CHAPTER 5 Introduction Like the Sermon on the Mount, it has an immediacy that sweeps away time, place, and circumstance. Addressed to everyone, of whatever background or status, the Gita distills the loftiest truths of Indian's ancient wisdom into simple, memorable poetry that haunts the mind and informs the affairs of everyday life. Historians surmise that like the Iliad, the Mahabharata might well be based on actual events, culminating in a war that took place somewhat aro