3 - Hinduism (Part 3 - The Bhagavad Gita) PDF

Preview

Summary

Michelle...

Description

Hinduism (Part 3): Core Texts (Smriti Tradition) Yoga and the Bhagavad Gita

Zenith of Classical Hinduism ➙ 400 BCE – 400 CE

Core Texts of the Smriti Tradition: Dharmashastras ➙ c. 200 BCE – 400 CE ➙ treatises on dharma / elaborations on social system Mahabharata and Ramayana ➙ c. 400 BCE – 400 CE Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord) ➙ devotional classic, teaching 3 main paths of yoga Puranas (of ancient times) ➙ c. 200 CE – 1000 CE ➙ encyclopedic collection of stories of gods / goddesses

The Theory of Cyclical

Satya ➙ spiritual Treta ➙ mental Dwapara ➙ vital energy Kali ➙ materialism

Creation Iron

Iron

The Popular “Trinity”: Brahma = Creator Vishnu = Preserver Shiva = Destroyer

Puranic Devotional Cults: 1) Vaisnavites ➙ Devotees of Vishnu 2) Shaivites ➙ Devotees of Shiva 3) Shakti cults ➙ Devotees of Devi / Mata

Ten Incarnations

(avatara) of Vishnu (as told in the Vishnu Purana)

The Basic Story of the Mahabharata Brothers Impotent Pandu

Blind Dhritarashtra Vishnu incarnates as Krishna One hundred sons (Eldest = Duryodhana)

Five step sons (Eldest = Yudhisthira) (third son = Arjuna)

Battle of Kurukshetra

The Paths of Yoga (yoke) in the Bhagavad Gita: 1) Hatha (sun-moon) Yoga ➙ includes asanas (physical postures) and pranayamas (breath control) ➙ in the Bhagavad Gita, hatha yoga is merely preparatory for other paths

2) Jnana (knowledge) Yoga ➙ emphasis on discovering Upanisadic truth of atman-brahman oneness

Illustrating Jnana Yoga – Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2:12 – 26 Krishna speaking to Arjuna: “Never have I not existed, nor you, nor these kings; and never in the future shall we cease to exist. Just as the embodied self (atman)enters childhood, youth, and old age, so does it enter another body; this does not confound a steadfast man… Indestructible is the presence that pervades all this; no one can destroy this unchanging reality. Our bodies are known to end, but the embodied self (atman) is enduring, indestructible, and immeasurable; therefore, Arjuna, fight the battle! He who thinks this self a killer and he who thinks it killed, both fail to understand; it does not kill, nor is it killed. It is not born, it does not die; having been, it will never not be; unborn, enduring, constant, primordial, it is not killed when the body is killed. Arjuna, when a man knows the self (atman) to be indestructible, enduring, unborn, unchanging, how does he kill or cause anyone to kill? As a man discards worn-out clothes to put on new and different ones, so the embodied self (atman) discards its worn-out bodies to take on new ones. Weapons do not cut it, fire does not burn it, waters do not wet it, wind does not wither it. It cannot be cut or burned, wet or withered; it is enduring, all-pervasive, fixed, immovable, and timeless. It is called unmanifest, inconceivable, and immutable; since you know that to be so, you should not grieve. If you think of its birth and death as ever-recurring, then too, Great Warrior, you have no cause to grieve!”

The Paths of Yoga (yoke) in the Bhagavad Gita: 1) Hatha (sun-moon) Yoga ➙ includes asanas (physical postures) and pranayamas (breath control) ➙ in the Bhagavad Gita, hatha yoga is merely preparatory for other paths

2) Jnana (knowledge) Yoga ➙ emphasis on discovering Upanisadic truth of atman-brahman oneness

3) Karma (action) / Dharma (duty) Yoga ➙ emphasis on detached action (dharma for dharma’s sake)

Illustrating Karma / Dharma Yoga – Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2:31 – 48

Krishna speaking to Arjuna: “Look to your own duty; do not tremble before it; nothing is better for a warrior than a battle of sacred duty… If you fail to wage this war of sacred duty, you will abandon your own duty and fame only to gain evil… Arjuna, stand up and resolve to fight the battle! Impartial to joy and suffering, gain and loss, victory and defeat, arm yourself for the battle, lest you fall into evil… Be intent on action, not the fruits of action; avoid attraction to the fruits and attachment to inaction! Perform actions, firm in discipline, relinquishing attachments; be impartial to failure and success−−this equanimity is called discipline.”

The Paths of Yoga (yoke) in the Bhagavad Gita: 1) Hatha (sun-moon) Yoga ➙ includes asanas (physical postures) and pranayamas (breath control) ➙ in the Bhagavad Gita, hatha yoga is merely preparatory for other paths

2) Jnana (knowledge) Yoga ➙ emphasis on discovering Upanisadic truth of atman-brahman oneness

3) Karma (action) / Dharma (duty) Yoga ➙ emphasis on detached action (dharma for dharma’s sake)

4) Bhakti (devotion) Yoga ➙ emphasis on union through devotion to chosen deity ➙ in the Bhagavad Gita, devotion is to Krishna (incarnation of Vishnu)

Illustrating Bhakti Yoga Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9:17 – 28 Krishna speaking to Arjuna: “I am the universal father, mother, granter of all, grandfather, object of knowledge, purifier… I am the way, sustainer, lord, witness, shelter, refuge, friend, source, dissolution, stability, treasure, and unchanging seed… Men who worship me, thinking solely of me, always disciplined, win the reward I secure… Whatever you do−−what you take, what you offer, what you give, what penances you perform−−do as an offering to me, Arjuna! You will be freed from the bonds of action, from the fruit of fortune and misfortune; your self (atman) liberated, you will join me.” Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18:61 – 62 Krishna speaking to Arjuna: “Arjuna, the lord resides in all creatures, making them reel magically, as if a machine moved them. With your whole being, Arjuna, take refuge in him alone−−from his grace you will attain the eternal place that is peace.”

Krishna reveals his cosmic Purusha form to Arjuna

Trinity Test Site, New Mexico - July 16, 1945

Oppenheimer quotes the Bhagavad Gita:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuRvBoLu4t0

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. (11:12) Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds. (a slight misquote of 11:32 below) Lord Krishna said: I am death [time], the mighty destroyer of the world. I have come here to destroy all these people. Even without your participation in the war, all the warriors standing arrayed in the opposing armies shall cease to exist. (11.32)...