Customer Reviews:
 God Talks with Arjuna November 27, 2005
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
God Talks with Arjuna is the product of a higher intelligence that mankind aspires to attain. I have been studying the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda for nearly four decades, and have translated several of his books into Arabic. In God Talks with Arjuna one is amazed at the depth and breadth of Yogananda's wisdom and fathomless realization. He challenges the human mind to stretch itself to infinite reaches of cosmic knowledge, and leads serious hopefuls to intuitive discoveries within the depth of the human spirit. Those who read his works out of sheer curiosity may or may not find the nuggets of wisdom in the folds of his thoughts; while those who have the slightest receptivity and desire for higher truths will never fail to discover Yogananda's immortal gems of divine realization. God Talks with Arjuna is a bright luminary in Paramahansa Yogananda's inexhaustible divine library. I have gained much from this monumental work and hope to be able to translate it someday into Arabic. Any one who reads this great book with an open mind will find at the end that he/she has gained something worthwhile and truly lasting.
 Good Commentary, Average Translation October 24, 2005
18 out of 21 found this review helpful
The commentary of this translation makes it easily worth the price. It is clear that Yogananda has devoted years to the study of the Gita and the examples which he uses in conjunction with verses are lucid, if at times dated. For example, in explaining 62-63 verse of chapter 2 of the Gita, Yogananda describes the progression from attachment to sense objects to the loss of the ability to distinguish the soul from sense objects using an example of a husband who is looking forward to a picnic becoming enraged when his wife says that she wants to go to her mother-in-law's while driving. It seems that more sensitive and less sexist commentary could have been used. On the other hand, the remainder of this commentary, which spans five pages, is very helpful and discusses how "anger arises from the non-fulfillment of desires." The translation itself is fairly dry and fails to bring the beauty of the Gita to life. An excellent translation which can be read in conjunction with this book is the 1942 classic by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopter Isherwood (with a forward by Aldous Huxley). In comparison here is verse 67 from chaper 2 Yogananda's version "As a boat on the waters is carried off course by a gale, so an individual's discrimination is driven from its intended path when the mind succumbs to the wandering senses" Prabhavananda's version: "The wind turns a ship from its course upon the waters. The wandering winds of the senses, cast man's mind adrift, and turn his better judgment from its course." The first version is a translation and the second is poetry. However, Prabhavananda does not provide commentary, where Yogananda provides insightful and extensive discourse. Overall, Yogananda's version is highly recommended for the student of the Gita.
 A bit too "god like" for my tastes.... June 23, 2005
24 out of 75 found this review helpful
Okay, this man was a "god", as we all are, if we accept the teachings of the Upanishads, the Gita, Sri Krishna, and, if understood properly, Christ Himself. But the Self Realization Fellowship, while wonderful indeed, seems to go by way of the Hare Krishna "cult" (minus, of course, the selling of flowers in various airports) in their veneration of their long dead leader. The physical body of a dead man has returned to the ground. The Self has always been One with the Self, and of course no Self i8s any better than anothers Self, um, because it's all one big happy Self, right. Like salt dissolving in water--where did it go, and is it any less salt? Think about that the next time you worship a dead man.
As to the text, it's archaic, out dated, and let's admit it--based on the King James Victorian English used in a Bible translated in 1611...YUCK. I, too, prefer the playful and highly wonderful Gita translation by Eknath Easwaran (go ahead, shoot me), and the three volume set "The Bhagavad Gita For Daily Living". What I like About it is that no-one claims that Easwaran is "Krishna", or that he is "God", or that it takes "Three years to understand the teachings"--nope, one just learns to focus the attentions inward (which is really what meditation IS, not some "mystical" state or total renunciation of the world), and learn to LOVE, which is what the 12th chapter of the Gita is all about.
I am sure that the SRF belives in all of these things, and this is why I bought "God Talks with Arjuna", and I believe that spending my hard earned cahs is supporting the SRF and it's aims and goals. But I do not believe that your guru is a "God" in any other way than an expression of the Atman that is in me and you, and nothing else. I also would warn someone who is considering purchasing this beautiful boxed set (yes, the books are wondefully bound, they are dark blue, and I admit I love looking at them on my bookshelf), that the English used is Archaic, hard to understand at times, and plain boring. If you enjouy Shakespear and the King James Bible, which I suppose many do, then you'll love this set. If not, then you'll probably prefer the Easwaran set I spoke of earlier, as well as his much more down-lo-earth commentary, which is based on practical love, meditiation, ans service to others, which I think Sri Krishna would have no problem with anyways, even if the SRF's "god like" guru was actually an Incarnation of after all. heh heh.
Om shanti shanti shanti.
Best book written in the English language! May 30, 2005
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
When you read this book you will not only enjoy the fullness of depth of meaning behind the writing, but the rich scientific detail. Here I am a nursing student gasping for breath at the detail this man goes into when he describes human physiology...and keep in mind this book was written before 1952 and outranks a college biology textbook I had in 1979 and perhaps some I own published in 2005! The author conveys his love of us and love for the creator and I can not but help myself to love him, the author, more and more. I have this book at my bedside and it will remain at my bedside always. This great book is such a personal purchase, because once you own it you want others to discover this affordable gem...but something within says to push it on them would destroy its loveliness; it is a book of love not pressure...simply such! Keep it on your coffee table!
Poetry of the Gita broken up by the commentary. April 17, 2005
10 out of 30 found this review helpful
This is not to knock this version for those who are yearning for a paragraph of commentary following every line or two of the Text, and DEFINITELY not to knock the Gita itself. But I would think that the commentaries would come at the end of the chapters or on the facing pages, so I could enjoy and relish Yogananda's own translation (maybe his organization will come out with his straight translation, no commentary). But for the shear beauty of the poetic translation of the Gita itself, I love the version of Eknath Easwaran (I confess to owning and loving most of his books, and especially love his Upanishads for the same reason).
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