Bhagavad Gita Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bhagavad Gita - Essay Example it as having a Western equivalent: â€Å"Hindus find in it much the same kind of inspiration and guidance which Christians find in the New Testament† (Shideler 308). While the Christian bible contains lists of do’s and don’ts, The Bhagavad-Gita takes a different view to morality. The views expressed in the work stem from the Eastern circular notion of time, as opposed to the Western linear view of time. This, among other reasons, is what makes the work difficult to Western audiences. In the Christian bible, killing another person is expressly forbidden. In The Bhagavad-Gita, taking the life of another person isn’t suggested or recommended expressly, but it isn’t viewed as absolutely right or wrong either. Of course, this is not to say that the Hindu religion doesn’t seek peace in general, either. The work begins with Arjuna pondering a moral dilemma: â€Å"Evil they may be,/ Worst of the wicked./ Yet if we kill them/ Our sin is greater./ How could we dare spill/ The blood that unites us?† All of the questions answered and asked from this stem from this original question. To Western audiences, there is an expectation of a religious work to tell you how to act. There is simplicity in something being either right or wrong. If we do not know easily if a particular action is right or wrong, that might cause a certain amount of anxiety. As time is viewed as linear in the West, there is a certain progression that is expected. The longer a person lives, the more that person knows, and the more that person is able to choose the correct path in order to lead to where this person wants to go. However, in the East, since time is circular, there is not this same progression expected: â€Å"In the Hindu view, history is a great turning of the wheel, the flowing forth of the manifestations of Brahman and its return to itself† (Shideler 309). Krishna answers Arjuna by stating that the path itself, whichever choice happens to be made, is not what is