#who wrote the bhagavad gita

[midchelle]

what are all the songs different beatles wrote about the breakup/other beatles/the drama on their solo albums?

Possibly non-exhaustive list, let me know if I'm missing any!

Ringo

Back Off Boogaloo (1972) Ringo says it isn't about Paul. It definitely sounds like it's about someone. He was publically critical of Ram and McCartney, and the song contains the lyrics 'Get yourself together now / And give me something tasty, / Everything you try to do / You know it sure sound wasted!' Hmmm.

Early 1970 (1970) This is probably the least bitter song written about the breakup, which I feel makes sense. While there was that incident with Paul in March 1970, for the most part, he maintained pretty good relations with the other Beatles. Nobody was on the verge of starting a blood feud with Ringo. It's Ringo, folks! Everybody likes Ringo.

George

Wah Wah (1970) The fact that he wrote this directly after leaving the band during the Get Back sessions is really all you need to know.

Isn't It a Pity (1970) Isn't it just? Though he wrote this years before the breakup, it takes on a new meaning after it. Not to crib from the YouTube Beatles man, but the fact that they'd been rejecting this since 1966...

Run Of The Mill (1970) They're calling it 'the head BIC of Paul McCartney diss tracks.'

Sue Me, Sue You Blues (1973)

- most litigious Beatle

Paul

Every Night (1970) And thus began Paul McCartney's string of 'my life is shit but my wife is hot' songs.

Man We Was Lonely (1970) My Life Is Shit But My Wife Is Hot (Part 2)

Too Many People (1971) World, here's my album about how great it is to be heterosexual and live on a farm. The first song is about how my old songwriting partner and his wife suck because I'm not mad and I'm actually laughing. People think this song must be covertly cruel because of how John responded, and the haha you're on heroin line is pretty low, but what nobody takes into account is how it's the equivalent of holding your finger really close to someone's face and saying I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! Hehe. It's annoying. You want to punch it.

3 Legs (1971) This song is really cutting in the same way Paul thinks signing 'piece of cake' as 'piss off cake' is cutting.

Dear Boy (1971) Paul claims this song is about Linda's ex-husband.

What did this man ever do to you besides divorce Linda, father Heather, AND let you adopt her, all of which were great for you? Where's this coming from?

Dear Friend (1971) Dear Friend and Too Many People being released the same year is pretty funny, but nowhere near as funny as Jealous Guy and How Do you Sleep? being on the same album.

Hon. Mention: well what is that 'we believe that we can't be wrong' bit supposed to mean?

John

I Found Out (1970) I've seen religion from Jesus to Paul. What Paul? Oh, you know, Paul.

God (1970) It's delightfully seventeen-year-old-experiencing-a-breakup-for-the-first-time to rank disbelief in The Beatles over not believing in: the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Bhagavad Gita, John F. Kennedy. And I'm all for it.

How Do You Sleep? (1971) It's her. The sexy, weirdly disjointed song that Went Too Far. Can I be honest? This is so tame. And half the lyrics don't even make sense. The cruelty of this song is in how dismissive and impersonal it is rather than anything to do with the actual words. I like to think of Run Of The Mill/Too Many People/How Do You Sleep? as a matching set because they display the individual worst qualities of the people who made them. Respectively: bitchy, annoying, and mean.

Jealous Guy (1971)

I Know (I Know) (1973) [Insert comparison of opening riff of I Know (I Know) Vs. opening riff of I've Got A Feeling] Nice use of leitmotif, Mr. I-hate-musicals.

[stingraystudiess]

Spring Break Recap - with pictures :)

the day we got off my friends and I went out to town and went to the beach. (so so grateful for where I live)

my (not so baby anymore) cousin visited from Switzerland! we did so many things since this is the first time she had come to Scotland, she is such a bookworm so me and my dad bought her some books from Waterstones. Love her sm :)

Wrote a letter to my school teacher about joining an abroad programme. I really hope I get in as I honestly believe it would be life changing. this was a draft dw! didn't look this scruffy on the final one :P

Cat shelter volunteering (I didn't get any photos of the shelter as I felt that would be inappropriate) this was on the way back though and I thought It looked magical. forever grateful for the scenery around me.

Played around with my new keyboard. It's a Casio and I love it sm, it was gutted by my uncle and auntie from Switzerland. I partially learned Chemtrails Over The Country Club by Lana Del Rey.

My friends birthday party!!! we did pottery painting and I got to paint a highland cow :D got ice cream (yum) and went to the park after.

Started reading the Bhagavad Gita. For those who are not aware, the Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu epic scripture that is part of a larger collection of works known as the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is a Sanskrit epic consisting of over 100,000 shloka (a form of long prose passage) fully forming in to about 1,800,000 (1.8 mil) words and is approximately ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined. The length explains why most only read smaller portions such as the Bhagavad Gita which is in fact a poem! ok I could talk about this forever but I hope that someone learned something new from my spiel :P.

Other stuff I did

-Reorganised my note taking and filing system (I could make a whole post about that)

-looked through all my subject specifications to get a feel of how many topics were are (and sub topics... and sub sub topics :,) )

-painted a mini canvas for my friend (dw that wasn't the only thing I got for her birthday)

-did some sketching (my artistic ability comes in waves)

-played Roblox, idc If its childish SUE ME (I am undefeated in paintball 🥱)

-did my extracurriculars (Sangeet and Bengali)

-Celebrated Poyla Boishakh and Vhaisakhi

Goals for new term

-study at least an hour on weekdays

-ace my sangeet exam

-get >6 on everything

-plan for mocks accordingly

-stay consistent

-do assignments as soon as they are given

-have fun

..............................................................................................................................

Ok this was long but I feel as if I did my break justice, a lot went on and it would be wrong to not give details.

thank you so much for reading this long post

Signing off~

StingrayStudies

[kingmabry]

G.V. SUBBARAMAYYA,

part 2

My first pilgrimage to Sri Ramanasramam was on 8th June 1933. From Kanchipuram, where I had accompanied my mother to attend a function, I travelled alone to Tiruvannamalai. I was at that time in great sorrow, having suffered my first bereavement the previous December when my two-year-old son died from what the doctors could only describe as heart failure.

For over two years I had been reading the works of Sri Bhagavan and other ashram literature. My main interest had been literary rather than philosophical. I had been struck with wonder at the style of the Telugu Upadesa Saram that, in its simplicity, felicity and classic finish, equaled that of the greatest Telugu poet Tikkana. I had felt convinced that a Tamilian who could compose such Telugu verse must be divinely inspired. I wanted very much to see him. However, in view of my recent bereavement, my immediate quest at that time was for peace and solace.

