Seminar in Oriental Literature: A. Wang Wei (Chinese Classical Poets)
Seminar in Oriental Literature: A. Wang Wei (Chinese Classical Poets)
Seminar in Oriental Literature: A. Wang Wei (Chinese Classical Poets)
Wang Wei was a poet, painter, musician, and statesman during the Tang dynasty; combining the
humanist ideals of a Chinese scholar-official, he served various bureaucratic posts in the Tang court,
both in the capital and in the province in Shantung. After weathering the Anshi Rebellion (755–759)
and grieving over the deaths of his wife and sister, he retired to his country villa on the Wang River,
where he deepened his study of Buddhism and wrote many of his best poems.
Wei founded the Southern School of painter-poets. He is particularly known as a landscape
painter, developing the possibilities of monochrome and pomo (“breaking the ink”), a technique in
which ink is applied in patches or washes that leave blank spaces. None of his paintings are
extant, though the spiritual quality of his landscapes influenced many painters. Wei’s poetry likewise
embodied Zen Buddhist ideals of detachment and simplicity; in his poems, he uses details
sparingly, frequently narrating natural phenomena such as water and mist rather than human
presence. His poetry is widely anthologized, and he is frequently mentioned alongside other poets of
the Tang dynasty, such as Li Po and Tu Fu.
A Green Stream
by
t
Wang Wei
I have sailed the River of Yellow Flowers,
Borne by the channel of a green stream,
Rounding ten thousand turns through the mountains
On a journey of less than thirty miles....
Rapids hum over heaped rocks;
But where light grows dim in the thick pines,
The surface of an inlet sways with nut-horns
And weeds are lush along the banks.
...Down in my heart I have always been as pure
As this limpid water is....
Oh, to remain on a broad flat rock
And to cast a fishing-line forever!
This poem is in the public domain.
http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~yangzw/libai1.html
The three friends here refer to Li Po, the moon, and his
shadow. I think by this time Li Po is starting to feel tipsy
at the very least. Wine did have a very special place in Li
Po’s life and writing. He often depended on it to
enhance his poetry.
I will make note of the “…” after the word spring. It may
be that a portion of the poem is missing here and the
translator wanted to indicate this. It may simply be they felt
the need to indicate something not complete. Li Po wrote
other poems by the same title similar to this. My guess is
that he was probably developing the same poem, but in the
time since his death, it may be difficult to know which
meant to be the finished product.
Full Moon
By: Tu Fu
ANALYSIS…
The moon has yet to leave its “full moon” stage and
is still perfectly round. It moves throughout the sky
and time and night passes.
On Leaving Cambridge
By: Xu Zhi Mo
Xu Zhi Mo, one of China’s foremost poets of the twentieth
century, is widely known for his poem (On Leaving
Cambridge) composed in 1928 when he was studying in
Cambridge as a visiting scholar. His poem was so
influential amongst Chinese people that many tourists
now visit Cambridge, not just for the prestige and
beauty of Cambridge University but also to see the
stone on which the poem can be found along the bank
of the river Cam behind Kings College where Xu Zhi
Mo studied.
STORY CONTENT:
China, a country rich in culture, creativity and history has
come to the foreground of the world stage in the 21st
century with its huge economic growth and its immense
role in globalisation. With the largest population of
1.3billion people and growing, as well as a landmass
roughly 44 times bigger than the UK, China has become
very influential in international affairs and our individual
daily lives from the things we buy to the things we eat.
Chinese culture, especially its cuisine is rapidly infiltrating
the West as students, families and pandas immigrate
Westward - even to Scotland!
This subject provides a sweeping insight into the
characteristics of China’s landscapes, its people and its
language. China’s geography is a vital factor contributing
to its arts and culture as many of China’s historical art,
poetry and music was inspired by the beauty of nature.
Although, the more common landscape is now one of
skyscrapers and traffic jams, the rural scenery which made
up most China before the 20th century was what
influenced the arts and philosophy much of which is
extracted from lessons learnt through observing nature.
China’s history spans back across thousands of years being
one of the first civilisations to develop with its first
Emperor of the united China established in 220BC, the
Emperor Qin. The dynastic traditions as well as the more
well known ‘Confucianism’ has been vital in China’s
development of culture and the way in which Chinese
people choose to lead their lives today. Many values and
principles which the Chinese hold such as discipline and
hard work translates in their parenting and teaching styles
which has been sensationalised in the West as ‘Tiger
Mother-ism’.
