Considered by most to be the authority and founding scripture relaying all schools of Hindu philosophy, the Bhagavad Gita is simply a great epic poem (by Western standards), where Sri Krishna reveals himself to Arjuna, a warrior on the eve of a great war with his own family to return the throne to his rightful heir. This epic serves as a metaphor for the path that the spiritual aspirant must take to achieve enlightenment and become one with Krishna. (http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-bhagavad-gita/). Even though this epic was written in the first century BCE, the threads of Krishna's teachings to Prince Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gītā were intertwined throughout the popular culture of the 1960s and 1970s. These threads helped influence a generation of artists whose works we still venerate today. These discussion threads were essentially:1. Krishna himself --- the swami or master of personal devotion2. Rebirth meaning reincarnation3. The path to transcendence (Simon, pp. 770-776). The first thread, Krishna, was perhaps the most important link connecting popular culture to the Bhagavad Gita. Without Krishna, there would have been no story or flower children. This is evident since Krishna, who at the beginning of the story was Arjuna's charioteer for the Kureksetra war, transforms his physical self in order to prove that Arjuna, showing his mortality, hesitated to fight against his own parents and implored advice from his charioteer. From then on, Krishna's character developed into a swami; a spiritual master for Arjuna. As a swami, he mentored and taught Arjuna the ideal Hindu yogas that would help him achieve Indian spirituality. In the end, Krishna revealed himself to be the manifestation of...... middle of paper...... edge in his quest for enlightenment. It has served as a holy scripture for Hindus for thousands of years. Similarly, in the 1960s and 1970s, the identical narrative, in that nothing was changed from the original other than the language, somehow played a role huge in the formation of a culture of iconic artists. These artists set an example and their dedication appealed to the younger generation. Without the Bhagavad Gita, fans of popular culture would not have been so memorably entertained and religiously enlightened by our popular culture icons. In other words, it's simply incredible to imagine that a story written thousands of years ago helped forge a history of music, art, literature, and impressive performances that future generations will be able to worship. To this end, transcendentalism is alive and well today. As John Lennon would say: “We all shine”! quote?