Tuesday, March 11th, 2014
The Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita is like the Hindu bible. It shows the conversation between Arjuna the warrior and his charioteer, the God Krishna. Before the war starts it shows the two families called the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Both of these families though belong to the Bharata family and essentially these two families are cousins. But as time goes on these two families drift apart and end up going to war. And the protagonist Arjuna is faced with a decision on whether he should attack the Kauravas or not. Arjuna looks to Krishna for help or advice on what he should do. This is when Krishna begins to tell Arjuna of the three different paths. The first is Karmamarga which is the path of action. The second is Jñanamarga which is the path of knowledge. And the third is Bhaktimarga which is the path of devotion.
In K. N. Upadhyaya article The Bhagavad Gita on War and Peace, he raises the question whether the Gita enjoins violent or nonviolent means. He then goes on to talk about the three spiritual paths and finally comes to his conclusion.
Discussion Question: Out of the path of knowledge, path of action, or path of devotion. Which do you think is the most important path? Why?