Can the Bhagavad Gita be understood by itself, or is it necessary

It's pretty self contained, the only way it really connects to the Mahabharata is the reason why the speech is being given (Arjuna doesn't want to kill his family and Krishna has to convince him otherwise).

>>9955575
So much hindi art seems like the artist was on dmt

>>9957111
Because DMT allows access to levels of consciousness ancient Tantrikas discovered long ago.

>>9955575
The more you understand Hindu cosmology and the context, the more you'll get out of it. But it is still very rewarding and self contained even if ignorant of those things. There are annotated versions by different holy men if you're looking to get more out of it. It certainly wasn't written for a surface reading.

>>9957111
that genre of art is a recent phenomenon

>>9957375
How recent?

>>9957111
it's meditation bro, has a similar effect if you do it a shit tonne, hallucinations and all.

File: 800px-Murugan_by_Raja_Ravi_Varma.jpg (251KB, 800x1092px) Image search: [Google]

251KB, 800x1092px

>>9957739
Raja Ravi Varma is considered the originator of the style, starting in the 1870s. It did get more colorful and abstract as time progressed, especially in the 1940s.

>>9957817
it's meditation meditation it's it's meditation bro bro meditation meditation bro has has bro meditation bro has a a has bro has a similar similar a has a similar effect effect similar a similar effect if if effect similar effect if you you if effect if you do do you if you do it it do you do it a a it do it a shit shit a it a shit tonne tonne shit a shit tonne hallucinations hallucinations tonne shit tonne hallucinations and and hallucinations tonne hallucinations and all

>>9957111
That's because psychedelic art and imagery is extremely derivative of Eastern religious traditions.

>>9957191
Can you recommend any specific versions?

>>9959445
For ancient commentaries, I recommend Abhinavagupta and Adi Shankara.

For contemporary, Sivananda or Prabhavananda (probably the most approachable).