The central text of Hinduism, a sanskrit poem of great antiquity. The Bhagavad Gita is a dialog between Krishna, who is one of the incarnations of Vishnu, and Arjuna, a man reluctant to make war on his friends and family. Although structurally and philosophically quite unlike Lao Tse, the two works share so many themes that many modern sinologists, notably Victor Mair, believe that they are either directly filiated or share a common root text. Where Lao Tse is agnostic and undramatic, however, the Bhagavad Gita is full of Gods and Strife; the take-home messages of the two are not easily related.
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most-translated books in the world. The canonical version of the work that is used as the source of most English translations is written in Sanskrit, and many of the terms used in it are technical terms in Hindu philosophy. There is wide variation in how English translators handle some of these underlying terms, which often convey complex packages of meaning summed up in a single word. Difficult words to "capture" include "dharma", "guna", brahman", "yoga" and others. An example of a recent English translation that was designed to present concepts in a Western context is that by Steven Mitchell (ISBN 1574533932).
The Bhagavad Gita is considered to be very old - British historians put the age around 5000 BC, but by the Indian calendar it goes much beyond, around 10000 BC.
It is definitely possible that Taoism was influenced by Vedantic philosophy, especially as there were a lot of cultural exchanges between India and China.
however, the Bhagavad Gita is full of Gods and Strife
The Gita is a discourse between Krishna and Arjuna - where Arjuna is despondent to take arms against his relatives (his cousin brothers, grandfather, uncles...). It is the definitive source of difference between Eastern and Western philosophy, where Krishna explains how the system works on the concept of "duty". As a warrior king, Arjuna's duty was to wage the war, in order to remove injustice, and establish a lawful king. He was prepared to sacrifice all his ideals and was even prepared to be killed by his foes, instead of taking their lives - but this is scoffed at by Krishna as cowardice - not doing your duty is horrible - especially when everyone depends on you for it. And then unfolds the philosophy of how, it wouldn't matter at a spiritual level if Arjuna killed his foes, for they cannot be killed as they too come from the same source.
I don't agree that the Gita is really full of Gods and Strife - it has more to do with overcoming one's weaknesses and doing one's duty to society, and in the process, realizing who one truly is.
There are four yogas. Each is a path out of the cycle of suffering. The gita gives the metaphor of a candle within a lantern - though the wind of life blows, the candle does not flicker.
Karma Yoga: This is a much easier path for most people.
The three forces that drive us are called gunas and are, in imperfect words, desire, intelligence, and inertia, or perhaps heart, mind, and sloth. Achieving wisdom, one has transformed these forces into, respectively, energy, light, and peace. Rather than repression, the focus is subjugation. Think biblically: the devil says "I will not serve". But, to be free from suffering, you must serve (God).
Some discussion moved to British Invasion Of India
See original on c2.com 