PowerPoint overview introducing the Bhagavad Gita: what it is, contents, key points, the Gita as a metaphor for life with universal and eternal lessons that go beyond cultural and historical context
2. 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
3. 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
4. Hinduism in a nutshell:
The Four Yogas
Reincarnation & Karma
Brahman & Atman
The three Gunas
Bhakti and Karma yoga
Jnana and Raja yoga
5. 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?