The Bhagavad Gita's Influence on Yoga
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BHAGAVADGITA PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Sir Edwin Arnold | 112 pages | 01 Feb 1994 | Dover Publications Inc. | 9780486277820 | English | New York, United States What Is the Bhagavad Gita? | The Bhagavad Gita’s Influence on Yoga - Yoga Journal The timeless message of the Bhagavad Gita does not refer only to one historical battle, but to the cosmic conflict between good and evil: life as a series of battles between Spirit and matter, soul and body, life and death, knowledge and ignorance, health and disease, changelessness and transitoriness, self-control and temptations, discrimination and the blind sense-mind The devotee should analyze his daily mental and physical actions to determine just how much of his life is ruled by the ego's ignorance delusion and body consciousness, and how much he is able to express of the soul's wisdom and divine nature. Yoga meditation is the process of cultivating and stabilizing the awareness of one's real nature, through definite spiritual and psychophysical methods and laws by which the narrow ego, the flawed hereditary human consciousness, is displaced by the consciousness of the soul. Each person has to fight his own battle of Kurukshetra. It is a war not only worth winning, but in the divine order of the universe and of the eternal relationship between the soul and God, a war that sooner or later must be won. In the holy Bhagavad Gita, the quickest attainment of that victory is assured to the devotee who, through undiscourageable practice of the divine science of yoga meditation, learns like Arjuna to hearken to the inner wisdom-song of Spirit. Sri Krishna's message in the Bhagavad Gita is the perfect answer for the modern age, and any age: Yoga of dutiful action, of nonattachment, and of meditation for God-realization. To work without the inner peace of God is Hades; and to work with His joy ever bubbling through the soul is to carry a portable paradise within, wherever one goes. The path advocated by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita is the moderate, medium, golden path, both for the busy man of the world and for the highest spiritual aspirant. To follow the path advocated by the Bhagavad Gita would be their salvation, for it is a book of universal Self-realization, introducing man to his true Self, the soul—showing him how he has evolved from Spirit, how he may fulfill on earth his righteous duties, and how he may return to God. The Gita's wisdom is not for dry intellectualists to perform mental gymnastics with its sayings for the entertainment of dogmatists; but rather to show a man or woman living in the world, householder or renunciant, how to live a balanced life that includes the actual contact of God, by following the step-by-step methods of yoga. In the beginning of creation and the advent of man, the Infinite impregnated His intelligent creative Cosmic Energy Maha-Prakriti or Holy Ghost with not only the power of repulsion—the individualizing of Cosmic Consciousness into souls and a universe of matter—but also with the power of recalling souls from their prodigal wanderings in matter back to unity with Spirit. All things come from, are made of and sustained by, and ultimately resolve into this intelligent Cosmic Energy, and thence into Spirit. Ascension follows in reverse the exact course of descension. In man, that course is the inner highway to the Infinite, the only route to divine union for followers of all religions in all ages. By whatever bypath of beliefs or practices a being reaches that singular highway, the final ascension from body consciousness to Spirit is the same for everyone: the withdrawal of life and consciousness from the senses upward through the gates of light in the subtle cerebrospinal centers, dissolving the consciousness of matter into life force, life force into mind, mind into soul, and soul into Spirit. The method of ascension is Raja Yoga, the eternal science that has been integral in creation from its inception. The Kriya Yoga technique, taught by Krishna to Arjuna and referred to in Gita chapters IV and V—28, is the supreme spiritual science of yoga meditation. Babaji himself ordained me to spread this holy science of God-union Any devotee who will emulate Arjuna—epitome of the ideal disciple—and perform his rightful duty with nonattachment, and perfect his practice of yoga meditation through a technique such as Kriya Yoga, will similarly draw the blessings and guidance of God and win the victory of Self-realization. As God talked with Arjuna, so will He talk with you. As He lifted up the spirit and consciousness of Arjuna, so will He uplift you. As He granted Arjuna supreme spiritual vision, so will He confer enlightenment on you. We have seen in the Bhagavad Gita the story of the soul's journey back to God—a journey each one must make. According to Dennis Hudson, there is an overlap between Vedic