Gita Talk has begun! See 
Falling Head-Over-Heels In Love with the Universe.
(Gita Talk 1)

I’m pleased to announce the start of a new round of the popular online discussion of the Bhagavad Gita, Gita Talk, beginning August 22.  This will give you plenty of time to get the Stephen Mitchell text.  Order it now so you’ll be ready to begin on August 22!

This time you can look ahead if you like, because we will be following, perhaps with some additions, the original sixteen session Gita Talk.  And you can also see the Gita sliced and diced by major theme in the sequel sixteen part series Gita in a Nutshell: Big Ideas & Best Quotations, which just ended recently.

Gita Talk is like an online book club.  We will read about one chapter per week and discuss it right here on Elephant.  Join our Gita Talk Facebook page for weekly notices of each new discussion blog and to get to know your fellow Gita geeks.  Each blog also gives you the short reading assignment for the next week.

I am very pleased to have Elephant writer Jennifer Cusano as my partner in running this new Gita Talk.   Jennifer will moderate the discussions and get the word out about Gita Talk in the social media.

If you’re still uncertain about whether you should join us, here are ten reasons why you should, brought to you by Elephant and Yoga Journal writer, Erica Rodefer:

10 Reasons to Read the Bhagavad Gita

1. You were supposed to during teacher training, but only got through 20 pages. And you’ve felt guilty ever since.

2. You need a fresh, new bedtime story to tell your kid, niece, nephew, dog, cat or goldfish.

3. “I find a solace in the Bhagavad Gita that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies—and my life has been full of external tragedies—and if they have left no visible, no indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavad Gita.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

4. You think “Bhagavad Gita” sounds like an exotic disease that could have been prevented with a simple mosquito net. (I hear it gives you a horrendous rash!)

5. You were trying to follow your dharma, or life’s purpose, but got distracted by something shiny.

6. Learn about bhakti yoga (devotion), jnana yoga (knowledge) and karma yoga (service), and apply all of these things to your own practice.

7. It will give you something intelligent to talk about at cocktail parties. You’ll be the life of the party!

8. Shouldn’t you know more about the practice you’ve devoted so much time, effort, energy and thought to?

9. It’s available for free online! And you’ve never been one to pass up a bargain … www.bhagabad-gita.us (Ignore this one.  You really want the Mitchell version.  Trust me. ~ Bob W.)

10. Now you have a supportive community to share your comments and questions with.

Let’s motivate each other to get through this all-important yogic text.

I’d like to have a cyber show of hands.  If you’re in for the new Gita Talk, leave a quick comment below!  And any other ideas or comments you have about the Bhagavad Gita are welcome too!