The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most beloved, well-known and widely studied of the world's ancient scriptures.
It conveys the wisdom imparted by the Lord Krishna to the semi-divine warrior Arjuna prior to the cataclysmic battle of Kurukshetra, and given to Arjuna at his point of maximum doubt and despair.
The Bhagavad Gita itself is contained within the ancient Sanskrit epic of the Mahabharata, and in that epic there is an episode which explains how Krishna came to act as the noncombatant charioteer for Arjuna as the great battle approaches.
Above is a new video I've just published entitled "Arjuna's choice . . . and yours?" which explores some of the evidence that this episode (along with so many others in the Mahabharata, in common with virtually all the world's other ancient myths, scriptures, and sacred stories) is based on celestial metaphor -- and is intended to convey profound and very practical truths for our own lives in this present moment.
The episode in question is related in Section 7 of Book 5 of the great epic of ancient India, and you can read a translation of the original text (as well as the entire epic, as translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli in the final decades of the 1800s, which is linked and indexed at that website) by following this link.
In the video, we hear part of that episode involving Arjuna's choice, retold by Sudipta Bhawmik, who creates and narrates the wonderful Stories of Mahabharata podcast, which I highly recommend for anyone wishing to hear a dramatized audio version of the ancient epic. You can find all the available episodes, along with related links, embedded on the NY / NJ Bengali website here.
You can also subscribe on iTunes and give the podcast a positive review (which it absolutely deserves) here.
Arjuna's choice of Krishna over an army of ferocious warriors, and the message which Krishna later delivers to Arjuna in the Gita, hold valuable lessons for us to incorporate into our own lives. They show us how remaining in the present, and quieting the scurrying of the superficial mind into imagined future and remembered past, enable us to receive the inspiration from the invisible realm -- the realm of the gods -- and to recover our connection with our authentic self.
Above is a new video I've just published entitled "Arjuna's choice . . . and yours?" which explores some of the evidence that this episode (along with so many others in the Mahabharata, in common with virtually all the world's other ancient myths, scriptures, and sacred stories) is based on celestial metaphor -- and is intended to convey profound and very practical truths for our own lives in this present moment.
The episode in question is related in Section 7 of Book 5 of the great epic of ancient India, and you can read a translation of the original text (as well as the entire epic, as translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli in the final decades of the 1800s, which is linked and indexed at that website) by following this link.
In the video, we hear part of that episode involving Arjuna's choice, retold by Sudipta Bhawmik, who creates and narrates the wonderful Stories of Mahabharata podcast, which I highly recommend for anyone wishing to hear a dramatized audio version of the ancient epic. You can find all the available episodes, along with related links, embedded on the NY / NJ Bengali website here.
You can also subscribe on iTunes and give the podcast a positive review (which it absolutely deserves) here.
Arjuna's choice of Krishna over an army of ferocious warriors, and the message which Krishna later delivers to Arjuna in the Gita, hold valuable lessons for us to incorporate into our own lives. They show us how remaining in the present, and quieting the scurrying of the superficial mind into imagined future and remembered past, enable us to receive the inspiration from the invisible realm -- the realm of the gods -- and to recover our connection with our authentic self.