I had my first darshan of Sri Bhagavan on the morning of my arrival. As our eyes met, there was a miraculous effect upon my mind. I felt as if I had plunged into a pool of peace. With closed eyes, I sat in a state of ecstasy for nearly an hour. When I came back to normal consciousness, I found someone spraying the hall to keep off insects, and Sri Bhagavan mildly objecting with a silent shake of his head.

Sri Bhagavan was speaking to someone. Since he seemed to be in a mood to talk, I boldly asked him my first question: The Bhagavad Gita says that mortals cast off their worn-out bodies and acquire new bodies just as one casts away worn-out clothes and wears new garments. How does this apply to the death of infants whose bodies are new and fresh?'

Sri Bhagavan promptly replied, 'How do you know that the body of the dead child is not worn out? It may not be apparent, but unless it is worn out, it will not die. That is the law of nature.'

This was the extent of my interaction with Sri Bhagavan on this first visit. Immediately after lunch, I left the ashram without even taking leave of Sri Bhagavan. I came and went incognito as an utter stranger.

As I write these words more than twenty years after this first meeting, I still feel the glow of joy that was revealed to me in that first darshan. But to capture the untrammeled exhilaration of that meeting and the transforming effect it had on my life, I have to go back to an ecstatic poem I wrote not long afterwards:

Eureka! I've found it! I've found it!

the missing link of this well-knit chain,

the keystone of this unending arch,

the correct solution of this cross-world's puzzle,

the only way out of this vicious circle, the pass to heaven's banquet,

the patent for immortality,

the armor against fate,

the death destroyer.

I've found it! I've found it!

the meeting point of matter and spirit,

the spell of beauty, the enchantment of love,

the magic touch that makes all beings one,

the fountainhead of joy,

the true philosopher's stone,

the secret of secrets,

the grand mystery,

I've found it! I've found it! Eureka!

- The Power of the Presence, III

[whencyclopedia]

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is an ancient Indian epic where the main story revolves around two branches of a family - the Pandavas and Kauravas - who, in the Kurukshetra War, battle for the throne of Hastinapura. Interwoven into this narrative are several smaller stories about people dead or living, and philosophical discourses. Krishna-Dwaipayan Vyasa, himself a character in the epic, composed it; as, according to tradition, he dictated the verses and Ganesha wrote them down. At 100,000 verses, it is the longest epic poem ever written, generally thought to have been composed in the 4th century BCE or earlier. The events in the epic play out in the Indian subcontinent and surrounding areas. It was first narrated by a student of Vyasa at a snake-sacrifice of the great-grandson of one of the major characters of the story. Including within it the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata is one of the most important texts of ancient Indian, indeed world, literature.

Learn more about Mahabharata

[4dkellysworld]

So based on your last post you are saying we don't need to do anything? Just live life and trust in this message and the realization will come to us on it's own?

I'm sorry but what, did you read what I wrote at all? 😵‍💫 Did you read everything? If you did, you'll know I didn't say that. Don't cherry pick one line and then take only that from what I wrote. Continue the way you have and you'll stay the same.

If you understand the true meaning of do nothing, then sure. But I don't think you do. Read some Lester, Robert or Nisargadatta and you'll know what it means. Search keywords: doer, doership

A person does not attain liberation by simply refusing to perform action. Indeed, such a thing is impossible. No one rests for even a second without performing some kind of action. All beings are driven to action by the nature of existence and the interplay of the three gunas. Those who refrain from action but whose minds dwell upon sense pleasure and worldly objects are insincere and deluded aspirants. But those who, having mastered their mind and senses, remain unattached to objects and act with the karma yoga spirit, attain freedom. from Bhagavad Gita

[mariacallous]

Early in the morning of July 16, 1945, before the sun had risen over the northern edge of New Mexico’s Jornada Del Muerto desert, a new light—blindingly bright, hellacious, blasting a seam in the fabric of the known physical universe—appeared. The Trinity nuclear test, overseen by theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, had filled the predawn sky with fire, announcing the viability of the first proper nuclear weapon and the inauguration of the Atomic Era. According to Frank Oppenheimer, brother of the “Father of the Bomb,” Robert’s response to the test’s success was plain, even a bit curt: “I guess it worked.”

With time, a legend befitting the near-mythic occasion grew. Oppenheimer himself would later attest that the explosion brought to mind a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, the ancient Hindu scripture: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one.” Later, toward the end of his life, Oppenheimer plucked another passage from the Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Christopher Nolan’s epic, blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer prints the legend. As Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) gazes out over a black sky set aflame, he hears his own voice in his head: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” The line also appears earlier in the film, as a younger “Oppie” woos the sultry communist moll Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh). She pulls a copy of the Bhagavad Gita from her lover’s bookshelf. He tells her he’s been learning how to read Sanskrit. She challenges him to translate a random passage on the spot. Sure enough: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” (That the line comes in a postcoital revery—a state of bliss the French call la petite mort, “the little death”—and amid a longer conversation about the new science of Freudian psychoanalysis—is about as close to a joke as Oppenheimer gets.)

As framed by Nolan, who also wrote the screenplay, Oppenheimer's cursory knowledge of Sanskrit, and Hindu religious tradition, is little more than another of his many eccentricities. After all, this is a guy who took the “Trinity” name from a John Donne poem; who brags about reading all three volumes of Marx’s Das Kapital (in the original German, natch); and, according to Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s biography, American Prometheus, once taught himself Dutch to impress a girl. But Oppenheimer’s interest in Sanskrit, and the Gita, was more than just another idle hobby or party trick.

In American Prometheus, credited as the basis for Oppenheimer, Bird and Sherwin depict Oppenheimer as more seriously committed to this ancient text and the moral universe it conjures. They develop a resonant image, largely ignored in Nolan’s film. Yes, it’s got the quote. But little of the meaning behind it—a meaning that illuminates Oppenheimer’s own conception of the universe, of his place in it, and of his ethics, such as they were.

