I've mostly ignored the "Great Tale" in general and the Bhagavadgita in particular. The Vedas seemed more important, but I haven't looked at them very closely either. Yet, I realized that ideas from these Indian works have for, say, four centuries, made their way deep into our culture.
Now, taking a quick look at the Bhagavadgita, I see that, among much else, it treats important themes such as work, discernment, the one and the many, war, religion, killing, death, existence.
I believe that it is Arjuna who says early in the work, "The soul which is not moved, the soul with a strong constant calm takes sorrow and takes joy indifferently, lives the life undying!" and "That which is, can never cease to be; that which is not, will not exist." These words remind me of the Buddha and of modern physics. "Strong constant calm" seems to rely on equanimity and no needy desire. That existence is not diminished, but goes on, seems compatible with contemporary physics.
The idea seems to be that the energy of a living man goes on when he becomes a dead man. I continues to exist.
The "Let right deeds be thy motive, not the fruit that which comes from them." of the Bhagavadgita sounds much like the "new age" wisdom which says, "Act as you see as right now, and let go of the results. That it is best to act as seems best now without fear of the results seems a bit of popular wisdom.
Was there greater wisdom available to the far south of the subcontinent?
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