The Chinese language is complex yet beautiful with
poetry as a crucial means through which Chinese
philosophy and the ways of life are shaped. Idioms used
in everyday conversations as well as the practice of
recitation of poetry results in the teaching of morals
from a very young age. Similar to the traditional
awareness in the West of Aesop’s fables, Chinese children
are expected to recite poetry starting from primary school
all throughout their education in order to be able to
understand their role in society as well as appreciating
traditional language.
Xu Zhi Mo took inspiration from the traditional Chinese
poetry and combined it with Western literary influences in
writing ‘On Leaving Cambridge’ breaking from
traditional Chinese poetic structure whilst still describing
the beautiful landscape of Cambridge at the heart of his
poem. Despite the many differences between China and
the West culturally and traditionally, Xu Zhi Mo’s poem
‘On Leaving Cambridge’ captured the beauty of
Cambridge in a Chinese style and inspired an image of
English nature which had not been previously
experienced in China.
To seek a dream is the title of the piece commissioned by
Historyworks based on the poem by Xu Zhimo - see:
For Xu Zhimo poetry translation, see below:
Composed in 1928, a famous poem about Cambridge
internationally, was written by Xu Zhimo, one of China's
foremost poets, habitually learnt by Chinese
schoolchildren. This poem translates variously as "On
Leaving Cambridge", "Saying Goodbye to Cambridge,
again" & here we are taking the title "Taking Leave of
Cambridge Again". This translation is taken from Peter
Pagnamenta (ed.) "The University of Cambridge: an 800th
Anniversary Portrait", (London: Third Millenium
Publishing, 2008), page 29:
By Xu Zhi Mo
Softly I am leaving,
Just as softly as I came;
I softly wave goodbye
To the clouds in the western sky.
Quietly I am leaving,
Just as quietly as I came;
Gently waving my sleeve,
I am not taking away a single cloud.
Duo Duo
Li, Shizheng (DuoDuo)
Al Quing,
Deified Lao Tzu looks peaceful because he knows who he really is. A sculpture from between the 8th and
11th century
Nature is particularly useful for finding ourselves. Lao Tzu liked to compare different parts of nature to
different virtues. He said, “The best people are like water, which benefits all things and does not compete
with them. It stays in lowly places that others reject. This is why it is so similar to the Way (Dao).” Each
part of nature can remind us of a quality we admire and should cultivate ourselves—the strength of the
mountains, the resilience of trees, the cheerfulness of flowers.
This 12th-century painting depicts a Daoist temple nestled in nature
Of course, there are issues that must be addressed by action, and there are times for ambition. Yet Lao
Tzu’s work is important for Daoists and non-Daoists alike, especially in a modern world distracted by
technology and focused on what seem to be constant, sudden, and severe changes. His words serve as a
reminder of the importance of stillness, openness, and discovering buried yet central parts of ourselves.
3. Japanese Poems of any one of the following Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, Yosa Buson,
Kobasayashita Issa, Masaoka Shiki, Natsume Soseki .
Bashō was born Matsuo Kinsaku around 1644, somewhere near Ueno in Iga Province. His father
may have been a low-ranking samurai, which would have promised Bashō a career in the military
but not much chance of a notable life. It was traditionally claimed by biographers that he worked in
the kitchens.
However, as a child Bashō became a servant to Tōdō Yoshitada, who shared with Bashō a love for haikai
no renga, a form of cooperative poetry composition. The sequences were opened with a verse in the 5-7-5
mora format; this verse was named a hokku, and would later be renamed haiku when presented as stand-
alone works. The hokku would be followed by a related 7-7 addition by another poet.
In 1662 the first extant poem by Bashō was published; in 1664 two of his hokku were printed in a
compilation, and in 1665 Bashō and Yoshitada composed a one-hundred-verse renku with some
acquaintances.
Yoshitada's sudden death in 1666 brought Bashō's peaceful life as a servant to an end. No records of this
time remain, but it is believed that Bashō gave up the possibility of samurai status and left home.
