The Bhagavad Gita and the West: The Esoteric Significance of the Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to the Epistles of Paul

5 lectures, Cologne, Dec. 28, 1912 - Jan. 1, 1913 (CW 142) 9 lectures, Helsinki, May 28 - June 5, 1913 (CW 146) 1 lecture, Basel, Sept. 19, 1912 (CW 139) This combination of two volumes in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works presents Steiner's profound engagement with Hindu thought and, above all, the Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita as they illuminate Western Christian esotericism. In his masterly introduction, Robert McDermott, a longtime student of Rudolf Steiner, as well as Hindu spirituality, explores the complex ways in which the 'Song of the Lord,' or Bhagavad Gita, has been understood in East and West. He shows how Krishna's revelation to Arjuna--a foundation of spirituality in India for more than two and a half millennia--assumed a similarly critical role in the Western spiritual revival of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the West, for instance, leading up to Steiner's engagement, McDermott describes the various approaches manifested by Emerson, Thoreau, H.P. Blavatsky, and William James. In the East, he engages with interpretations of historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo, relating them to Steiner's unique perspective. In addition, and most important, he illumines the various technical terms and assumptions implicit in the worldview expressed in the Bhagavad Gita. The main body of The Bhagavad Gita and the West consists of two lecture courses by Rudolf Steiner: 'The Bhagavad Gita and the Epistles of Paul' and 'The Esoteric Significance of the Bhagavad Gita.' In the first course, his main purpose is to integrate the flower of Hindu spirituality into his view of the evolution of consciousness and the pivotal role played in it by the Mystery of Golgotha--the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Steiner views Krishna as a great spiritual teacher and the Bhagavad Gita as a preparation, though still abstract, for the coming of Christ and the Christ impulse as the living embodiment of the World, Law, and De [...]

• Autor: Rudolf Steiner
• Wydawnictwo: Anthroposophic Press Inc
• Rok wydania: 2009
• Okładka: miękka
• Liczba stron: 464
• Wymiary: 23.5 x 15.4 x 3 cm
• Język: angielski
• ISBN: 9780880106047