Beware of KessingerOctober 8, 2008 Yes, this is a classic translation of a seminal Vedanta scripture.
WARNING: do not buy the Kessinger Publishing edition. The copyright belongs to the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York. Oh, I see that the New York edition sells for about half of Kessinger's pirated edition, so people will avoid Kessinger's rip-off anyway.
BEST English edition of Gita availableFebruary 10, 2007 8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Bhagavad Gita is the most popular of the scriptures of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism). However, the message is for the whole mankind and not just for the Hindus. It is one of the three canons of Vedanta (the other two are the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras). The Gita discusses the various paths to Self-Realization, known as yogas, systematically.
There are dozens of English translations of the Gita. How to choose?
The best commentary to Gita is by Adi Sankara, the 7th century saint and non-dual philosopher of India. His commentary takes a non-dual approach, which is the widely accepted vedantic philosophy.
There are a few literal translations of Gita with Adi Sankara's commentary. The more recent ones are by Swami Gambhirananda and by Swami Nikhilananda. Gambhirananda's is a literal translation and at times it is very difficult to comprehend. One feels like some explanation of Sankara's commentary is needed. On the other hand, Swami Nikhilananda's approach is to present notes to each verse based on Adi Sankara's commentary which makes it very easy to read and comprehend. He elaborates where an elaboration is needed and has omitted occasional portions of the commentary which are extremely technical and don't interest majority of the readers. This makes it an excellent read and hence I prefer Nikhilananda's version. Also his English is excellent. No wonder, Time Magazine gave a great review for this edition of Gita.
A brief summary of the Mahabharata is included, which helps one understand the context in which the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna takes place.
Highly recommend this book.
Also recommended (to complete your collection of Prasthana Traya or Triple Canon of Vedanta): -The Upanishads (4 volumes) by the same author, and -Brahma Sutras according to Adi Sankara by Swami Vireswarananda.
This is the one!September 5, 2001 3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is the book that Shaktiananda Yoga Centers uses and recommends for any serious Raja Yoga student. The translation is excellent and the commentary is authentic. Highly recommend!
Fine translation with valuable commentaryAugust 4, 2001 25 out of 25 found this review helpful
This is an especially good translation for those with some knowledge of yoga or Hinduism or Vedanta. Rather than employ artificialities like "discipline" or "duty" or "the Supreme God," Nikhilananda retains in his translation many Sanskrit words like yoga, dharma, Brahman, etc. that have no real one-to-one English equivalent. One of the virtues of not attempting to translate every term is a more natural expression that preserves some of the immediacy of the original. This is a boon for those who have some experience with the terms, and a detriment to those who do not. In doing so of course he violates one of the prime dicta of translation, namely that a translation should stand on its own without recourse to augmentation by other works.
Nonetheless the book itself does stand on its own because Nikhilananda has provided along with the text a commentary taken primarily from Sankaracharya's famous and instructive gloss from the ninth century. (In some cases, it is true, the reader might wish that a commentary on Sankara's commentary be included!)
A point well made in the Foreword by William Ernest Hocking is that too many of the newer translations (and this applies today as it did in 1944) tend to avoid "a happy expression...to seek the different solely for the sake of differing." Nikhilananda is not afraid to use the tried and true and readily employs the "happy expression" that has worked so well in previous translations. His is a modest translation. One can see that his purpose is not so much to be the poet himself as it is to make the work accessible to English speakers. In his introduction, Nikhilananda interprets the Gita from the standpoint of Vedanta philosophy, which is to be distinguished from yogic philosophy and to some extent from the Hare Krishna movement. The Gita, as Nikhilananda expresses it in his Introduction, along with the earlier Upanishads and the Brahma sutras, "form the bed-rock of Vedanta philosophy." He follows his Introduction with a chapter entitled, "The Story of the Mahabharata," the grand Indian epic in which the Gita is nestled. Then there is Sankara's brief Introduction followed by a traditional "Meditation." After the text there is a Glossary of Sanskrit words and an Index.
This book, originally published by the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in New York in 1944, is in keeping with the high quality of Swami Nikhilananda's engaging translation of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and the books on yoga by Swami Vivekananda also published by the Center. I would recommend that the serious English-speaking student of the Gita have this book, now in its Sixth Printing, alongside a more recent translation of the Gita--perhaps Stephen Mitchell's poetic Gita of 2000 or Kees Boole's Gita of 1979, which includes on left-facing pages a verse by verse transliteration of the Sanskrit--as an aid to study.
I have only one small complaint with Nikhilananda's book: the chapter and verse numbers should be placed at the top of each page for easy reference by the reader!
Smooth reading!May 25, 2001 2 out of 8 found this review helpful
The introduction alone is worth the price of the book - a must have for any student of truth.
