The Bhagawad Geeta
Unlocking Ancient Wisdom for the Modern World
The Bhagawad Geeta -
A Source of Enduring Wisdom
Why the Global Youth of today needs to study Bhagawad Geeta?
Timeless Wisdom for Modern Life: The Geeta's ancient verses offer profound insights relevant to navigating the complexities and challenges of today.
A Universal Guide to Self-Discovery: It transcends religious boundaries, providing a practical roadmap for understanding oneself and one's place in the universe.
Inspiring Action with Inner Peace: The Geeta beautifully balances the call to duty with the pursuit of inner tranquility and spiritual growth.
Project Goals
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Bringing Bhagawad Geeta in an engaging and interesting format of animated storytelling to attract a larger audience.
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Intriguing people to undertake a deeper study of the Bhagawad Geeta.
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Making the deeper study available for curious minds.
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Exploring other aspects of Indian thought through the Bhagawad Geeta.
The Power of Animation & YouTube
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“Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation.” - Walt Disney
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Anything that can be imagined can be drawn and anything that can be drawn can be animated.Animation, unlike live-action, is not restricted by reality.
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Animation is loved by everyone of every age, owing perhaps to its association with childhood.
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It is hence a cost-effective method to bring historical scenes with varied landscapes on the screen.
YouTube:
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YouTube is the most popular video platform. - Statista
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India has the most YouTube users globally, followed by the US. - statista
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It’s free and a preferred source of educational video content. Science Direct
Animation
Case Study - The Bible Project
The Bible Project is an animation studio that creates short-form, animated videos explaining the books, themes, and big ideas of the Bible. They aim to make the Bible accessible and understandable to everyone, regardless of their background or beliefs.
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Animation: They use high-quality, engaging animation to illustrate biblical narratives, themes, and theological concepts. This makes the content more memorable and appealing, especially to younger audiences and visual learners.
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Clear Explanations: The videos are known for their clear, concise, and scholarly accurate explanations. They avoid denominational bias and focus on the original context and meaning of the biblical texts.
Reach and Impact:
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They have reached 4.78M subscribers on YouTube over last 12 years and have fostered a vibrant online community.
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Their videos have been translated into multiple languages, expanding their global impact.
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Their work is used by individuals, churches, schools, and study groups around the world.
We can emulate their model to get Bhagawad Geeta reach modern audience at a massive scale
Why Glimpses Studio?
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Leadership with 9 years of experience in the Animation and Design Industry, with brands like Coca-Cola, KFC, Google Cloud, Plasto, etc.
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Glimpses Studio has created 50+ animated stories since 2018
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All videos are based on authentic studies of academic sources. For example:
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Aurangzeb & Dara Shukoh involved the study of works by Jadunath Sircar, Avik Chanda, Supriya Gandhi.
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Mahabharata Astik Parva is based on the word-to-word Marathi translation of the Epic.
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The Story of Satyakam Jabala is based on a story from Original Sanskrit Chhandyogya Upanishad.
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Mauryan History was written with the help of Shreyas Bhave, author of a trilogy on Ashoka
Glimpses Studio currently attracts close to 1,000 views every day on animated stories, earning 1.6+ Million views cumulatively till date.
A Unique Approach to Studying the Geeta
There are numerous translations of Bhagawad Geeta, and sometimes they are conflicting.
How do we know which one to refer?
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Word-by-Word Analysis
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Comparative Philosophical Perspectives
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No Reliance on Single Translations
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Contextual Analysis
The Glimpses Approach: A Multi-Layered Study
Word-by-Word Analysis
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Each Sanskrit word of the text is dissected for its root word and subsequent grammatical modifications.
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Multiple Sanskrit dictionaries (such as कल्पद्रुमः, अमरकोशः, Apte, वाचस्पत्यम्, Monier-Williams) are checked for difficult words
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Example, different scholars have translated the word ‘Aparyaptam’ from verse 1.10 differently.
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Based on the context set in 1.12, the translation for this word is ascertained
Infinite
Insufficient
Comparative Philosophica
Perspectives
Advaita Vedanta (Shankaracharya): Emphasizes the ultimate non-duality between the soul and Brahman.
Vishishtadvaita (Ramanuja): Views the soul as a part of Brahman but eternally distinct.
Dvaita (Madhvacharya): Asserts the complete and eternal separation between the soul and God.
Achintya Bhedabheda (Prabhupada/Gaudiya Vaishnavism): Describes the soul's relationship with God as simultaneously one and different.
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Scholars from various schools of thought, have interpreted Geeta according to their belief systems
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Eg. In Verse 2.12, relationship between individual souls and God have been differently perceived.
