Bhagavad Gita: A spiritual work of excellence
December 20th, 2011 - 8:53 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) The Bhagavad Gita, now at the heart of a row involving Russia and India, is widely seen by Eastern and Western scholars as a masterpiece in the spiritual world.
The Gita is the divine discourse delivered by Lord Krishna to his intimate disciple Arjuna. It is the most popular and well known of all sacred texts from ancient India.
Many great thinkers such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer, besides Shankara and Ramanuja, have contemplated and deliberated upon its timeless message.
Alduous Huxley called it “the clearest and most comprehensive of summaries of the perennial philosophy ever known to man”.
Gandhi said of the Gita: “When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita.”
The Gita’s 700 concise verses provide a definitive guide to the science of self realization.
Hindu scholars say that no other philosophical or religious work reveals the nature of consciousness, Self, universe and the Supreme in such a lucid manner.
On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in modern day Haryana, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna how a human can establish eternal relationship with God.
Krishna also explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, and elaborates on different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies.
The Gita’s teachings are applicable to all human beings and it does not promote any sectarian ideology.
Its authorship is ascribed to Vyasa, the compiler of the Mahabharata.
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