Influence of Bhagavad Gita

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The Bhagavad Gita has influenced many prominent personalities worldwide, including; Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Aldous Huxley, Henry David Thoreau, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Bulent Ecevit, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Himmler, George Harrison, Nikola Tesla among others. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Praise and Commendation

Adi Shankaracharya

This is what he thought of the Bhagavad Gita:

"From a clear knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita all the goals of human existence become fulfilled. Bhagavad-Gita is the manifest quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedic scriptures."

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Our only purpose is to present this Bhagavad-gītā As It Is in order to guide the conditioned student to the same purpose for which Kṛṣṇa descends to this planet once in a day of Brahmā, or every 8,600,000,000 years. This purpose is stated in Bhagavad-gītā, and we have to accept it as it is; otherwise there is no point in trying to understand the Bhagavad-gītā and its speaker, Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa first spoke Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god some hundreds of millions of years ago. We have to accept this fact and thus understand the historical significance of Bhagavad-gītā, without misinterpretation, on the authority of Kṛṣṇa. To interpret Bhagavad-gītā without any reference to the will of Kṛṣṇa is the greatest offense. In order to save oneself from this offense, one has to understand the Lord as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as He was directly understood by Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa's first disciple. Such understanding of Bhagavad-gītā is really profitable and authorized for the welfare of human society in fulfilling the mission of life. [4]

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley, the English writer found Gita "the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind.", He also felt, Gita is "one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity." [5]

Annie Besant

"That the spiritual man need not be a recluse, that union with the divine Life may be achieved and maintained in the midst of worldly affairs, that the obstacles to that union lie not outside us but within us—such is the central lesson of the Bhagavad-Gītā." - Annie Besant [6]

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, 11th President of India, despite being a Muslim, used to read Bhagavad Gita and recite mantras. [7] [8] In one of his speeches while referring to the Gita, he says:

"See the flower, how generously it distributes perfume & honey. It gives freely to all its love. When its work is done, it falls quietly. Try to be like the flower, unassuming despite all its qualities." [9]

He uses the metaphor of a flower to illustrate the essence of this verse. The flower distributes its perfume and honey freely, without expecting anything in return, and falls quietly once its purpose is fulfilled. This reflects the idea of performing one's duties (karma) selflessly and without attachment to the outcomes (phala), which is the core message of Gita (2.47).

Bulent Ecevit

Turkish Ex prime minister Bulent Ecevit, when asked what had given him the courage to send Turkish troops to Cyprus . His answer was "He was fortified by the Bhagavad Gita which taught that if one were morally right, one need not hesitate to fight injustice". [10]

E. Sreedharan

"You see, spirituality has no religious overtones. The essence of spirituality is to make a person pure in his mind and his thoughts. When I started reading our old scriptures, like the “Baghavad Gita,” I found it was useful for day-to-day life, so I started practicing it. I consider it an administrative gospel, one that will help you in doing things like running an organization". - E. Sreedharan [11]

Henry David Thoreau

He wrote "In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial." [12]

Hermann Graf Keyserling

Hermann Graf Keyserling, German Philosopher regarded Bhagavad-Gita as "Perhaps the most beautiful work of the literature of the world." [13]

Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse felt that "the marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion." [5]

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India found that "The Bhagavad Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe." [14]

J. Robert Oppenheimer
The Trinity test of the Manhattan Project was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, which lead Oppenheimer to recall verses from the Bhagavad Gita, notably: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". Trinity Detonation T&B.jpg
The Trinity test of the Manhattan Project was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, which lead Oppenheimer to recall verses from the Bhagavad Gita, notably: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".

J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original form, and cited it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. [15] In a letter to his brother, Oppenheimer wrote that the Gita was "very easy and quite marvelous". He later called the Gita "the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue" and gave copies of the text as presents to his friends. Oppenheimer kept a personal, worn-out copy of the Gita on the bookshelf by his desk, and kept referring to it while directing the Los Alamos Laboratory. [16] : 544  [17] Oppenheimer recalled that while witnessing the explosion of the Trinity nuclear test, he thought of verses from the Bhagavad Gita (10,12):

दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता। यदि भाः सदृशी सा स्याद्भासस्तस्य महात्मनः।।११-१२।। [18] If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one... [19] [20]

Years later he would explain that another verse had also entered his head at that time:

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another. [21] [lower-alpha 1]

Oppenheimer also quoted a passage from the Gita at the memorial service of President Franklin Roosevelt in Los Alamos. [16]

