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The counter-intuitive 🐿️'s avatar

the cover is so bogus, if the title is about Bhagwat Gita. That is Shah Jahan the Mogul Emperor, Krishna the Blue Overlord Of The Yadavs and some scattered concubines of then society.

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Julius Skoolafish's avatar

Wow! Thank you for enlightening me!! This is most intriguing. When I ordered the book I requested the translation by Juan Mascaro (it appealed to me out of the various audio readings) and that is the one they got in for me. It is published by Penguin. I am definitely going to look into that a bit further.

Incidentally, I pointed out on my mention of Massie's 'Peter the Great' that the subtitle is incorrectly printed as "His Life and Works" whereas the correct subtitle is "His Life and World".

Thanks again.

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The counter-intuitive 🐿️'s avatar

your welcome

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Goeff's avatar

Pardon my total ignorance, but I find this very interesting and would like to know your views on the dude.

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Julius Skoolafish's avatar

I beg your pardon - which dude? :-)

(signing off - back tomorrow)

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Goeff's avatar

Yeah, I need to get tons of stuff accomplished as well.

Be well!

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Goeff's avatar

I should have said, both dudes, Khrishna and Shah Jahan. I have very long ago read a book on the Mogul Empire, but remember practically nothing about it.

There is so much I need to reread!

Been reading about Khrishna and it's fascinating how folks then and there were dealing with the same issues that we are today. Should not come as a surprise, but simple minded as I am, I find it utterly fascinating.

I stumbled upon this a few minutes ago...from Wiki.:

"Garuda's links to Vishnu – the Hindu god who fights injustice and destroys evil in his various avatars to preserve dharma, has made him an iconic symbol of king's duty and power, an insignia of royalty or dharma. His eagle-like form is shown either alone or with Vishnu, signifying divine approval of the power of the state.[15]"

This stood out..."signifying divine approval of the power of the state."

Something about that sounds familiar to me...!

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Julius Skoolafish's avatar

Thanks Geoff. I have no further insight but I note that the Bhagavad Gita was written some 200+ years BC so people in other parts of the world were contemplating and discussing morality and right versus wrong long before the Abrahamic version of monotheism. Like you, there is so much I want to read. I am sure that if we studied and compared Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism we would find a lot of common threads. I find a lot of merit in Chinese proverbs and sayings. of Lao Tzu ('Tao Te Ching')

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Goeff's avatar

"I am sure that if we studied and compared Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism and Buddhism we would find a lot of common threads."

While I'm neither an expert nor a scholar I have read tranlsations of C's "Analects," and some of Mencius as well, and am pleased to inform you that you are once again correct. That also goes for the little I know about ancient Egyptian writings (e.g., Book of the Dead).

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Julius Skoolafish's avatar

Book of the Dead is on my shelf - I have to read it. Thanks

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Carina Malatesta's avatar

Compassionate Mother Kali

You are the stealthy pirate

that sails the seas

of our mindless

hum drum

do-what-others-do existence

With your prey firmly fixed

in your steady gaze

you unfurl your black flag

with skull and cross bones flying in the sun

and stalk our aimless minds

which sail like so many wooden ships

from one meaningless port

to the next

What a sight you are!

With your disheveled long free-flowing black hair

blowing effortlessly in the wind

you direct the universes and all their beings

from the bow of your ship

Your songs of renunciation

detachment

and abandonment of the blind herd mentality

echo endlessly

across the waters of mortality

You are the very spirit of freedom

that dances in reckless unconcerned bliss

overpowering the prim and the proper

the prince and the pauper

trampling all self-imposed scripts of limitation

Victory is always certain

as you storm our ship

that is heavy laden

with the cargo of “I” and “mine”

Most flee in terror

at the sight of your approaching pirate flag

but I have been hunting you!

I am eager for you to steal away

my deluded self interests

and set ablaze my wooden ship

of self-imposed limitations

Mother Kali

I have spotted you in my telescope

just on the horizon of plurality

and I have given the order

to set sail at once!

Day and night

I will watch you closely

not even blinking

so that you will not be able to slip away

I and my motley crew

of mental musings, attachments and fantasies

are ready to join

your pirate band of Divine Marauders

From then on

there will be no captain but you

Like a divine Robin Hood

who sails the oceans of mortal existence

you steal from the bloated opulence

of our wandering thoughts

and give to our thirsting hearts

which long for your

radiant all consuming love

Ethan Walker II

Thank you for the restacks 😊

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Goeff's avatar

Awesome stuff there. I would have never known about this except for you. Much appreciated, thanks!

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Julius Skoolafish's avatar

Geoff, the compliment and respect is mutual. We just stumble across things and want to share them.

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Goeff's avatar

I also stumble upon good stuff a lot which itself never ceases to amaze me. I found myself here because of some of your repsonses, which I appreciate, so thanks for engaging.

That I can relate to what the guy is saying here can be demonstrated by the little story that I have observed that there is a point where a person can have too much wealth, the pursuit of which can be corrupting, but so can inherited wealth be crippling. We've seen that a lot in our extended families. Perfectly beautiful youth who, because they've been handed everythng, wind up miserable and unable to function beyond infanthood. I do not state that as an accusation, but with sadness.

I also find it interesting that this reminds me a lot of Lucian's "Dialogues of the Dead," which is short and very entertaining.

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