Thursday, November 12, 2015

The BG pt 2

After the finished the Bhagavad Gita now, there are a couple things that I am taking away from it.  First, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, and it is going to be a book that I will keep with me and most likely read again in the future if not multiple times.  Mostly because reading it will bring me back to many of the core principles of yoga and remind me of the benefits that I can receive.  So when I get stress and have stopped doing a personal practice, this could be my little kick start to begin again.
The other thing that I wanted to get off my chest before talking more about what I thought about the Bhagavad Gita.  I will warn yall this is a spoilers so skip to the next paragraph is you care about that. I didn’t like the ending.  Compared to the situation set at the beginning of the book, it is completely anticlimactic and a huge let down. I understand that the majority of the book with the discussion between Krishna and Arjuna, time has stopped and the fact that they are sitting in an open chariot in the middle of two armies about to fight isn’t a big deal.  But the reason they have this discussion so Arjuna can ask Krishna his advice on beginning the battle anyway because its against his own family.  I get that.  You’re telling me though that now after 15ish chapters of this discussion, they never tell you what Arjuna decides? Really?  It just ends with the storyteller saying that this is the discussion that they had.  Nothing after Arjuna saying he will follow Krishna’s will or what that will is.  I was hoping for at least a, “lets call off the battle” or maybe a, “we will win this because it is what’s right.” But no. Nothing. It just ends.  Really big letdown for me personally.
Enough of that rant, and moving on.  Like I said earlier, overall I really did enjoy the book and story told.  I think that it is a really useful and easy way to get into the meaning of the sutras without having to go through the sutras and dig into them individually. Especially when you don’t have the ability we did in class of having the time to discuss them with other very smart and in tune people.  I know I would have missed half of what the sutras said if I could ask questions and bounce ideas off of my classmates. I just hope they feel the same. 

Still with this idea that it is a good way to introduce it, there is a bit of difference between them. The first is who Krishna is a representation the most powerful and high god in Hindu and the Sutras done mention any specific god but more of the god that you personally connect with. Some of that is because there are multiple gods in the Hindu faith, but it also leaves a more open interpretation for those who are not of the Hindu faith to incorporate what the Sutras say into their own faith and I think that is harder to do through the Bhagavad Gita.

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