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How Bhagwad Gita inspired the greatest minds

How Bhagwad Gita inspired the greatest minds

Last updated on: July 2, 2008 at 6:20 am by Desh Kapoor

How Bhagwad Gita inspired the greatest minds 2008-07-02T06:20:26-05:00 Desh Kapoor

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I got this mail. I am sure these quotes have been shared by many about Bhagwad Gita. In my view, the commendations from these people, learned and great as they are, does nothing to take away or add to the value of Gita.. so high is it in Spiritual and the profound.

Its greatest strength is NOT in its ideas – for they were known to the Vedic Rishis long back, as is evident from many Upanishads… its strength was to sythesize the many profound statements and philosophy to dovetail that into an actionable statement. For the first and ONLY time, here was a orator who called the bluff of Moralistic action and put the entire nonsense of what people go about preaching in the name of Morals. Morals are contextual and prisoners of time and space. There is no such thing as an absolute Moral.

For example, if what the Great Teachers like Buddha and Jesus was “good” then how does one understand the many that have died due the ego that was created out of faith in those very teachings?

Hence, I would like to state something that Vivekananda said and corerctly – that Krishna did not make Gita great. The message of Gita made Krishna great. The underlying components of Gita’s message were already great.. they did not need a champion. What was required was a person to synthesize all that into ONE organic whole. Which is what Krishna did. Now, enjoy how Gita inspired these great minds.

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When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day.

– Mahatma Gandhi

The Bhagavad-Gita calls on humanity to dedicate body, mind and soul to pure duty and not to become mental voluptuaries at the mercy of random desires and undisciplined impulses.

– Mahatma Gandhi

When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous.

– Albert Einstein

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.

– Robert Oppenheimer

The Bhagavad-Gita has a profound influence on the spirit of mankind by its devotion to God which is manifested by actions.

– Dr. Albert Schweitzer

The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity.

– Aldous Huxley

The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than a book, with a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization.

– Sri Aurobindo

In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial.

– Henry David Thoreau

The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of lifes wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion.

– Herman Hesse

The Bhagavad-Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe.

– Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

I owed a magnificent day to the Bhagavad-Gita. It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the same questions which exercise us.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Bhagavad-Gita is an empire of thought and in its philosophical teachings Krishna has all the attributes of the full-fledged montheistic deity and at the same time the attributes of the Upanisadic absolute.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is necessary to attune our soul to it.

– Rudolph Steiner

The Bhagavad-Gita is not seperate from the Vaisnava philosophy and the Srimad Bhagavatam fully reveals the true import of this doctrine which is transmigation of the soul. On perusal of the first chapter of Bhagavad-Gita one may think that they are advised to engage in warfare. When the second chapter has been read it can be clearly understood that knowledge and the soul is the ultimate goal to be attained. On studying the third chapter it is apparent that acts of righteousness are also of high priority. If we continue and patiently take the time to complete the Bhagavad-Gita and try to ascertain the truth of its closing chapter we can see that the ultimate conclusion is to relinquish all the conceptualized ideas of religion which we possess and fully surrender directly unto the Supreme Lord.

– Swami Prabhupada
(creator of ISKON)

The secret of karma yoga which is to perform actions without any fruitive desires is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita.

– Swami Vivekananda

The Bhagavad-Gita was spoken by Lord Krishna to reveal the science of devotion to God which is the essence of all spiritual knowledge. The Supreme Lord Krishnas primary purpose for descending and incarnating is relieve the world of any demoniac and negative, undesirable influences that are opposed to spiritual developement, yet simultaneously it is His incomparable intention to be perpetually within reach of all humanity.

– Ramanuja

From a clear knowledge of the Bhagavad-Gita all the goals of human existence become fulfilled. Bhagavad-Gita is the manifest quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedic scriptures.

– Adi Sankara

The Bhagavad-Gita is where God Himself talks to His devotee Arjuna.

– Paramahansa Yogananda

Nothing has ever arisen in my life, internal or external, that the Gita has not made clear and enabled me to deal with or understand.

– Swami Nirmalananda Giri

The Gita is the universal mother. I find a solace in the Bhagavadgeeta that I miss even in the Sermon in the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there, and I immediatly begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies – and my life has been full of external tragedies – and if they have left no visible or indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.

– Mahatma Gandhi

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