and Tantric rituals with the teachings found in the Bhagavad Gita. The Shatapatha Brahmana , for example, mentions the absolute Purusha who dwells in every human being. A story in this vedic text, states Hudson, highlights the meaning of the name Vasudeva as the 'shining one deva who dwells vasu in all things and in whom all things dwell', and the meaning of Vishnu to be the 'pervading actor'. In Bhagavad Gita, similarly, 'Krishna identified himself both with Vasudeva, Vishnu and their meanings'. Soon the work was translated into other European languages such as French , German, and Russian. John Garrett, and the efforts being supported by Sir. Mark Cubbon. In , Larson stated that "a complete listing of Gita translations and a related secondary bibliography would be nearly endless". According to Sargeant, the Gita is "said to have been translated at least times, in both poetic and prose forms". The translations and interpretations of the Gita have been so diverse that these have been used to support apparently contradictory political and philosophical values. For example, state Galvin Flood and Charles Martin, these interpretations have been used to support "pacifism to aggressive nationalism" in politics, from "monism to theism" in philosophy. According to the exegesis scholar Robert Minor, the Gita is "probably the most translated of any Asian text", but many modern versions heavily reflect the views of the organization or person who does the translating and distribution. In Minor's view, the Harvard scholar Franklin Edgerton's English translation and Richard Garbe's German translation are closer to the text than many others. The Gita has also been translated into European languages other than English. In , passages from the Gita were part of the first direct translation of Sanskrit into German, appearing in a book through which Friedrich Schlegel became known as the founder of Indian philology in Germany. The Gita Press has published the Gita in multiple Indian languages. Raghava Iyengar translated the Gita into Tamil in sandam metre poetic form. Mother Geeta in the similar shloka form. The book is significant in that unlike other commentaries of the Bhagavad Gita, which focus on karma yoga , jnana yoga , and bhakti yoga in relation to the Gita, Yogananda's work stresses the training of one's mind, or raja yoga. Bhagavad Gita integrates various schools of thought, notably Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga, and other theistic ideas. It remains a popular text for commentators belonging to various philosophical schools. However, its composite nature also leads to varying interpretations of the text and historic scholars have written bhashya commentaries on it. According to Richard Davis, the Gita has attracted much scholarly interest in Indian history and some commentaries have survived in the Sanskrit language alone. The Bhagavad Gita is referred to in the Brahma Sutras, and numerous scholars including Shankara , Bhaskara , Abhinavagupta of Shaivism tradition, Ramanuja and Madhvacharya wrote commentaries on it. He calls the Gita as "an epitome of the essentials of the whole Vedic teaching ". Abhinavagupta was a theologian and philosopher of the Kashmir Shaivism Shiva tradition. The Gita text he commented on, is slightly different recension than the one of Adi Shankara. He interprets its teachings in the Shaiva Advaita monism tradition quite similar to Adi Shankara, but with the difference that he considers both soul and matter to be metaphysically real and eternal. Their respective interpretations of jnana yoga are also somewhat different, and Abhinavagupta uses Atman, Brahman, Shiva, and Krishna interchangeably. Abhinavagupta's commentary is notable for its citations of more ancient scholars, in a style similar to Adi Shankara. However, the texts he quotes have not survived into the modern era. Ramanuja was a Hindu theologian, philosopher, and an exponent of the Sri Vaishnavism Vishnu tradition in 11th and early 12th century. Like his Vedanta peers, Ramanuja wrote a bhashya commentary on the Gita. Madhva , a commentator of the Dvaita Vedanta school, [] wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, which exemplifies the thinking of the "dualist" school Dvaita Vedanta. Madhva's commentary has attracted secondary works by pontiffs of the Dvaita Vedanta monasteries such as Padmanabha Tirtha , Jayatirtha , and Raghavendra Tirtha. The text states that Dasasloki — possibly authored by Nimbarka — teaches the essence of the Gita ; the Gita tattva prakashika interprets the Gita also in a hybrid monist-dualist manner. Vallabha the proponent of "Suddhadvaita" or pure non-dualism, wrote a commentary on the Gita, the "Sattvadipika". According to him, the true Self is the Supreme Brahman. Bhakti is the most important means of attaining liberation. With its translation and study by Western scholars beginning in the early 18th century, the Bhagavad Gita gained a growing appreciation and popularity.