Bhagavad Gita- my (a commoner's) viewpoint


Book Description

Do we know a truth – the secret of our lives? It is our mercurial mind that ties us to everything that we do or imagine to do. You try to control the mind and its deputies, the indriyas (sensory organs), and you attain success at any stage in this short life. A success, let us not measure in terms of a materialistic gain only. Bhagavad Gita was originally scripted in Sanskrit – the language you and I may not know – and it is a reservoir of divine truths. Is a language really a barrier for us? No. Let us imagine ourselves to be on the vast shore of an ocean eagerly and hungrily picking up pebbles of knowledge to unravel the mystery of this life – particularly of our life in human form – through this Gita, the song of the unknown Creator of this beautiful world.




devotion and divinity


Book Description

The book is styled as a story-like narration, fusing two yugas – Treta and Dwapur yugas with an underlying theme of ‘Devotion and Divinity’. It is fashioned from an amusing thought in author’s mind that strongly urged him to fathom deep into the past and enjoy whatever it could grasp. Certainly, it worked and did find its own reflection in both the yugas. The result is profound! Hidden inside a vanara in Kishkindha, the mind could wander with devotion on Anjaneya. It could witness with bewilderment the unflinching faith of the mighty vanara towards the divine Sri Rama. In the form of a gopika, it could also cherish intimacy with the gopikas in Brindavan and relish their deep dedication and transcendental love towards the Divine Sri Krishna. Thus, behind this seemingly simple imaginative narration, the author subtly infuses sublime truths about the need to develop unegoistic and unselfish devotion on Divine Almighty to lead a purposeful life in this mortal world.




Bhagavad-Gita as it is


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Word of God Bhagavad Gita


Book Description

The scripture of the Bhagavad Gita was given by God's incarnation Sri Krishna to humanity more than 5,000 years ago. The profound teachings of the Holy book are as relevant in today’s world as it was in the hoary past. The teaching of the Song of God, in the form of the Bhagavad Gita, has been acknowledged all over the world as a lofty scripture. The Holy book has been translated into all major languages of the world, for the benefit of humanity. For thousands of years, the Bhagavad Gita has inspired millions of readers.




Spirituality and Indian Psychology


Book Description

With the emergence of positive psychology in the West, and the many fold discovery of the impact of psychology in one’s life, there is a need to understand spirituality, and to use its positive aspects to maintain a balance in hectic modern life. This book presents models for mapping basic psychological processes and their relationships. It covers basic constructs like cognition, emotion, behavior, desires, creativity, as well as applied topics like personal happiness, intercultural conflict handling, and world peace.




Introduction to Old Javanese Language and Literature


Book Description

The oldest and most extensive written language of Southeast Asia is Old Javanese, or Kawi. It is the oldest language in terms of written records, and the most extensive in the number and variety of its texts. Javanese literature has taken many forms. At various times, prose stories, sung poetry or other metrical types, chronicles, scientific, legal, and philosophical treatises, prayers, chants, songs, and folklore were all written down. Yet relatively few texts are available in English. The unstudied texts remaining are an unexplored record of Javanese culture as well as a language still alive as a literary medium in Bali. Introduction to Old Javanese Language and Literature represents a first step toward remedying the dearth of Old Javanese texts available to English-speaking students. The ideal teaching companion, this anthology offers transliterated original texts with facing-page English translations. Theanthology focuses on prose selections, since their straightforward style and syntax offer the beginning student the most rewarding experience. Four sections make up the collection. Part I offers several short readings as the most accessible entry point into Old Javanese. Part II contains two moralistic fables from an Old Javanese retelling of the Hindu Pañcatantra cycle. Part III takes up the epic, providing excerpts from one of the books of the Old Javanese retelling of the Mahābhārata. Part IV offers excerpts from two chronicles, the generic conventions of which challenge received notions of history writing because of their supernaturalism and folkloric elements. Includes introduction, glossary, and notes.




Yugandhar


Book Description




The Difficulty of Being Good


Book Description

Why should we be good? How should we be good? And how might we more deeply understand the moral and ethical failings--splashed across today's headlines--that have not only destroyed individual lives but caused widespread calamity as well, bringing communities, nations, and indeed the global economy to the brink of collapse? In The Difficulty of Being Good, Gurcharan Das seeks answers to these questions in an unlikely source: the 2,000 year-old Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata. A sprawling, witty, ironic, and delightful poem, the Mahabharata is obsessed with the elusive notion of dharma--in essence, doing the right thing. When a hero does something wrong in a Greek epic, he wastes little time on self-reflection; when a hero falters in the Mahabharata, the action stops and everyone weighs in with a different and often contradictory take on dharma. Each major character in the epic embodies a significant moral failing or virtue, and their struggles mirror with uncanny precision our own familiar emotions of anxiety, courage, despair, remorse, envy, compassion, vengefulness, and duty. Das explores the Mahabharata from many perspectives and compares the successes and failures of the poem's characters to those of contemporary individuals, many of them highly visible players in the world of economics, business, and politics. In every case, he finds striking parallels that carry lessons for everyone faced with ethical and moral dilemmas in today's complex world. Written with the flair and seemingly effortless erudition that have made Gurcharan Das a bestselling author around the world--and enlivened by Das's forthright discussion of his own personal search for a more meaningful life--The Difficulty of Being Good shines the light of an ancient poem on the most challenging moral ambiguities of modern life.




Thoughts on the Gita


Book Description

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important scriptures of the Hindus. The very fact that this scripture has been commented upon by innumerable saints only highlights its great importance. This being the case, readers would find it deeply interesting to know what Swami Vivekananda had to say regarding it. In the pages of this booklet are found those wonderful ideas and authoritative statements regarding Gita by one who was aptly fit to bring out the hidden significance and essence of this great scripture. Published by Advaita Ashrama, a publication house of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India.




Lessons in Spiritual Economics from the Bhagavad-Gita


Book Description

"Spiritual Economics" is a cross-disciplinary study combining psychology, economics and the spiritual science of the Vedas to explain why there is vulture capitalism, cut-throat competition, unending economic hardship, exploitation, inequity, and struggle in this world. Spiritual Economics explains why present economic methods can do nothing to solve these problems, reveals the actual source of our economic problems, and explains the only factual solution that can create an economy that serves everyone. Spiritual Economics also explains the origin and solution of our ecological problems.There is a link between economic activity and human consciousness. Economics is not a physical science like electromagnetism that works according to natural laws. It is a set of ideas entirely created by human beings. The most important side of the economic equation therefore, is the human side, but this side is totally neglected in all discussions of economics. Since economics is a man-made creation, if we want to understand the economic problem and its solution we must understand how and why human beings act in this world. That will give us the insight needed to properly adjust all of the parameters of the economic calculus to get the desired result. Only Spiritual Economics explains the whys and wherefores of human behavior in relationship to their economic activity.