When Love Comes to Light

Book excerpt: Eminent yoga teachers Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor explore essential lessons from The Bhagavad Gita to reveal a practical guide for living in today's complex world. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most influential and widely recognized ancient texts in Indian epic literature. Through the telling of the story and its many different philosophical teachings, the text provides deep insight into how to meet life's inevitable challenges while remaining open, clear, and compassionate. It offers modern day wisdom seekers a framework for understanding our core beliefs and who we really are--revealing the fact that healthy relationships to others and the world are essential to living a full, compassionate, balanced life. Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, both deeply respected yogic teachers, offer a practical, immediately relevant interpretation that emphasizes self-reflection and waking up in our modern world. Following the traditional sequence of teachings in The Bhagavad Gita--from its opening scene in which Arjuna finds himself in the middle of a battlefield, hesitating and trapped between opposing sides, torn by his dharma and confused by the various paths of action he might choose in the process of awakening--Freeman and Taylor interweave insight into how these classic teachings are relevant for modern readers struggling with what it means to live responsibly in the twenty-first century. With quotes, citations, and a full translation of the original text, they look at the overall arc of the The Bhagavad Gita's teachings and how that relates to the turmoil that arises, not only for Arjuna, but for any of us in the face of crises of conscience, spirit, and form. Exploring the essential themes such as love, wisdom, and karma, and by offering embodiment exercises to apply the teachings, When Love Comes to Light guides readers in the step-by-step process of waking up their intelligence and finding a path toward compassionate action.