Composed sometime in the first millennium, the Bhagavad Gita (or “Song of God”) takes the form of a poetic dialog between a warrior-prince named Arjuna and his charioteer, the Hindu deity Krishna, in unassuming human form. On the cusp of a momentous battle, Arjuna refuses to engage in combat, renouncing the thought of “slaughtering my kin in war.” Throughout their lengthy back-and-forth (unfolding over some 700 stanzas), Krishna attempts to ease the prince’s moral dilemma by attuning him to the grander design of the universe, in which all living creatures are compelled to obey dharma, roughly translated as “virtue.” As a warrior, in a war, Krishna maintains that it is Arjuna’s dharma to serve, and fight; just as it is the sun’s dharma to shine and water’s dharma to slake the thirsty.

In the poem’s ostensible climax, Krishna reveals himself as Vishnu, Hinduism’s many-armed (and many-eyed and many-mouthed) supreme divinity; fearsome and magnificent, a “god of gods.” Arjuna, in an instant, comprehends the true nature of Vishnu and of the universe. It is a vast infinity, without beginning and end, in a constant process of destruction and rebirth. In such a mind-boggling, many-faced universe (a “multiverse,” in the contemporary blockbuster parlance), the ethics of an individual hardly matter, as this grand design repeats in accordance with its own cosmic dharma. Humbled and convinced, Arjuna takes up his bow. As recounted in American Prometheus, the story had a significant impact on Oppenheimer. He called it “the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue.” He praised his Sanskrit teacher for renewing his “feeling for the place of ethics.” He even christened his Chrysler Garuda, after the Hindu bird-deity who carries the Lord Vishnu. (That Oppenheimer seems to identify not with the morally conflicted Arjuna but with the Lord Vishnu himself may say something about his own sense of self-importance.)

“The Gita,” Bird and Sherwin write, “seemed to provide precisely the right philosophy.” Its prizing of dharma, and duty as a form of virtue, gave Oppenheimer’s anguished mind a form of calm. With its notion of both creation and destruction as divine acts, the Gita offered Oppenheimer a frame of making sense of (and, later, justifying) his own actions. It’s a key motivation in the life of a great scientist and theoretician, whose work was marshaled toward death. And it’s precisely the sort of idea Nolan rarely lets seep into his movies.

Nolan’s films—from the thriller Memento and his Batman trilogy to the sci-fi opera Interstellar and the time-reversal blockbuster Tenet—are ordered around puzzles and problem-solving. He establishes a dilemma, provides the “rules,” and then sets about solving that dilemma. For all his sci-fi high-mindedness, he allows very little room for questions of faith or belief. Nolan's cosmos is more like a complicated puzzle box. He has popularized a kind of sapio-cinema, which makes a virtue of intelligence without being itself highly intellectual.

At their best, his movies are genuinely clever in conceit and construct. The one-upping stage magicians of The Prestige, who go mad trying to best one another, are distinctly Nolanish figures. The tripartite structure of Dunkirk—which weaves together plot lines that unfold across distinct periods of time—is likewise inspired. At their worst, Nolan’s films collapse into ponderousness and pretension. The barely scrutable reality-distortion mechanics of Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet smack of hooey.

Oppenheimer seems similarly obsessed with problem-solving. First, Nolan sets up some challenges for himself. Such as: how to depict a subatomic fission reaction at Imax scale or, for that matter, how to make a biopic about a theoretical physicist as a broadly entertaining summer blockbuster. Then he sets to work. To his credit, Oppenheimer unfolds breathlessly and succeeds making dusty-seeming classroom conversations and chatty closed-door depositions play like the stuff of a taut, crowd-pleasing thriller. The cinematography, at both a subatomic and megaton scale, is also genuinely impressive. But Nolan misses the deeper metaphysics undergirding the drama.

The movie depicts Murphy’s Oppenheimer more as a methodical scientist. Oppenheimer, the man, was a deep and radical thinker whose mind was grounded by the mystical, the metaphysical, and the esoteric. A film like Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life shows that it is possible to depict these sort of higher-minded ideas at the grand, blockbuster scale, but it’s almost as if they don’t even occur to Nolan. One might, charitably, claim that his film’s time-jumping structure reflects the Gita’s notion of time itself as nonlinear. But Nolan’s reshuffling of the story’s chronology seems more born of a showman’s instinct to save his big bang for a climax.  When the bomb does go off, and its torrents of fire fill the gigantic Imax screen, there’s no sense that the Lord Vishnu, the mighty one, is being revealed in that “radiance of a thousand suns.” It’s just a big explosion. Nolan is ultimately a journeyman technician, and he maps that personality onto Oppenheimer. Reacting to the horrific, militarily unjustifiable bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima (which are never depicted on-screen), Murphy’s Oppenheimer calls them “technically successful.”

Judged against the life of its subject, Oppenheimer can feel like a bit of let down. It fails to comprehend the woolier, yet more substantial, worldview that animated Oppie’s life, work, and own moral torment. Weighed against Nolan’s own, more purely practical, ambitions, perhaps the best that can be said of Oppenheimer is that—to paraphrase the physicist’s actual reported comments, uttered at his moment of ascension to the status of godlike world-destroyer—it works. Successful, if only technically.

[newluddite]

Oppenheimer the movie.

I may not bother to see it. I know the story. The birth of the A-Bomb is a great and terrifying story. I grew up in the duck and cover age. If you do not know about that google it. Feeling fear makes one want to know why. The movie explosions may be fun, but my wife hates things like that and so its go alone or not at all.

The Manhattan project was huge, dangerous, and expensive. It established towns built for the job that were not there before. In Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Los Alamos, New Mexico new towns eventually small cities were made. One because there was abundant electrical power the other because it was so isolated and remote in case something happened.

Money was no object it was war.

First thing to note is that it was not the most expensive WW2 project. Developing the Boeing B29 bomber cost more. That is just one plane type.

The B29 is the plane that dropped the two A-bombs in Japan. It is also the plane that firebombed cities in Japan which actually killed more people and destroyed more homes that the A-Bombs. I do not say that to minimalize the impact of the A-Bomb. It was horrible, but many other horrible things were done as well by the winning side.

I want to talk about the Bhagavad Gita. Hard turn there? No not really. Much is made of the Oppenheimer Quote "Now I have become Death destroyer of Worlds". As in many things there are layers to see that superficial people will miss. That is a line from the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna who is a powerful god avatar shows his "true" form of Vishnu to Arjuna the prince. In doing so he recites those words.

At issue is Arjuna, a Prince in command of an army who does not want to fight the battle as the other side is powerful and has his friends and relatives and revered teachers in it. He knows many will die and is racked by guilt and reluctance. The back story is long and complex and beyond knowing this immediate situation is not necessary to get into.

