THE BHAGAVAD GITA AND MODERN THOUGHT INTRODUCTION

Journal article

In a recent essay the agent provocateur and philosopher Slavoj Žižek remarked that the Bhagavad Gita represented the perfect philosophy for post-capitalist society. By no means the first reaction to this text, this is only the most recent and arguably most controversial understanding of the philosophical content of the Gita, whose previous commentators have ranged from Nietzsche to Hitler. Less controversially, the modern composer Phillip Glass opened his opera Satyagraha with a dramatization of the discourse between Krishna and Arjuna that forms the Gita's content as a plea for a humanist politics. Though the text does not offer limitless possibilities for interpretation, what is certain is that the Gita has acquired an iconic status in modern times as a set of reflections on ethics, war, justice, freedom and action. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010.

Authors: Kapila, S; Devji, F

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: MODERN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 269-273
• Publication date: 2010-08-01
• DOI: 10.1017/S1479244310000065
• EISSN: 1479-2451
• ISSN: 1479-2443
• Language: English