Interpretations of the Bhagavad-Gita and Images of the Hindu Tradition

The Rhetoric of Krishna versus the Counter-Rhetoric of Vyas: The Place of Commiseration in the Mahabharat

Humanities ◽

10.3390/h8040154 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 154

Author(s):

Bhushan Aryal

Keyword(s):

Just War ◽

Human Life ◽

Hindu Tradition ◽

Bhagavad Gita ◽

The Status ◽

Human Emotions ◽

The Difference ◽

Bhagavad Gītā

In the context of the mixed perception among scholars whether the Mahabharat is a pacifist or a militant text, this paper analyzes the rhetorical project of the epic to examine its position on violence. Highlighting the existence of two main arguments in the Mahabharat, this paper argues that the author has crafted a grand rhetorical project to question the dominant war ideology of the time that Krishna presents as the divine necessity. Historically, the emergence of Krishna—one of the major characters of the epic—as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu in Hindu tradition and the extraction and elevation of the Bhagavad Gita from the epic as an independent text have undermined the complexity of Vyas’ rhetoric. This paper places Krishna’s argument within the broad rhetorical scheme of the epic and demonstrates how Vyas has represented Krishna’s rhetoric of ‘just war’ only to illustrate its pitfalls. By directing his narrative lens to the devastating consequences of the war in the later parts of the epic, Vyas problematizes Krishna’s insistence on the need to suppress human emotions to attain a higher cognitive and ontological condition. What emerges is the difference between how Vyas and Krishna view the status of feeling: the scientist Krishna thinks that human emotions and individual lives are trivial, incidental instances in the cosmic game—something not worthy of a warrior’s concern; Vyas’ rhetoric, this paper argues, restores the significance of ordinary human emotions. It is a war—not human life and feeling—that arises as a futile enterprise in Vyas’ rhetoric.

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The Traces of the Bhagavad Gita in the Perennial Philosophy—A Critical Study of the Gita’s Reception Among the Perennialists

Religions ◽

10.3390/rel11050229 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 229

Author(s):

Mohammad Syifa Amin Widigdo

Keyword(s):

Critical Examination ◽

Critical Study ◽

Hindu Tradition ◽

Bhagavad Gita ◽

Perennial Philosophy ◽

Original Works ◽

Bhagavad Gītā ◽

Human Liberation

This article studies the reception of the Bhagavad Gita within circles of Perennial Philosophy scholars and examines how the Gita is interpreted to the extent that it influenced their thoughts. Within the Hindu tradition, the Gita is often read from a dualist and/or non-dualist perspective in the context of observing religious teachings and practices. In the hands of Perennial Philosophy scholars, the Gita is read from a different angle. Through a critical examination of the original works of the Perennialists, this article shows that the majority of the Perennial traditionalists read the Gita from a dualist background but that, eventually, they were convinced that the Gita’s paradigm is essentially non-dualist. In turn, this non-dualist paradigm of the Gita influences and transforms their ontological thought, from the dualist to the non-dualist view of the reality. Meanwhile, the non-traditionalist group of Perennial Philosophy scholars are not interested in this ontological discussion. They are more concerned with the question of how the Gita provides certain ways of attaining human liberation and salvation. Interestingly, both traditionalist and non-traditionalist camps are influenced by the Gita, at the same time, inserting an external understanding and interpretation into the Gita.

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„Bhagavad-Gītā, and the Universal Wisdom of Hinduism”

Sæculum ◽

10.2478/saec-2020-0006 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 76-85

Author(s):

Dragoş Dragoman

Keyword(s):

Early Period ◽

The Self ◽

Social Constraints ◽

Single Individual ◽

Hindu Tradition ◽

Bhagavad Gita ◽

Great Body ◽

Bhagavad Gītā

AbstractThe brief episode represented by the Bhagavad-Gītā, entrenched in the great body of the epic Hindu poem Mahābhārata, is revealing for the long lasting intellectual and spiritual effort made by the enlightened Indian philosophers in order to over-pass the ritual and social constraints put in place by the Veda, during the early period of the Hindu tradition. By focusing on the dialogue between a valiant knight and the earthly incarnation of God himself, a perennial wisdom is to be noticed. This is a promise for salvation from fear and death for all who dare to follow their duty, by offering them other ways of attending the Supreme. The self-sacrifice, the renunciation to all ego and the pure love for the Divine represent sacrifices that equal those offered by Hindu priests. By this, every single individual is meant to finally embrace freedom and eternity.

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Arjuna and the Second Function: A Dumézilian Crux

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society ◽

10.1017/s1356186300011548 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 403-418 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

N.J. Allen

Keyword(s):

Central Character ◽

Hindu Tradition ◽

Bhagavad Gita ◽

The Third ◽

Cosmic Order ◽

Major Figure ◽

Bhagavad Gītā ◽

Sanskrit Epic

Arjuna is in many ways the central character of the Mahābhārata, the great Sanskrit epic. By order of birth he is the third among the Pāṇḍavas, the five sons of Pānḍu, who represent the forces of cosmic order. When, after humiliation and exile, the Pānḍ;avas finally triumph, primogeniture prevails, and it is the eldest brother, Yudhisfhira, who takes the throne; but in other respects, Arjuna is usually a more salient figure than his dutiful eldest brother. Thus it is to Arjuna that Krishna addresses his teaching in the Bhagavad Gitā (part of Book 6 of the Epic). Moreover although Pānḍu is pater to the five brothers, each has his own divine genitor, and the genitor of Arjuna is Indra, king of the gods in the classical pantheon. A paper about Arjuna is a paper about a major figure in Hindu tradition.

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