Lord Warren Hastings

Lord Warren Hastings, the first governor general of British India wrote: "I hesitate not to pronounce the Gita a performance of great originality, of sublimity of conception, reasoning and diction almost unequalled; and a single exception, amongst all the known religions of mankind." [26]

Mahatma Gandhi

The Bhagavad Gita's emphasis on selfless service was a prime source of inspiration for Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi told: "When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day." [5]

Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi, the 14th prime minister of India, called the Bhagavad Gita "India's biggest gift to the world". [27] Modi gave a copy of it to the then President of the United States of America, Barack Obama in 2014 during his U.S. visit. [28]

Ramanujacharya

Acharya Ramanuja (1017-1137) was like Adi Shankaracharya, a great exponent of Vishistadvaita Vedanta.

The Bhagavad-Gita was spoken by Lord Krishna to reveal the science of devotion to God which is the essence of all spiritual knowledge. The Supreme Lord Krishna's primary purpose for descending and incarnating is to relieve the world of any demoniac and negative, undesirable influences that are opposed to spiritual development, yet simultaneously it is His incomparable intention to be perpetually within reach of all humanity. [29]

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, remarked the following after his first study of the Gita, and thereafter frequently quoted the text in his journals and letters, particularly the "work with inner renunciation" idea in his writings on man's quest for spiritual energy: [30]

"I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent,the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us." [31] [32]

Rudolf Steiner

"If we want to approach such a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-gita with full understanding it is necessary for us to attune our souls to it. "- Rudolf Steiner [33]

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda evinced much interest in Bhagavad Gita. He called the Bhagavad Gita "a bouquet composed of the beautiful flowers of spiritual truths collected from the Upanishads." [34] It is said, Bhagavad Gita was one of his two most favourite books (another one was The Imitation of Christ ). In 1888-1893 when Vivekananda was travelling all over India as a wandering monk, he kept only two books with him — Bhagavad Gita and Imitation of Christ. [35]

Sri Aurobindo

According to Sri Aurobindo, the "Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than a book, with a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization." [5]

Sunita Williams

Sunita Williams, an American astronaut who holds the record for longest single space flight by a woman carried a copy of Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads with her to space, said "Those are spiritual things to reflect upon yourself,life, world around you and see things other way, I thought it was quite appropriate" while talking about her time in space. [36]

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Wilhelm von Humboldt pronounced the Gita as: "The most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing in any known tongue ... perhaps the deepest and loftiest thing the world has to show." [37]

Will Smith

Hollywood actor Will Smith said "I am 90% through the Bhagavad Gita... My inner Arjuna is being channelled. [38]

Criticism and apologetics

Varna and svadharma

The Gita has been cited and criticized as a Hindu text that supports varna-dharma and the caste system. [39] [40] [41] [42] B. R. Ambedkar, born in a Dalit family and served as the first Law Minister in the First Nehru Ministry, criticized the text for its stance on caste and for "defending certain dogmas of religion on philosophical grounds". [41] According to Jimmy Klausen, Ambedkar in his essay Krishna and his Gita stated that the Gita was a "tool" of Brahmanical Hinduism and for its latter-day saints such as Mahatma Gandhi and Lokmanya Tilak. To Ambedkar, states Klausen, it is a text of "mostly barbaric, religious particularisms" offering "a defence of the kshatriya duty to make war and kill, the assertion that varna derives from birth rather than worth or aptitude, and the injunction to perform karma" neither perfunctorily nor egotistically. [43]

In his Myth and Reality, D.D. Kosambi argued that "practically anything can be read into the Gita by a determined person, without denying the validity of a class system." [44] Kosambi argued that the Gita was a scripture that supported the superiority of the higher varnas while seeing all other varnas as "defiled by their very birth, though they may in after-life be freed by their faith in the god who degrades them so casually in this one." [44] He quotes the Gita which states that Krishna says "The four-caste (class) division has been created by Me." [44] [45] Similarly, V. R. Narla also argues that the Gita states that God created the caste (varna) system. [46] Narla also critiques the Gita for stating that those who are not kshatriyas or Brahmins are "born from sinful wombs". [46]

The Gita presents its teaching in the context of a war where the warrior Arjuna is in inner crisis about whether he should renounce and abandon the battlefield, or fight and kill the enemy (which includes many relatives and friends of his). He is advised by Krishna to do his sva-dharma, a term that has been variously interpreted. According to the Indologist Paul Hacker, the contextual meaning in the Gita is the "dharma of a particular varna". [47] In this case, Arjuna is part of the warrior ( kshatriya ) varna (social class), so Krishna is telling Arjuna to do what warrior social class must do by virtue of his belonging to that class. [47]

