JUNG NEIL: Love and Only Love from the Baghavad Gita (It’s All One Song)

"Battle of Kurukshetra of the Mahabharata Epic"
On the left the Pandava hero Arjuna sits behind Krishna, his charioteer. On the right is Karna, commander of the Kaurava army.
(Click photo to enlarge)
And now for something completely different in Neil Young News... wheat of a different variety, yet still organic, GMO-free, without herbicides or pesticides from our Tour Manager, Hounds That Howell.

Please note, this a heavy wheat posting that takes a bit of concentration and focus and is NOT meant for idle scrolling through while stuck in traffic.

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JUNG NEIL: Love and Only Love from the Baghavad Gita (It’s All One Song)

What characteristics create some of Neil’s most emotionally evocative and loved music?

Sure in his most resonant songs Neil taps into the great musical vibrations of the universe that create the sound we love. Reflecting on the lyrics, he sings about classic psychological archetypes, a recurring musical motif. In Love and Only Love Neil teaches the lessons of two of our strongest emotions – Love and Hate. His description of their power and importance to our living a happy life is so elemental he has tapped into the root message of one of the greatest religious writings in history, the Bahgavad Gita. Neil is singing about the Bible of India. Take a walk down this Spirit Road to see these parallels…

"Long ago in the book of old,
Before the chapter where dreams unfold
A battle raged on the open page,
Love was a winner there overcoming hate
Like a little girl who couldn't wait."

The Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna, said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god Vivasvan.

Well, it certainly is old. Krishna sang the Gita (song in Sanskrit) to Vivasvan the sun god 120 million years ago, so just a couple of years before Neil was born.

Part of an ancient Hindu epic poem, the 700 verse Bahgavad Gita takes place on a battlefield, where CIVIL war for the possession of a North Indian kingdom is about to ensue between two noble families related by blood. The epic’s hero, young Prince Arjuna is torn between his duty as a warrior and his revulsion at the thought of his brothers and cousins killing each other over control of the realm.

Ultimately this song illustrates the battlefields each of uses faces in the outer world and in our inner world – the debates that occupy our minds over ethical and moral choices. The Gita explains how to wage the battle between love and hate. How must we act when action is right or wrong. It says we must act to resolve these struggles and it explains how we must act to fight them. This is the lesson of the Gita.

Krishna and arjuna on chariot during kurukshetra war.

"Love and only love will endure
Hate is everything you think it is
Love and only love will break it down
Love and only love, will break it down”

Frozen by this ethical dilemma Arjuna debates the big questions of life and death with the supreme Hindu Deity Krishna who is cleverly disguised as his charioteer. Eastern beliefs about morality and reincarnation, the vision and practice of yoga, the Indian social order and its responsibilities, family loyalty, spiritual knowledge and the loftiest pursuits of the human heart (love) are explored in depth.

It explains the very purpose of life and existence culminating in the ultimate state of yoga, in which souls unite in the heart of God. Innarestingly, YOGA is Sanskrit for yoke, join. So in this case it means “to join with God, create a unity with God.”

Tomorrow is a long longtime if you're a memory
Trying to find peace of mind
Spirit come back to me,
Give me strength and set me free
Let me hear the magic in my heart.

Krishna and Love and Only Love

The word Bahgavad means “the Beloved Lord,” referring to Krishna - the Spirit being called forth in the song. So this work is, on its deepest level is a song issuing forth from the Heart of God for all souls to love him, to take the journey with him to be blissfully united with him. Why does he want you to join with him? Join, unite, yoke to the divine and you will have the knowledge - the strength - to be set free from your struggles. The struggles to resolve confusion on how to act to transform your precarious painful world into a meaningful one. Here's the magic in your heart is awareness. Awareness of the solution to the existential questions so you can meet the challenges of the outer and inner world with strength and resolve. Peace and love now you decide.

Love and only love will endure
Hate is everything you think it is
Love and only love will break it down
Love and only love, will break it down
Break it down, break it down.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

We are often caught between love and hate. We vacillate between thoughts and actions that elevate the spirit, the love, helping us to rise above the destructive forces surrounding us and within us, and those that degrade the spirit - the hate - and further embroil us in the perils of worldly existence. This hate is everything you think it is. You know how it causes pain to you and all of those around you.

"Long ago in the book of old,
Before the chapter where dreams unfold
A battle raged on the open page,
Love was a winner there overcoming hate
Like a little girl who couldn't wait.

Love and only love will endure
Hate is everything you think it is
Love and only love will break it down
Love and only love"

Krishna is issuing a love call to all souls. He is singing Love and only love will break it, the confusion keeping you from true happiness, down so you can unite with him, in his heart. It is a call which says to all souls, the heart of God passionately desires to connect with the hearts of humans. Here you - humans - have an opportunity to live a life of Dharma a godly life promoting true happiness in relation to your worldly responsibilities and ultimate spiritual goals. So it is true. Hate is everything you think it is a dead end of misery, suffering, pain and disappointment. Only Love Will Endure and give you true happiness. Neil has written a Rock and Roll translation of a classic work of religious literature and that’s what makes this song a classic.

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With my deepest thanks and appreciation to Graham Schweig and his Bhagavad Gita: The Beloved Lord's Secret Love Song - Harper Collins Publishers 2007. Most of the explanation about the Gita is directly quoted from the book. It was an honor spending the evening with you sir and John Schumacher at his Unity Woods Yoga Studio in Bethesda, Maryland discussing your book. Yes, the journey holds many secrets.

Scholar and Yogi - Graham Schweig

A leading Yoga Instructors and rock and roll drummer John Schumacher

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Thanks so much Hounds That Howell! Definitely making that universal connection to the spirit of all that is Neil and love and peace. The illusion continues to crumble... namaste



"Love and Only Love" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Lucca Summer Festival, Piazza Napoleone, 25.07.2013

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