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English 240: Ancient Literature Questions on The Bhagavad-Gita Alfred J. Drake. Hours: Cyber Cafe Tu/Th. 12-1 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com 1. We tend to see life as a perpetual quest for authentic experience--we want to be "fully present" in the here and now, and we are driven to gratify (now or in some projected future) our various desires. How would the author of the Bhagavad respond to such an outlook--what is the proper way to conceptualize "experience"? Should we think of our life path as a linear journey to some goal? 2. Regarding the text's treatment of "desire," anger, and strong feelings generally, what advice are we offered--how should we handle our emotions? Should we deaden or kill them in Stoic fashion, or does Krishna offer another strategy--how does a truly wise person regard his or her own emotions and desires? 3. We identify our actions (good ones and bad ones alike) with ourselves, and insist that we and others "take responsibility" for what we do. Deeds, we say, entail consequences and reveal character. What does the Bhagavad say about such a viewpoint? How should we consider the relation between the person who performs an action and the action that is performed? 4. Most of us think of the "self," the individual person, as fully self-contained and autonomous, and we tend to get annoyed when someone like Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, or Foucault tells us that we are shaped by powerful forces beyond our immediate control. How does the author of the Gita delineate the "self"? That is, when this author says "I" or "you," what does he apparently mean? 5. As the narrative unfolds, what advice are we offered about the way or ways to attain true enlightenment, a genuine understanding of Krishna? Is this enlightenment available to everyone, or to only a few? How hard or how easy is it to succeed--that is, to escape the cycle of death and rebirth in this world? 6. Some westerners have read ancient Indian religious texts and decided make radical alterations in their lives--even to the point of abandoning successful careers and relationships--to pursue the path of devotion. Is that something you think the Gita's Lord Krishna would approve of in most instances? Why or why not? 7. How does the Gita's favored life-path and its view of "salvation" compare to the Christian view in The Gospel According to Saint Matthew? What is similar, and what is different? For example, is salvation something to be obtained by an arduous "via dolorosa" (path of sorrow) with much spiritual struggle, or does the Gita teach something different? What might the Gita author say about Jesus' comments on "sin" and "damnation"? Explain. 8. Throughout much of the Gita, Krishna is gentle, even though the advice he offers may not be easy to follow. But at what point does he reveal another, less, gentle, aspect, and 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? 9. After the revelation just mentioned, the Krishna again becomes mild and conversational. The text returns to the theme of wisdom and the right path, and before it ends we are given something of a jeremiad (i.e. a diatribe) against all who do not comprehend what they should. In terms of message and structure, what need is there for such a section in the Gita? 10. The Gita does not cast itself as "required reading" for spiritual enlightenment--why so? And how does it compare to what you have read from the Bible in this regard? 11. If you have read much in romantic poetry, what affinities and differences do you find between the Bhagavad-Gita and authors such as Blake and Shelley? In what sense, for example, might Blake agree with the complex view of Krishna in his relationship to physical nature? How does Shelley describe the burden of self-consciousness and the combined strength and transitoriness of desire and emotion?
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