First experience with the Gita

[Hermenutic]

I have just listened to the Bhagavad Gita in audio book form and I am blown away. Overwhelmed ecstatic!

 

Personal history, traditional Christian all my life until 2004. At that time doubt about certain things of the faith lead me to not being an active member. However I never stopped believing in God.

 

Was diagonosed at that same time with terminal disease and gave up the faith entirely for 'something' I did not know what, but it seemed as if the 'Universe' had put it's arms around me. I felt as if the Universe was a friendly place, something that Christianity had not been able to convince me of.

 

Always been 'spiritual' in outlook. Never looked at the world without understanding there was a 'God'.

 

This is what I find now. There is a truth that is seeking me. It is beyond the cultural baggage of the different sects but it is there. I feel as if I have seen this spoken forcefully and clearly in the 'Gita'.

 

I am not interested in the cultural underpinning of any faith, my experience is that culture gets in the way. On the other hand I find the tremendous metaphysical statements about God in the 'Gita to be so pregnant as to give much pause for contemplation and enlightenment. I have found many parallels in the Old Testament and the statements of Jesus that correspond to the descriptions of God in the 'Gita'. This indicates to me that truth is a universal, rather than a cultic thing.

 

I am very glad to have gotten this audio book. I have listened to it at least three times in the past week. I will do so again tonight as I work.

 

I would be interested in any input whatsoever. I am enquiring, but I believe even more importantly that there is 'One' that is calling.

[gHari]

Near the end of the Gita, we find your same sentiment in verse 18.74:

 

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saJjaya uvAca

ity ahaM vAsudevasya

pArthasya ca mahAtmanaH

saMvAdam imam azrauSam

adbhutaM roma-harSaNam

</center>

saJjayaH uvAca--SaJjaya said; iti--thus; aham--I; vAsudevasya--of KRSNa; pArthasya--and Arjuna; ca--also; mahA-AtmanaH--of the great soul; saMvAdam--discussion; imam--this; azrauSam--have heard; adbhutam--wonderful; roma-harSaNam--making the hair stand on end.

SaJjaya said: Thus have I heard the conversation of two great souls, KRSNa and Arjuna. And so wonderful is that message that my hair is standing on end.

 

PURPORT

 

In the beginning of Bhagavad-gItA, DhRtarASTra inquired from his secretary SaJjaya, "What happened on the Battlefield of KurukSetra?" The entire study was related to the heart of SaJjaya by the grace of his spiritual master, VyAsa. He thus explained the theme of the battlefield. The conversation was wonderful because such an important conversation between two great souls had never taken place before and would not take place again. It was wonderful because the Supreme Personality of Godhead was speaking about Himself and His energies to the living entity, Arjuna, a great devotee of the Lord. If we follow in the footsteps of Arjuna to understand KRSNa, then our life will be happy and successful. SaJjaya realized this, and as he began to understand it, he related the conversation to DhRtarASTra. Now it is concluded that wherever there is KRSNa and Arjuna, there is victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was your sincerity that brought Krsna to you. It will be your sincerity that brings Him closer and closer.