The Beautiful Bhagavad Gita

I have been reading the Bhagavad Gita on and of for twenty years, i fall back on it when times are hard and my mood is low. It is the most magnificent book ever written, beyond compare.

reply to post by Skyfloating

I havent read the whole thread, but this book supposedly recounts of an ancient war between 2 different alien species and a possible nuclear detonation over an ancient city in india

I was just wondering, could the Bhagavad Gita be summed by,

"Doing anything, with the idea of the highest good in mind and goal of being connected to the highest good - will lead to positive results.."

Since it is all about ask and its given, look for something and you will get what you are looking for, thoughts magnetize towards certain kinds of experiences, (then) having the idea and understanding of (which in turn is an outcome of having the goal of being connected to the) highest good - will allways lead into the most enlightening and spiritual experience on the planet..

Just an idea.

Since there seems to be a quarrel among scholars about what is the meaning of different words - I personally would see that quarrel as an outcome of them having a predetermination of how the passages should sound like, what kind of morals they should portray etc. - that would be all based on their personal expectations as to what kind of "paths" the Bhagavad Gita should portray... (?)

reply to post by Jussi

All this and more will be addressed in the Introduction by Eknath Easwaran I'm going to be hand typing into this thread (quoted) over the coming days (it's 50 pages worth). Many among us, including those who have not even read the Gita, or, perhaps having read it but without having a great deal of understanding or, epiphany, will, I'm pretty sure, find it to be extremely informative, if not enlightening in its own right. For those already familiar with the Gita, I'm sure you too will find it to be of great value.

Regards,

NAM

how big a book is it? is it on the net? can I print it out?

Originally posted by HomerinNC
how big a book is it? is it on the net? can I print it out?

It is so small, you can eat it!

reply to post by woochow


The copy i have is by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan the former prime minister of india, it is magical and his knowledge is excellent. Apparantly this is one of the very best copies to have!

aum.

thank you for posting the Bhagavad Gita truly is one of the most remarkable works of literature and love out there. Just reading its words may fill your soul with joy

The Bhagavad Gita

Introduction by Eknath Easwaran

Eknath Easwaran
(1910-1999)
Brings to this volume a rare combination of credentials: knowledge of Sanskrit, an intuitive undersanding of his Hindu legacy, and a mastery of English. He was chairman of the English department at a major Indian university when he came to the United States on a Fulbright fellowship in 1959.

A gifted teacher who lived for many years in the West, Easwaran explains the concepts underlying the classics of Indian spirituality in fresh, authoritative, and profoundly simple ways.

Also in this series by Easwaran are his translations of The Dhammapada and The Upanishads

Introduction

Many years ago, when I was still a graduate student, I traveled by train from central India to Simla, the the summer seat of the British government in India. We had not been long out of Delhi when suddenly a chattering of voices disturbed my reverie. I asked the man next to me if something had happened. "Kurukshetra!" he replied. "The next stop is Kurukshetra!"

I could understand the excitement. Kurukshetra, "the field of the Kurus," is the setting for the climactic battle of the Mahabharata, the vastest epic in any world literature, on which virtually every Hindu child in India is raised. Its characters, removed in time by some three thousand years, are as familiar to us as our relatives. The temper of the story is utterly contemporary; I can imagine it unfolding in the nuclear age as easily as in the dawn of Indian history. The Mahabharata is literature at its greatest - in fact, it has been called a literature in itself, comparable in its depth and breadth and characterization to the whole of Greek literature or Shakespeare. But what makes it unique is that embedded in this literary masterpiece is one of the finest mystical documents the world has ever seen: the Bhagavad Gita.

I must have heard the Gita recited thousands of times when I was growing up, but I don't suppose it had any special significance for me then. Not until I went to college and met Mahatma Gandhi did I begin to understand why nothing in the long, rich stretch of Indian culture has had a wider appeal, not only within India but outside as well. Today, after more than thirty years of devoted study, I would not hesitate to call it India's most important gift ot the world. The Gita has been translated into every major language and perhaps a hundred times into English alone; commentaries on it are said to be more numerous than any other scripture. Like the Sermon on the Mount, it has an immediacy that sweeps away time, place and circumstance. Addressed to everyone, of whatever background or status, the Gita distills the loftiest truths of India's ancient wisdom into simple, memorable poetry that haunts the mind and informs the affairs of everyday life.

Everyone in our car got down from the train to wander for a few minutes on the now peaceful field. Thousands of years ago this was Armageddon. The air rang with the conch-horns and shouts of battle for eighteen days. Great phalanxes shaped like eagles and fish and the crescent moon surged back and forth in search of victory, until in the end almost every warrior in the land lay slain.