I am far from a scholar, but Oppenheimer was. He read and translated the story from Sanskrit. He also spoke German Fluently as he was of German Jewish heritage which is why his family moved to the US. He studied Physics in Germany and wrote several papers in German and that is where he got his PhD in 1927. He knew most if not all the people working in Germany in advanced Physics. He had friends there.

When a few scientists during WW2 wrote the US president a letter noting that a huge new bomb was possible and that the leading experts were in Nazi Germany the math was done. It was a race. It was war, and I am still talking about the Bhagavad Gita.

The core issue is Dharma / Karma and well as I said I am not a scholar, but I take those as a mixture of Fate and Duty. The battle Arjuna must fight must go on, it will go on. That is Fate. He must do his best as a soldier and general that is duty. There is no choice. Krishna is explaining in detail why he must proceed.

So here is a man deeply conflicted with the skills and knowledge to do a hard thing who must actually do it even though others, many who he knows and loves may die.

Oppenheimer knew that the bomb was possible. He knew the people on the other side who were working on it and could do it. He knew it would be done. As it could be done it must be done. All that is discussed in the Bhagavad Gita and was deeply known to Oppenheimer.

So the simple line about destroyer of worlds is not as simple as simple people would have it.

Oppenheimer became a proponent of nuclear disarmament. He was also caught up in the red scare of Joseph McCarthy. He knew communists. They were for a long time just a political movement. Then they became the Enemy in the USA. Just as Jews were the Enemy in Nazi Germany. A convenient hate target for small people who craved power.

[apenitentialprayer]

One of Aldous's major preoccupations was how to achieve self-transcendence while yet remaining a committed social being.

Julian Huxley, on his late brother.

Today (11/22/23) marks the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. Aldous Huxley was an interesting figure for many reasons, but it was this work, a work that warns of a future in which a combination of fetal manipulation and social conditioning conspire to cause people to "come to love their oppression," that has made him a household name. A spirited spiritualist, Aldous Huxley had an interest in mysticism of all kinds, and it was this interest that brought him into contact with the Southern Californian Vedanta Society, which was founded by Swami Prabhavananda (who authored The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta). As a member of this society, Huxley wrote a series of articles that sought to explain spiritual principles and practical mysticism, using the vocabulary of the Christian and Vedantic Hindu traditions interchangeably. Among his more noteworthy works was his commentary on The Lord's Prayer, and an introduction to Prabhavananda's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. Huxley's perspective on life has been referred to by at least one author as "Orientalized Christian," but a more accurate (and less offensive) label might be that of New Age. His opinions on mysticism and spirituality can be found in his book, The Perennial Philosophy, as well as the appendices of The Devils of Loudun. Huxley believed in the importance of the dignity of the individual, while at the same time fearing the effacement of individual identity through mob mentality. Some quotes for Aldous Huxley below:

"The end of human life cannot be achieved by the efforts of the unaided individual. What the individual can and must do is to make himself fit for contact with Reality and the reception of that grace by whose aid he will be enabled to achieve his true end. [...] We need grace in order to be able to live in such a way as to qualify ourselves to receive grace."

"First Shakespeare sonnets seem meaningless; first Bach fugues, a bore; first differential equations, sheer torture. But training changes the nature of our spiritual experiences. In due course, contact with an obscurely beautiful poem, an elaborate piece of counterpoint or of mathematical reasoning, causes us to feel direct intuitions of beauty and significance. It is the same in the moral world."

"Civilization demands from the individual devoted self-identification to the highest of human causes. But if this self-identification with what is human is not accompanied by a conscious and consistent effort to achieve upward self-transcendence into the universal life of the Spirit, the goods achieved will always be mingled with counterbalancing evils."

[denimbex1986]

In the midst of the controversy surrounding a scene in Oppenheimer, where the titular character is depicted engaging in sexual activity while reciting verses from an ancient Sanskrit scripture, purportedly the Bhagavad Gita, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has stepped forward to praise Christopher Nolan’s biographical thriller film.

Taking to social media on Monday, Kangana lauded the movie as “Christopher Nolan’s best work so far” and expressed her admiration for the part in the film referencing Bhagavad Gita and Lord Vishnu. “Most important film of our time… I am so excited I just didn’t want it to end… It has everything I deeply love, I am passionate about physics and politics… For me, this was like a cinematic orgasm… beyond wonderful,” she noted while sharing a selfie video.

“The theme of the film is that when your nationalism rises, it precedes your religion; but when your humanity rises, it precedes your nationalism and you become a problem for the system. And the system that built you, starts disintegrating you. My favourite part is the reference to Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Lord Vishnu when he channelises his inner Vishnu. Go watch it… it’s a lovely film,” the Queen actor said in the video.

J Robert Oppenheimer, regarded as ‘the father of the atom bomb’, had learnt Sanskrit and was said to be influenced by the Bhagavad Gita. In the film, Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, is shown having sex with psychologist Jean Tatler (Florence Pugh) as she asks him to read a verse from what appears to be a Sanskrit book, whose title or cover is not visible.

The scene involving Gita in Oppenheimer had irked a section of social media users, who demanded the removal of the sequence from Christopher Nolan’s latest film.

Uday Mahurkar, information commissioner, Government of India, wrote an open letter to Nolan, terming the scene a “disturbing attack on Hinduism” and appealed to the director to remove the scene worldwide.

“We urge, on behalf of billion Hindus and the timeless tradition of lives being transformed by revered Geeta, to do all that is needed to uphold the dignity of their revered book and remove this scene from your film across the world. Should you choose to ignore this appeal it would be deemed as a deliberate assault on Indian civilisation. Eagerly await needful action (sic)” Mahurkar, founder of Save Culture Save India Foundation, wrote.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur has sought an explanation from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on why it cleared the movie in its present form. According to sources, Thakur has demanded accountability from the CBFC, which functions under the aegis of the I&B Ministry, regarding clearing the movie with the controversial scene, which has hurt the sentiments of a section of the Hindu community.

The Dhaakad actor’s comments come a day after she locked horns with former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy after the latter questioned her Y-plus security status. He tweeted, “The SPG knows, and has kept a register of her movements. I wonder why since it is no business of SPG to track Bollywood stars. In her case, on a special dispensation, she has a high level of security provided.”

Kangana replied, “I am not just a Bollywood star sir, I am also a very vocal and concerned citizen, I was the target of political malice in Maharashtra, at my expense nationalists could make a government here. I also spoke about tukde gang and strongly condemned Khalistani groups. I am also a filmmaker, writer and producer and my next production Emergency involves operation Bluestar… there is evident treat to my life hence I requested for extended security… Is there something wrong in this Sir?”'

