Bhagvad Gita
by Ajai Kumar Srivastava · first published 1980
45% recommend55% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Offers practical guidance on work, victory, and defeat, along with calm and perspective on the mind. It suits anyone starting something new or seeking spiritual grounding.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Bhagvad Gita (as it is) - A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Not just a spiritual book, more like the guiding principles that anyone, starting something new, could use. The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗…which has worked form me is looking at a brand new problem and coding for it. I would also recommend reading: * blog.pmarca.com * Founders At Work * Startup by Jerry Kaplan (old tome but a good read) * Bhagvad Gita, an ancient Hindu scripture which talks about work, victory, defeat (I can lend you a copy)
on “Ask YC: Dealing with post startup depression” ↗Knowledge is half the battle which helps, I found reading the Bhagvad Gita about the modern age (Kali yuga) helped
on “Ask HN: How do you overcome Weltschmerz or fatalism about our future?” ↗For mental health and spirituality the Bhagvad Gita. Definitely not what I expected originally and had put it off for years/decades. After reading it, I felt a bit blissed out, what actually led me to read it was another book on taming our mind called…
on “Ask HN: What was a book that changed your life?” ↗Read them all and find out. But for me, it's Bhagvad Gita
on “Ask HN: What's the Best Book on Religion” ↗Truly forgotten. I have read a number of works by Smith but never came across this one. Would be adding this to me reading-list. On a side note, this sounds a lot like The Bhagvad Gita[1]. Is there a relationship between these two works, or is it just great minds thinking alike? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita#Karma_yoga [EDIT]: Grammer
on “Stoicism: Indifference is a power” ↗That is really great! I am doing the same thing too. I am reading Bhagvad Gita which stresses on a similar idea and reading Deep Work by Cal Newport! Any books you wanna suggest!?
on “Ask HN: You've got one month, what's your challenge?” ↗…everything else in life, context is important. One can easily just read it and then proceed to justify their doings using it if they either don't know or choose to ignore the context of it. Whole of Bhagvad Gita was spoken during the Mahabharata War. It contains some overall guidance i.e. it can be applicable to normal day life as well as situational guidance on the context of the going war.
on “Show HN: Bhagavad Gita Android App for searching verses by topics like anxiety” ↗…anthropology, sociology, history, science fiction, mythology, fantasy, psychology, biography, poetry. Read Carl Jung, Freud, Neitsche, Marx, Kant, Dickenson, Poe, Emerson, Hawthorne, Plato, Aristotle, the Bhagvad Gita, the Koran, the Tao, The Tao of Poo, Luther, Martin Luther King, Tolstoy and Doestoyevsky, Adams, St. John of the Cross, the Mystics--Christian, Bhuddist, Kabbalist, and Sufi, Gleick, Feynman, Shakespeare,…
on “Why you should quit your technology job and get a Ph.D. in the humanities” ↗As I read this I'm reminded of the Bhagavad Gita. I'm not religious, but I find the Gita to be useful in the modern world. Especially chapters 3 and 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagvad_Gita#Overview_of_chapte... --- Sometimes it's easier to change habits in groups rather than alone: http://akkartik.name/blog/resolutions
on “Ask HN: Please, help me understand what I am doing wrong.” ↗Start reading Bhagvad Gita few days back. re-read: 1984, Animal Farm and flowers of algernon.
on “Ask HN: What books do you want to read over again?” ↗