Oh Krishna Where Art Thou

To quickly explain how I will go about writing this essay I will dedicate the first couple lines in doing so. Since there is so much to write about I will pretend I’m a member of one of the religions in question and flip through the book and pick at random a passage or two. Then I will write about how I feel about that passage as if I was a member of that religion as I stated above. This is generally how I will be answering the two questions asked of us in a single bodied essay. Also whenever I am quoting passages of the Gita, they will all be from the Barbara Stoler Miller translation. Now I will begin.

Quickly flipping through the Gita I come to the opening verses of the seventh teaching which is entitled knowledge and judgment. The verses I would like to focus on are 7.6-7.7, which go like this.

Learn that this is the womb Nothing is higher than I am;

of all creatures; Arjuna, all that exists

I am the source of all the universe, is woven on me,

just as I am its dissolution like a web of pearls on thread

If I was a Vedic Brahmin priest from the 6th century BCE I would quickly recognize that the first set of lines are very similar to what the Rg Veda 10.90 is talking

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Next I will go into the fourth teaching of the Gita, entitled knowledge. There is no eternal soul that goes on and on. The connection of the two would just be too easy for me to connect with each other. Though if someone was to live a good life, one in which they were able to get rid of some Karma, they would be born in a life of nobility. Examples would be being born a woman or an unpleasant animal. Again when Krishna is telling Arjuna how to end suffering he is speaking about what Buddhist call the Third Noble Truth which is the path to end suffering is to end your attachments.

Now to take a look at it from a Jain point of view. Obviously Krishna is talking about the Four Noble Truths, the first being suffering, the second being the causes of suffering.

Switching once again to a Vedic Priest, I would have to say as it is know in Vedic religion, that all action has consequences. Only through the Four Noble Truths can they reach the Eightfold Path which leads to no Karma or rebirth. Being a Vedic Priest I would recognize this through the lines “I am the source of all the universe”.

Approximate Word count = 1667
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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