Phaeton, Psyche, and Eros

This story I really liked, I think one of the reason's I enjoyed it so much was bcause I could really relate to it because when Phaeton asks Apollo (his dad) If he can ride on the son his dad is shocked and bewildered and I personally have had that same reaction from my parents.

I think we can sense that Apollo regrets telling Phaeton that he can have anything he wants because he thinks that riding the son is pretty absurd because hes says that he can have whatever he wants, but within reason, which once again I can relate to.

I also think that Apollo was not very responsible and really didn't think about the outcomes of his promises. I mean come on, what do you expect when you promise your son anything he wants? I also think that apollo should have backed out of the promise and mended his mistake by giving Phaeton something else.

The next story I read was the one of Psyche and Eros. I really didn't like the story itself, but I thought it was cool that they used a question/answer format. I believe it was entertaining and allowed you to look at the text in a very different way.

In conclusion I really liked the story of Phaeton, but not so much the one of Eros and Psyche, although I enjoyed the question/answer format. I enjoy Zimmerman's writing alot more than Dryden's, I think Mary is very humorous and fnds a way to make boring text more enjoyable and interesting.

Iambic Pentameter for Phaeton

For being brute, the world was all burned down.
No happiness came from this foolish clown.

Vertumnus, Pomona and Myrrha

This chapter starts with a scene with the famous character of greek myths: Narcissus. This is a story of a man who was so egocentric and so amazed with his own beauty that he stared into a lake and got instantly paralyzed. I have always liked this myth and I think it is my favorite of all because it relates to modern society. From this myth come the term: Narcisist, people who think they are the most beatiful and people that are very egocentric are called: Narcisists.



The next scene that is presented to us is the story of Vertumnus and Pomona. This was, in my opinion, a very romantic story about love between two characters, and as we should have noticed this is a very popular theme in greek literature and mythology. I also like that it teaches a lesson at the end. One of the examples of the love these two felt for each other is when Vertumnus dresses as an old women to make Pomona fall in love with him, but then they are caught by her father and he tries to drown him (harsh reaction).

I think this is a really unique story although the love theme and sacrifice theme is very popular and used very commonly. Still I really enjoyed the story and I hope I get a chanc to read more literature of thi kind.

Erysichthon---Orpheus and Eurydice

In this chapter we read two different stories, one about Erysichthon and the other about Orpheus and Eurydice. The one I liked the most of the two was Erysichthon. The story of Erysichthon is a story of a man who wasn't religious and didn't really believe in gods. One day he cut down a tree and thought nothing about it, the tree started crying, he then said he wouldn't be unpunished.

Hearing the cries, the gods decided to punish Erysichthon and give him an infinite hunger. He started selling his personal belongings just to buy food, and even sold his mother.

Her mother prayed to Poseidon to help her be free from her new owner and Poseidon turned her into a little girl. Her owner then let her free and it is said that you can still hear her walking around.

Erysichthon after havong nothing else to eat he did the logical thing, he ate himself, and thats where the story ends. I really liked this story because it deals with faith and religion, and it teaches you not to take anything for granted.

The other story of Orpheus and Eurydice which I also liked very much was a story of love and romance between Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus and Eurydice where oing to get married and Eurydice got bit by a snake and died. She went to hell and of course, Orpheus went down there to rescue her. Hades agreed to give her back, but with one condition. The condition was that as they walked back to earth Orpheus could not look back at her, but as you would guess, he did. So Eurydice died and he never saw her agan.

I really like this story because it relates to modern society and it also talks about true love which I thought was interesting.

Alcyone and Ceyx

The story of Alcyone and Ceyx is a story of love and sacrifice, a story filled with emotions. Which is truly heart-warming tale between two lover, this is my version of it.

Alcyone and Ceyx loved each other very much, but one day, Ceyx had to leave to fulfil an important task, and Alcyone was left all alone. Although she cried and begged Ceyx no to leave, he knew he had to go for her benefit.

