About Bhagvad-Gita: Treatise of Self-help
Bhagavad-Gita is the most beautiful, perhaps the only true philosophical song existing in any known tongue’ – William von Humboldt.
In this the beauty of the Sanskrit slokas is reflected in the rhythmic flow of the English verse of poetic proportions even as the attendant philosophy of the Gita is captured in contemporary idiom for easy comprehension.
Though it is a matter of consensus that Bhagvad-Gita in the present length of seven hundred slokas has many an interpolation to it, but no meaningful attempt has ever been made to delve into the nature and extent, not to speak of the effect of these on the Hindu society at large.
The moot point that has missed the attention of all, all along, is that if the Sudras were to be so lowly in the Lord’s creation, how come then the Gita’s architect Krishna, His avatar, and Vyāsa, its chronicler, happen to be from the same lowly Hindu caste fold. Moreover, is it not absurd to suggest that either or both of them had deprecated the station of their own varna (caste) on their own in their very own Gita?
The methodical codification of interpolations carried out here puts the true character of the Gita in proper perspective. Identified here are hundred and ten slokas of deviant nature and or of partisan character, the source of so much misunderstanding about this book extraordinary, in certain sections of the Hindu fold.
In the long run, exposing and expunging these mischievous insertions is bound to bring in new readers from these quarters to this over two millennia old classic besides altering the misconceptions of the existing adherents.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Awe Unfounded
3. All about Interpolations
Chapters
1. Arjuna’s Dilemma
2. All about Life
3. Theory of Action
4. Practical Wisdom
5. Art of Renunciation
6. Practice of Restraint
7. Know the Spirit
8. Cycle of Creation
9. The Sacred Secret
10. Discern the Divine
11. Nature of Omnipresence
12. Doctrine of Faith
13. Field and Farmer
14. Proclivities to Know
15. Art of Liberation
16. Frailty of Thought
17. Science of Devotion
18. Thy Looking-glass
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Author Bio:
BS Murthy is an Indian novelist, playwright, short story, non-fiction ‘n articles writer, translator, a ‘little’ thinker and a budding philosopher in ‘Addendum to Evolution: Origins of the World by Eastern Speculative Philosophy’ that was originally published in The Examined Life On-Line Philosophy Journal, Vol. 05 Issue 18, Summer 2004.
Born on 27 Aug 1948 and schooled in letter-writing, he articulated his managerial ideas in thirty-odd published articles, and later he penned Benign Flame: Saga of Love, Jewel-less Crown: Saga of Life, Crossing the Mirage: Passing through youth (plot and character driven novels), Glaring Shadow: A stream of consciousness novel, Prey on the Prowl: A Crime Novel, Of No Avail: Web of wedlock, a novella, Stories Varied: A Book of Short Stories and Onto the Stage: Slighted Souls and other stage and radio plays.
Then entering the arena of non-fiction with a ‘novel’ narrative of Puppets of Faith: Theory of Communal Strife (A critical appraisal of Islamic faith, Indian polity ‘n more) possibly a new genre, he ventured into the zone of translations for versifying the Sanskrit epics, Vyasa’s Bhagvad-Gita (Treatise of self-help), Valmiki’s Sundara Kãnda (Hanuman’s Odyssey) in contemporary English idiom, and a critique Inane Interpolations in Bhagvad-Gita (An Invocation for Their Revocation).
And in the end, as a prodigal son, he returned to his mother tongue, Telugu, to craft the short story తప్పటడుగులు (Missteps).
While his fiction had emanated from his conviction that for it to impact readers, it should be the soulful rendering of characters rooted in their native soil but not the hotchpotch of local and alien caricatures sketched on a hybrid canvas, all his body of work was borne out of his passion for writing, matched only by his love for language.
Besides, some of his published articles on management issues, general insurance topics, literary matters, and political affairs in The Hindu, The Economic Times, The Financial Express. The Purchase, The Insurance Times, Triveni , Boloji.com are at Academia.edu https://independent.academia.edu/BulusuSMurthy
BS, a graduate mechanical engineer from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi, India, had been a Hyderabad-based Insurance Surveyor and Loss Assessor for over thirty years.
He takes keen interest in politics of the day, has an ear for Carnatic and Hindustani classical music and had been a passionate Bridge player.
He’s married, to a housewife, with two sons, the elder one a PhD in Finance, and the younger a Master in Engineering.
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