[papirouge]

Hi, genuine question here for you been following a long time. I was wondering how one would prove why the God of the Bible is the true God of everything. For example, I've been told in the past the reason God is God is because the Bible said so and God wrote the Bible. But that argument doesn't resonate with me, because humans had to write it, inspired or not and it seems a roundabout argument, like, you could say God wrote the Talmud or wrote the Bhagavad Gita because they said so. Another one I heard was that to believe because of Pascal's wager where it's better to try to believe than not because there's no harm done if it's wrong but you'll lose it all. But that could work for any religion, how's it to not lead to the Quran vs. the Bible? What kind of argument or justification can one use? I know you're pretty knowledgeable on the subject as you're a Christian, but I just don't know how to get on that bandwagon just yet because I haven't seen very many arguments that aren't able to have holes poked into them.

Here's the shocker anon : there's no one on this planet who will be able to convince you of God existence.

There's a reason Jesus spoke into parables and that many of the people he professed to never got his message. Not everyone can understand God, and God Himself saves whoever He wants to. Sure, as Christians we have the duty to profess His words, but ultimately, God has the last word in whether people will actually accept His message or not.

That's why Faith is so important in Christianity. Trusting in Jesus being the son of God and that only the only true God YHWH, saves. Jesus said how blessed are the people who trusts without seeing actual evidence of God. Such as a centurion who trusted Jesus when he said his servant was healed, before he even came back home to check whether it was true or not.

Obsessively trying to find rationale evidence of Christianity being real is comprehensible and necessary, but it can also be a stumbling stone (uncredulousnes, hardening of heart, etc.). Never forget it was satan who was taunting Jesus into making miracles to make him fall.

And FYI what separates religion from cults or "spiritual philosophy" are the revealed miracles. Whether you believe it or not, multiplication of bread happened, people spontaneously speaking & understanding foreign tongues during the Pentecost happened. Jesus coffin being empty after 3 days happened. Because God was smart enough to put up witnesses to testify about it. Even Jesus haters acknowledged his 'powers' - they were just wrong to argue they were from the devil. Prophecies written by Jews happened too.

That's what separates judaism & Christianism from eastern 'religions' and cults. That's what give them an actual relevance and trustworthiness that other spiritual movement don't.

The only'way to know that God is God is to simply ask Him. The Bible isn't some magical book that will turb me you into a Christian just by reading it. That's a spiritual leap. And no, it's not accessible to anyone.

That being said, I've always found pretty troubling the stories of Muslim who, when genuinely asked God to show Himself (instead of their repetitive mindless rehashed prayers) they saw a cross, or a man... There's the story who happened in a MENA country where a toddler and her baby seebling got buried alive by their uncle who wanted to get rid of them after his sister (their mom) died. They survived SEVERAL WEEKS, and when they got found and everyone asked the little girl how they managed to remain alive so long, the little girl said a man with white close gave them bread and that their mom (their psycho uncle buried them in the same coffin as her) regularly woke up to breastfeed her baby sibling. It's said that when they found them, the mom looked like she was dead just moments ago, not since the severals weeks she actually did.

Waking up the dead? A man with a white robe? That was Jesus, babe. But OF COURSE the Muslims REFUSED to admit it and coped saying it was an angel or some stuff. You can't force someone to believe when they obvious is just there.

If you want actual evidence of YHWH being God, just ask him.

[thejesusmaninred]

"El Shaddai." From Mark 7: 9-13.

Jesus continues a public debate, an open air Sanhedrin that is tumble drying various concepts named as mission critical for Jews by the institution. Jesus says play is as important as work provided it is not fraught with trouble in the end. Now he continues, meaning, He wants non-Jews to want to sign up:

9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[c] your own traditions! 778

10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[d] and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[e]

11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—

 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 

13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

This sounds like a speech made by the Pentagon after 911. "We don't know what we do know and there are the uknowable knowns..." But we do know what God wants, Moses wrote it down for us and we have been reading it for thousands of years. We don't know what we are doing because we are turning away from God - we have started a Third World War, which is a sign we have abandoned God.

To end the war and its causes we must as Jesus said, go back to our roots and no matter one's religion on this planet that means we must all study the Torah. The Septuagint, AKA the Book of Chronicles also says we must all study the Bhagavad Gita, as they are synergistic, so anytime I mention the study of the Torah going forward, assume the BG is also requisite.

This section is relayed in five verses, or in what is called a Hand, meaning it refers to the need for Jewish Royalty. Without a King of Israel and all the Princes and Princesses, there is no way to ensure the meaning inherent in the Torah described the Christ will persist. As the Hand of God, the duties of the King are almost always explained in groups of five.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 9: You have a fine way. The Number is 7785, ז‎זחה‎ "you moved."

=

You are beaten to the point of realizing you need to be free.

"The verb τινασσω (tinasso) also means to shake, mostly in the sense of to shake loose or free. Homer used this verb to describe how Poseidon shook the boundless earth (Il.20.57), how Aphrodite shook Helen's scented robe (Il.3.385), how Eurymachos kicked his chair to smithereens (Od.22.88), hoe Zeus' monstrous eagles beat their wings (Od.2.151), and how the waves shattered Odysseus' raft (Od.5.368). Other authors spoke of quivering strings, of fruit shaken from a tree, of cumin beaten with a rod (the Septuagint's version of Isaiah 28:27)."

The October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel is an example of a moving experience. The US Government turned its back on law and order for a decade and now the world is paying a hefty bag of a price for it. The persons responsible, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the primary culprits, but certainly not the only ones, beat the tree. And now the fruit is going to fall from the branches.

v. 10: For Moses said. Moses did not say anything. He was not a real person, never has been. But still we say he said things. The Number is 5686, הוחו‎ ‎, "in his mind."

The words that incite the quest for self-definition must come from outside, just as with the message that tells us we are enslaved, must conform, or give up on trying to find the Self. Moses, therefore is ever new.

v. 11: If you say that, you are Corban= "Very close."

"The verb קרב (qarab) means to come near or approach, whether in space, time, socially or emotionally.

Adjective קרב (qareb) means near or approaching. Noun קרב (qerab) means approach and became used to mean battle (somewhat alike our word "engagement"). Noun קרבה (qirba) means approach. Adjective קרוב (qarob) means near and came to denote one's kinsman or neighbor. Noun קרבן (qorban) means offering, or rather a thing one approaches the altar with. Noun קרבן (qurban) denotes a special wood-offering requested for the second temple.

