‘Bhagavad Gita‘ is one of the holy books which tell us the narrative framework of a dialogue between Pandava Prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna. ‘Bhagavad Gita’ consists of 700 slokas. United Kingdom (UK) is planning to organize a conference on the contemporary relevance of the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ for the first time. The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis of Dharma, bhakti, moksha and raja yoga.

Bhagavad-Gita Conference held in the UK:

Indian and British experts came together with an aim and good initiative to seek answers to the “innumerable questions that exercise and confound all of us today.” It has been said that, of all the sacred texts of Hinduism, the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ is the most widely read and crucial one for the understanding of Eastern mysticism,” said the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), one of the organizers of the conference that concluded on Friday.

The ICCR and the High Commission of India organized the conference in collaboration with the Department of the Study of Religions at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Experts and historians from India and Britain got together for the two-day sessions which included aspects such as ‘Bhagavad Gita and Yoga’, ‘Impact of Bhagavad Gita on Modern Sanskrit Writings’ and ‘The Bhagavad Gita – Timeless Values for Today.’

I hope this will go some way in opening up prospects of a centre for the study of Hinduism at SOAS,” said Peter Flugel, founder-chair of the Centre of Jaina Studies at SOAS. “The reason the Gita has survived the test of time is that it is an intellectual text. It is an embodiment of Indian thought and world view. It has relevance for the contemporary world and needs to be analysed in this perspective,” said Prof Kapil Kapoor.