A Critic's Meta-Review: 4/5

The Bhagavad Gita (REVIEW)

For all intents and purposes, once you have read this book, you really do not need to read a single self-help book in your life. It contains all of the instructions one would need in order to trudge through the tumultuous terrain of today’s tasks without toiling over tomorrow’s troubles or yearning for yesterday’s youthful eyes. It is the most comprehensive roadmap for a fruitful, rewarding, uncluttered, focused (synonyms are pretty neat, aren’t they?) existence that there has ever been in this world. I mean, there must be a good reason why this book is so highly revered amongst a group of people that have been inhabiting this planet since around the time in which it became inhabitable (seriously, these folks have been around for a minute).

And it isn’t just Indians who have found immense value in the Gita; everyone from Albert Einstein to Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell to Russell Brand, Carl Jung to Carlos Santana, et cetera, et cetera (et cetera) has sung the praises of the Song Of The Lord (its English translation).

It is, indeed, best understood as a song, as it is composed of seven hundred verses – all of which, when read and reflected upon (the most important part, of course) it brings one closer to the ultimate truth, the sublime, the infinite consciousness of Lord Krishna himself (who resides right inside that little area on your forehead, between your eyebrows, known as the pineal gland…more on that later, though).

What in the world am I talking about? I know, I know – it sounds like the typical spiel of half-baked spiritual mumbo jumbo you would hear in the parking lot of a Widespread Panic show after the balloons have made their way through the crowd. I can assure you, however, that it is most emphatically not some sort of woo being peddled by a wormy little wook (and I am most certainly not a wook, thank you very much…although, I could use a shower).

I am not trying to waste your time with nursery rhymes or fairy tales of blood and wine – for we all know that it is, indeed, turtles all the way down the line. All that I am trying to do is offer you some concrete solutions to the problems that plague you, particularly the one that plagues all of us:

“How should I be living my life?”

The answer, dearest Arjuna, is simple:

“Don’t think about the booty; just do your duty!”

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