Ceyx sailed away as Alcyone waved and wept, then retired to her chamber. While Ceyx was sailing the god of the seas, Poseidon, enraged threw a storm on Ceyx. The ship quiclky collapsed and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, while everyone worried about their wealth and their own lives, Ceyx shouted over and over again, "Alcyone, Alcyone."

Although Ceyx died, Alcyone kept going to the shore every day waiting for his arrival. The gods, seeing this, felt sorry and decided to send Sleep to inform her of Ceyx's fate.

After Alcyone saw Ceyx dead on the shore, she ran and ran as fast as she could to go see him and as she was running she transformed into a bird so they could live happily ever after.

It was really satisfying to see that Alcyone and Ceyx despite all the conflicts and deaths they could be together and extend their love forever. I really enjoyed this story and I think the interpretation was very well done.

Metamorphoses (Creation)

Wow! This chapter was a very hard chapter to understand. I must admit that I didn't really grasp the entire chapter, and missed out on many important explanations or theories. Although I tried very hard to understan completely it was extremely challenging with all the latin and the english translation intertwined. As soon as i thought that I was picking up on the text, the latin came again and threw me off guard, but enough of that, this is what I actually understood:

The first theory that is being discussed is creation. Many theories are presented on the subject, they say that god created the earth, that he made the planet as a perfect, symmetrical ball with identical sides. After creating the earth, he created water in order to mix the earth which formed rivers and lakes, which would flow to the sea.

He grew out mountains and formed valleys. He created weather and temperature leading to snow, which eventually formed climate. He keeps going on about how he created everything and all that happens is a late caus of his actions.

I believe this was a very religious and biblical way to look at creation and didn't really take into account the scientifical P.O.V (point of view). In conclusion, I believe it is an interestin take on creation but the recording and telling of the story should be improved, I'm looing forward to more Metamorphoses.

It had to end sometime!!!

So... Bhagavad-Gita has come to an end, it's twisted plot and complex ideas have finally manifested themselves and we see that we had been fooled throughout the book, and as the end comes we still don't get an answer.

At the end of the book it still isn't clear what Krishna was trying teach Arjuna. When we talked about the ending in class, I realized that Krishna was actually trying to persuade Arjuna to fight or not. He was trying to teach him the same knowlede he had in order to make a desicion on fighting or not. We learn that although Krishna says to follow his advice, Krishna wants Arjuna to form his own opinion and to act on it.

One of the things I really liked abou this book were the description of characters and basically the detailed description of the events occuring in the story. I also think the author di a good job with the Krishna character because those kinds of characters are really hard to get right and Krishna was delivered perfectly.

I really did enjoy this book, although at first it was hard to start reading it. I really hope that all religious and historical book I read can be this interesting!!!

Teachings 17 and 18 (3 aspects of Faith, the dialogue finally concludes)

This picture show Krishna's ideals about the universe and how you affect your life to better or worse. These ideals are basically the one Krishna tried to teach to Arjuna.


Krishna has a very personal thought about the universe, he think that it all depends on action and that anything we do, no matter how small can influence the normal balance of the world and society. By the end of the last teaching we are described the difference between men that go through life being lazy and who expect everyone to be at their service, and brave honest hard working men by the simple concept of taking action. Krishna also talks about outcomes and results for people who are lazy and such, which ends up being an unwanted or undesired result.

Krishna explains how everything we do has outcomes, and this remind me of a popular quote "no good deed goes unpunished" which ceratinly refers to your actions and the following consequences on what you did, and how consequences differ on how people react and handle different things.

Three new categories are presented to us in teaching 17; lucidity, passion and dark inertia. When sacrifices are made, Krishna puts darkness over dark inertia and passions because sacrifice is done without faith. On the other hand, when sacrifice is done with faith, it should “be offered with lucidity when the norms are kept and the mind is focused on the sacrificial act, without craving for its fruit.” (pg. 132). In dark inertia, sacrifices are done without meaning and without feeling

I believe at the end, you choose your own faith, you control your actions, you are aware of what is happening and you can manipulate the present to change the future, and ultimately this is what Krishna was trying to teach Arjuna. As Nelson Mandela said: "I am the master of my destiny, I am the captain of my soul".