The noun קרב (qereb) is used to denote the internal of either a building or a person. It's been suggested that this word derives from a whole other verb (of unknown meaning) but it may also simply demonstrate that an approach doesn't need to end at a building's outer wall or a person's skin."

The Number is 7558, זההח‎, the same, "the power one asserts over another when one extends a loving touch. Hollow hands, prayer hands are empty."

"From this verb כפף (kapap) comes the ubiquitous noun כף (kap), which is one of two main words for the human hand. The other one, the noun יד (yad) refers mostly to one's loving touch (the look-alike verb ידד, yadad, means to love or fondle), or else the power one exerts over something or someone else; hence expressions like to lay one's hands on someone, or to fall in someone's hands.

Contrarily, our noun כף (kap) is concerned only with what it contains (or emphatically not; empty or hollow hands are often spread upward in prayer: Exodus 9:29, 1 Kings 8:38)."

v. 12: then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. The Number is 2963, בטוג‎ ‎ ‎"concrete under the crown."

The Torah calls the mind a rock until it produces water, until it finds the need to self-determine. The entire purpose of the Torah is to incite the need to self-determine.

v. 13: You do many things like that. Every living thing knows how to find itself and act like itself but us. We try to turn off the mechanism God gave man to be a unique and intriguing aspect of the creation, ours and his. This is a big problem all around the world. We Americans talk quite a lot about freedom, but we are not free to be. I blame the White House and always will.

The Number is 8888, ףי‎ףח‎, "the force of El on the people."

"The enigmatic name El Shaddai can be explained in many ways, but some scholars propose that it means El of the Mountain. This has nothing to do with the heavenly El's earthly abode, but with the centralizing force El exercises on the people.

A people is only a people when it has a collective identity. One of the primary functions of early deities was to provide that identity and gather the people around or within that identity. The phrase הר־אלהים (har-elohim) occurs in a few variations (Exodus 4:27, Psalm 36:6, 68:15), and some scholars translate this with a majestic or mighty mountain.

But El was not seen as a distant dictator deity, but rather as personification of the national identity, or rather: the Person whose personality would be the personality of the collective; thus establishing it and maintaining it. "

The House of David is expected to maintain the recipe and final flavor of the collective gathering of the people who call themselves Israel. The Name, the gods, the monuments and topography are all supposed to be easily recognizable, but the one thing that is supposed to really stand out is the vision:

"But possibly an even stronger metaphor is the mountain as (1) one's boundary of vision, and (2) a way to expand one's field of vision. The Greek word for boundary or horizon is ορος (horos) and the word for mountain is the highly similar ορος (oros).

Our noun הר (har) comes in a few curious forms. When David speaks of "my mountain" (and that's probably not David's pet hill but rather his vision."

Without an anointed one and a document, a consitution granting him the authority to continually give birth to the vision of Israel, any kook in a beard and beanie hat (or worse, one without) can do it. Then general public will start paying attention, and we see how that is going.

[the-hem]

"The Grass." From the Annapurna Upanishad, the Exploration of the Mysteries of the Queen of Foods.

V-8. ‘Undetermined by space and time, beyond the purview of ‘is’ and ‘is not’, there is but Brahman, the pure indestructible Spirit, quiescent and one; there is nothing else’.

 V-9. Thus thinking, with a body at once present and absent, be (liberated), the silent man, uniform, with quiescent mind delighting in the Self.

V-10. There is neither mind -stuff nor mind; neither nescience nor Jiva. Manifest is the one Brahman alone, like the sea, without beginning or end.

V-11. The illusory perception of mind, etc., continues as long as the I[1]sense is bound up with the body, objects are mistaken for the Self, and the sense of possession, expressed as ‘this is mine’, persists.

V-12. Sage ! Illusory perceptions of mind, etc., vanish for one who, through introversion, internally burns up, in the fire of the Spirit, the dry grass that is this three-fold world.

The biggest patch of dry grass in the mind is what happens after we die. We know there is a place beyond this one and in it resides the Holy Ghost, who is also superimposed on this world. The struggle to find a way to meet Him on His own turf has consternated mankind since His origins. The masters who wrote the Upanishads say one has to perceive Him here first, and get to know Him here else He will not know you well enough to invite you into the next realm.

The Upanishad says the answer is to clear the mind, think of nothing but what is necessary. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna “The Scourge of the Wicked” says:

BG 6.34-36: The mind is very restless, turbulent, strong and obstinate, O Krishna. It appears to me that it is more difficult to control than the wind.

Lord Krishna said what you say is correct; the mind is indeed very difficult to restrain. But by practice and detachment, it can be controlled. Yoga is difficult to attain for one whose mind is unbridled. However, those who have learnt to control the mind, and who strive earnestly by proper means, can attain perfection in Yoga. This is My opinion.

Everyone thinks if they sit and squint their eyes shut hard enough, they will see Jesus or Shiva dancing around in there, but that is not the point of yoga. The point of yoga is to force the mind and body to calm down and extricate themselves from their selfish urges so one can be motivated by truth alone. Full availability to real life is the only way to see God as He is. Who cannot see God here on earth shall not see Him in heaven.

What follows Right Vision is Right Action which we discussed in the prior frame.

[yogliving]

Choose best yoga school in India with Yog Living

Yoga is one of the oldest forms of exercise that has been discovered to have been in existence for several centuries, and part of the Indian culture. Yoga has become very popular not just as a form of physical workout but also as a lifestyle of mind, body and soul. Yoga originated in India hundreds of years ago and as such it is the perfect place to get true yoga teachings and practice.

Yog Living is the best platform for those who is looking for best yoga school in India. This article is going to provide you all the information and suggestions to follow in order to select a suitable yoga school in India from YogLiving.

History of yoga in India

Yoga as a discipline has been around for the last 5,501 years and it is rooted in the Indian culture and ethos. Yoga has its roots from Indus Valley Civilization where evidence of yoga like postures has been found through archeological studies. It was at its prime during the Vedic period when there were spiritual guidelines and philosophical concepts to support it. The Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita contributed further to the development of yoga, concentrating on meditation and virtuous living.

Classical yoga reached its formal expression with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali who wrote this text around 200 CE and who structured yoga into a formal method called Ashtanga Yoga or The Eight-Limbed Path. Even today, it stands as a basic text for any yoga school in India, giving detailed instructions on how to gain clear mind and spiritual evolution.

