THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE BHAGAVAD-GĪTĀ

The Bhagavad-gītā is a world classic often considered to be not just the ‘Hindu Bible’ but sometimes the ‘Indian Bible’ as well. Over the last two centuries, it has attracted much scholarly attention from Indologists. Ithamar Theodor’s bold and revisionist monograph aspires to further develop their scholarship by treating the Gītā as a discrete philosophy and by offering a systematic survey of its main topics and doctrines, in so doing emphasizing their philosophical potential. A major innovation here is the articulation of the Gītā’s structure extracted from Vedāntic and Yogic patterns of thought, presented in a modern fashion. This centres on the Gītā’s Vedāntic concept of hierarchical reality and its Yogic concept of a ladder. Beyond its overarching philosophical and holistic approach to the Bhagavad-gītā, the book addresses major themes such as Dharma, rebirth, Yoga and Sāṅnkhya, Bhakti, the Upaniṣadic nature of the text and concepts of divinity.