of participating in fighting a battle with his family and friends on the opposing side. During his conversation with his charioteer, who happens to also be Krishna, he is told that he should do his duty as a warrior and to fight to help regain control of the kingdom. It is noted that physical death does not mean the ultimate ending of a life, that there will be rebirth or eventually moksha. The true struggle that Arjuna should be facing is not the turmoil over the killing, but should be over the act of going against his dharma. It is interesting to look at the Bhagavad Gita in relation to the caste system that played a major role in society and culture that has historically practiced Hinduism. While the system has been outlawed, it still has played a large part in shaping the society and the people in the region. The caste system is a stratification system that limited people into acting only within their assigned roles in society. Individuals are highly limited...
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...Swami Jf.C. GJJ!iak!;ivedanta . bWO �S'S'AYS GK[,isfina �eGJWservoir9['Pleasure � �fio Is Crazy? Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta was born Abhay Charan De in Calcutta, India, in 1896. Trained at the finest Indian universities, he was a successful young busi nessman when, in 1922, he met his Spiritual Master, Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati, Founder Acharya of the Goudiya Math Institutions. Just be fore the Master's departure from this world in 1936, Swami Bhaktivedanta was charged with the responsi bility of spreading the Samkirtan Movement to the English-speaking world. Shortlythereafter, anEng lish fortnightly was established and work was begun on a number of books and translations, the most am bitious of which is a proposed sixty volume transla tion with commentary ofthe Srimad Bhagwatam, still in progress. Finally, in 1959, he took up the life of a sanyasin, fully engaged in the duties ordered by his Spiritual Master, and in 1965 the seventy-year old Swami sailed to the West with the message en trusted to him nearlythree decades earlier: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say REJOICE." KRI SHNA, THE RESERVOIR OF PLEASURE by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta Krishna-this sound is transcendental. Krishna means the highest pleasure. All of us, every living being, seeks pleasure. But we do not know how to seek pleasure perfectly. With a materialistic concept of life, we are frustrated at every step·in...
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...powerlessness thereby regaining his happiness tenfold. Arjuna, struggles with his own path in searching for the meaning of life in his battles. Filled with despair, he looks to God to show him the way to transcendence. Both men have similar motives, but two very different paths in discovering their fate. In both Arjuna’s and Abraham’s path towards transcendence, there are similarities that contribute to the choices they make. First, both of the men have to make sacrifices; Arjuna is faced with making the decision to kill the enemy in order to have the luxuries in life, while Abraham faces what many would say is the worst thing that could happen, the loss of a child. They are both in the midst of a transition in their lives and they are looking to God for assistance. Although two very different tasks, both men are being tempted by God and it is in the response that decides their virtue, and thus transcendence. Both are striving toward the meaning of the eternal being, Abraham reaching for the infinite and Arjuna reaching for the Self; although different terms in the stories, they have the same meaning. Both of their lives at one point are filled with despair, which is crucial to experience in life in order to get to that state of happiness. After Abraham bound Isaac, he drew the knife and clenched it with despair (Fear and Trembling 24); if one does not feel despair, they will never know the meaning of their life. When Arjuna looked at the enemy, he saw fathers, grandfathers, and...
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...INDIVIDUAL DYNAMICS AND LEADERSHIP – BOOK REVIEW The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das CONTENT S. No. Topic Page No. 1. Introduction and summary 1 2. Objective of study 1 3. Method of study 1 4. Critical Analysis of Chapters 2 4.1 Duryodhana’s Envy 2 4.2 Draupadi’s Courage 2 4.3 Yudhishthira’s Duty 3 4.4 Yudhishthira’s Remorse 4 4.5 Arjuna’s Despair 5 4.6 Krishna’s Guile 6 4.7 Bhishma’s Selflessness 6 4.8 Karna’s Status Anxiety 7 4.9 Conclusion 8 5. Key Learning 9 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurcharan Das is an attempt to study and analyse the Mahabharata and the relevance it holds in todays’ world. The author realises that the great warriors in Mahabharata were essentially human beings and they had their own follies. Their moral dilemmas and behaviour arising out of the choices they made are very much relevant even today. The Mahabharata is essentially about our incomplete lives, about good people being faced with ethical dilemma and making choices that are not always right. They find themselves caught up in difficult situations, unable to decide what is right & what is wrong for ‘Dharma is subtle’ and its difficult it is to be good & righteous in this world. Essentially it’s the pursuit of Dharma by human beings and the moral dilemmas encountered on the way , that the author seek in this book. In each chapter, he critically analyses different characters of the epic and relates their dilemmas and actions...
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...© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1997 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA VOLUME 19 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO Publisher’s Note The first series of Essays on the Gita appeared in the monthly review Arya between August 1916 and July 1918. It was revised by Sri Aurobindo and published as a book in 1922. The second series appeared in the Arya between August 1918 and July 1920. In 1928 Sri Aurobindo brought out an extensively revised edition in book form. For the present edition, the text has been thoroughly checked against all previous editions and against the manuscripts of the revised Arya. CONTENTS FIRST SERIES I Our Demand and Need from the Gita II 3 12 20 29 39 47 57 68 81 94 105 114 124 The Divine Teacher III The Human Disciple IV The Core of the Teaching V Kurukshetra VI Man and the Battle of Life VII The Creed of the Aryan Fighter VIII Sankhya and Yoga IX Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta X The Yoga of the Intelligent Will XI Works and Sacrifice XII The Significance of Sacrifice XIII The Lord of the Sacrifice CONTENTS XIV The Principle of Divine Works XV 134 145 158 168 177 188 200 212 224 234 247 The Possibility and Purpose of Avatarhood XVI The Process of Avatarhood XVII The Divine Birth and Divine Works XVIII The Divine Worker XIX Equality XX Equality and Knowledge XXI The Determinism of Nature XXII Beyond the Modes of Nature XXIII Nirvana and Works in the...
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...Krishna to Arjuna. Chapter ten in the Patterns of Religion textbook describe Hinduism as a religion of “many layers” on page 308. This analogy is further described on page 304 by likening Hinduism to a maze. “There is not a single straight line, but everything is connected.” The word Brahman is used in different context throughout the text. It is mentioned during the era of Vedism, when the Aryan migrants introduced the term for the pinnacle of the hierarchy in the caste system. An interesting note here is that rulers are placed below the Brahmans in the caste hierarchy. Later in Upanishads, Brahman is defined as “the One, which existed before the gods.” The Upanishads term atman as a distinguished self that is rebirthed throughout the journey through reincarnation. While reading the texts, I keep attempting to collaborate the information into theories that I am familiar with. The closest I am able to reach towards understanding is to liken atman to the soul, and the Atman/Brahman relationship to the path towards enlightenment and self-discovery. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna altered the relationship of Atman/Brahman from what was traditionally taught and established. Krishna taught that there is a path to moksha for everyone regardless of birth, caste, or gender. He urged people to not relinquish social responsibility, bot to instead wage battle with the desire within themselves to achieve release. The conflicts within Krishna’s teachings to Arjuna were that...
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