B - Krishna + Arjuna

• Arjuna's dilemma


  Finds himself on the battlefield, but loves people on the opposite side, struggles with his duty to fight
• Teachings on duty


  • Arjuna is a warrior and therefore must fight – importance of svadharma
  • Dharma supersedes any other obligation
  • Following one's duty allows others to do the same - rta
  • Those who die will live on - atman + samsara
• Nature of God


  • Link to samkhya philosophy - God, prakriti and purusha
  • Idea of being distracted by the gunas
  • Purusha strives to be released from prakriti
  • God is radically personalised
• Bhakti yoga


  • Loving devotion to a personal God
  • Every action and thought acts as a sacrifice to this God
  • God will return love by removing karmic consequences and granting moksha
• Jnana yoga


  • Path of knowledge, specifically experiential knowledge of relationship with God
  • Realising impermanence of the physical world of prakriti and gunas
  • Detachment to attain true knowledge
• Significance of Bhagavad Gita


  • Introduction of more than onepath to moksha - evolution of Hinduism
  • Development of thought while still maintaining concepts of varna and dharma
  • God as deeply personal - shift from Upanishads
  • Impact of bhakti → dalits, ISKCON, Hindu diaspora
• Karma yoga


  The path of unselfish action
• Karma yoga


  • A spiritual seeker should act according to dharma, without being attached to the fruits or personal consequences
  • Must act in order to survive - but not in order to gain but because it's what must be done
  • Practising detachment and indifference to the sense world
  • Purifies the mind
• Arjuna must fight


  Because it needs to be done, not because he wants glory that follows
• Paths to liberation


  • Jnana yoga
  • Karma yoga
  • Bhakti yoga
• Arjuna's dilemma


  Finds himself on a battlefield about to start a war with those he loves on the opposite side
• Arjuna does not want to kill those he loves, even though it is his duty and he is on the 'right' side
• Krishna is Arjuna's charioteer, even though Arjuna doesn't yet realise
• Duty (according to the Bhagavad Gita)

  • Arjuna is a warrior and therefore he must fight
  • Dharma supersedes any other obligation
  • Following one's duty enables others to do so - link to rta
  • Doing your duty will result in good karma
  • It is better to do one's own dharma, even though imperfectly, than to do another's dharma, even though perfectly. By doing one's innate duties, a person does not incur sin
  • Those who die will live on - teachings on atman and samsara
• Nature of God and the world (according to the Bhagavad Gita)

  • Link to Samkhya philosophy - 3 things exist - God, prakriti and purusha
  • In the BG God is radically personalised
  • Three gunas that create difference in prakriti
  • Attracted to the sense world, distracted by the gunas
  • Purusha strives to be released from prakriti
• Bhakti yoga


  • Loving devotion to a personal god
  • Every action and thought acts as a sacrifice to this god
  • God will return love by removing karmic consequences as granting moksha
  • O Arjun, by unalloyed devotion alone can I be known as I am, standing before you. Thereby, on receiving My divine vision, O scorcher of foes, one can enter into union with Me
• Jnana yoga


  • Path of knowledge
  • Realising the impermanence of the physical world of prakriti and the gunas
  • Only through detachment can one attain True Knowledge
  • Knowing the Self and its relationship to God
• Significance of the Bhagavad Gita

  • The introduction of more than one path to moksha - the evolution of Hinduism
  • Development of thought whilst still maintaining traditional teachings such as varna and dharma
  • God as deeply personal - a shift from the Upanishads
  • The impact of bhakti - Dalits, ISKCON, diaspora
• Karma yoga


  The path of unselfish action
• Karma yoga


  • A spiritual seeker should act according to dharma, without being attached to the fruits or personal consequences
  • Must act in order to survive - but not in order to gain but because it's what must be done
  • Practising detachment and indifference to the sense world
  • Purifies the mind
• BG 9.26

  If one offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or even water, I delightfully partake of that item offered with love by My devotee in pure consciousness.
• The Supreme divine personality said:

  O Arjun, The persons who are transcendental to the three guṇas neither hate illumination, nor activity, even delusion when these are abundantly present, nor do they long for them when they are absent.