Bhagavad Gita: A Song of Socialism and Slavery

I recently got turned on to a really profound podcast, linked below, where the host and guest converse about a religious text called the Bhagavad Gita. Written sometime in the first millennium BCE, the Bhagavad Gita is often referred to by yogis and many philosophers for its profound thoughts on seeking inner perfection.

I think the text is mostly trash. I’m not one to downplay religious scriptures, there are certainly some good lessons we can all learn from scriptures. I would even go as far as to say, its important that most people read and subscribe to a religious text so they gain, and willingly employ, some set of morals and something actually guides them.

I think the Gita is largely misunderstood today. I say that, because most of us don’t actually look at the Gita from the perspective of the average person of the time. During that time, life was absolutely miserable. There was little good about daily life. Every moment was centered around trying to ensure you had a meal for the following day. You were trying to make sure you had enough meat on your bones that the local tiger would think you were too much of a problem to take down. You farmed all day to feed yourself and your family, if you were even farming for yourself.

Listening to and reading about the Gita, I get an overwhelming feeling the entire thing was really written in an effort to control the masses. It was written to keep the miserable and the slaves calm. It gave them a holy reason to continue being miserable. The Gita taught we should just be happy doing our work, our duty, without worrying about how terrible it is. Its our duty because it is for the greater good.

The Gita is written as though god is talking to a soldier on the eve of battle. The soldier is afraid that he will have to fight and kill as well as being afraid of dying. The god he is talking to tells him not to worry about it. A warrior is to do a warrior’s duty. None of us die, because we will just be born again. Our lives never truly end, we are just born into another body. Also, if our duty is to die, we should die in the best way possible.

I’m still working my way through the Gita, yes, I’m actually going to read it after the podcast, but I can’t help but feel as though the whole thing is written to control slaves in a very socialist way. Bhagavad Gita was written to promote socialism and slavery.