Biographers have proposed various reasons and destinations, including the possibility of an affair
between Bashō and a Shinto miko named Jutei, which is unlikely to be true. Bashō's own references to
this time are vague; he recalled that "at one time I coveted an official post with a tenure of land", and that
"there was a time when I was fascinated with the ways of homosexual love", but there is no indication
whether he was referring to real obsessions or even fictional ones.
He was uncertain whether to become a full-time poet; by his own account, "the alternatives battled in my
mind and made my life restless". His indecision may have been influenced by the then still relatively low
status of renga and haikai no renga as more social activities than serious artistic endeavors. In any case,
his poems continued to be published in anthologies in 1667, 1669, and 1671, and he published his own
compilation of work by him and other authors of the Teitoku school, Seashell Game, in 1672. In about the
spring of that year he moved to Edo, to further his study of poetry.
On his return to Edo in the winter of 1691, Bashō lived in his third bashō hut, again provided by his
disciples. This time, he was not alone; he took in a nephew and his female friend, Jutei, who were both
recovering from illness. He had a great many visitors.
Bashō continued to be uneasy. He wrote to a friend that "disturbed by others, I have no peace of mind".
He made a living from teaching and appearances at haikai parties until late August of 1693, when he shut
the gate to his bashō hut and refused to see anybody for a month. Finally, he relented after adopting the
principle of karumi or "lightness", a semi-Buddhist philosophy of greeting the mundane world rather than
separating himself from it. Bashō left Edo for the last time in the summer of 1694, spending time in Ueno
and Kyoto before his arrival in Osaka. He became sick with a stomach illness and died peacefully,
surrounded by his disciples. Although he did not compose any formal death poem on his deathbed the
following, being the last poem recorded during his final illness, is generally accepted as his poem of
farewell:
POEM
The Old Pond - Poem by Matsuo Basho
Following are several translations
of the 'Old Pond' poem, which may be
the most famous of all haiku:
Furuike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
- Basho
Literal Translation
ANALYSIS
This is poem of east and not from west so it is not about the external world but about internal mind. Pond
is like inside human consciousness that is still and silent. Frog means worldly things that jumps into our
conscious mind and creates sound means create thoughts.
this poem is about the futile nature of life. The splash is your entire lifetime. A slightly less boring version
of the still pond, before everything returns to normality.
well, here my interpretation. the old silent pond stands for the essence of all questions that you were able
to answer all by yourself and just by your own experience. a pond full of erratic answers, no questionings
around, just silence. the frog embodies the smart ass coming up to you and telling you that black is white
and day is night. he puts his dirty ass into your pond of truth but you don't care at all. all you can hear is a
short splash. and then it's quiet again at the old silent pond.
In my own opinion, the old pond refers to a calm and peaceful place then suddenly a frog jumps in who
broke the silence and brought disturbance to that place. like what is happening now in some countries,
before they are peaceful and were contented of what they have then suddenly colonizers or trespassers
exist which brought violence and complication in their status of life.
In Bansho’s Haiku, I believe the ancient pond refers to the world that is today in developing countries.
The pond grows dirtier and infested from the sticks and leaves that fall in it. The pond becomes dirtier,
and less clear. In today\'s world, human beings are becoming infected and dying every second. The frog
represents a human life. It can change everything on this world. With the jump of the frog, or the step of
the human race, the entire pond, or the entire world can change. The sound of water is the result of the
actions the life had taken. The splash is a result of the frog jumping, a new world with new voices being
heard, changing our economy, our politics, our society itself. The world can be affected, a new revolution
can occur. The sound of water, the reformation of the dying world people in developing countries live on.
I think this is a poem about an older, aged person's life. They are an "old pond". Their lives have slowed
down and have almost become stagnant. Everyone almost forgets that they are there.
Suddenly, a frog jumps in. The pond's world is disturbed and reawakened. An occurence has brought out
the importance and livelyhood of an older person, causing the younger generation surrounding them to
realize their importance, their beauty, and their significance.
4. Any Japanese short stories of akugatawa such as “Rashomon”, Death Register”, Spinning
gears by Akutagawa.
From Akutagawa’s own suicide note, A Note to a Certain Old Friend, it seems to me that these tropes of
death are no less than metaphors for the self-confessed thoughts of death which had plagued the author in
the last couple of years of his life. In other words, it seems to confirm the view that if one is constantly on
the look out for signs one is bound to find it everywhere.
