The “Bhagavad Gita” (“The Lord’s Song”)

Long ago there was a war between rival claims to the rule of India which was to be decided at a great battle. Before this battle Arjuna the greatest warrior in the world expressed his doubts and decided to throw down his arms and refuse to fight. His charioteer Krishna happened to be an avatar of God, and in this poetic discourse explained the nature of moral and political obligation according to the Vedic Dharma.

This text was the first Sanskrit work to be published in a Western tongue and was widely appreciated by many prominent thinkers such as Schopenhauer, Thoreau, Gandhi, and Oppenheimer. In spite off this almost nobody really pays much attention to the actual views taught by Krishna, which includes a cyclical view of history and a theory of the dharmic society and just war.