Teachings 11 and 15 (Krishna's totality and the true spirit of a man)

What a surprise!!! Krishna reveals his form and is in fact a ......god or a charioteer? It took me by surprise when Krishna was revealed as a god in disguise, as "the gog of gods"

This has been my favorite teaching so far becausethe misterious, powerful Krishna is finally revealed and we can finally grasp an idea of the real Krishna and know what he is all about. What I disliked about this teaching is Arjuna's attitude toward's Krishna actually being a god, he acts like a coward and is very hypocritical. When Krishna was a simple charioteer he treated him with indifference and with no regard for him at all. When Arjuna discovers Krishna's real identity he feels threatened and suddenly treats Krishna with respect and acts like he is devoted to him and even says that he failed to see his greatness and crap like that. What I find amazing is that Arjuna then accepts he is biased only to Krishna's power and begs him to show him the way and to acccept him in his totality. Then Krishna allows Arjuna to see him in his totality and sees that he means well and is an honest person with his heart in the right place, even if he makes mistakes.

Even though their relationship has had ups and downs we can see that a very strong bond is holding them together. He even teahces him the most secret tradition, that states that Krishna is everything and only the man who strives has a god within. Once again we see him trying to teach Arjuna to detach and to earn discipline to achieve greatness in life, be strong within.

Teachings 7-9 (Krishna Superstar)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm88Blmlwjk

I chose this video from the popular video game: God of War. Lord Krishna always says how he is god, and how he is part of everything but nothing is part of him. Throughout the teaching you can sense that although Krishna can seem humble at times by his lessons and techings in life about dicipline, knowledge and many other aspects you should learn to adapt to your life, he does come off as a bit of an ego-maniac and a condescendent person. I think this is how Lord Krishna relates to the main character in "God of War" because they both try to obtain or achieve things they are not supposed to. In god of war you can see him struggling to achieve ultimate greatness, and in a sense he thinks he is the most powerful who can defeat anyone. Lord Krishna also thinks he is the most powerful when he says that everyone tries to reach him and be like him. Another aspect they both have in common is that they cannot be proven wrong!!! because in god of war as well as in Bhagavad-Gita they are both the most powerful character introduced, but in a way we can kind of tell that they're not!

Krishna comes off as a very secure person who stand by what he believes, but we see that during the techings he changes his mind and considers some things again. We see that Krishna treated re-birth as a good thing that should be pursued by everyone, but then he says that any man that reaches him should suffer no re-birth. By that he is implying that a man who shall face re-birth is because he has led a "wrong" life. He also ends up presenting the war "issue" on fighting or not fighting as a lesson rather than the advice on which the conversation was headed towards. He also mentions two paths,the bright and the dark pathways, where one is light and leads to heaven and one is shadows and leads to re-birth. Here the egotistical part is shown again, where he presents himself as the "light" passage and how Aejuna should take the right path and follow him, or in his words: "devote yourself to me".

Manipulation, Knowledge, Freedom (Teachings 3-5)

Lets begin with teaching 3, Lord Krishna, a very wise man, which can flawlessly manipulate someone takes action and gets into Arjuna's head. To make it easier to understand Krishna is brainwashing Arjuna. He is leading hi to believe that he must take action when it is needed, and using this as an excuse to justify murder, and killing. Here we see an excellent example of manipulation, we can sense (and I kinda feel bad for Arjuna) that Lord Krishna is freely manipulating Arjuna and let's face it, there's not much he can do to avoid it.This reminded me of one time I had to manipulate my little cousin Alejandra, because I had stolen the key to her diary (which my aunt had strongly said not to do) and had read all her secrets. She was so mad at me that she was calling her mom to tell her about the incident. I then said: "fine Alejandra, tell your mom whatever you want. "but, don't count on me when you want to play video games or soccer". To make a long story short I had to manipulate her so My aunt wouldn't find out I stole her diary key. It worked!!!

