Bhagavad Gita

Scope: This lecture deals with the Indian Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord). It begins by
characterizing the Mahabharata, the epic poem that contains the Gita, in relation to the
Homeric epics. It then considers the Gitas big question: How can Arjuna fight in a battle
against his kinsmen without accumulating a devastating amount of karma? The rest of the
Gita is a dialogue between Krishna (the incarnated Vishnu) and Arjuna, in which Krishna
introduces new ideas into traditional Hinduismideas which allow any person from any
caste to establish a direct and personal relationship with Krishna and to facilitate the
progression of the soul towards freedom from rebirth (moka) and union with the One
(Brahman). Krishna validates his teaching by revealing himself to Arjuna in his glory as a
god. We conclude by asking how the Gita relates to ideas in other literature we have
considered in the course.

Outline
I. The Mahabharata, the larger epic poem in which the Bhagavad Gita is contained, may be the
longest poem in the worldabout seven times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey combined.
A. The Mahabharata grew by accretion from about the 4th century B.C.E. to about the 4th
century C.E.
B. Its roots are with the Indo-Aryans, who came into the Indus River Valley around 1500
B.C.E. These peoples were part of the Indo-European language group, which implies that
the Mahabharatas amazing similarities to Homers epics may be a result of common
origins rather than direct influence.
1. Both poems share an epic war that brings an entire age to a close.
2. They also share supernatural machinery, characters who are part divine, an initial
situation involving loss of a possession that reflects personal honor, and a cosmic war
fought over a woman, Draupati.
C. There are also differences between the two poems.
1. The Mahabharataespecially the Bhagavad Gita, added to the epic around the 1st
century C.E.has always had a more scriptural status than the Greek epics.
2. The Mahabharata also marks an important evolution in Hindu thought that
revolutionizes traditional Hindu theology.
II. The setting for the Bhagavad Gita is the moment before the great cosmic battle is about to
begin.
A. Arjuna, one of the warriors, notices that the enemys ranks are made up of relatives,
teachers, and friendsall of the antagonists are in fact children of Bharata (as the
Hebrews are all children of Jacob/Israel).
B. Arjuna has the same kind of difficult choice as that of protagonists in Greek epic and
tragedy: he has a duty to fight but fears that he will accumulate a devastating amount of
karma by killing kinsmen and friends.
1. Karma is a law of moral nature that holds that actions produce effects which are
enacted over a period of births, deaths, and rebirths.
2. Since the goal of Hinduism is the release from the cycle of death and rebirth, karma
makes that goal ever more remote.
C. Arjuna lays down his bow and declares that he will not fight.
 D. His chariot driver is Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, who responds to Arjuna.
The rest of the poem is a dialogue between the two, centering on the question of how
Arjuna can participate in this battle without condemning himself to an eternity of rebirths.
III. Krishnas teaching is a redefinition of the relationship between God and humans in Hindu
thought.
A. Krishna assures Arjuna that a soul is immortal, so death is an illusion; no one can ever
really be killed.
B. He argues that to live is to act, and that action is necessary to keeping the self, society, and
the cosmos healthy. Vishnu incarnates himself and acts in history just for this reason.
C. Krishna says that one can act in the world without accumulating karma if one acts from
duty rather than from the hope of personal gainwhat Krishna calls the fruits of
action.
1. This can be done by undertaking every action as a personal sacrifice made directly to
God.
2. Then, paradoxically, action can lead to liberation, but only if it is done with discipline
(yoga).
D. This is a new teaching, since it allows anyone from any caste to establish a direct
relationship with God.
1. In traditional Hinduism, only a few Brahmins (members of the top caste) could liberate
themselves by not acting and by perfecting knowledge and discipline; lower castes
were mired in consequential action and continuously piled up karma.
2. Now, anyone from any caste can establish a direct relationship with God by dedicating
action to God and thereby perfecting his or her own life.
3. This new teaching will set up the rich body of future religious poetry in Hinduism,
most of which will be dedicated to Krishna.
E. To define what ones duty is, Krishna explains the caste system in Hinduism to Arjuna.
1. Humans are divided into four classes: Brahmins (intellectuals and priests); warriors,
rulers, and statesmen; businessmen; and workers and servants.
2. Each class is divided into four stages of life (student, householder, retirement, and
renunciation) and each has its appropriate goal (wealth, pleasure, social duty, and
release or liberation).
3. What one does to find ones duty is to find ones place on these superimposed grids.
4. Arjuna is in the warrior class; Krishna reminds him that this is no ordinary war but one
whose purpose is to set the cosmos right again for a while.
F. Krishna clinches his teaching by revealing himself to Arjuna in all his glory, and the poem
gives us Arjunas response to the vision.
1. As in Hebrew and Greek stories, Arjuna cannot long endure the sight of unmediated
divinity.
2. After Arjuna begs Vishnu to return to being Krishna, he picks up his bow and prepares
to fight.
IV. Modern Indian commentators have given the Gita a metaphoric, psychological reading, in
which Arjuna learns to kill the enemies of his true Selfhis illegitimate desires and passions
in order to achieve union with his real, Supreme Self.
A. Once he does this, he realizes three things:
1. The universe is one, and we cannot escape its continuity.
2. Arjunas own interests and those of the universe coincide: what is done for the
Supreme Self is done for the universe and vice versa.
 3. These awarenesses lead to a union in love with his Supreme Self (Vishnu) and to the
ability to accept the entire universe with joy and to join in its universal aims.
B. This reading matches up with Confucius saying that at a certain stage in life instinct and
duty are identical, or with Platos assertion that the life of the just man is many times
happier than the life of the unjust man.
V. The Bhagavad Gita touches on many important issues.
A. It tempts us into a hypothetical round-table discussion of important issues among famous
literary characters.
B. It has influenced and touched many people in history.
1. It influenced Goethe, Carlyle, Emerson, and Thoreau.
2. Mahatma Gandhi used it as an everyday guide to action.
Essential Reading:
Bhagavad Gita.
Supplementary Reading:
Eliot Deutsch, The Bhagavad Gita, the Introduction.
V. S. Sukthankar, On the Meaning of Mahabharata.

Questions to Consider:
1. What do you think of Krishnas argument in the Gita as a justification for war? Are there other
conceptual frameworksfor example, that of a just or unjust warthat need to be
invoked? Would these justifications for fighting be the same as Arjunas? If you were on the
other side in this war, how would Krishnas counsel strike you? Is the idea that if one is a
soldier, ones duty is to fight sufficient justification? Why or why not?
2. Pick three or four of the writers treated in this course so far and seat them at a round table to
discuss a question raised by one of the works treated so far: the withdrawal of Achilles or
Arjuna from fighting; the treatment of their respective women by Hector (Andromachae),
Jason (Media), Creon (Antigone), and Aeneas (Dido) and the different reactions of these
women; the idea that ones primary loyalty is to God rather than to any earthly good; or some
other idea that the course has suggested to you so far.