The Bhagavad Gita And The Tao Te Ching

Coming from a western culture, it is easy to familiarize with the Gospels over any other written text. In order to get a different perspective on the outlook of life, it is better to compare the Gospels to another written text. A text that is an excellent candidate to stand up next to the Gospels is the Bhagavad-Gita (or just the Gita). These two texts can depict similarities and differences between the two cultures presented: Christianity and Hinduism. Keeping an open mind when reading cultural texts is what makes the texts more interesting and informs the reader more clearly. The analysis between one western text and one non-western text can really widen the perspective of one person. Due to the fact that Krishna from the Gita seems to

According to Buddha, the key to happiness and fulfillment is to detach yourself from all worldly goods and desires.

The paths help to explain that for one to evolve they should worship more, "Men who worship me, thinking solely of me, always disciplined, win the reward I secure" (Gita 9:20 p.58) and be following and doing your duties, "Look to your own duty do not tremble before it" (Gita 2:31 p.57). These two ways of fixing the problem are explained by Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita. Arjuna is set to fight in a battle but in the last minute he twirls around the idea of retreating because of the fear of dying and killing. He believes that the act of killing will be bad in karma. Krishna is outraged with this non-sense and makes it his duty to open Arjuna's eyes to see and realize that he has a duty and that it is to be a warrior and fight. Krishna argues that by not fulfilling his duty in reality will be what brings him the bad karma that he so truly fears. In the end, Arjuna can not back down into his fears because that would be like turning your back on the God. A Hindu must follow their duties, beliefs, and many rituals in order to reach their inner peace, to receive good karma and possibly a better ranking in the caste system and stages of life.

Each religion has a book that is deemed central to the beliefs of the people. For Hinduism, this book is often seen as The Bhagavad-Gita, which follows Arjuna and the counsel he is given by Krishna before a battle against his friends. Throughout the text, Arjuna questions his beliefs because of what Krishna is telling him he should do. In the end, Arjuna must decide whether to die or to kill his friends. For the Benedictine monks, the central book is The Rule of Saint Benedict, which is more of a guide for the monks to follow instead of a book with a storyline. The rule discusses the responsibilities of each person and the monastery under God. Some of the rules are temporal and thus do not make sense for the current monks to follow today, but there are others that are still important. The Rule of Saint Benedict and The Bhagavad-Gita both share similarities in the way they express the individual, the community, and the divine, but within those similarities there are several differences.

The desire or appetite of the soul is what controls our want for the pleasures of life. An example of some of these pleasures are the want for food, money, sex, and any other material good. This part of the soul has the ability to control your rational which then leads an individual to act in a way that they may not normally. In the community

To want is to feel a need or a desire for; wish for. Many will do whatever it takes to somehow please the desires they can't control. Some wants are for selfish reasons and are only beneficial for the one who wishes them, but there can be wants for others too. They can be good or bad. To achieve the impatient needs you might have to disobey the rules, or defy the authority and law. Studies have been recorded to test people and their own personal wants, many of the results ended with them choosing the choice more so beneficial to them. Also in many occasions they chose the choice that would’ve normally been against the rules. In these cases someone is faced with a want that they should not be able to achieve because it's against their given

The desire satisfaction theory accommodates the thought which hedonism does not accommodate. According to the desire satisfaction theory, our lives go better when the world actually is a certain way, and doesn’t merely appear to be a certain way. An individual experiences pleasure when the desires are satisfied but it is not a guarantee that the desires cause pleasure.

As any other society, India and Greece underwent changes that transformed their thoughts, beliefs, social order, and their idea about this world. Most of these changes were experienced during the Axial Age and the Age of Iron. These periods in history made people question themselves about topics such as life, the world, death, the soul, etc. People attempted to answer these questions through ideas, philosophies, and myths.

In Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-actualization, the first level is basic needs. The basic needs consist of survival necessities, basic needs are the lowest level of the hierarchy. Some of these basic needs are the need of air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sleep. Only after meeting the basic lower-order needs can a person fulfill higher-order needs, such as the needs for love and a sense of belonging, esteem, and self-actualization (http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html.) People have a physical need for homeostasis, which is the body’s tendency to maintain a steady internal state, underlies primary drives. The biological needs of a person are motivated the drives of a person, such as hunger, thirst, sleep, and sex, which are related to the biological needs of the body. Motivation is

Could killing but not being emotionally attached solve a conflict? In The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna encourages Arjuna to kill and not be attached. He says, “If you are killed, you win heaven; if you triumph, you enjoy the earth; therefore, Arjuna, stand up and resolved to fight the battle.” The path of my own teachings has three important instructions: moral precepts, no killing; mental concentration, breath-control meditation; and wisdom, the knowledge of knowing there is no self. Instead of killing, we need to be merciful and kind to others. “No man who does not love himself could love others.” Every creature has a life so we need to appreciate and respect them instead of killing them.

for power. However, only a lucky few are able to truly appease this desire and get to the peak of

One of the most important divergences between Buddhism and the Gita is how dharma is interpreted. In the Bhagavad Gītā Krishna is able to shed some light on the significance of dharma. On the subject of dharma Krishna says: “It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own dharma. But competition in another’s dharma breeds fear and insecurity” (BG 3:35). Here Krishna is talking to Arjuna. Krishna is trying to get the point across that Arjuna is always better off following his svadharma rather than adhering to what others want him to do. It is important for Arjuna to follow his own path in order to reach moksha. Krishna is stressing that Arjuna must follow the path that has been carved out

The Baghavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjai, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika are all considered to be revolutionary texts. Their teachings depart from earlier traditions and propose many approaches to enlightenment. Through their definition of yoga or their philosophical goals, each contain some similarities as well as aspects that make each of them unique.

Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist and at the forefront of the humanist movement in psychology, proposed a theory concerning basic human motivations that are based upon a hierarchy of needs. (Boeree 1998, 2006) Often described or pictured as a pyramid, basic physiological drives like thirst, hunger and sleep, as well as the need for safety, shelter and some feeling of security are the motivational needs that occupy the bottom tiers of the pyramid.. They provide the foundation for higher levels of needs to become present and available that the individual is aroused or driven to attain. Once those physiological and safety needs are met then the individual looks to love and be loved, to belong

Both Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism in religious context compare through origin, philosophy, and their social structures including their outlook on women. These three religious show south east Asian roots, cultural beliefs, and social conflicts and solutions.