Universal Gita / Edition 1

by Eric J. J. Sharpe, Eric J. Sharpe

Overview

The Bhagavad Gita is the best known and best loved of all non-Judeo-Christian scriptures. More than 50 editions are available in the United States alone, and the Gita continues to gain new adherents. Yet there is little agreement about the Gita's message. Sharpe shows how the Bhagavad Gita has made an enormous impression upon Western thought during the past two centuries, and how reciprocal Western interpretations have had a tremendous impact upon Indian politics and society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812691290
Publisher:	Open Court Publishing Company
Publication date:	10/19/1985
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.48(d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Introduction	xi
Part 1	1785-1885
Chapter 1	The First Translation
1.	'One of the greatest curiosities ever presented to the literary world'	3
2.	'The essence of all Shastrus'	11
Chapter 2	Romantics and Transcendentalists
3.	'A more comprehensive soul'	15
4.	'The first of books'	20
5.	'In every man's brain is the Sanscrit'	26
Chapter 3	Missionaries and Mystics
6.	'There are wounds within, which Hindooism cannot heal'	32
7.	'The odious indifference of these orientals'	40
8.	'Ce livre est probablement le plus beau qui soit sorti de la main des hommes'	43
Chapter 4	Theories of Origin
9.	'More than a mere hypothesis'	47
10.	'A rather popular and exoteric exposition of Vedantic doctrines'	51
11.	'So have I read this wonderful and spirit-thrilling speech'	60
Part 2	1885-1985
Chapter 5	Renaissance, Radicalism and Theosophy
12.	'A common and well-read scripture for the whole of educated India'	67
13.	'Our chief national heritage'	77
14.	'The Krishna stories belong to what is least admirable and moral in Indian religious literature'	83
15.	'The book of the philosophy of the Logos'	88
16.	'A clear-tongued prophecy of Christ'	96
Chapter 6	Gandhi's Gita
17.	'Understand in order that you may act'	103
18.	'The real facts'	110
19.	'That interpretation is not true which conflicts with Truth'	113
Chapter 7	Rudolf Otto, J.W. Hauer and T.S. Eliot
20.	'The original Gita'	123
21.	'Dem kampfende Geschlechte'	126
22.	'Fare forward, travellers!'	132
Chapter 8	The Gita and the Counter-Culture
23.	'The interchange of vibration'	136
24.	'Krishna with his Magic Mantra'	141
Chapter 9	Ethical Monotheism and Social Caste
25.	'Growing acquaintance with the Spiritual East'	148
26.	'The tactics of the author of the Gita can no longer succeed'	156
27.	Conclusion	165
	Glossary	176
	Bibliography	179
	Index	185