Over 5,000 years old, the Bhagavad Gita is written as a tale set on a battlefield, a metaphor for the battles all humans face as they live, grow, age, and die. In Essential Wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, longtime student and teacher of the Bhagavad Gita Jack Hawley has done away with the sometimes-baffling story, extracting the pure wisdom and organizing it into helpful categories that are perfect for reading and study. Chapters address five important questions spiritual seekers have been grappling with for millennia: Who am I? What is my purpose in life? Who, or what, is God? What should my relationship be with the Divine? Is it possible to live a fulfilled life in a world that doesn't seem to support it? Within each chapter are short extracts from the ancient text, arranged under headings that are relevant to today's readers, such as “Know the Real You,” “Be Active in the World,” and “Develop Spiritual Vision.”