DISCUSS THE ROLE OF DHARMA AND KARMA IN THE INDIAN SOCIETY AS REFLECTED IN BHAGAVAD- GITA AND SHAKUNTALA. HOW CAN BE BOTH PARADOXICAL AND AT THE SAME TIME COMPLEMENTARY? In _Bhagavad- Gita_‚ dharma and karma are two controlling forces of the ultimate destinies of the people to preserve and conserve the Hindu social order. Arjuna‚ the protagonist‚ is torn between two choices‚ either to perform his dharma for the emancipation of the spirit or to fight against his kin that would probably result to
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IPLE: Assignment 1 – Mriduna Darunam Hanti Mriduna darunam hanti mriduna hanty adarunam Nasaddhyam mriduna kinchid tasmad teevrataram mriduh. (Mahabharata Vana 28.31) The above verse from the Mahabharata may be translated in English to mean the following: The soft destroys the hard‚ and the soft destroys what is not hard. Nothing is impossible to softness and therefore softness is the hardest. In essence‚ the verse means that aggression or cruelty can be conquered by softness
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3. The Goal of Dharma Practice and Mind Cultivation What is the purpose of Dharma practice and mind cultivation? A lot of people have the answer to this question: to be reborn in the Western Paradise. However‚ specifically‚ to what extent should one cultivate so that he can be reborn in the Western Paradise? How can this be achieved? What will happen if we could not attain the expected level of cultivation? Many may not be able to answer these. In fact‚ it is a very lofty goal to be reborn in the
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Pietas? Dharma? Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off! Written in 29 B.C.E. by the famous poet‚ Virgil‚ The Aeneid tells the legendary story of Aeneas‚ a Trojan warrior who travels to Italy to find a new home. As Aeneas makes his way across the ocean‚ he encounters a plethora of complications. In the face of all this adversity‚ Aeneas continues to exhibit the principal Roman virtue‚ pietas‚ which comprises the concepts of piety‚ public virtue‚ and duty. The idea of pietas bears an uncanny resemblance
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The God of Paradox: Analyzing Krsna’s contradictory preaching of Dharma in the Mahabharata Rohit Rajkumar Religious Studies C166 Professor Goldman April 18th‚ 2014 2 Rajkumar I. Introduction When in doubt about the various facets of life‚ or when lost and looking for some kind of guiding light‚ the tendency of the every-day man is to look to the heavens to for an answer. It is not uncommon to hear “help me God‚” or “what do I do‚ God” as desperate pleas for some kind of moral and
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These literary masterpieces have shaped our ideas about human life and spiritual growth and have sparked riveting debates about the existence of God and the importance of spirituality. Among these great works of art is the Ramayana‚ a tale where Dharma‚ or right-conduct‚ pervades throughout. Though the Ramayana is set in an era far different from our own‚ several of the values‚ events and teachings are still relevant today. Many of the situations that take place in the epic relate to the issues
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Western thought. A central theme in the Hindu religion is following one ’s dharma‚ which is an individual ’s "spiritual duty" (McCrae October 30 2003). This duty is "not bounded by a law code‚ and there is not one path to salvation" (McCrae October 30‚ 2003). Because there is no law code‚ morality is ambiguous. Its definition is unique to each individual. In The Mahabharata‚ fate (which works interchangeably with dharma) presides over what is traditionally right. Yudhisthira
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Palace of Illusions by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni is a beautiful book which gives a woman’s perspective on a story that deals mainly with male characters i.e. the great epic‚ Mahabharata. The book has been written from Draupadi’s‚ who was the wife of the 5 Pandava heroes in this epic‚ point of view. It throws light on her innermost thoughts and feelings‚ traced right from her childhood to her demise in the lap of the Himalayan mountains. It talks about her feelings about the strange in which
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work for the ksatriyas.” – Bhaktivedanta Swami‚ Bhagavad Gita 18.44 Within the Vedic tradition‚ there exists a culture of varnashrama dharma. This is a culture that takes into consideration every individual psychophysical nature. One is classified according to their main propensities of their work‚ and not the type of birth status that they hold. This Varnashrama dharma system has four main or broad categories‚ namely: brahmana’s (priests‚ teacher and advisors)‚ ksatriyas (warriors and administrators)
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For the most part‚ Eastern religions are polytheistic‚ meaning there is more than one god that is worshipped by the followers. Whereas Western religions are generally monotheistic in that only one god is worshipped. While some estimate the gods of Hinduism to run into the thousands‚ there is one true god or supreme reality called Brahman. The many gods of the Hindu way of life are a manifestation of Brahman. Thus‚ Hinduism sometimes gets looked at as a Western religion instead of the Eastern religion
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