Study Questions for the Bhagavad-Gita PDF

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Study Questions for The Bhagavad-Gita First Teaching: Who is the narrator of The Bhagavad-Gita? Krishna What is the setting for the narrative? The eve of an expected battle between five pandava brothers and their cousins who have cheated the pandavas of their rightful knogdom What dilemma confronts the narrative's hero, Arjuna? (See the link "Background on The Bhagavad-Gita" on Canvas for a helpful video on the text!) Second Teaching: Arjuna appeals to Krishna for help vis-à-vis his dilemma: "I am your pupil. / Teach me what I seek" (2.7).1 Who is Krishna? What does Krishna try to teach Arjuna about "the embodied self"? (2.13). What is the nature of that self in regard to "heat and cold, pleasure and pain"? (2.14). Krishna tells Arjuna, "Indestructible is the presence / that pervades all this" (2.17). What presence? He also says, "the cycle is inevitable" (2.27). What cycle? In the first teaching, Arjuna had worried about committing "sin" if he were to kill his kinsmen (1.45). In light of this, is there any irony in what Krishna says at 2.31-33? According to Krishna, how should Arjuna act? (2.47-49). Third Teaching: Can an embodied self exist without acting? Why or why not? What type of action should one perform and how would one know to perform this action? (3.8). Fourth Teaching: What does Krishna suggest about himself, about his true nature, in this teaching? (4.710). How can one "do nothing at all" even when one acts? (4.20). What is the nature of Arjuna's "delusion," which Krishna mentions at the end of this teaching? (4.35). In Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud claims that religion's "technique consists in depressing the value of life and distorting the picture of the real world in a delusional manner — which presupposes an intimidation of the intelligence" (36). Do you think Freud would see Krishna as doing this with Arjuna? What would Krishna make of Freud's claim about religion? Fifth Teaching: Why is "discipline" important? In other words, how does "discipline help one to cope with action? What does knowledge of the "self" have to do with disciplined action? "When ignorance is destroyed / by knowledge of the self, / then, like the sun, knowledge / illumines ultimate reality" (5.16). Sixth Teaching: What characterizes "the man of discipline"? (6.8). How should this person feel about friends? Enemies? (See 6.7-15). How does this person see the world? (6.29-32). Seventh Teaching: According to Krishna, what "four types of men" are devoted to him? (7.16). Which type of man is "set apart"? (7.17). Why? - Tormented man - Seeker of wisdom - The suppliant - The sage - The disciplined man of knowledge is set apart by his singular devotion; I am dear to the man of knowledge, and he is dear to me Tenth Teaching: What realization does Arjuna come to about Krishna in this teaching? (10.12-15). What boon does he ask of Krishna? (10.16-18). Krishna says, "I am the self abiding / in the heart of all creatures" (10.20). Is this sense of "self" the same as the word's sense from earlier in the text? Eleventh Teaching: Vishnu's theophany. Consider Arjuna's descriptions of the godhead. What words would you use to describe it? Sublime, awesome, majestic?

Twelfth Teaching: What difficulty faces "men constrained by bodies"? (12.5). How must one comport oneself vis-à-vis the external world? (12.13-20). Indeed, Krishna says that devotion leads one to be "indifferent": "Disinterested, pure, skilled, / indifferent, untroubled, / relinquishing all involvements, / devoted to me, he is dear to me" (12.16). In this sense, what does it mean to be "indifferent"? Is it a negative thing? (See above about how one should behave toward friends and enemies.) Fourteenth Teaching: Krishna discusses three forces: "Lucidity, passion, dark inertia — / these qualities inherent in nature / bind the unchanging / embodied self in the body" (14.5). Consider how Krishna characterizes each one (14.6-8). Later, Arjuna asks, "Lord, what signs mark a man / who passes beyond the three qualities?" (14.21). Briefly summarize Krishna's response. Does he reiterate points he has made already? - Most positive – lucidity - Worst - dark inertia Sixteenth Teaching: "All creatures in the world / are either divine or demonic" (16.6). What characteristics differentiate the divine and the demonic? Can you name a character from a previous reading who has divine qualities? Demonic qualities? Specify. Eighteenth Teaching: At the end of the dialogue, Krishna tells Arjuna, "This knowledge I have taught / is more arcane than any mystery — / consider it completely, / then act as you choose" (18.63). Does Arjuna decide to fight the battle? How do you know? General Connections: If Krishna were to engage in a dialogue with Gilgamesh, as opposed to Arjuna, what could he teach him about the nature of the self, sacred duty and action? Does Gilgamesh suffer from any of the misapprehensions that beset Arjuna at the beginning of the Bhagavad-Gita? (Consider Gilgamesh’s perception of death, for instance.) Do you think Krishna would be able to ease Gilgamesh's anguish regarding the death of Enkidu? Important Terms: self, sacred duty (dharma), knowledge, action, discipline, devotion.

Notes 1

Teaching 2, stanza 7. Bibliography

The Bhagavad-Gita. Trans. Barbara Stoler Miller. New York: Bantam, 1986. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Andrew George. London: Penguin, 2003. Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Trans. and Ed. James Strachey. New York: Norton, 1961. Arjuna decides to fight the battle - Under the delusion of duty to his family, but scared duty is what matters...