MP Gov to introduce Gita in school

[nispat]

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that Bhagvad Gita would be taught in all schools.

This is quiet depressing news. Had CM introduced this with Post Graduate Course I would not have been so concerned. Because as an adult, student have full choice to select the course. For school kids there is no such option.

The political parties who are opposing this move are suggesting even more complex problem of teaching Christianity, Islam and other things in school. This is stupid argument in first place. Because India as a state is secular, doesn't mean that everyone must be taught with all the possible religious text found in the world.

I studied in Maharashtra board with Marathi, Hindi and English. All the chapters included in these textbooks were good (I say beautiful). At the end of the each chapter, we were supposed to introspect. Even without religious text, these texts gave me lessons of morality, social behavior and thinking positive.

Polluting mind of unsuspecting kids is crime. Today's politician are committing this crime for short gain of popularity ( or I don't know what). .

[nick87]

Kids need science and critical thinking skills and teachers who take it upon themselves to encourage skepticism in their students.
Kids DON'T need religious nonsense at this stage. Religion should be like alcohol in the household: locked in Papa's glass cabinet, until they're old and mature enough to understand and handle the stuff.

[stupidseeker]

Just came across this link:
http://indiawires.com/7170/news/national...ejects-it/

A catholic bishop filed a PIL in the MP high court against the MP government's decision to teach kids the BG in schools. The high court dismissed the PIL on the grounds that the BG constituted "Indian philosophy" and not religion.

And one commentor pretty much hit the nail on the head:
"" Lots of confusion here. Why are the Hindus denying their religion? This denial only give fuel to all those who take various aspects of Hindu Dharma (Yoga, for example) and divorce them from Hinduism. Hindus are shooting their self in the foot--again! ""

Atleast this dude was honest about the BG being religion.

[Rajeeva]

I agree, Making things compulsory will only make the child deny it even further, If the CM thinks that he can force the idea's of morality into a child through the gita, he's wrong, as a child grows he's know abt the world and his mind changes.

[dickhgolub]

The purpose of Bhagavad-gita is to deliver mankind from the nescience of material existence.

[nick87]

(05-Jun-2012, 12:44 PM)dickhgolub Wrote: The purpose of Bhagavad-gita is to deliver mankind from the nescience of material existence.

Is it some sort of emerging trend around the boards that people keep dropping deepities and plain assertions? The Gita is just like any other religious text: there is no point in picking and choosing your ideals. You either explicitly believe in it or you don't. Choosing to take some points as literal and others as metaphorical is silly.
One can be perfectly happy with material possessions and also without them if he/she has the right mental attitude.

Also forgive my curiosity or did Krishna freeze time when he was lecturing Arjuna? Or did the armies just decide to go get pizza and Coke while Arjuna had his counseling session?

[Naushirvan]

(05-Jun-2012, 02:08 PM)nick87 Wrote: Or did the armies just decide to go get pizza and Coke while Arjuna had his counseling session?

That would actually help explain a lot.

Pizza(especially the cheese-rich kind)+ Coke= constipation ( argument from personal experience)

No wonder most of them behaved like constipated individuals.

[nick87]

Quote:And out of childish curiosity I read the translations of the texts I was memorizing. To my mind it appeared as nothing but megalomania by a self-established “god-head”. A God who possessed a supernatural awe-inducing form that was brighter than a thousand suns. So what is the rationale of the ancients who wrote this text to decide on a thousand? Why not a hundred thousand or a million or even a trillion? A supergiant star can be up to a million more times luminous than the sun. So is Krishna’s ultimate form outshone by a supergiant?

And here’s my qualm with the subject. What exactly are young children learning by being force fed philosophies and told that by worshipping a certain god of the Bhagavad Gita that they are freed from “the cycle of life and death”? Are we seriously teaching our children in schools of rationalistic thought, that an afterlife exists and the “laws” of dharma determine what happens in the “next” life? How is this text going to help me cope with my life, my job and my personal issues? It doesn't.

Full piece here.

-----------EDIT----------
Rajendra Prasad's review of Bazaz's critical analysis on the Gita here