The Bhagavad Gita For Millenials

Metadata

• Full Title: THE BHAGAVAD GITA FOR MILLENNIALS
• Author: Bibek Debroy
• ASIN: B08M9RZXTP
• Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08M9RZXTP
• Kindle link

Highlights

that the war lasted for eighteen days and that Bhishma was the general of the Kaurava army for the first ten days. After that, he was brought down and Dronacharya took over as general. Bhishma Parva covers the period when Bhishma was the general, and the Bhagavad Gita is part of Bhishma Parva. — location: 119 ^ref-13491

Thi means the point of krishna taking to ARJUN was during the first10 day itself

‘Thoughts on the Gita’. — location: 155 ^ref-32455

kshetra is a place of pilgrimage where there is no flowing water and tirtha is a place of pilgrimage where there is flowing water. — location: 456 ^ref-21131

King Kuru performed extremely difficult austerities in that region, desiring that he and his subjects should be able to go to heaven. Had that boon been granted, all the rules of the world would have been disturbed. Therefore, a modified boon was granted to Kuru. Anyone who died fighting in Kurukshetra would go to heaven. — location: 460 ^ref-39771

Gurgaon (Gurugram) is named after Dronacharya’s hermitage. — location: 472 ^ref-50774

Did people eat fish? Were brahmanas allowed to eat fish? The Manu Samhita tells us brahmanas were allowed to eat a type of fish known as rohita. This is a carp, familiar by the name of rohu. — location: 995 ^ref-40471

so it's possible to eat rohu for a long time. who would have thought

A vyadha is a hunter and is not a brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya or shudra. You have heard about Ekalavya, Nala from the Nala and Damayanti story, and Guha who was King Dasharatha’s friend in the Ramayana. Ekalavya, Nala and Guha were nishadas. Nishadas are not brahmanas, kshatriyas, vaishyas or shudras. Dharmashastra texts (like Manu Samhita) mention several other varnas, other than these four. — location: 1000 ^ref-28117

varanasi were more akin to a grouping of voccations

Sadachara is not the same as dharma. Sadachara is context-specific and transient. Dharma is perennial, irrespective of societies and the historical stage in their evolution. — location: 1076 ^ref-29733

truth alone triumphs. The quote comes from the Mundaka Upanishad. — location: 1098 ^ref-17007

‘Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood. It is through truth that the path of the gods is laid out. It is by following this that the sages obtained their wishes and reached the supreme foundation of truth. — location: 1102 ^ref-39903

The Mahabharata has a story about a sage named Kaushika who had taken a vow of always speaking the truth. Once, he was meditating in the forest. Along came some travellers, hotly pursued by bandits. There was a fork in the path, precisely at the spot where he was seated, meditating. The travellers requested Kaushika not to tell the bandits which branch they had taken. Having taken a vow of speaking only the truth, Kaushika would do no such thing. He told the bandits the truth. The bandits fell upon the travellers and killed them. Consequently, Kaushika was punished by being sent to hell. There are other instances in the Mahabharata where lying served a greater common good. — location: 1105 ^ref-43102

six kinds of taste or flavour (rasa): sweet (madhura), salty (lavana), pungent (katu), bitter (tikta), sour (amla) and astringent (kashaya). All — location: 1132 ^ref-10210

It certainly does not suggest that you should be a vegetarian, or that you should only eat certain kinds of meat. Food habits depend on history and on agro-climatic zones and geography. — location: 1136 ^ref-41736

In the Mahabharata, there is a longish section known as Shanti Parva, when Bhishma is lying down on his bed of arrows and instructing Yudhishthira. Within that, there is a sub-section about apad dharma, the dharma in the time of calamities. I will tell you the story briefly. — location: 1148 ^ref-17678

As I have told you earlier, the word muni is etymologically linked to silence. Munis maintained silence. I haven’t come across any instances of munis marrying and having children. — location: 1153 ^ref-53696

shvapakas were. They weren’t quite chandalas, though the two terms are sometimes used synonymously. Shvapakas kept dogs and also ate dogs. — location: 1156 ^ref-58954

If you eat meat, you should not eat dog-meat. Brahmanas and kshatriyas should only eat the five different kinds of animals that have five claws.27 — location: 1164 ^ref-4851

‘My first priority is to remain alive. One can follow dharma only if one remains alive. I know dharma better than you do. I know that the body and the atman are distinct. The body is eating the meat, not the atman. Therefore, the atman will not be polluted and will commit no sin.’ — location: 1169 ^ref-57889

A wealthy person invited everyone to a dinner reception. Since Mullah Nasruddin didn’t have time to change, he turned up in his torn clothes. He was treated shabbily and no one gave him food. Therefore, he went home and changed. When he turned up, attired in his fine coat, everyone welcomed him and gave him the best of food. Mullah Nasruddin started to feed his coat, ‘Eat, fur coat! Eat.’ When people asked him about his strange behaviour, Nasruddin responded, ‘I wasn’t welcome at the feast, but my coat was. — location: 1229 ^ref-39059

These shlokas, 1.26 to 1.27 and 1.32 to 1.34, are spoken by Arjuna and provide the setting for the entire Bhagavad Gita, — location: 1245 ^ref-37852

The expression ‘kith and kin’ is rarely used now. Kith means friends, kin means relatives. — location: 1270 ^ref-18779

‘As long as man is capable of earning wealth, his family members are attached to him. But later, when his body has aged, even if he remains alive, no one at home asks about his welfare.’ — location: 1273 ^ref-54294

‘As long as there is a breath of life in the body, those at home ask about his welfare. However, when the breath of life leaves the body, even his wife is terrified of his body [dead body]. — location: 1275 ^ref-640