In the midst of his anxieties, optical illusions would assault the narrator in the form of a set of translucent
spinning gears whose numbers would increase until half his field of vision was blocked, and then vanish
within moments, to be replaced by a headache. At other times, warnings of death would plague him
through acousma or auditory hallucinations whether in the form of overheard conversations between
strangers, or whispers in the night, telling him that diable est mort, the devil is dead. Commentators such
as Haruki Murakami and Jorge Luis Borges have suggested Spinning Gears to be an allegory for the
disintegrating machinery of modern life, the author’s indictment on the collision between western/eastern
cultures at the turn of the 19th century and its harrowing effect on an individual’s psyche. Bit by bit, we
also learn about the narrator’s (and Akutagawa’s own) crippling fear of inheriting his mother’s madness,
and his attempts to drown out his anxieties with drugs including Veronal: the same pills which
Akutagawa would use to end his life.
Of course, the reader can never really know the actual reasons why Akutagawa contemplated suicide. In
A Note to a Certain Old Friend, he himself confessed that ‘no one who attempts suicide … is fully aware
of all his motives, which are usually too complex’; all he knew of his own suicide was that it was driven
by ‘a vague sense of anxiety, a vague sense of anxiety about my own future.’
However, given that a writer’s self-esteem, especially one of Akutagawa’s stature, is often inextricably
linked with his reputation, I began to explore to what extent his death was hastened by his insecurities as
a writer.
Young Man of Shou Ling
Murakami in his introduction to Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories likened Akutagawa to a ‘pianist
who has been born with a natural gift for superb technique. Because his fingers move so swiftly and with
such clarity, the task of pausing occasionally to look long and hard at something – at the inner depths of
the music – can be inhibited before he is aware of it. His fingers move with natural speed and grace and
his mind hurries to keep up. Or perhaps his mind forges ahead and the fingers hurry to keep up. In either
case an unbridgeable gap begins to form between him and the movement of time of the world around him.
Just a gap almost certainly added to Akutagawa’s pscychological burdens and impelled him towards
suicide.’
In the text of Spinning Gears itself, the narrator alludes to being the perfect ‘Young Man of Shou Ling’,
the protagonist of a Chinese story by Han Fei, whose name Juryo Yoshi the narrator had ironically used
as a pen name earlier on in his writing career. In the story, the protagonist had left the rural village to
learn the elegant walking style of the city dwellers of Handan but found himself crawling home because
he had forgotten to walk in the Shou Ling style before mastering the Handan style. As an analogue to
Akutagawa’s own life, it seems to imply that owing to his meteoric rise, Akutagawa had begun his career
by flying before learning how to walk, and as a result had skipped certain stages which were critical to his
development as a writer. Among them, I believe, is learning how to fail. Having been feted as a prodigy
by no less than the literary legend Natsume Soseki very early in his career, Akutagawa had not only lost
out in terms of building up his resilience to failure and the criticism of his peers, he had also never found,
in Murakami’s words, ‘that single thing he absolutely had to write about.’
In an attempt to advance his work, Akutagawa began to write in the confessional ‘I-Novel’ style, basing
his fiction closely on the facts of his life. With hindsight, Akutagawa had written these last stories, replete
with self-examinations and recriminations, to his detriment. By its very formulation, the author of the ‘I-
Novel’ must also be the protagonist of the story and the genre is one which exposes the dark side of the
author’s life. Given Akutagawa’s hypersensitivity, this type of writing would hinder him as the author
from keeping an objective distance from his protagonist. I also believe that his very act of committing his
dark thoughts to writing had the effect of reinforcing them in his mind, perhaps even to the extent of
subconsciously devising in his last manuscripts the blueprint and rationale for his own suicide.
If one’s own writing is indeed a reflection of oneself, I shudder to think what Akutagawa must have felt
when he looked in his mirror of ink and saw the face of the man whom he knew in his heart of hearts will
commit murder; his own.
Something niggles though; reading the postscript to A Note to A Certain Old Friend, the romantic in me
cannot help but feel that had he hung on to his life a little longer and surrendered to his experiences, he
would have gained what he had desired all his life but forsaken through his death: ‘to make a god of
[him]self’.
