PLS Seminar V

When reading the Bhagavad-Gita, I found the introduction to be extremely helpful. The background information that was provided about a religion and faith that I was unfamiliar with was eye opening, and informative. In particular, something that was said quite early on the in the intro caught my attention:

"The dramatic moral crisis that is central to the Bhagavad-Gita has inspired centuries of Indian philosophers and practical men of wisdom, as well as Western thinkers such as Thoreau, Emerson, and Eliot. Interpretations of the Gita, as it is commonly referred to in India, are as varied as the figures who have commented on it."

The "Moral Crisis" that is referred to is something that I am still trying to figure out. It could have a variety of meanings in my mind. The title of the book alone, "Krishna's counsel in time of war" seems to be a moral crisis within itself. Authors like Thoreau, Emerson and Eliot do point to the ides of internal conflict through external pains, how might have the Gita pointed them in the right direction? We see later in the introduction, on page 16, that the idea of an "Oriental" learning style was not taken lightly...

"I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia"

Although it might have taken a while for the Western culture to warm up to the idea of these thoughts, it truly did benefit some of our best thinkers. The idea of the internal struggle that is portrayed through the Gita is noted to be extremely valuable...How has the text changed and molded the way we think about modern political and philosophical thought? What are its impacts in society, and how might we use this text to our own advantage?

(I know, broad question, but I am curious as to the Gita's true effect on our society!)