The Scientific Study of Religion: Its Contribution to the Study of the Bhagavadg?tā

Abstract. The Bhagavadg?tā is a popular Hindu text containing eighteen chapters. It begins with the hero, Arjuna, showing a marked unwillingness to engage in combat on the eve of battle. He is finally persuaded to do so by Krishna, who is an incarnation of God. Krishna actually reveals himself as su...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Sharma, Arvind (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Wiley-Blackwell 2004
Dans: Zygon
Année: 2004, Volume: 39, Numéro: 3, Pages: 707-712
Sujets non-standardisés:B Weltschmerz
B Krishna
B Bhagavadg?tā
B neutral affect
B primary sensory state
B Positive Affect
B Arjuna
B Negative affect
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Résumé:Abstract. The Bhagavadg?tā is a popular Hindu text containing eighteen chapters. It begins with the hero, Arjuna, showing a marked unwillingness to engage in combat on the eve of battle. He is finally persuaded to do so by Krishna, who is an incarnation of God. Krishna actually reveals himself as such to an amazed Arjuna in the eleventh chapter. The fact that Arjuna does not immediately heed Krishna's advice to engage in battle after Krishna's sensational self-disclosure has long puzzled students of the text. It is only at the end of the eighteenth chapter that Arjuna finally shows his readiness to fight. In this essay I argue that the discussion of the nine primary sensory states by Eugene d'Aquili may help resolve this issue and thus provide an instance of a case in which modern scientific study of religion enhances our understanding of a religious phenomenon, as a corrective to the usual charge that it must invariably diminish it.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contient:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2004.t01-1-00609.x