Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita [Paperback]

World-renowned philosopher and spiritual teacher Ram Dass—author of the groundbreaking classicBe Here Now—presents the contemporary Western audience with a lively, accessible guide to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the classic Hindu text that has been called the ultimate instruction manual for living a spiritual life.“Blessed brilliance and luminous heart wisdom—Ram Dass at his best. These lectures were joyous to attend and exquisite to read.” —Jack Kornfield, author ofA Path with Heart

“With wisdom, humor, and great compassion,Paths to Godilluminates the liberating power of the Gita—a rare gift in these unsettled times.” —Joseph Goldstein, author ofOne Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism

“Through offering a wide variety of approaches to spiritual happiness,Paths to Godis one of the most inclusive and inviting books available to us.” —Sharon Salzberg, author ofFaith: Trusting Your Own Deepest ExperienceRam Dass has served on the faculty at Stanford and Harvard Universities. In the 1960s, he traveled to India, where he met his guru. Since then, he has pursued a variety of spiritual practices, including guru kripa, devotional yoga, karma yoga, many forms of meditation, and Sufi and Jewish studies. Many of his books, includingBe Here Now, are international bestsellers and classics of their kind.Chapter 1

Context and Conflict

Before we approach the Bhagavad Gita, we need to have a contextual framework for the way it fits into the Mahabharata, of which it's a part. The Mahabharata is one of the two great Indian epics (the Ramayana being the other). The Mahabharata is a huge book-a typical edition runs to nearly six thousand pages. It is said to be the longest literary work in the world; it is seven times the length of The Iliad and The Odyssey combined, and the only unabridged English edition runs to twellăs