"Imagine!" my companion said to me in awe. "Bhishma and Drona commanded their armies here. Arjuna rode here with Sri Krishna himself as his charioteer. Where you're standing now - who knows? - Arjuna might have sat, his bow and arrow on the ground, while Krishna gave him the words of the Baghivad Gita."

The thought was thrilling. I felt the way Schliemann must have when he finally reached the desolate bluff of western Turkey and knew he was standing "on the ringing plains of windy Troy," walking the same grounds as Achilles, Odysseus, Hector and Helen. Yet at the same time, I felt I knew the setting of the Gita much more intimately than I could ever know this peaceful field. The battlefield is a perfect backdrop, but the Gita's subject is the war within, the struggle for self mastery that every human being must wage if he or she is to emerge from life victorious.

The Gita and its Settings - to follow..

reply to post by Skyfloating


Star, and Flag, my friend...enough said.

Of course, I would just remind that all the Principle are ONE, and that the true nature of the BOOK is the individual journey, through Space/Time, to recapture his WHOLENESS.

Beautiful, no doubt the most appropriate word!
THANK YOU!!!

It disturbs when a Jew like Einstein sees more wisdom and beauty in the bhagavad Gita than in Sefer Beresheit

I simply do not understand it.

I have read the Bhagavad Gita. I found it eloquent. But esoterically, how can that compare to the creation described by the Torah?

This is a prime example of peer pressure. Its very hard to be born into a secular family. Go to secular schools, and associate yourself with secular people, and appreciate the truths of the Torah. All of Einsteins contemporaries were the gnostic/alchemy/hinduism/buddhism types. His own theory resonated, he probably thought, with the moral philosophies of the east.

reply to post by dontreally


And why is that bad? I mean how many people who enjoy reading the Bhagavad Gita are violent, intolerant, war loving people? Now ask yourself that about people who read the Torah, Bible or Qu'ran. Which has historically created more of these people?

And Einstein was a kind, loving, tolerant, peaceful man, who had the intellectual capacity to partake in much destruction and manipulation but he instead shy'd away from that. Whatever he was reading or adhering too must of not been that bad.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy


What a horribly fallacious argument that is.

The state of Israel, isnt religious. btw

Maybe you should read up on the history of India. The Hindus - who im sure consider the Bhagavad Gita holy, have been at war with the muslims for hundreds of years. And the Sikhs? Do you think the Hindus and them have a peachy history?

Jesus man.

Einstein didnt base his predilection towards Eastern ideas on pacifism. Judaism is incredibly pacific. He clearly resonated with the ideas. like i made mention earlier, they were immensely popular in his cirles. look at neils Bohr for instance.

And since were talking about Einstein. He wasnt perfect you know. He was a very big egotist. and apparently was a womanizer. He refused to believe in quantum mechanics for a very long time until late in his life he recanted and said he wasted so many years denying something because he couldnt deal with 'not being right'.

He also was born into a jewish bourgoise family. Again. Hindu/pagan ideas appealed to these people. His parents were non observant; they had a contempt for the 'simplicity' of Judaism, and a love and appreciation for sophisticated philosophical doctrines like hinduism for instance. Einstein in his younger years studied Neoplatonism and Alchemy. No wonder he rejected Judaism and was attracted to hinduism.

Theres nothing so hard to overcome like peer pressure... As a Jew, im sure he felt a tolerance for Judaism, but he didnt have faith. He saw no purpose in it. That to me, is just.. complete and utter sophistry. And, well.... Thats really what differentiates Jews who cling to foreign religions and those appreicate what their ancestors cherished.

Einstein also probably never learned Talmud (probably had no time for it), or had anything more than a rudimentary study of kabbalah (and probably from a sabattean/gnostic perspective).

In anycase. Im not attacking the Bhagavad Gita. Im just irritated with einstein being used all the time as a standard for intellectual merit. If einstein believed it, it must be good.

Einstein was human, and quite capable of mistakes, as he himself acknowledged later on in life.

MY GOD you are a troll and a constant shill for your own specific brand of Kabbalah. I wish you would just shut up. You're like a Kabbalalistic fundamentalist. Shut up buddy.

And to make something clear to skyfloating, cause i respect you.

I may have attacked the Bhagavad gita in my earlier post, and i apologise for that. I have read it, but esoterically, never quite learned the doctrine.

But nevertheless, i know a bit about hinduism, and i disagree with its core philosophy and its practices (like tantra for instance). I find it helps build ego in many cases, rather than extirpate it.