My body is a temple
My bleeding is divine
My womanhood is spiritual
In ways that an intolerant devotee like you cannot understand
So when you barr me from entering Sabarimala
Remember that you can't stop a goddess
Saraswati is wise but her rage is wild and merciless
Lakshmi will create earthquakes that will devastate
Durga will pierce your heart with her spear
Parvathi will leave her abode and run into the streets
Kali will destroy you in unimaginable ways
They reside within us
We will cut our feet on your shattered glass
We will shout till our voices become hoarse
An army of neglected women will create a tsunami
Till you're on your back, crying
Till you give up your apparent 'religion-saving'
Helpless, wailing
And bleeding
ANALYSIS…
The Supreme Court of India ruled that not allowing women in their “menstruating years” into the
Sabarimala temple is against the constitution, and all women should be allowed to enter the temple. This
was met with a lot of opposition from the conservatives and the entry of women into the temple was
blocked by protestors.
Ramprasad is one of the most inspired poets in Bengali literature. Born at Kumarhati in West Bengal in
1718, he was well educated in medicine and languages. However, he had no interest in material life. It is
said that, after marriage, he obtained a job as a book-keeper for an accountant. However, he wrote Divine
Mother’s name all over the ledgers. The employer saw this and recognized a saint in making. He sent him
home with a promise to support him and his family.
Ramprasad used to wade into the river Ganges up to his neck and sing the songs in honor of the Divine
Mother. Boats cruising the Ganges would stop to listen to his songs, people dying on the banks of the
river would ask Ramprasad to sing to them. Ramprasad became a favorite of the local king but he was
never attached to riches till he passed away in 1775.
Ramprasad’s songs are still sung to his day by everyone, even school children. His songs became very
famous in the west because Sri Ramakrishna used to quote from it.
Aamir Khan and daughter Ira`s airport look shouts `comfort`-See pics Disha Patani flaunts her perfectly
toned body in latest Instagram post-Pic Ram Madhav takes back his 'across the border' remark on NC-
PDP alliance after Omar Abdullah's 'dare'Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro launched in India: Price, availability
and more Delhi: Fire breaks out at ICAI building on ITO Road
Krishna, the eternal ruler of hearts, stole butter from the neighbourhood. Along with his friends, he would
quietly enter people’s houses and grab clay pots full of freshly churned butter. And hence even till date he
is addressed as Makhan Chor, meaning butter thief.
But have you ever really wondered what this butter stealing act means?
Krishna stole hearts that were as pure and soft as butter. Just the way butter is white; our hearts need to be
spotless. One mustn’t nurse anger, pride, greed, envy, hatred and ego in the heart. Hence, Krishna is also
known as Chittachora (one who steals hearts).
Here’s another explanation – The mind must be as light as butter. When we churn the curd, the butter
floats on the surface. Likewise, our minds must be detached from the materialistic world. Only then,
would we succeed in attaining enlightenment.
Also, the Supreme Being is the ultimate power. We are governed by it. We take birth and subsequently
perish according to his wish. It’s his leela. Nothing belongs to us.
The women in the Gokul neighbourhood spent hours to churn the curd to get butter, but in the end, it only
belonged to Krishna, the Almighty.
As Krishna grew older his pranks increased. Tales of his love for milk and butter had spread in every
household. Whenever the milkmaids crossed the fields, Krishna and his friends shot pebbles at them to
break the milk pitchers.
image:
http://www.kidsgen.com/fables_and_fairytales/indian_mythology_stories/images/krishnas_love_for_butt
er.jpg
Krishna eating butter Knowing Krishna's love for milk products, Yashoda kept the butter jars tied
together and hung them from a high ceiling where Krishna's hands could not reach. One day, seeing
Krishna fast asleep, she went to fetch a bucket of water from the nearby well. Krishna jumped up and
whistled aloud. A group of boys and monkeys came running into their home. They quickly huddled
together to help Krishna stand on their shoulders and get down jars.
Then they sat down to eat the butter. They were so absorbed that the did not see Yashoda enter the house.
Furious, she chased them with a stick. The monkeys and friends ran away but Krishna got a good
spanking from his mother.
