June 12– From "The Bhagavad-Gita" by Vyasa translated by Sir Edwin Arnold

 I haven't done an anthem in a while.

June 12– From The Bhagavad-Gita by Vyasa translated by Sir Edwin Arnold

Summary: I honestly don't really know.

Commentary: This is a challenging one. I remember reading part of it in undergrad, and I don't feel like I struggled this much. I also don't really remember much of what I read, so who knows. Let's go to the pull quotes:

Better to live on beggar's bread

With those we love alive,

Than taste their blood in rich feasts spread,

And guiltily survive!

We often get the opposite of this in T5FSOB (ex. St. Crispin's Day speech in Henry V) and I feel like this is closer to how most people feel in real life. We don't generally want to die dramatically, or for our family too. We'd rather they be meek, but alive.

Know naught! Life cannot slay. Life is not slain!

Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never;

Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!

Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever;

Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!

I'm less enthused with this one, though I feel like I've been seeing the sentiment a lot lately.  Even if we assume the existence of an immortal soul, I'm not a fan of discarding the value of this individual life/death cycle. If this life is pointless, what's the point of all of them together?