Lets procceed to teaching 4. Although it had alot of text, teaching 4 was had a very simple and easy to grasp idea. It said that if you had knowledge, you would be able to cross all evil. In simpler words, be smart and you won't get messed around with. That is why we Lord Krishna is so powerful, because he has knowledge and he cannot be surpassed by evil: "One should understand action, understand wrong action, and understand inaction too; the way of action is obscure". (pg.53)

Finally, Teaching 5!!! This teachin is the most "zen" and the most "peaceful" and the most "tranquil" which I found very relaxing and enjoyable. Throughout this Teaching Krishna keeps saying that one must find "equilibrium" and that one must be in peace with oneself, and personally I think it's a load of bull!!! Although I do agree with him in the sense that a man who is at peace with himself, and who is able to control his senses and emotions is "free". I don't agree when he says: "A man should not rejoice in what he loves, nor recoil from what disgusts him". (pg.62). I think a man should rejoice in what he loves, and if the time is such, he should recoil from what disgusts him. Which is something I do alot, because as I am in touch with my emotions I am a "free" man, and I shall live a fulfilling life.

In conclusion, I didn't really agree with all the post but still I believe that the have a strong message I should take with me.

Philosophy and Spiritual Discipline

In this teaching we get introduced to Krishna, and we get to see how wise and full of knowledge he is. I think this tablet was very philosophical because Krishna starts explaining how life is a cycle and how everything that has to happen will happen, we can clearly see it explained here: "It is not born, it does not die; having been, it will never not be, unborn, enduring, constant and primordial, it is not killed when the body is killed" (pg.34). Here he is refering to life saying how it is not only a physical thing or a one-time experience, but actually saying that your spirit goes on and that it does not lay resting with your body. I think that the whole purpose of Krishna's "teachings" are to try to convince Arjuna of death and try to chance his perspective towards it. In a way I also understand where Arjuna is coming from because although he understand what Krishna is saying and that we could die many ways, he also thinks that we only live once and that we should be humble yet, take advantage of life.

One thing I found interesting was Krishna's take on how we all have a beginning and an end, a point of origin, and how we all are here for a reason, and how we all have a task to accomplish: "Look at your own duty; do not tremble before it; nothing is better for a warrior than a battle of sacred duty" (pg.36).

Krishna tells Arjuna that he must have alot of dicipline and be in touch with his emotions. I think he says this to ince again persuade Arjuna to change his POV: "when your understanding turns from sacred lore to stand fixed, immovable in contemplation, then you will reach discipline" (pg.39).

Krishna also tells of the importance of learning how to control your emotions because they (if not manipoulated correctly) could lead to many wrong paths, paths we are not willing to take: "from anger comes confusion; from confusion memory lapses; from broken memory understanding is lost; from loss of understanding, he is ruined" (pg.41). In the end I believe that Krishna gets his message across and teaches us how important it is to have dicipline and to be able to control our emotions.

I think this may turn out to be a very valuable and important book, from which we will learn a whole lot.

Arjuna's Dejection

In this first "teaching" (and i put teaching in quotations because im not really sure if it is actually teaching me something) I can start to get a grasp on the book and kind of sense what its going to be about. I think its going to be very similar to Gilgamesh since by the style of the writing we can infer they are both ancient texts, and because of the titles and the ideas that are presented to us in the beginning. We begin this chapter when the sons of Dhritarashtra and the sons of Pandu are together and about to commence a war (or at least it looks like it). When the war is about to start we see that Arjuna (Pandora's son) starts talking about war and how useless and unnecessary it is.

He wonders if it is worth all the lives lost and the blood spilled just to earn kinmaship and power. Although we aren't presented with the cause or reason of the war I Thinkn it might have something to do with faith, or religion. Coming back to Arjuna I believe it is very brave for a man that has so much at risk to go against the ideas his family believes and has faith in.

When Arjuna says: "My limbs sink, my mouth is parched, my body trembles, the hair bristles on my flesh."(pg.27)We can sense a fear and an unpleasant feeling toward war and all it entails, this reminds me of the popular movie ideas where there's a weird kid in the family who isn't like his brothers or sisters, which his parents don't really like, and that sort of commonly used movie idea.