Read more at
http://www.kidsgen.com/fables_and_fairytales/indian_mythology_stories/krishnas_love_for_butter.htm#J
yiPUjRiDbDH112E.99
===========================================
The award, instituted in 2008, carries a prize of ₹ 2 lakh for the best original, unpublished and
unperformed play script in English.
Three playwrights — Annie Zaidi, Swetanshu Bora and Sneh Sapru — have been shortlisted for their
works submitted for The Hindu Playwright Award 2018. The award, instituted in 2008, carries a prize of
₹ 2 lakh for the best original, unpublished and unperformed play script in English.
The three plays, Untitled 1 (Annie Zaidi), Guilt (Swetanshu Bora) and Hello Farmaish (Sneh Sapru), were
chosen by a panel of three independent judges from a list of 68 plays submitted.
The judges had initially created a longlist of eight plays and from these three were selected. The other five
are The Lottery by Nayantara Nayar and Tanvi Patel, The Joker and The Thief by Alistair Bennis,
Shaayari 2.0 by Manjima Chatterjee, Four Magical Words by Parag Motwani and When I Grow Up (I
want to be) by Sumit Ray.
In Untitled 1, Ms. Zaidi explores a time when freedom of creative expression is under constant
surveillance in an India of the future. A journalist whose body of work includes fiction and graphic
storytelling, the Mumbai-based Ms. Zaidi says: “The play is really about the idea of being monitored and
controlled, constantly.” Her work includes Gulab, a novella, an illustrated collection of poems titled
Crush and a 42-minute documentary film, In Her Words: The Journey of Indian Women, that traces the
lives and struggles of women as reflected through their literature.
Hello Farmaish is a satire, which Ms. Sapru describes as a “drama with bold streaks of magic realism.”
The Mumbai-based copywriter, screenwriter and playwright’s work is on people in a hamlet who, on
hearing of Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla’s journey into space, set off on adventures of their
own. Ms. Sapru’s first play script, Elephant in the Room, was nominated for the Best Original Script at
the META Awards 2017.
Bengaluru-based Swetanshu Bora’s Guilt is about re-discovering relationships, post tragedy. An actor and
playwright, Mr. Bora performs and writes in Hindi and English. He was shortlisted for The Hindu
MetroPlus Playwright Award in 2011 and won the Toto Funds the Arts Award for Writing in 2013.
The winner of The Hindu Playwright Award will be announced on August 9, 2018 on the eve of the
opening of the 14th edition of The Hindu Theatre Fest in Chennai on August 10.
Ramayana translates as the Story of Rama. It is believed to have been written by a Brahmin named
Valmiki, a man whose style of poetry was new and a style to be copied thereafter. It is said to have
appeared between 400 and 200 BCE. The story takes place centuries earlier, when Aryans were
expanding their influence over Dravidians in southern India, the Aryans engaging in missionary
endeavors supported by military power and a strategy of divide and conquer. In its seven books and
24,000 verses the Ramayana praises the heroism and virtues of Aryan warrior-princes: the Kshatriyas.
The Ramayana has as its main hero a prince called Rama, whose life the Ramayana describes from birth
to death. Rama and his brothers are depicted as embodying the ideals of Aryan culture: men of loyalty
and honor, faithful and dutiful sons, affectionate brothers and loving husbands, men who speak the truth,
who are stern, who persevere but are ready and willing to make sacrifices for the sake of virtue against
the evils of greed, lust and deceit.
Lord Rama
Lord Rama, with brother, wife, and devotee.
The Mahabharata, meaning Great India, is said to have been written by a Brahmin named Vyasa, between
400 and 100 BCE, but no one really knows. Across centuries, priestly writers and editors with different
attitudes in different centuries were to add to the work, and the Mahabharata emerged three times its
original size. The Mahabharata was divided into eighteen books of verses interspersed with passages of
prose. It attempted to describe the period in which Aryan tribes in northern India were uniting into
kingdoms and when these petty kingdoms were fighting to create empire. The work attempted to be an
encyclopedia about points of morality. One of its heroes is Krishna, described as a royal personage
descended from the gods – an eighth incarnation of the god Vishnu. The Mahabharata's heroes are
described as yearning for power but, like the heroes of the Ramayana, devoted to truth and having a
strong sense of duty and affection for their parents.
