On the battlefield for life - Conversation with Acharn Captain William S Whorton - 1

In this episode I am in conversation with my friend and former colleague from Chulalongkorn University, Acharn Captain William S Whorton.Over the last twenty-four years, together with our great Sanskṛt teacher Acharn Tassanee Sinsakul, Bill has been studying and translating the Bhagavad Gītā. Their unique translation was recently published by Uppsala Books https://uppsalabooks.com/bgAnd I highly recommend it!The appendices and essays are great treasures, and the translation invites us into the ongoing inquiry that is the heart of practice with concise, stimulating translators’ notes throughout. This work is the fruit of a collaboration between two extraordinary practitioner-scholars who have studied, lived and practised the teachings of the Gītā over many decades. For Bill, a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, the Gītā’s battlefield setting drew his attention as he turned to the study of philosophy to repair his disintegrated mind and troubled soul after seeing the evil of the war he had participated in. Acharn Tassanee meanwhile, is, as Bill would describe her, a sage and a master, a person whose very presence transmits wisdom, insight and integrity. As well as being a lifelong scholar and great teacher of Thai, Pali and Sanskṛt, Acharn Tassanee is established in the spirit of exploration and apprenticeship of a true seeker. It was my great privilege to work with them both when I taught English at Chulalongkorn University 2002-6 and to begin my studies of Sanskṛt with Acharn Tassanee during this period and in the following few years when I had left the university to dedicate myself to the teaching, study and practice of yoga and Sanskṛt.All being well, this will be the first of a series of conversations with Bill related to the Gītā and this practice of yoga on the battlefield for life.