The plot is basically that there is a war about to start, and a guy on the "good" side falls into despair about the whole thing and doesn't want to. Krishna then proceeds to give a long talk in response to this. He says it doesn't matter if you kill someone since the body is eternal anyway. I thought,"So why does it matter if you don't kill someone?" and he basically says it would be horrible and dishonorable not to fight--no *real* reason given. It reminds me when I used to read Howard Zinn, writing about the false concept of a just war. He didn't argue against it for spiritual reasons (which you could certainly argue, in the karmic sense), it was just the basic historical fact that war is never for the people, but a few powerful people that stand to profit. Then they make up a reason that sounds noble but usually is completely fabricated ("Remember the Maine", etc).
The views on women in the Gita are certainly based on cultural and not eternal wisdom, so it makes sense that some other untruths got in there. There are a lot of great truths though. Krishna talks most of the time about how to live, and there is enough there to make the text worth reading.
Yoga Masters looks good, quotes from lots of different yogis, ideas for more things to read. I also got a book on Qi Gong since it was recommended to me, as an alternative to sitting meditation. My mom does Qi Gong but I have a lot to learn.
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The guy I met yesterday gave me a number of tips for improving my vision--certain exercises and herbs. He spoke about focusing with a soft gaze. I did some exercises and then read in the car for the first time in years without getting motion sickness, a very big deal. I don't know if that would be true next time (once when I was ten I figured out how to focus my eyes just right, but I never was able to replicate that one time), but it's worth trying. It's like I focus just before the point where I would be straining, perhaps. It's a way of seeing the world, literally, that I had never tried before. It never made sense before doing these exercises.
The main one is to draw a sideways figure 8 with your finger (infinity) and follow it only with our eyes, focusing. Since I'm near-sighted, it seems helpful to me to not have it too close--I do it in the area where my vision starts to fade. Another good practice to try and keep up...
3 comments:
What version of the Gita are you reading??? I hear they vary very much. I am reading "The Bhagavad Gita as It Is" because it is very straight forward. But I actually prefer Yogananda's interpretations and feel like his books gave me much more insight and understanding. Check out "The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita" written by Yogananda's disciple Swami Kriyananda. The gita is entirely symbolic--so it is hard to understand without some guidance.
I can't remember offhand who wrote it (a Westerner), but I will look into the one you recommended. That's true, guidance is very important for these texts. On top of decoding the wisdom, it is from a completely different culture.
The Bhagavad Gita (like all great scriptures) is multi-leveled and is meant to pertain to each person who is reading it in their own way.
To the materialistic, The Gita is simply a historical account of a war taking place on an actual, physical battleground in India.
To the spiritualist however, the Gita is allegorical and refers to the inner battle man experiences on the spiritual path (ie. the blind king symbolizes ignorance, the 5 sons represent the 5 senses, the battlefield represents the human body)
According to Yogananda, spiritual texts hide their deepest meanings and truths in allegories to conceal their revelations from ignorant & spiritually unprepared minds.
You would probably get more out of reading his interpretations of the Gita, and it would also answer for you many of the questions you have (particularly as to why Krishna would order his disciple to fight in a war and kill his own family members). He has written several books on the Gita that you should look into.
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