Bhagavad-Gita Study Guide
The Bhagavad-Gita was written down in around the 1st century B.C.E. The title means “Song of the Lord.” It is a later addition to the ancient Indian epic, Mahabharata (5th-4th B.C.E.), about the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Gita has been read as a Hindu response to the challenges of Buddhism, introduces new concepts such as karma yoga (“discipline of action”—a dutiful disciplined action in accordance with one’s dharma or sacred duty) and bhakti yoga (“discipline of devotion” emphasizing devotion to a personal God, namely Krishna).
1. Who composed the Gita and for what purposes? How might have the historical and cultural conditions of the time have influenced its content?
2. What is Arjuna’s dilemma? What arguments does Arjuna employ to explain his concern about participating in the battle? Why is Arjuna's concerned about not entering into battle against members of his extended family?
3. What arguments does Krishna use to answer Arjuna's objections to participating in the battle? Why are they persuasive or not persuasive?
4. What does the Gita imply about the nature and meaning of war? What evidence is presented in favor of and against war? How do you interpret this? Is the purpose of the Gita to justify war or is war an example of a larger principle?
5. Is it possible to read the Gita, as Thoreau and Gandhi did, as an argument against violence? Explain why many readers might consider the Gita to be an allegory for the conquest of desire rather than a justification of violence.
6. In what ways can the Gita be seen as a response to Buddhism? Does it justify the value of caste duty, including the military duty of the warrior, against the pursuit of the meditative life?
7. How does the Gita treat strong emotions such as desire, anger, and strong feelings generally? What advice does Krishna offer about how we should handle our emotions? Should we deaden or kill them in Stoic fashion or does Krishna offer another strategy?
8. According to the Gita, how should a truly wise yet active person regard his or her own emotions and desires? What is the role of self-sacrifice and renunciation and detachment?
9. We identify our good and bad actions with ourselves, insisting that individuals are responsible for what they do. Actions entail consequences and reveal character. What does the Bhagavad-Gita imply about such a viewpoint? How should we consider the relation between the person who performs an action and the action that is performed?
10. According to the Gita, what is the self? How should we see the individual in relation to the divine and society?
11. As the narrative unfolds, what advice are we offered about the way or ways to attain true enlightenment and a genuine understanding of Krishna? Is this enlightenment available to all or some? How hard or easy is it to succeed in escaping the cycle of death and rebirth?
12. Some westerners have read ancient Indian religious texts and decided to make radical changes in their lives—even to the point of abandoning successful careers and relationships—to pursue the path of devotion. Would the Gita's Lord Krishna approve?
13. In most of the Gita, Krishna is gentle, although his advice may not be easy to follow. At what point does he reveal another, less, gentle, aspect? How does Arjuna deal with this revelation? Why might it be important to the author of the Gita that we not be spared this revelation? What must readers come to appreciate about Krishna, and why?
14. The Gita does not cast itself as “required reading” for spiritual enlightenment, suggesting that there are multiple paths. How and why does it not do this? What are the implications of such pluralism and inclusiveness?