You must understand that the first few texts may be a bit boring, but that's the story line. It explains what the cause of the war is and who has the best odds. The Bhagavad Gita is a spiritual book that explains how life is connected. The translator of these texts, Srila Prabhupada, also directly points out the difference between right and wrong by writing about piousand and impious.
Chapter One
Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra
SANSKRIT TEXT 2
sanjaya uvaca
drstva tu pandavanikam
vyudham duryodhanas tada
acaryam upasangamya
raja vacanam abravit
TRANSLATION
Sanjaya said: O King, after looking over the army gathered by the sons of Pandu, King Duryodhana went to his teacher and began to speak the following words:
SHORT EXPLANATION
Dhrtarastra the king was blind and not present on the battlefield of Kuruksetra. He was also afraid because he was aware that he and his relatives were not spiritually strong and his opponents in the struggle were religious and even had Krsna (God) on their side.
SANSKRIT TEXT 3
pasyaitam pandu-putranam
acarya mahatim camum
vyudham drupada-putrena
tava sisyena dhimata
TRANSLATION
O my teacher, behold the great army of the sons of Pandu, so expertly arranged by your intelligent disciple, the son of Drupada.
SHORT EXPLANATION
King Drupada, the father of Draupadi, who was Arjuna's wife, performed a sacrifice, by which he received a son who would be able to kill Dronacarya. Arjuna, was his most pious and a great kshatriya. Therefore, it is said by King Duryodhana that there is a great and powerful army, led by the Pandavas.
Previous texts
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 1 Text 1
About the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita literally means "Song of the Lord". The Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita are two books from Indian history. Mahabharata is the name of the war that is being fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Kauravas are the symbol of negative and the Pandavas are the symbol of the positive. The book is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. This dialogue sets out three ways in which man can achieve salvation of this earthly life. These roads are: karma yoga, bhakti yoga and gyan yoga. Bhagavad Gita is the essence of the Vedas and Upanishads and 5,000 + years old.
Direct link to download Bhagavad Gita as it is pfd
Listen to Bhagavad Gita chapter 1 mp3
Sources:
https://krishna.org
https://asitis.com
https://archive.org
http://www.iskcon.org
Note
There are many translations and as many interpretations of the verses.
I use the translation by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada from the Sanskrit to the Englisch.
Prabhupada is the founder acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
I lived in a Hare Krishna ashram for three years and know this book quite well. There were Sanskrit verses that I knew from my mind but that's worn out. More of my posts on Vaishnavism.
joining-the-hare-krishna-movement
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Glad you are posting the Bhagavad Gita... are you going to post any other ISKON info? In my Cowboys & Indians post way back when I talked about how I used to go to the free Sunday vegetarian dinner. That's where i was first introduced to Krishna
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OOh That was a fun post! I voted for it :-)
The philosophy of the BG I know is that of ISKCON (Prabhupada). I will surely give this honor to this organization because I still love these people :-)
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The History of Philosophy podcast offered a nice overview of the text here.
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That is a nice site!!
There are so many translations of the Gita, I know the Gaudiya Vaishnava well.
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