The Bahgavad Gita is the part of the great epic of Mahabharata. It is one of the most famous literary masterpiece of Ancient India. Thanks in large part to it, people now can have an idea of ancient literature of the East, its peculiarities and main values of ancient people in India. This work shows the main mythological and cultural peculiarities of ancient world. The Bahgavad Gita consists of 18 chapters and tells us a story of two characters Arjuna and Krishna. In the first chapter Arjuna is afraid of losing his relatives and friends as the war is going to come and change his world. The next chapter is often taken as the essence of the whole work. Arjuna obtains knowledge in different subjects, such as Karma yoga, Gyaana yoga, Sankhya yoga and so on. In the third chapter Krishna shows Arjuna benefits of Karma yoga and the way yoga can help him. The next chapter is devoted to Krishnas confessions about his numerous lives and his practice in yoga. Great importance of guru is also underlined. In the fifth chapter Arjuna and Krishna talk about the nature of peoples actions and whether it is better to act or to wait, observing the world and thinking. The following chapter is devoted to Krishnas description of Ashtanga yoga and some difficulties connected with it.
The seventh chapter consists of Krishnas thoughts about reality and some mystical and invisible energy which can be found everywhere. The chapter The Way to Eternal Brahman underlines importance of the last thought before humans death and shows a difference between material and spiritual world. The ninth chapter shows the reader great importance of eternal energy and its limitless abilities. In the next chapter Arjuna recognizes Krishna as some kind of supernatural being and accepts his great power. The eleventh chapter is devoted to description of Krishnas second form, its great power and radiance. The next chapter is devoted to description of process of devotional service. In the thirteenth chapter important questions of eternal soul and weak body are discussed. In the next chapter the three gunas of nature, their influence and meaning are described. In the chapter Devotion to the Supreme Spirit some peculiarities of God are discussed and explained. In sixteenth chapter some traits of demonic and divine creatures are discussed and compared with human beings. In the next chapter Krishna investigates gunas and makes some cogitations about them. In the last chapter conclusions are made. Arjuna underlines great and tremendous character of Krishnas image.
Having read this book it is possible to make some conclusions and share personal emotions. First of all, it should be said that the book is of great value as it is the masterpiece of an ancient literature. Moreover, there is no use denying the fact that this book can also be taken as a philosophical treatise which gives a lot of information to think about. There are two possible ways for this book to be taken. It also gives a great number of ideas to think about. First of all it, is possible to take this book as an easy reading for a person which has no idea about Buddhism, its practices and main principles. With this in mind, it is possible to conclude that this book will be interesting to this person to read in order to enlarge his general knowledge and get some new information about unknown religion and philosophy. However, the book can also be recommended to a person which has deep knowledge of Buddhism and its philosophy. The fact is, that this book can give a great number of insights and ideas for people which are informed in this issue. Arjuna and Krishnas cogitations about sense of life, spiritual and real world, eternal energy and forces which can be absolutely powerful can show a person that he is moving in the right way as even centuries ago people thought about the same problems and they discovered their own philosophy and lifestyle which can help them to achieve total understanding of this world.
There are many ideas in this book which can be discussed. Ideas of rebirth, eternal life and energy seem to be one of the most disputable. These ideas can be taken as basic notions for Buddhists, however it is rather difficult to accept these them for representatives of other religions or atheists. Sometimes it is very difficult to see any sense in devoting whole life to serving some mystical God, which means self understanding and rejection of different feelings and emotions in order to make mind of a person clear.
There is one more drawback in this book. The style is very complicated and it is very difficult to read it and to follow the authors thought. The reader has to read some extracts again and again in order to understand the idea.
In conclusion, it should be said that the book is very interesting to discuss and to analyze.