Neo-Hindus such as Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, states Hacker, have preferred to not translate it in those terms, or "dharma" as religion, but leave Gita's message as "everyone must follow his sva-dharma". [48] According to Chatterjee, the Hindus already understand the meaning of that term. To render it in English for non-Hindus for its better understanding, one must ask what is the sva-dharma for the non-Hindus? The Lord, states Chatterjee, created millions and millions of people, and he did not ordain dharma only for Indians [Hindus] and "make all the others dharma-less", for "are not the non-Hindus also his children"? According to Chatterjee, the Krishna's religion of Gita is "not so narrow-minded". [48] This argument, states Hacker, is an attempt to "universalize Hinduism". [48]

Nadkarni and Zelliot present the opposite view, citing early Bhakti saints of the Krishna-tradition such as the 13th-century saint Dnyaneshwar. [49] According to Dnyaneshwar, the Gita starts off with the discussion of sva-dharma in Arjuna's context but ultimately shows that caste differences are not important. For Dnyaneshwar, people err when they see themselves distinct from each other and Krishna, and these distinctions vanish as soon as they accept, understand and enter with love unto Krishna. [50] [51]

According to Swami Vivekananda, sva-dharma in the Gita does not mean "caste duty", rather it means the duty that comes with one's life situation (mother, father, husband, wife) or profession (soldier, judge, teacher, doctor). For Vivekananda, the Gita was an egalitarian scripture that rejected caste and other hierarchies because of its verses such as 13.27—28, which states "He who sees the Supreme Lord dwelling equally in all beings, the Imperishable in things that perish, he sees verily. For seeing the Lord as the same everywhere present, he does not destroy the Self by the Self, and thus he goes to the highest goal." [52] [note 1]

Aurobindo modernises the concept of dharma by internalising it, away from the social order and its duties towards one's personal capacities, which leads to a radical individualism, [55] "finding the fulfilment of the purpose of existence in the individual alone." [55] He deduced from the Gita the doctrine that "the functions of a man ought to be determined by his natural turn, gift, and capacities", [55] that the individual should "develop freely" [55] and thereby would be best able to serve society. [55]

Gandhi's view differed from Aurobindo's view. [56] He recognised in the concept of sva-dharma his idea of svadeshi (sometimes spelled swadeshi), the idea that "man owes his service above all to those who are nearest to him by birth and situation." [56] To him, svadeshi was "sva-dharma applied to one's immediate environment." [57]

According to Jacqueline Hirst, the universalist neo-Hindu interpretations of dharma in the Gita are modernist readings, though any study of pre-modern distant foreign cultures is inherently subject to suspicions about "control of knowledge" and bias on the various sides. [58] Hindus have their own understanding of dharma that goes much beyond the Gita or any particular Hindu text. [58] Further, states Hirst, the Gita should be seen as a "unitary text" in its entirety rather than a particular verse analyzed separately or out of context. Krishna is presented as a teacher who "drives Arjuna and the reader beyond initial preconceptions". The Gita is a cohesively knit pedagogic text, not a list of norms. [59]

Revisionism and reinterpretation

Novel interpretations of the Gita, along with apologetics on it, have been a part of the modern era revisionism and renewal movements within Hinduism. [60] Bankim Chandra Chatterji, the author of Vande Mataram – the national song of India, challenged orientalist literature on Hinduism and offered his interpretations of the Gita, states Ajit Ray. [61] [62] Bal Gangadhar Tilak interpreted the karma yoga teachings in Gita as a "doctrine of liberation" taught by Hinduism, [63] while Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan stated that the Bhagavad Gita teaches a universalist religion and the "essence of Hinduism" along with the "essence of all religions", rather than a private religion. [64]

Mass recitation of the Bhagavad Gita by one lakh people in Kolkata, 24th December c. 2023 CE. Mass Recitation Of The Bhagavad Gita By One Lakh People - Kolkata 20231224 120132.jpg
Mass recitation of the Bhagavad Gita by one lakh people in Kolkata, 24th December c. 2023 CE.