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Multiple translations are referred to not to adopt the same mistake that the translator may have made
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These translations are chosen from different philosophies and approaches to Geeta
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Multiple translations are referred to not to adopt the same mistake that the translator may have made
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These translations are chosen from different philosophies and approaches to Geeta
No Reliance on Single Translations
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Sankarabhasya by Adi Shankara is a foundational commentary based on Advaita Vedanta, emphasizes the path of knowledge (Jnana Yoga) & renunciation (sanyas)
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Gita Bhashya by Ramanujacharya follows Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and emphasizes devotion (Bhakti Yoga)
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Dnyaneshwari by Sant Dnyaneshwar is not a direct word-for-word translation but a beautiful poetic rendition in Marathi made for common simple people of the time. It is full of examples from everyday life.
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Gita Bhashya by Madhvacharya emphasizes Dvaita Vedanta i.e. individual soul (jiva) is different and dependent from the Supreme Soul (Vishnu). He focuses on Bhakti Yoga as the means of liberation
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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by Swami Prabhupada emphasizes Bhakti Yoga presenting Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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The Bhagavadgita by S. Radhakrishnan offers a more philosophical and universalist interpretation of the Geeta drawing insights from various schools of Indian philosophy and Western thought.
Some of the translations and commentaries on the Geeta we are referring to -
Pilot Episode: Introduction
We have already started work on one episode on the
initial introductory verses of the Geeta
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Script Writing: It is composed of from verses 1.13 to 2.10
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Animatic (Rough Animation): Completed
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Background Drawings & Character Drawing: Partially completed
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Animation: Partially completed
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Background Music: Partially completed
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Voice Acting: Pending
Unveiling the Layers of Meaning
Geeta as a source of comprehensive wisdom
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This approach can lead to a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the Geeta.
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Presenting different perspectives enriches the understanding of the Geeta and promotes critical thinking.
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Provide a broader understanding of Indian philosophical thought and its interconnectedness.
The Potential Impact
Awareness among Wider Audience
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Glimpses Studio has 11,000+ subscribers with a daily viewership of close to 1,000.
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The format of the stories is entertaining while remaining authentic to the source material.
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Aiming to attract more people to study the Geeta further.
Project Process:
Project Stages & tentative timeline
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Scripting: Curating verses from all the 100 poems of each thinai to weave a story from it (Week 1)
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Rough Storyboard and Animatic to get all team members a visualization of the story-to-be (Week 2-3)
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Final Drawings. Detailed and colorful drawings of characters, background landscapes, and the props to be animated during later phases. (Week 4-6)
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Voice Over acting. Professional voice actors shall enact the characters in the story (Week 4-6)
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Animation. The Final Drawings shall be animated for facial expressions, body language, etc. (Week 5-7)
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Music Production suiting the theme and mood of the thinai and in sync with the animation (Week 8-9)
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Film Editing to compile all the animated shots, adjust colors, add sound effects, etc. (Week 10)
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Publication and Promotion Glimpses Studio channel (Week 11-12)
Tentative Timeline
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The production for the 11 videos can run in parallel with Each animation beginning every month
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The total Duration of the Project is estimated to be one year -
Project budget
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Estimated Budget for Essential Expenses: Close to INR 1,700,000 (i.e. Close to USD 20,000)
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Other Expenses such as Infrastructure, Management, Software, Digital Tools, subscriptions to Digital, etc. shall be born by Glimpses Studio
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1/12th of the funds can be paid to Glimpses Studio at the completion of the production of each Episode and before release.
We deeply appreciate your Contribution
Although the sole purpose of this project is to performa unique study of Bhagawad Geeta and present it to the world in most engaging form possible, Glimpses Studio is committed to express its gratitude towards the association/organization/company funding the project
Depending upon the funded amount, the sponsoring organization/individual shall be acknowledged through one or more of the following -
● Showing Logo and name at the end of the video.
● Embedding a video of up to 30-seconds in duration in the video about the sponsorer
● A link to the supporter’s website shall be included in the YouTube video description, on the Glimpses
Studio website, in related Facebook Posts, on LinkedIn Posts, and on Instagram Posts related to the
project.
● The Funding can be split between up to 10 entities according to proportion of the amount funded.
"The Gita is unrivaled for its spiritual merit ...within the compass of 700 verses the Gita has given the quintessence of all the shastras and the Upanishads”
- MK Gandhi (Gita The Mother)
Let’s unite and share Explore Geeta as never before!
Thank you
All Drawings used in this presentation are made for the proposed series
Let’s reconnect with our roots!