This illustrates an interesting feature of a lot of religious proselytism: the arguments sound convincing to someone who already believes them, but completely nuts to everyone else. Let’s dissect this one:
Life after death happens because the Bhagavad Gita says so. The Bhagavad Gita is true because everyone who your religion says to have achieved enlightenment (a status you confer only upon members of your religion) is a member of your religion.
To anybody else, even people with religions of their own, this is obviously not evidence of anything; it’s just religious egocentrism. So why are such arguments so common? (Oh, and you should totally believe that the Bible is true, because Jesus died for your sins. I hear this one all the time.)
If it doesn’t sound reasonable, you probably haven’t understood it yet. Often because a set of words are more load-bearing than they appear on the surface.
For example, ‘achieved enlightenment’ may be something that they have had experience with and equate with wisdom. If someone who seems quite wise (at one or two or more levels above yourself) believes in Bhagavad Gita and says their wisdom comes from Bhagavad Gita, you might believe them. Alternatively, you may have identified some thoughts in yourself as ‘wise’, and then find these thoughts expressed easily and matter of factly by Bhagavad Gita. This is how religions build their credibility: through awe and recognition of common (but noT-too-common) truth.
(So I’ll add that) maybe the problem with religion is that people don’t understand what the source of wisdom is. They think if they identify a source of one truth, that source is reliable for other truths. So the problem is epistemology, again.
Sometimes, a comment that looks like off topic, incoherent rambling (which has been down voted past the view threshold, so we really should not respond to it) really is off topic, incoherent rambling.
sketerpot… Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism is one such sacred scripture which has universal appeal. Hinduism primarily is never termed a religion… it is a way of life! Bhagavad Gita is not the sole propriety of Hinduism. Anyone belonging to any religion can follow precepts of Bhagavad Gita and reach stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana)!
Lord Krishna http://www.godrealized.com/lordkrishna.html … an avatar of his era (God manifest human form) who gave doctrine of Bhagavad Gita to mankind came about 1500 years earlier to Jesus Christ… about thousand years earlier to Mahavira… the 24th Tirthankara (preceptor) of Jainism! Gautama Buddha followed about 77 years later to Mahavira!
The doctrine of Bhagavad Gita contains truth and only truth. Albert Einstein… a great physicist was an open exponent of teachings of Bhagavad Gita! The prime reason why people failed to understand gist of Bhagavad Gita is… contents of Bhagavad Gita can never be understood literally… it needs reading in between the lines!
This illustrates an interesting feature of a lot of religious proselytism: the arguments sound convincing to someone who already believes them, but completely nuts to everyone else. Let’s dissect this one:
Life after death happens because the Bhagavad Gita says so. The Bhagavad Gita is true because everyone who your religion says to have achieved enlightenment (a status you confer only upon members of your religion) is a member of your religion.
To anybody else, even people with religions of their own, this is obviously not evidence of anything; it’s just religious egocentrism. So why are such arguments so common? (Oh, and you should totally believe that the Bible is true, because Jesus died for your sins. I hear this one all the time.)
If it doesn’t sound reasonable, you probably haven’t understood it yet. Often because a set of words are more load-bearing than they appear on the surface.
For example, ‘achieved enlightenment’ may be something that they have had experience with and equate with wisdom. If someone who seems quite wise (at one or two or more levels above yourself) believes in Bhagavad Gita and says their wisdom comes from Bhagavad Gita, you might believe them. Alternatively, you may have identified some thoughts in yourself as ‘wise’, and then find these thoughts expressed easily and matter of factly by Bhagavad Gita. This is how religions build their credibility: through awe and recognition of common (but noT-too-common) truth.
(So I’ll add that) maybe the problem with religion is that people don’t understand what the source of wisdom is. They think if they identify a source of one truth, that source is reliable for other truths. So the problem is epistemology, again.
Sometimes, a comment that looks like off topic, incoherent rambling (which has been down voted past the view threshold, so we really should not respond to it) really is off topic, incoherent rambling.
Where do you think they’re pulling the 7.3 million figure from?
Morendil… the figure of 7.3 million is clearly laid out in sacred Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism!
Okay! Thanks for the info! You can leave now!
byrnema… one who knows Bhagavad Gita… becomes the knower of all… gains omniscience for all practical purposes… become an enlightened one!
sketerpot… Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism is one such sacred scripture which has universal appeal. Hinduism primarily is never termed a religion… it is a way of life! Bhagavad Gita is not the sole propriety of Hinduism. Anyone belonging to any religion can follow precepts of Bhagavad Gita and reach stage of enlightenment (kaivalya jnana)!
Lord Krishna http://www.godrealized.com/lordkrishna.html … an avatar of his era (God manifest human form) who gave doctrine of Bhagavad Gita to mankind came about 1500 years earlier to Jesus Christ… about thousand years earlier to Mahavira… the 24th Tirthankara (preceptor) of Jainism! Gautama Buddha followed about 77 years later to Mahavira!
The doctrine of Bhagavad Gita contains truth and only truth. Albert Einstein… a great physicist was an open exponent of teachings of Bhagavad Gita! The prime reason why people failed to understand gist of Bhagavad Gita is… contents of Bhagavad Gita can never be understood literally… it needs reading in between the lines!