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15. GITA
World Spiritual Traditions http://oaks.nvg.org/pv6bk5.html
THE POEM Bhagavad Gita ("Song of Lord Krishna", "Song of God") is said to be the single most important religious text of Hinduism. It forms part of Book 6 of the Mahabharata ("Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty"), which is a very long poem composed between the 4th century BC and the 4th century AD. It is in the form of a dialogue. The Bhagavad Gita is of a later date than the major parts of the Mahabharata and was probably written in the 1st or 2nd century AD. It consists of 700 Sanskrit verses divided into 18 chapters. The hard core of the poem: As a result of going to war, a man called Arjuna gets confused, does as guru-dicatated, and ends up worn down and miserable - and so do his brothers. A whole caste is wiped out. That is how the great Mahabharata ends.
Swamy Vivekananda asks: "First, was Bhagavat Gita part of Mahabharatham and was the author of Gita really Veda Vyasa?" (P 506 to 509 of Volume IV)
"A great many people do not believe that he ever existed. Some believe that [the worship of Krishna grew out of] the old sun worship. There seem to have been several Krishnas; one was mentioned in the Upanishads, another was a king, another a general. All have lumped into one Krishna.". CW, Vol.1: Krishna, p.438.
Before Sankara Acharya mentions about Gita in 8th century A.D, the book Bhagavat Gita was not known anywhere. Some people believe that Sankaracharya was the real author of Bhagavat Gita and he simply inserted it in the Bharatham epic.
http://www.geocities.com/ejking2002/prajapathi.html
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