atheist experience, page-8

akgo01,

"the Bhagavad Gita, the famous book about God Krishna, borrows heavily from Buddha"

yes I agree with you, I'd like to see that evidence too. The Bhagavad Gita is an ancient Hindu text and Buddha was a Hindu reformist much the same as Christ was a Jewish reformist....so I would say it is the other way around, the Buddhism would draw from the Bhagavad Gita as well as other Hindu texts.

I think anyone who believes that the killing of the Bible or the coming war in the Bhagavad Gita should be taken as condoning literal physical violence has sadly missed the point of the metaphor. The Bhagavad Gita opens on the eve of an imminent war. Krishna offers himself as an adviser to his friend Arjuna in the battle......but as their discussion unfolds there is no military advice. There is no "send your infantry around there and put your archers up there". Instead there is a lengthy discussion about the metaphysical realm and the internal world. At one point towards the end of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna tells Arjuna that the only war Arjuna must fight is the one within himself and that He (Krishna) has already overcome the external world.....

....This is the exact same message that comes through the New Testament. Christ has already overcome the world and so our personal struggle is within ourselves not against the physical world. The bible uses a metaphor of war just as the Bhagavad Gita does to make the same point :

From Ephesians Chapter 6 :

"11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

So what is the point of these violent metaphors?? IMHO bad habits, addictions and thinking patterns that do not serve us can not be trifled with. There can be no peace treaty with these entities that have attached themselves to us. To be overcome these things need to be put to the sword (metaphorically speaking). How often does a new years resolution last less than a week?? How often does an attempt to give up smoking last only a few days?? How often does the person who feels guilty for engaging in gossip one day find themselves consumed in such an ignoble conversation the next?? These things are not easy to overcome and yet when we look around ourselves in our physical world there is not one thing that is stopping us from overcoming them. The only battle is in the mind and it is a battle that must be fought violently if we are to prevail.

Joseph Campbell once said that all religion is a metaphor for the deep truths within us and we only get ourselves into trouble when we start to think that "our" metaphor should be taken literally and is the only right one. I think there is a lot of wisdom in what Joseph Campbell said. The metaphor of both the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible are there for anyone with eyes to see.