New contributions to the Mahabharata gave greater focus to the gods Vishnu and Shiva. A story
incorporated into the Mahabharata became known as the Bhagavad Gita (the Lord's Song), shortened by
many to the Gita. The Bhagavad Gita became Hinduism's most popular scripture and into modern times it
would be read by many for daily reference – a work that Mahatma Gandhi would describe as an infallible
guide to conduct. In the Bhagavad Gita, Vishnu acquired a new incarnation: Krishna. Krishna was
originally a non-Aryan god in northwestern India. In the old Mahabharata he was a secondary hero, a god
who had appeared in human form. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna became the Supreme Deity in human
form.
The Gita is an account of the origins, course and aftermath of a great war between royalty. In it a dialogue
takes place between a prince, Arjuna, and the charioteer alongside him as the two ride into battle at the
head of Arjuna's army. The charioteer is Krishna in disguise. Arjuna sees that his opponents ahead of him
are his relatives. He drops his bow and announces that he will not give the signal to begin the battle. He
asks whether power is so important that he should fight his own kinsmen, and he states that the pain of
killing his kinsmen would be too much for him, that it would be better for him to die than to kill just for
power and its glory. Krishna is like the god of war of former times: Indira. Krishna gives Arjuna a
formula for accepting deaths in war, a Hindu version close to the claim that those who die in battle will go
to paradise. He tells Arjuna that bodies are not really people, that people are souls and that when the body
is killed the soul lives on, that the soul is never born and never dies. According to Krishna, if one dies in
battle he goes to heaven, or if he conquers he enjoys the earth. So, according to Krishna, one should go
into battle with "a firm resolve." Attitude was of the utmost importance. "Let not the fruits of action be
thy motive, nor be thy attachment to inaction."
Krishna reminds Arjuna that he is a warrior and that to turn from battle is to reject his karma, in other
words, his duty or place in life. He makes the irrefutable argument, an argument that leaves no room for
questioning one's own intentionality: that Arjuna should make war because it is his destiny to do so. He
states that it is best to fulfill one's destiny with detachment because detachment leads to liberation and
allows one to see the irrelevance of one's own work. To give weight to his argument, Krishna reveals to
Arjuna that he is not just his charioteer, not just another military man who talks like he is divine but that
he is the god Krishna – a claim that Arjuna accepts. Some readers of the Bhagavad Gita interpret this to
mean that Arjuna does not need to step from his chariot to find God and that humanity does not need to
search for the divine: that God is with a person and for a person.
Arjuna expresses his support for family values, and he is a defender of tradition. He complains of
lawlessness corrupting women, and when women are corrupted, he says, a mixing of caste ensues.
Krishna became the most loved of the Hindu gods, a god viewed as a teacher, a personal god much like
Yahweh, a god who not only believes in war but a god of love who gives those who worshiped him a gift
of grace. A loving god could be found here and there in the old Vedic hymns of the Aryans, but this new
focus on a loving god and the satisfaction it brought to the people of India was a challenge to Hindu
priests, for it offered salvation without the need for ritual sacrifices. In the Bhagavad Gita (1:41), Krishna
says: "Give me your heart. Love me and worship me always. Bow to me only, and you will find me. This
I promise."
According to Krishna, as expressed in the Gita (2:37), one could accumulate possessions and not lose
blessedness so long as one remained indifferent about success and failure. One can attain salvation so
long as one restrains one's passions in whatever one does. One should be fearless, steadfast generous and
patient. One should be compassionate toward other creatures. One should be without greed, hypocrisy,
arrogance, overweening pride, wrath or harshness in speech. And one should "study the Holy Word,
austerities and uprightness." (16:1-2)
The Gita (2.22) describes the soul as shedding a worn-out body like an old worn-out garment and putting
on a new body as one would a new garment. The soul is immortal and the body is subject to birth and
death. The Gita extends the metaphor to reincarnation, to Karma as described in the Upanishads. Where a
soul went depended on how well a person had behaved in his previous life. Good actions in the former
life led to a soul to take on a new higher form of life. The soul of the doer of evil led a soul to take the
body of a lower form of life. Hinduism epic literature described what was good behavior, and in a new
work, the Laws of Manu, defined more clearly what was bad.