And Why are We Reading It?

 Bhagavad Gita: “The Song of the Lord”
(Krishna)
 Part of the Mahabharata
 Smriti: “remembered” texts (semi-historic)
 Vedas and Upanishads are older and more
authoritative but less accessible to the general
population
 Written between 400 BCE – 400 CE, though
originating much earlier as oral tradition

 The scene: A battlefield in ancient India
 The players:
 Sanjata: is the narrator
 Dhrita-Rashtra: the elderly king to whom the
story of the battle and dialogue between Arjuna
and Krishna is being told
 Arjuna: a noble/warrior of the
Kshatriya caste
 Krishna: Arjuna’s chariot driver,
in reality an incarnation of the
god Vishnu

 Hinduism in a nutshell:
 The Four Yogas
 Reincarnation & Karma
 Brahman & Atman
 The three Gunas
 Bhakti and Karma yoga
 Jnana and Raja yoga

 One Grand Metaphor for life
 What is the real battle?
 Arjuna is “everyman”
 What is Krishna?
 What is the “field”?
 What is our “duty”?
 Universal and Eternal Truths at the heart of
any sacred text
 What lessons can you find?

 http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/603B08/web/A
vni/Avni%20Mody%27s%20Portfolio/Gita%20I_files/
bhagavad-gita-front%255B1%255D.jpg
 http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:015iPjH9dgP3n
M:http://www.kandamangalam.com/new/Portals/0
/Image/BG%20Krishna%20instructs%20Arjuna.jpg
 http://www.sulekha.com/mstore/innervoice/albums
/default/Krishna.jpg
 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bhakti/images/samsa
ra.jpg
 http://www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog/wp-
content/uploads/2007/11/ekam-sat.gif
 http://www.selftransform.net/BetterLife_files/image
002.jpg