Top 3 Yoga Schools in India Recommended by YogLiving

Rishikesh Yogpeeth

Location: Rishikesh

Rishikesh Yogpeeth is a recommended option for the top yoga center in India. Located in the beautiful town of Rishikesh famous as the yoga capital of the world, the school provides a peaceful atmosphere best suited for learning and practice. Instructors are experienced, and all the classes are focused on classical aspects of yoga, which creates an ideal environment for practicing. Some of their distinctive offerings are yoga styles like Hatha, Ashtanga, and Vinyasa yoga for new learners as well as the experienced ones.

Shree Hari Yoga

Location: Goa

Shree Hari Yoga school is situated in the beautiful region of Goa and provides yoga courses that are diverse in nature. This yoga school in India takes its rightful place among the best due to the fact that it is located in a splendid tropical beach which is perfect for practicing yoga. It offers a wide range of courses, including teacher training, retreats, and other courses covering classical yoga styles like Hatha, Vinyasa, and Kundalini.

Sanskar Yogshala

Location: Rishikesh

Sanskar yogshala is a school for yoga practice situated in the world-famous town of Rishikesh where ancient and new styles of yoga practices are taught. It is located near the Ganges River and offers teachings in all kinds of Yoga. Students got the individual approach, and the school is focused on the real yoga practice.

Criteria for Choosing the Best Yoga School in India

Accreditation and Certification While choosing a yoga school in India, make sure the school is affiliated to well recognized bodies like the yoga Alliance. This accreditation assures you that the school maintains high ethical and educational standards, and it awards you an internationally recognized certificate at the end of the course.

Experienced Instructors The credibility of the classes also depends on the trainers in matters of yoga teaching. Choose schools with experienced and qualified yoga teachers who can illustrate different types and styles of yoga. These profiles mostly focus on their training, years of experience and contributions to the yoga world.

Curriculum

Yoga education requires a complete program of yoga training in order to gain adequate knowledge about it. The top yoga teacher training in India provides comprehensive programs that include aspects such as asanas, pranayama, and meditation practices, philosophy, anatomy, and teaching skills. This makes sure that you get a broad education which prepares you for the teaching profession or expands your practice.

Facilities and Amenities

The usability and comfort of our learning spaces can greatly improve the educational process. Identify institutions that offer decent accommodation, healthy vegetarian meals, and properly maintained practice facilities. Additional facilities, including library, wireless internet, and other health related services (for example, Ayurveda or massage) are also advantageous.

Reviews and Testimonials

It is important to check for reviews and testimonials from former students. These aspects provide practical information about the surroundings of the school, quality of education, and the experience itself. Make sure to search for positive compliments on instructors, courses, and premises for choosing a credible yoga school in India.

Yoga tourism in India is quite popular as India has a heritage of Yoga and it offers a large variety of Yogas. YogLiving is with you every step of the way, so let us take you through these tips. Are you all set to start a life-changing adventure to find the best yoga school in India? Do not let this opportunity pass by, if you are interested in yoga, take the first step now. Come and start your change now to get the best yoga classes and schools in India. Go to YogLiving to read more about the top yoga schools in India handpicked for our viewers.

[monsooninn]

Berakhot 6a:21. "Division."

21. And who praises God in his praises, Israel? No, he wrote: "You have spoken of the Lord today." And he wrote: "And the Lord is your ruler today", the Holy One, blessed be He to Israel, said to them: You make me a division in the world, and I will make you a division in the world.

Ha Shem cannot be divided, but we can divide our thoughts around and about Him and this is what causes all the trouble. So God says "make a place for me just as I am and I will make you great among the nations."

Only the Jew has the ability to define the proper definition of that which is called Ha Shem for the rest. Krishna told Arjuna the same about the Indians, exhorting them to become the best of the Bharats in Bhagavad Gita 2:14:

"O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed."

Without equanimity and the gentility mentioned in the former frame, one will not experience Ha Shem nor the Self and then what is called Israel or Bharat, "the best the nation has to offer."

The Value in Gematria is 11228, א‎אב‎בי "My love."

[holybookslibrary]

Vedanta-Sutras With the Commentary by Sankaracharya

Vedanta-Sutras Vedanta-Sutras With the Commentary by Sankaracharya. The doctrine advocated by Sankaracharya's comments is the most important and interesting one which has arisen on Indian soil; neither those forms of the Vedânta which diverge from the view represented by Sañkara nor any of the non-Vedantic systems can be compared with orthodox Vedânta in boldness, depth, and subtlety of speculation. Sankara's bhaashya (commentaries) is the oldest of the commentaries, it is further the authority most often referred to as to the right understanding of the Vedânta-sutras. Download the free PDF e-book here (479 pages): Vedanta-Sutras With the Commentary by Sankaracharya  

Who was Sankaracharya?

Adi Shankaracharya, commonly known as Shankaracharya, was a revered Indian philosopher and theologian who lived in the early 8th century CE. He is best known for consolidating the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a non-dualistic school of Hindu philosophy. Here are some key aspects of his life and contributions: - Early Life and Renunciation: Born in a Brahmin family in Kalady, Kerala, India, Shankaracharya showed a deep interest in spiritual and philosophical matters from a young age. He is said to have renounced the world at a young age to become a Sannyasi (monk). - Philosophical Teachings: Shankaracharya's main contribution was the establishment and expansion of Advaita Vedanta. He taught that the ultimate reality (Brahman) is formless and omnipresent, and the individual soul (Atman) is not different from Brahman. His teachings emphasized the unity of the soul and God, and the illusionary nature of the material world (Maya). - Works and Writings: He authored several texts, including commentaries on the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras, forming the prasthana trayi, the canonical texts of Vedanta philosophy. He also wrote several independent philosophical treatises and hymns. - Revival of Hinduism: At a time when Hinduism was declining due to the influence of Buddhism and Jainism, Shankaracharya played a pivotal role in its revival. He traveled extensively across the Indian subcontinent, debating and discussing with scholars from different schools of thought. - Establishment of Mathas: Shankaracharya established four monasteries (Mathas) in four corners of India – Sringeri in the south, Dwarka in the west, Jyotirmath in the north, and Puri in the east. These continue to be important centers of spiritual learning. - Mystical and Spiritual Influence: His teachings have had a profound impact on the spiritual and philosophical landscape of India. He is revered as a Jagadguru (world teacher) and a manifestation of Shiva. - Legacy and Death: Shankaracharya's life and teachings continue to be a source of inspiration and are celebrated in various parts of India. There are various accounts of his age at death, ranging from 32 to 33 years, and the exact details of his death remain a topic of historical debate. Shankaracharya's influence extends beyond Hinduism, impacting Indian culture, spirituality, and philosophical thought in profound ways. Read the full article

[denimbex1986]

'Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's sweeping new biographical thriller about the "father of the atomic bomb", has opened to a glowing reception around the world. In India, it's been a hit too but some have protested against a scene depicting the scientist reading the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism's holiest books, after sex. Oppenheimer learnt the ancient Sanskrit language and counted the book as one of his favourites.

