Examining the Bhagavad-Gita Essay

Before examining the Bhagavad-Gita I believe it is necessary to have a general realise of the vestigial teaching of Hindiism. I have well-nigh knowledge of Hinduism from friends, scarce in reality have no understanding of what it really means to be Hindu. The stimulation that a Hindu friend of mind made to me once plainly about Hindu is that it is non really as much of a organized confidence as much it is a way of life and respect for it. I know that Hindi worship numerous different gods and revere some animals as sacred, but I have never really dumb the fundamental of this religion. I am grateful that this assignment has given me the fortune and motivation to examine the Hindu religion and one of it great literary works.The graduation exercise issue to realize about Hinduism is that it is not strictly a region. It is based on the practices of Dharma, the code of life. Dharma name means universal religion. opposed other religions Hindu did not originate from a singl e source, such as a person or book. It did not start at a discernible point in time either. Hinduism is an ancient religion that was inspired by the ancient rishis and the principles where discovered through their meditations. The oldest writings be about 4000 age old. Below is a statement that captures the foundation of Hinduism.Hindu religious thought is based upon the belief in the Ultimate Reality, faith in the reality of the spirit, and faith in the spiritual order or the world. (The Hindu religious tradition -Stachidananda)I can now playing period my attention to the Bhagavad Gita, with at least a general concept to act my understanding. The Bhagavad Gita is widely known and renowned work of Indias spiritual wisdom. The Gita has vii hundred concise verses that are a definitive guide to the scholarship of self realization within the universe and the Braham-Atman. The story of Bhagavad begins with Krishna driving Arjunas chariot into the middle of a battlefield. The batt le was between Duryodhana (Pandavas) and Arjuna (Kauaravas) for the right to overtop the country. The Gita if full of symbolization everything represents or stands for something. The battle represents the struggle between heavy and evil. This would relate to the inner struggle that we all have within ourselves of our unsloped and bad character traits.The first chapter of the Gita deals with the despondency of Arjuna. When Arjuna starts make war, he becomes overwhelmed with steamy attachments to the people he is battling. These people were once his friends, family and teachers. How could he destroy them? He stops in the middle of the battles and and thence battles within self not to fight these people. He tries to talk himself out of the situation. The lesson learned in the first chapter is that sometimes we lose sight of the truth when we have emotional attachments to a situation.In the next few chapters of the Gita, Arjuna starts down a path of self awareness, a key funda mental belief of Hinduism. As he battles with in himself as he struggles to find an answer. At this point, he realizes he doesnt have an answer and turns to Krishna, on of the many a(prenominal) forms of God. He learns that sometimes an man-to-man has a higher purpose and we must have the wisdom to discover this and discover it. We must withdraw from our senses and move to an awareness where we control our mind. At that instance we will have complete self awareness and the pellucidness to move forward with conviction and wisdom.When continuing to read the Gita it becomes apparent that many daily practices of Hindus are derived from it. The Gita served as the foundation for the grade system. There has been much controversy over the caste system, but the cowcatcher purpose and meaning was beautiful. It was meant to help individual be aware of their infixed temperaments, talents and capacities. Again, the Gita is teaching self awareness.Another remarkable fact about the Gita is that it gives a person a roadmap to tolerate by. It teaches individuals to give themselves over to and devote their lives to the controlling God, Braham-Atman. The Gita teaches how to surrender to Braham-Atman and how to become enlightened. With enlightenment we escape from karma have rebirth and incoming into Nirvina.One of my favorite chapters of the Gita is Chapter 17 Yoga of the Three-fold Faith. This chapter deals with the practical applications of faith. Faith is a well-knit discipline in Hinduism. Because of faith they worship the Supreme God and many other deities with great devotion. It is in this chapter that one can begin to understand reasoning for Hindu believe of reincarnation. This chapter explains that those who are twice-born are traditionally commit to spiritual knowledge. This chapter also elaborates on many rules that Hinduism and other religions use to live by. Examples of these are to be clean and keep you body and sprit clean, be amiable and speak kindl y to others and gifts should only be given if it is the right thing to do.after reading the Bhagavad-Gita I am astonished. I can inspect so many parallels between it and the teaching of Jesus in the spick-and-span Testament. I can also begin to see how Hinduism is the Universal Religion. The Bhagavad-Gita and the symbolism that is contains either reinforces much of the Hindu religion/philosophy or may have even set the standard. It is hard for me to tell at this point, but it makes me want to study this religion even more.The Gita is part of a greater Hindu writing call the Upansides, which evolved from an oral tradition that began over 4000 years ago. In the early oral tradition, the Guru (teacher) sat with his followers and recited the verse. The followers then memorized the verse and passed it down through the generations. The verses are written in poetical or lyrical form because poems are committed to memory then prose. Also it is though that the singing of the verse took o n a sorcerous quality when used in ritual.The content of the Gita is amazing and what is even just as amazing is the way it is written. The Gita contains 18 chapters with each having numerous versus. After personally reading the Gita I have been emotionally and intellectually moved. The climb of the story and the even the personal anguish of Arjuna is enough to gain ones spare-time activity on the surface. Once the symbolism and the deeper meaning that are represent it rattling becomes a lyrical piece of literature. The piece of literature is phenomenal and to  conceive it was written thousands of years ago. This just shows that Humans still struggle with the very(prenominal) issues as one thousands of years ago. We may of advance technological, but intellectually we are still adolescents.ReferencesCampbell, Joseph and Eliade, Mircea. The Universal Myths Heros, Gods, Tricksters and Others. New York Truman Talley Books/Meridian, 1976Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli and Moore, Charl es A. Indian Philosophy. Princeton, New island of Jersey Princeton University Press, 1973Stachidananda, Sri Swami. The Living Gita, The Complete Bhagavad Gita 5th Edition. Yogaville, Virginia Integral Yoga Publications, 2003