For those who do not know about the Bhagavad Gita:
Gita means "song" and bhagavad refers to "God", so it means "The Song of God." It is sometimes called the Hindu Bible.
The Bhagavad Gita, often referred to as just the Gita, is a poem. It is the last part of an epic poem that tells the story of a great king in India who gave birth to two sons who started separate lineages of their own and eventually became at odds with each other and started the biggest war in India's history. It is at the beginning of the war that the Bhagavad Gita's protagonist, Arjuna, who knows family, friends, teachers and acquaintances on both sides becomes conflicted about fighting, lamenting that there can be no good victory no matter which side wins. This conflict is a metaphor for the internal struggle that a spiritual seeker faces when beginning the spiritual path. Not knowing the real end result of the spiritual path, a new seeker finds it hard to leave behind the familiar things of his or her old way of life. Arjuna, with the help of Lord Krishna, resolves this conflict by learning the truth about his real inner nature, getting a brief vision of God in all forms and finding out how to reach the ultimate goal of identifying with the image of God within himself.
For those who do know about the Bhagavad Gita:
This is just my loose interpretation of its meaning. I have tried to downplay the religiosity of the Hindu perspective and minimized many of the absolute statements about the nature of God and the soul in favor of a broader, more universally applicable view. It is the philosophy that I have tried to capture and it is that philosophy that I have found so beneficial in my own life.
