The wikipedia gives you a fine but peripheral explanation about the sacred text Bhagavad Gita. In the case of any religious texts,be it the Holy Bible,Holy Quran, or any other,the study of the written philosophy or the exact wordings, would give you just the outermost and direct meaning of the scriptures..Most often,this would prove absolutely insufficient to serve the real purpose of study..be it for your theology research or to quench your real spiritual thirst..:) That is the sole reason why the world is still divided when it comes to religious and philosophic boundaries..The recent devolopments in russia throws light on this issue..
Infact,what is the real issue in russia? Some claimed that the commentary of Bhagavad Gita written by A.C.Bhakthivedhantha Prabhupadha (the founder of ISKCON) is an extremist religious literature,and should be banned..the book is named as "BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS"..and the author claims to represent Gita in its most perfect sense..the author's history will tell you a lot about what influenced his writings..hailing from traditional vaishanava family,the man grew up to be a sanskrit scholar who mastered vedic literature..later he founded an international society to spread "Krishna conciousness" by which he proposed an exclusive way for liberation from earthly life..and he also proposed Lord Krishna to be the supreme personality of Godhead in his writings..by the time he died in 1977,ISKCON succeeded in promoting vaishnavism around the globe..by spreading the movement mainly in west and constructing temples..
The root of the problem lies in interpretting hinduism to be a religion..Then,what is hinduism,if it's not a religion? It is a way of life..a dharma..dharma does not mean religion. It is the law that governs all action. Thus, contrary to popular perception, Hinduism is not just a religion in the tradition sense of the term. Out of this misinterpretation, has come most of the misconceptions about Hinduism..In the real Bhagavad Gita, Krishna summarizes the methods to liberation or "Yogas" through eighteen chapters. Three yogas in particular have been emphasized:
A man can adopt any of these methods to realise God..total freedom is given to the man,to choose what suits his nature..it is obvious that all men don't share the same way of thinking..and there is no compulsion too regarding the strict following of this "way of life"..after all,it's not for God,but for you! And Bhaktivedhantha chose Bhakthi yoga and promoted bhakthi yoga..but, with all due respect to the great master, i still believe that he often forgot the equal importance that the other branches of "yogas" deserved in hindu scriptures..and vaishnavism was just a path for those who wanted to choose it..not a universal one..no path in any religion can be called universal..that itself destoys the very meaning of the word religion.."the opinion"!
In a nutshell,the problems in russia were born out of wrong perceptions of the scripture..it's not easy to enlighten a group of confused individuals in a court room..but,a sincere and personal attempt to understand the allegory is the only solution that remains..how peaceful the world would have been,if everyone in this world chose to do that..:)
"Delusion arises from anger..by delusion,the mind is bewildered..by bewilderment of mind, reasoning is destroyed...when reasoning is destroyed,one falls down..."
-Bhagavad Gita
Infact,what is the real issue in russia? Some claimed that the commentary of Bhagavad Gita written by A.C.Bhakthivedhantha Prabhupadha (the founder of ISKCON) is an extremist religious literature,and should be banned..the book is named as "BHAGAVAD GITA AS IT IS"..and the author claims to represent Gita in its most perfect sense..the author's history will tell you a lot about what influenced his writings..hailing from traditional vaishanava family,the man grew up to be a sanskrit scholar who mastered vedic literature..later he founded an international society to spread "Krishna conciousness" by which he proposed an exclusive way for liberation from earthly life..and he also proposed Lord Krishna to be the supreme personality of Godhead in his writings..by the time he died in 1977,ISKCON succeeded in promoting vaishnavism around the globe..by spreading the movement mainly in west and constructing temples..
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| A.C.Bhakthivedhantha Prabhupadha |
The root of the problem lies in interpretting hinduism to be a religion..Then,what is hinduism,if it's not a religion? It is a way of life..a dharma..dharma does not mean religion. It is the law that governs all action. Thus, contrary to popular perception, Hinduism is not just a religion in the tradition sense of the term. Out of this misinterpretation, has come most of the misconceptions about Hinduism..In the real Bhagavad Gita, Krishna summarizes the methods to liberation or "Yogas" through eighteen chapters. Three yogas in particular have been emphasized:
 |
| Lord Krishna seen with Radha in this painting |
- Bhakti Yoga or Devotion
- Karma Yoga or Selfless Action
- Jnana Yoga or Self Transcending Knowledge
A man can adopt any of these methods to realise God..total freedom is given to the man,to choose what suits his nature..it is obvious that all men don't share the same way of thinking..and there is no compulsion too regarding the strict following of this "way of life"..after all,it's not for God,but for you! And Bhaktivedhantha chose Bhakthi yoga and promoted bhakthi yoga..but, with all due respect to the great master, i still believe that he often forgot the equal importance that the other branches of "yogas" deserved in hindu scriptures..and vaishnavism was just a path for those who wanted to choose it..not a universal one..no path in any religion can be called universal..that itself destoys the very meaning of the word religion.."the opinion"!
In a nutshell,the problems in russia were born out of wrong perceptions of the scripture..it's not easy to enlighten a group of confused individuals in a court room..but,a sincere and personal attempt to understand the allegory is the only solution that remains..how peaceful the world would have been,if everyone in this world chose to do that..:)
"Delusion arises from anger..by delusion,the mind is bewildered..by bewilderment of mind, reasoning is destroyed...when reasoning is destroyed,one falls down..."
-Bhagavad Gita
Beautiful blog...good that you elaborated the issue.
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