Bhagavad Gita: A Text and Commentary for Students (Sussex Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices) - Softcover

Fowler, Jeaneane; Fowler, Merv

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845193466 ISBN 13: 9781845193461

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Jeaneane Fowler provides a text and detailed commentary on this important Hindu scripture, which is a dialogue between Arjuna the man and Krishna the God. Major Hindu concepts are examined in depth, and the background to the Gita is presented in a comprehensive introduction. Yoga is the key feature of the Gita but it has its own interpretation of what that yoga should be: thus, yoga features not only in each of the pathways of knowledge, desireless action and devotion, but in the way in which the divine is understood. The chapters of the Bhagavad Gita therefore describe Arjunas despondency followed by The Yoga of Sankhya, Action, Knowledge, Renunciation, Meditation, Knowledge and Realization, the Imperishable Brahman, Royal Knowledge and Royal Mystery, Manifestation, the Vision of the Universal Form, Devotion, the Differentiation of the Kshetra and Kshetrajna, the Differentiation of the Three Gunas, the Supreme Purusha, the Differentiation of the Divine and the Demonic, the Differentiation of the Threefold Shraddha and, finally, The Yoga of Liberation and Renunciation. The book also contains detailed notes to the Gita chapters, a Further Reading section, a combined Glossary and Index of Sanskrit Terms, and an Index of English words. The cover of the book is replete with symbolism. Krishna is always represented as blue in colour, hence the colour of the hands in the cover design. The chariot of Krishna and Arjuna is to be seen in the motif at the base, while the triple motif symbolizes the triple paths of the Gita action without desire for results, knowledge and devotion. There are also three strands that make up all phenomena light and radiance, energy, and inertia, as well as three aspects of the divine in the Gita the totally transcendent Absolute, the manifest deity that is also the essence of all things, and the personal God to whom devotion can be given. The main image of Krishna is superimposed on the roots of the ashvattha tree that features in chapter 15: its branches reach down into the earth and its roots ascend upwards and it represents phenomenal existence.

About this title

Product Description:

This book provides a text and detailed commentary on this important Hindu scripture. Major Hindu concepts are examined in depth, and the background to the text is presented in a comprehensive introduction. The conclusion assesses the consonant and dissonant themes of the text.

About the Author:

Jeaneane Fowler was formerly Head of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wales, Newport, and later an Honorary Research Fellow. Her publications include Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices (Choice Outstanding Title, 1997); with books in the same series on Humanism, Chinese Religions, Tai Chi, Nichiren Daishonin: Buddhism in Wales, and books on the Philosophy of Hinduism and the Philosophy of Taoism; and a text and commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Merv Fowler recently retired as the Head of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wales, Newport. He has studied in the Middle East and published in the US, Canada, Germany, India and UK. An accomplished writer and storyteller, the author has written for the media and had his works broadcast by the BBC.

About this edition

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1845193466
• ISBN 13: 9781845193461
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256