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The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

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╭ notes

of India relates many stories about mysterious yogis who have

strange, divine powers.

Krishna speaks here of his yoga aishvaram, his mysterious and

majestic power. Ishvara means “lord” and aishvaram “lordly”:

Krishna’s yoga is something he uses as Ishvara, the Lord of the

world. Now he begins to show Arjuna something of the nature

of the mystery.

17 Rig, Yajur, and Sama are the principal Vedas, the ancient scriptures

that are Hinduism’s orthodox authority.

20–21 These verses repeat the idea that heaven itself is an impermanent

state. After exhausting the store of their good karma, the

blessed souls in heaven must be reborn on earth. Only the liberated

soul, the one who has found union with Krishna or brahmanirvana,

escapes the round of rebirth and death as a separate,

mortal creature.

CHAPTER TEN

This chapter contains many Sanskrit names, which are briefly

identified in the glossary (see p. 279).

18 Amrita, “immortal,” comes from a “not” and mrita “mortal.”

The Greek word ambrosia is cognate and has the same meanings:

amrita is the ambrosia of the gods, the drink that makes

them live forever, and in a general sense it means sweet or

nectar-like. So the translation could also be “your words, which

are like ambrosia.”

22 The mind ( manas ) is here taken to be one of the senses or indriyas

of perception; for example, it is really with the mind rather

than with the eye that we see.

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