The Bhagavad Gita
Reviews
A review from my old blog... This book intrigued me. I've never read any holy book of other religions of the world which is why I put this book on my list. I intend to read others if for no other reason than to learn what the people of these religions believe so that I am better able to minister to them. This book is in the form of an epic poem which actually finds a home in the much larger Mahabharata, India's national epic and an epic poem larger than the more well-known Iliad or Odyssey. I won't go through all of the details of the tenants of belief presented in this book... that is a job for a much more in-depth study... but I kept thinking about the contrasts between Christianity and Hinduism. I saw aspects of the truth in the very well-written poem but I also saw the folly of man and how man tries to create his own religion. When I read the section about Krishna revealing himself I couldn't help thinking about when God revealed just a portion of His glory to Moses. While Arjuna begged for a gentler less horrific form of Krishna, Moses felt himself humbled by God showing just a portion of his glory. The primary difference comes in how these worshipers fear their god. I found the book very interesting and recommend it to those who wish to learn more about other religions.
Highlights
Indestructible is the presence that pervades all this — the self embodied in the body of every being; no one can destroy this unchanging reality.
He should elevate himself by the self, not degrade himself; for the self is its own friend and its own worst foe. The self is a friend of a man who masters himself through the self, but for a man without self-mastery, the self is like an enemy at war.
When ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the self, then, like the sun, knowledge illumines ultimate reality.
When he gives up desires in his mind, is content with the self within himself, then he is said to be a man whose insight is sure.
Our bodies are known to end, but the embodied self is enduring, indestructible, and immeasurable; therefore, Arjuna, fight the battle!
One should remember man's spirit as the guide, the primordial poet, smaller than an atom, granter of all things, in form inconceivable, the color of the sun beyond darkness.