Understanding The Spiritual Ethos Of Hinduism In The Light Of Bhagawad-Gita’s Teachings On Yoga

Abstract

Hinduism, one of the oldest religious traditions of human civilization with over a billion followers worldwide, has been too complex to be contained within simplistic doctrinal definitions and specific religious structure. Due to its diverging theological dimensions,
democratically diverse practices, superfluous scriptures that often represented radically different positions and absence of any dogmatic finality in all matters religious, Hinduism has no specific defining elements. Yet, the only inherent characteristics that
quintessentially denote this religious tradition are spiritual self-seeking and existential quest. Of all the scriptures associated with Hinduism, the only book that best encapsulates the nucleus of Hinduism and propounds it with profound lucidity is the
Bhagawad-Gita. This paper elucidates the spiritual dimensions of the Bhagawad-Gita and attempts at examining the ethos of Hinduism in the light of this linchpin of Mahabharata, the grandest epic on India