In July 1945, two days before the explosion of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert, Robert Oppenheimer recited a stanza from the Bhagavad Gita, or The Lord's Song.

Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist, had been introduced to Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language, and subsequently the Gita, as a teacher in Berkeley years before. More than 2,000-year-old, Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata - one of Hinduism's greatest epics - and at 700 verses, the world's longest poem.

Now, hours before an event that would change history, the "father of the atomic bomb" relieved his tension by reciting a stanza he had translated from Sanskrit:

In battle, in forest, at the precipice of the mountains

On the dark great sea, in the midst of javelins and arrows,

In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame,

The good deeds a man has done before defend him

As Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin write in their authoritative 2005 biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer, a young Oppenheimer was introduced to Sanskrit by Arthur W Ryder, a professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley. The precocious physicist had arrived there as a 25-year-old assistant professor. Over the next few decades, he helped build one of the "greatest schools of theoretical physics" in the US.

Ryder, a Republican and a "sharp tongued iconoclast", was fascinated by Oppenheimer. For his part, Oppenheimer regarded Ryder as a "quintessential intellectual", a scholar who "felt and thought and talked as a stoic". The young scientist's textile importer father agreed, saying Ryder was a "remarkable combination of austereness through which peeps the gentlest soul".

Oppenheimer - played by actor Cillian Murphy in the biopic - also regarded Ryder as a rare person who had "a tragic sense of life, in that they attribute to human actions the completely decisive role in the difference between salvation and damnation".

Soon, Ryder was giving Oppenheimer private lessons in Sanskrit on Thursday evenings. "I am learning Sanskrit," the scientist wrote to his brother Frank, "enjoying it very much and enjoying again the sweet luxury of being taught".

Many of his friends found his new obsession with an Indian language odd, Oppenheimer's biographers noted. One of them, Harold F Cherniss, who introduced the scientist to the scholar, thought it made "perfect sense" because Oppenheimer had a "taste of the mystical and the cryptic".

So Oppenheimer's knowledge of Sanskrit and the Gita is clearly germane to telling his story. But some right wing Hindus have complained - particularly about the sex scene with lover Jean Tatlock, played by Florence Pugh - saying the film is an attack on their religion and demanding cuts.

But India's film censors found no problem with it and at the box office it's the Hollywood hit of the year in India, faring better than Barbie since the two blockbusters opened on Friday.

There's no doubt Oppenheimer was a widely well-read man - he took courses in philosophy, French literature, English, history, and briefly considered studying architecture, and even becoming a classicist, poet or painter. He wrote poems on "themes of sadness and loneliness", and identified with TS Eliot's "sparse existentialism" in The Waste Land.

"He liked things that were difficult. And since almost everything was easy for him, the things that really would attract his attention were essentially the difficult," Cherniss said.

With his facility for languages - Oppenheimer had studied Greek, Latin, French and German and learned Dutch in six weeks - it "wasn't really long before" he was reading the Bhagavad Gita. He found it "very easy and quite marvellous" and told friends that it was the "most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue". In his bookshelf was a pink-covered copy of the book that Ryder had gifted him; and Oppenheimer himself gifted copies to his friends.

The biographers write that the scientist was so "enraptured by his Sanskrit studies" that in 1933 when his father brought him a Chrysler, he named it Garuda, after the giant bird God in Hindu mythology.

In spring of that year, Oppenheimer had written a rather florid letter to his brother explaining why discipline and work had always been his guiding principles. It pointed to the fact that he was enthralled by eastern philosophy.

He wrote: "through discipline, though not through discipline alone, we can achieve serenity, and a certain small but precious measure of freedom from the accidents of incarnation… and that detachment which preserves the world it renounces". Only through discipline, he added, is it possible to "see the world without the gross distraction of personal desire, and in seeing so, accept more easily our earthly privation and its earthly horror".

"In the late twenties, Oppenheimer seemed to be searching for an earthly detachment; he wished, in other words to be engaged as a scientist with the physical world, and yet detached from it," his biographers write.

"He was not seeking to escape to a purely spiritual realm. He was not seeking religion. What he sought was peace of mind. The Gita seemed to provide precisely the right philosophy for an intellectual keenly attuned to the affairs of men and the pleasures of the senses."

One of his favourite Sanskrit texts was the Meghaduta, a lyric poem written by Kalidasa, one of the greatest poets in the language. "The Meghaduta I read with Ryder, with delight, some ease and great enchantment," he wrote to his brother, Frank.

Why did Oppenheimer turn to Gita and its notions of karma, destiny and earthly duty so fervently? His biographers hazard a guess: "Perhaps the attraction Robert felt to the fatalism of the Gita was at least stimulated by a late blooming rebellion against what he had been taught as a youth", alluding to his early association with the Ethical Culture Society, an "uniquely American offshoot of Judaism that celebrated rationalism and a progressive brand of secular humanism".

To be sure, Oppenheimer was not alone in admiring the Hindu text. Henry David Thoreau wrote about immersing himself in the "stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial". Heinrich Himmler was an admirer. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent follower. And WB Yeats and TS Eliot, two poets Oppenheimer admired, had read the Mahabharata.

The sight of the giant orange mushroom cloud rising in the skies after the first atomic bomb test had led Oppenheimer to return to the Gita again. The bombs that were eventually dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II had killed tens of thousands of people.

"We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent," he told NBC in a 1965 documentary.

"I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu [a principal Hindu deity] is trying to persuade the prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I have become death, the destroyer of the worlds'. I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."

A friend of the scientist said the quote sounded like one of Oppenheimer's "priestly exaggerations".

Yet, the enigmatic scientist remained profoundly influenced by it.

When the editors of The Christian Century asked the scientist once to share the books that most profoundly influenced his philosophical outlook, Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal held the top spot. And the Bhagavad Gita took the second position.'