The theme of this paper is to establish the main religious themes in chapter eleven of the book of Bhagavad-Gita. The first main religious theme in the chapter is the recommended acts of commitment towards deity. When it comes to devotion towards deity, one can express their commitment to Christianity through many means. Through meditation and sacrifice, an individual will be in a position to express devotion to God.
Sacrifice means the amount of material things individuals deny themselves for the sake of others or gods. Sacrifice entails offerings given to gods, which will be acceptable in the eyes of Krishna. The offerings vary from plantation products to animals, and their significance is similar. It signifies an individual’s act of devotion.
Sacrifice is a universal act that most people use to show their commitment to their religion even in the current times. It can be the earnings of people, harvests, profits, time, labor, and many other ways. Through sacrifice, human beings create a personal relationship with their gods, and this does not have to be necessarily through Krishna.
The article elaborates that Krishna is contented when the worshippers offer sacrifices to their gods, as eventually it will be to him as the greatest god of all. As worshippers, we can, therefore, express commitment to religion and God by offering sacrifices now and then as this will bring us closer to God (Hiltebeitel, 1989, p. 72).
Another notable act that expresses commitment to deity is meditation. In the article, meditation on Krishna is an indispensable means of expressing devotion to deity and is encouraged to all worshippers.
The process of meditation is majorly a self-evaluation process and according to the author should be done while having Krishna in mind. As much as meditation is an individual act, it is notable that the self-evaluation should be in line with Krishna. The main teaching here is that meditation should give individuals a chance to evaluate themselves whether they are in line with God’s ways (Sharpe, 2008, p. 61).
Another notable religious theme in the article is the universal form of God. In chapter eleven, we read about the way in which Krishna reveals Him as a universal being. In the article, Krishna reveals his universal form to Arjuna, and this is a clear indication to any believer that God is a universal being who can be found in every corner and form.
In most instances, we see Krishna pervading the whole universe and in so doing managing to be a universal being (Neil, 1986, p. 62). In religion, we can tell the difference between God and human beings from the aspect of God being a universal being.
This means that God can be everywhere and in whatever form we can think of, unlike human beings. In connection with the above ideas of commitment, the universal form of God enables human beings to meditate as this helps them to understand the observable things in regards to the most high-God (Flood, 2003, p. 52).
The aspect of universal nature of God is not only limited to space but to also time in that God will be an ever present being. Since time immemorial human beings come and go, but God has and will be around forever and hence the strong faith humans have in God. It is easier, for worshippers believe in God and his teachings because of the ideology of Him being around forever.
This is evident in the article as Arjuna has a vision of the passing of time, and in it, there is Krishna. This means that, in poor and treasured times, the Lord God will be present whether it is now or in thousand years to come. In the ideology of divinity, the presence of acts of commitments and the universal being of God are relevant in building the faith of any worshipper of the given religion (Lepard, 2005, p. 23).
Lastly, the Bhagavad Gita also explores the suspect of faith in Christians. Most people will want to get into a religion because of what the Lord has done for others in the religion. In the article, it is evident that this should not be the case because the wors of God need not be questioned. Having faith in God does require evidence from the other believers and as a Christian, one need to have strong faith even without evidence.
This is a major teaching to all religious people as the main foundation of religion is the believer’s faith. To have faith, calls for constant prayer to God to enable one to have faith, through good and bad times, and stay strong in God’s teachings. In the article, we notice Arjuna having less faith in the gods and Krishna.
This made him to always be in doubt and asking for proof of the existence of gods. This should not be the case for any believer and the teaching encourages the believers to believe even in what they cannot see. The religious teaching in this article is that as believers we need to have faith in God’s works and people even if there is no visible evidence of His existence.
References
Flood, G 2003, The Blackwell companion to Hinduism, New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Hiltebeitel, A 1989, Criminal gods and demon devotees: essays on the guardians of popular Hinduism, New York: Suny Press.
Lepard, B 2005, Hope for a Global Ethic: Shared Principles in Religious Scriptures, New York: Baha’i Publishing Trust.
Neil, R 1986, Modern Indian interpreters of the Bhagavadgita, New York: SUNY Press.
Sharpe, E 2008, The universal Gītā: Western images of the Bhagavadgītā: a bicentenary survey, Virginia: University of Virginia.