Hercules Not Completed Task

Hercules was set the task to go to the Amazons he had to bring the girdle of the heart of the amazons. The Amazon was full of indigenous people, women and men that were very warlike. Men ruled and let the women take control of the children and the harvest, but when it came to the girdle, then they would be very protective. They would do anything to me able to keep it safe with them. The women of the Amazon took their land, their forest as part of their own, and they deeply believe in the Curupira, the spirit of the forest that protected it from all kinds of thread. Juno decided to transform into one of the Amazonian women to take the girdle, but the Curupira was aware that she was not an Amazonian women so when Juno was walking towards the girdle suddenly she fell in a hole full of ants and was eaten by them, making it impossible for Hercules to complete his task.

Hippolyta?

If the play was inspired in the real Amazons I think that Hippolyta would not be the noble person and wealthy that is represented in the play. On the other hand, it would be kind of poor, in a sense that in the amazons there is not really a lot of money, for anyone. The indigenous people were everything but noble, they are adventurous and take care of the children of the house. In the Trojan Women, Hippolyta is going to marry the man she wanted to, in the amazons we were able to visit a group of Indians, the Marubos, and they told us that women were set to marry the person that their father wanted them to, not anyone they wanted to.

There was no Queen of The Amazons, not one guide or native talked to us about any queen. Since the Amazons was thought to be the land of women, maybe that’s why the play is thought for Hippolyta as a character.

3 Predictions

Krishna is the God

Arjuna will believe deeply in him and follow his teachings

Krishna will go to he battle with him and help him win it.

Vocabulary-Gita

Equanimity
-Noun.
1. Mental or emotional stability or composure, esp. under tension or strain; calmness; equilibrium


Resolutely
–Adjective
1. Firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose or opinion
2. Characterized by firmness and determination, as the temper, spirit, actions, etc.


Conches.
-Noun
1. The spiral shell of a gastropod, often used as a horn.
2. Any of various marine gastropods.
3. The fabled shell trumpet of the Tritons.

Omens
-Noun
1. A phenomenon supposed to portend good or evil; a prophetic sign.
2. Prognostication; portent: birds of ill omen.

Kinsmen
–Noun, plural -men.
1. A blood relative, esp. a male
2. A relative by marriage.
3. A person of the same nationality or ethnic group.

Contemplation
–Noun
1. The act of contemplating; thoughtful observation.
2. Full or deep consideration; reflection: religious contemplation.
3. Purpose or intention.
4. Prospect or expectation.

Relinquishing
1. To retire from; give up or abandon.
2. To put aside or desist from (something practiced, professed, or intended).
3. To let go; surrender.
4. To cease holding physically; release: relinquish a grip.

www.dictionary.com

5 Questions While Reading

What are actions?

What is the goal of this book?

Who is Krishna?

What/Who does Arjuna represent?

I am disciplined? What is it to be disciplined?

Lines That Stand Out

“When the light of knowledge
shines in all the body’s senses,
then one knows
that lucidity prevails.”
(Fourteenth Teaching)

“Knowledge is better than practice,
meditation is better than knowledge,
rejecting fruits of action
is better still—it brings peace.”
(Twelfth Teaching)

“Persistence in knowing the self,
seeing what knowledge of reality means—
all this is called knowledge,
the opposite is ignorance.”
(Thirteenth Teaching)

“You are bound by your own action,
intrinsic to your being, Arjuna;
even against your will you must do
what delusion now makes you refuse.”
(Eighteenth Teaching)

Lord Krishna

At the beginning of the book, it is believed that Lord Krishna is just a counselor that helps Arjuna go over his personal crisis, when he is debating on either going to battle or not. Krishna starts his long speech speaking about actions, discipline and duty. As the speech goes on, other topics are touched, such as faith, inner spirit, knowledge, lucidity, passion, discipline of action and of spirit and power. The speech is profound and meaningfully, Arjuna is the listener and is very attentive, seldom has he asked Krishna questions about what he is talking. As I read I thought of Ishmael. Krishna is the teacher, Ishmael and Arjuna is the listener, the pupil, the narrator of Ishmael. Krishna talks of him as superior, as the a god and as a lord and Arjuna worships him. At the end of the novel you see Krishna as The God and Arjuna, as the disciple.
“My nature has eight aspects: earth, water, fire, wind, space, mind, understanding, and individuality.” (Seventh Teaching)
This is one of the first signs of Krishna as a superior being. He practically states that he is everything, the basic of everything. God, the God we know, is known as everything and he being the beginning of all, the basis of all creation.
“If he is devoted solely to me, even a violent criminal must be deemed a man of virtue, for his resolve is right.” (Ninth Teaching)
He is saying, just like Jesus said, and just like God has insinuated through all of his messiahs of the Bible: If you are faithful to God, then you are going to Heaven (“for his resolve is right.”) for being good, and doing the right thing. And even the evilest of all will be forgiven. (“a violent criminal must be deemed a man of virtue”).

I was not aware of a religion based on the Bhagavad-Gita in India or in any where in the world. The literal translation is “Song of God”, Krishna is the God and his speech is the song. The book is the religious book of the Hinduism, kind of like the Bible for the Catholicism. IT is considered as the God himself speaking, and so it is proven.
“I am the source of everything, and everything proceeds from me; filled with my existence, wise men realizing this are devoted to me”(Tenth Teaching)
“I am the infinite spirit’s foundation, immortal and immutable, the basis of eternal sacred duty and of perfect joy” (Fourteenth Teaching)
It is very self-explanatory.

Sources:
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad_Gita