There are many Hindu Sages i am fond of. Ramana Maharashi... And thats because he seemed like a genuinely peaceful and humble man. you can see it in his eyes, and of course in his philosohpy (in the little that ive read of him).

I am just against these antinomian 'do what thou wilt' aleister crowley like attitudes like in ramakrishna. And i am entitled to express that disaproval.

What really irritates me are people who are intolerant of people who can be intolerant. That is just the epitome of hypocricy. South Park touches on that idiocy in one of its older episodes. Especially when some cases on intolerance - towards evil for instance, is perfectly valid and indeed a moral responsibility.

Originally posted by Merle8
MY GOD you are a troll and a constant shill for your own specific brand of Kabbalah. I wish you would just shut up. You're like a Kabbalalistic fundamentalist. Shut up buddy.

My own specific brand of Kabbalah?

What kind of ignorance is that?

Theres Judaism. And than theres its esoteric dimension. Kabbalah.

The 'brand of kabbalah' is a western idea originated by gnostic writers. This is where you get christian cabala, hermetic qabbalah, toldano kabbalah. now all of thse schools are fake, and rip offs of the original, which of course doesnt quite appeal to the paganly inclined... I can understand that, They wanted to borrow kabbalistic language and its system. Ok. Just dont sell off fairy tales that these traditiosn are 'babylonian' ion origin. Or that there exists secret chaldean books which are deeper and more meaningful than the Zohar, like blavatasky spouted. What nonsense that is.

Maybe if there wasnt so much fricken popularization of eastern ideas and bashing of the bible i wouldnt feel the need to defend it so often.

reply to post by dontreally

This may SOUND arrogant, but it's not. Stick around my friend, with an open mind, and just watch and learn. The Bhagavad Gita will also resonate with you and your faith, as it does for me, a Christian.

And I'm still convinced that there's a joke of such utter profundity lurking somewhere in this, that it's understanding, would save the world, and get us running towards each other, not to kill one another! but for a warm and loving embrace, with much tears and laughter, and celebration.

reply to post by dontreally

Adi Da made all the religions obsolete,sorry.But
seeking does have its own limiting rewards.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by dontreally

 

This may SOUND arrogant, but it's not. Stick around my friend, with an open mind, and just watch and learn. The Bhagavad Gita will also resonate with you and your faith, as it does for me, a Christian.

And I'm still convinced that there's a joke of such utter profundity lurking somewhere in this, that it's understanding, would save the world, and get us running towards each other, not to kill one another! but for a warm and loving embrace, with much tears and laughter, and celebration.

Perhaps the Bhagavad Gita is compatible with Christianity (or maybe it isnt) but it certainly is not with Judaism.

Many of the central ideas in Judaism and Hinduism are just completely opposite.

But than again, maybe i should have someone teach me it. Than i will formulate my opinion. But i am absolutely convinced of the truth of Torah.

Unfortunately, and very heart wrenching for me to see, former christians or children of christians who embrace eastern ideas know absolutely NOTHING - not a single thing, about the Hebrew bible. Notice i say the word 'Hebrew'; in that you cant know anything appreciable about the Torah, or prophets and writings, without an understanding of it. The subleties cannot be translated. They are completely lost. This is the meaning of the ancient Rabbinic midrash "when the torah was translated into Greek the world went dark for the 3 days".

The 3 days refer to the additional, allusive levels of meaning in the Hebrew Text of the Torah. Its completely lost in translation. one cant know of the mysteries of the bible - the single most important work on earth, without learning it its language - which is Hebrew. Thus, the christian world remains in darkness. Thank G-d, i was enlightened to the mysteries of torah and kabbalah (to a little extent; im only 25 afterall).

The famous basketball player and New York Knick Amare Stoudemire has also recently embraced Judaism and is in the process of conversion. He like me feels blessed. you think im bad? you should hear him talk about it. Its nice seeing a pro star with such an intelligent head on his very broad shoulders. Judaism is given a very bad rap. And deliberately so; and as gentile lied to and having my portuguese ancestors forced to convert at the point of a sword; who had to hide their Judaism as murano Jews who hundreds of years only to forget their Jewish background; and eventually become catholics. It bothers me. Deeply. Which is why i find it so hard to bridle my self from speaking when i see Eastern Ideas popularized to an incredible extent here in the western world. This is strategic, and the very illuminati people seem to hate, are the ones behind it.

Im not saying Eastern ideas are entirely evil; cause theyre not. they just fit their agenda for the world, and their own personal philosophy..Whereas Judaism, and those who follow it, do not.

reply to post by RRokkyy


Forgive me for laughing.