Philosophy time?

I've been going for Bhagavad Gita classes for about a year...and I though I could blog about it since I'm vetti and have nothing else to do...and I need to see how much I have learnt besides.Not that we're very far along...only nearly through with the 2nd chapter...I think its been quite good for me,I fret a lot less now and have become much better at " doing my bit and leaving the rest to God"

In the Mahabharatha as a whole I think if I hadn't been told that the Pandavas are the good guys(they weren't entirely angelic...especially with all of Krishna's machinations) and the Kauravas the bad guys(and I've always had a hard time considering Karna to be a bad guy) I think it would be sometimes quite difficult to pick a side...Its very political...in the worst way...very like todays conflicts over Kashmir, Isreal and whatever..I actually like Arjuna better for having doubts about the war...even though it makes him "unwise",and I would have had serious doubts if they had all just gone ahead convinced of their own righteousness...without giving thought to the fact that they would be in essence butchering their own family.

Anyway, the war was pretty much justified as they tried negotiating, buying out, threatening etc before going onto war(saama,daana,bedda,danda) and Dhuryodhana supposedly said," I will not give them 5 villages, or 5 houses, or one house with 5 rooms or even a single room with 5 chairs."

To get on with it, as far as the Gita is concerned the Mahabharatha is only background info.(btw any Gita refers to a dialogue b/w 2 people...a constructive dialogue. I didn't know there were others before ...huh!)There were only two points of interest in the first chap before Arjuna starts whining and making excuses ...and yes that is what it sounds like...one was that Duryodhana, inspite of having a larger army is nervous about the war, and when he asks Drona for reassurance, he soaps him up a bit. And Krishna deliberately takes Arjuna in front of Bhishma and Drona(which made him all senti)...not in front of Duryodhana which would have further fanned the flames of his fury.

Then we get on with the second chapter...which is where the Gita actually begins. To learn the Gita a person has to go through 4 stages
1. Samsara- emotional attachment- that was what Arjuna felt for Bhishma and Drona
2. The trying to solve your problem yourself stage...that was when Arjuna was trying to run away from the battle ....unfortunately his emotions had clouded his judgement so much that he couldn't tell right from wrong and was taking the cowards way out.
3.The helpless stage...feeling that no path is right and not knowing what to do.
4. Finally, the asking God (in this case Krishna) for help...and only after he does this does the teaching begin.

The second chapter is like the Gita in brief.We see the sways to becoming a yogi.
1.Gnanayoga-that's the most difficult. That's where the we are one with the universal aathma and the soul is eternal and the body only a temporary trapping comes.

2.Karmayoga-which is do your duty and forget about the results(which could be helpful in exam time though I would bite anyone's head off if they told me so before an axam)

3. The charactristics of a yogi:Control of the sensesand the mind...Attachment leads to desire...to anger...to delusion....to destruction...(sounds familiarly Star Wars like).

Well that's how far I've got...practice is easier said than done though....Control of senses indeed..I'm a slave to my tongue!