The Bhagavad Gita and the West: The Esoteric Significance of

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The Bhagavad Gita and the West: The Esoteric Significance of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to the Epistles of Paul
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5 lectures, Cologne, Dec. 28, 1912 - Jan. 1, 1913 (CW 142)
9 lectures, Helsinki, May 28 - June 5, 1913 (CW 146)
1 lecture, Basel, Sept. 19, 1912 (CW 139)

This combination of two volumes in Rudolf Steinerâ€™s Collected Works presents Steinerâ€™s profound engagement with Hindu thought and, above all, the Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as they illuminate Western Christian esotericism. In his masterly introduction, Robert McDermott, a longtime student of Rudolf Steiner, as well as Hindu spirituality, explores the complex ways in which the â€œSong of the Lord,â€ or Bhagavad Gita, has been understood in East and West. He shows how Krishnaâ€™s revelation to Arjunaâ€•a foundation of spirituality in India for more than two and a half millenniaâ€•assumed a similarly critical role in the Western spiritual revival of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the West, for instance, leading up to Steinerâ€™s engagement, he describes the different approaches manifested by Emerson, Thoreau, H.P. Blavatsky, and William James. In the East, he engages with the interpretation of historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo, relating them to Steinerâ€™s unique perspective. At the same time, and most valuable, he illuminates the various technical terms and assumptions implicit in the worldview expressed in the Bhagavad Gita.

The main body of The Bhagavad Gita and the West consists of two lecture courses by Rudolf Steiner: â€œThe Bhagavad Gita and the Epistles of Paulâ€ and â€œThe Esoteric Significance of the Bhagavad Gita.â€ In the first course, his main purpose, as McDermott shows, is to integrate the flower of Hindu spirituality into his view of the evolution of consciousness and the pivotal role played in it by the Mystery of Golgothaâ€•the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Steiner views Krishna as a great spiritual teacher and the Bhagavad Gita as a preparation, though still abstract, for the coming of Christ and the Christ impulse as the living embodiment of the World, Law, and Devotion, represented by the three Hindu streams of Veda, Sankhya, and Yoga. For him, the epic poem of the Bhagavad Gita represents the â€œfully ripened fruitâ€ of Hinduism, whereas Paul is related but represents â€œthe seed of something entirely new.â€ In the last lecture, Steiner reveals Krishna as the sister soul of Adam, incarnated as Jesus, and claims Krishaâ€™s Yoga teachings streamed from Christ into Paul.

In the second lecture course, given five months later, Steiner engages the text of the Bhagavad Gita on its own terms, as signaling the beginning of a new soul consciousness. To aid in the understanding of both these important cycles, this volume includes the complete text of the Bhagavad Gita in Eknath Easwaranâ€™s luminous translation.

In our age, when East and West are growing closer together and we live increasingly in a global, intercultural, religiously pluralistic world, The Bhagavad Gita and the West is necessary reading for all concerned with a truly spiritual approach to the new reality.

This book is a translation of two volumes in German: Die Bhagavad Gita und die Paulusbriefe (CW 142) and Die okkulten Grundlagen der Bhagavad Gita (CW 146), published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach, Switzerland, 1961. The lecture in the appendix is translated from Das Markus-Evangelium (CW 139) and was published in The Gospel of St. Mark, Anthroposophic Press, 1986. Part I: "The Bhagavad Gita and the Epistles of Paul" was translated by Lisa D. Monges and Doris M. Bugbey. Part II: "The Esoteric Meaning of the Bhagavad Gita" was translated by George and Mary Adams and amended by Doris M. Bugbey. Both translations were revised for this edition by Mado Spiegler. The lecture in the Appendix was translated by Conrad Mainzer and edited by Stewart C. Easton. Part III: The text of the Bhagavad Gita, translated by Eknath Easwaran, is reproduced with kind permission from Nilgiri Press, Berkeley, CA, 2007.

Click here to read the first part of Robert McDermott's introduction to The Bhagavad Gita and the West.
Country USA
Brand Steiner Books
Manufacturer SteinerBooks
Binding Paperback
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780880106047
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	Steiner Books
Manufacturer	SteinerBooks
Binding	Paperback
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780880106047
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

The Bhagavad Gita and the West: The Esoteric Significance of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to the Epistles of Paul