Vivekananda's works contained numerous references to the Gita, such as his lectures on the four yogas – Bhakti, Jnana, Karma, and Raja. [65] Through the message of the Gita, Vivekananda sought to energise the people of India to reclaim their dormant but strong identity. [66] Aurobindo saw Bhagavad Gita as a "scripture of the future religion" and suggested that Hinduism had acquired a much wider relevance through the Gita. [67] Sivananda called Bhagavad Gita "the most precious jewel of Hindu literature" and suggested its introduction into the curriculum of Indian schools and colleges. [68]

According to Ronald Neufeldt, it was the Theosophical Society that dedicated much attention and energy to the allegorical interpretation of the Gita, along with religious texts from around the world, after 1885 and given H. P. Blavatsky, Subba Rao and Anne Besant writings. [69] Their attempt was to present their "universalist religion". These late 19th-century theosophical writings called the Gita as a "path of true spirituality" and "teaching nothing more than the basis of every system of philosophy and scientific endeavor", triumphing over other "Samkhya paths" of Hinduism that "have degenerated into superstition and demoralized India by leading people away from practical action". [69]

Notes

  1. ↑ Oppenheimer spoke these words in the television documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb (1965). [21] Oppenheimer read the original text in Sanskrit, "kālo'smi lokakṣayakṛtpravṛddho lokānsamāhartumiha pravṛttaḥ" (XI,32), [22] which he translated as "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". In the literature, the quote usually appears in the form shatterer of worlds, because this was the form in which it first appeared in print, in Time magazine on November 8, 1948. [23] It later appeared in Robert Jungk's Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists (1958), [24] which was based on an interview with Oppenheimer. [25]
  1. ↑ This view in the Gita of the unity and equality in the essence of all individual beings as the hallmark of a spiritually liberated, wise person is also found in the classical and modern commentaries on Gita verses 5.18, 6.29, and others. [53] [54] Scholars have contested Kosambi's criticism of the Gita based on its various sections on karma yoga, bhakti yoga and jnana yoga. [45]

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References

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  3. ↑ Hume, Robert Ernest (1959), The world's living religions, p. 29
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  7. ↑ "Three books that influenced APJ Abdul Kalam deeply – Firstpost". 28 July 2015. Archived from the original on 30 July 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  8. ↑ Abdul kalam sir about holy Bhagavad geeta on YouTube
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  10. ↑ "The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion". www.telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2002. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  11. ↑ TIMMONS, HEATHER; RAINA, PAMPOSH (5 October 2011). "A Conversation With: E. Sreedharan". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  12. ↑ Steiner, Rudolf, The Bhagavad Gita and the West: The Esoteric Significance of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to the Epistles of Paul, p. 43
  13. ↑ The Huston Smith Reader. p. 122.
  14. ↑ Sushama Londhe. A Tribute to Hinduism: Thoughts and Wisdom Spanning Continents and Time about India and Her Culture. Pragun Publications. p. 191.
  15. ↑ "Of Oppenheimer and the Bhagwat Gita (Lead, correcting intro) (April 22 is the 113th birth anniversary of Robert Oppenheimer)". The Economic Times.
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  41. 1 2 Maitra 2018, p. 22.
  42. ↑ Maitra, Keya (2018). Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita: A Contemporary Introduction. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN   978-1-350-04017-5.
  43. ↑ Jimmy Casas Klausen (2013). Elena Loizidou (ed.). Disobedience: Concept and Practice. Routledge. pp. 71–72. ISBN   978-1-135-14383-1.
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  45. 1 2 : 231–238 M.V. Nadkarni (2016). The Bhagavad-Gita for the Modern Reader: History, Interpretations and Philosophy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-315-43899-3.
  46. 1 2 V. R. Narla (2010), The Truth About the Gita, pp. 154-159. Prometheus Books.
  47. 1 2 Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 264.
  48. 1 2 3 Hacker & Halbfass 1995, pp. 261–262.
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  50. ↑ Doranne Jacobson; Eleanor Zelliot; Susan Snow Wadley (1992). From untouchable to Dalit: essays on the Ambedkar Movement. Manohar Publications. pp. 21–22. ISBN   978-81-85425-37-5.
  51. ↑ M.V. Nadkarni 2016, pp. 232–233.
  52. ↑ M.V. Nadkarni 2016, pp. 96–97.
  53. ↑ Fowler 2012, pp. 100, 118–119.
  54. ↑ M.V. Nadkarni 2016, pp. 233–234.
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  56. 1 2 Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 267.
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  58. 1 2 Jacqueline Hirst (1997). Julius Lipner (ed.). The Fruits of Our Desiring: An Enquiry Into the Ethics of the Bhagavadgītā for Our Times. Bayeux. pp. 50–51. ISBN   978-1-896209-30-2.
  59. ↑ Jacqueline Hirst (1997). Julius Lipner (ed.). The Fruits of Our Desiring: An Enquiry Into the Ethics of the Bhagavadgītā for Our Times. Bayeux. pp. 50–58. ISBN   978-1-896209-30-2.
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