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Take this challengeNovember 10, 2008 I am fond of the saying, "separate the wheat from the chaff": almost everyone and every book has something important and meaningful to say at one time or another. Yet these "important and meaningful" gems are hidden amongst logical fallacies and non-sequiturs. You just have to know what is nonsense and what is truth.
This book is a little different. There is very little "chaff". Take this challenge: have someone randomly choose any page, any paragraph of this book: they will find that the paragraph they chose holds deep significance, insight and wisdom.
In the last 35+ years, I have read at least a dozen translations and explanations of the Gita, especially as it pertains to modern times. This is, by far, the best.
It is rare that a day goes by that I don't experience an astonishing revelation or epiphany from reading this book.
Yes, there is considerable repetition, as other reviewers have pointed out. But just bear with it.
Believe it or not, the Bhagavad-gita has it all, in a succinct 700 verses. This wisdom of the Bible, the Koran, the saints and the maha-rishis, Eckhart Tolle, et al, et cetera, is all here. It is difficult to understand, but this book goes a long way to help.
Gita 101March 25, 2008 This series of Easwaran is written in a very coherent and lucid manner. It will be ideally suited for people who have very little or no prior exposure to Gita. The author gives numerous examples from everyday life to elaborate upon his understanding of the verses and does a very good job.
However, those who have already studied the Gita will find this book too elementary, although it might still make a nice, light and humorous read.
Makes the Gita more accessible and gives food for thoughtJanuary 5, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Easwaran, a contemporary Hindu spiritual teacher presents the Bhagavad Gita, explained verse by verse with the help of anecdotes that range from the classics of Indian and English literature to gently humorous stories drawn from his own life in India and in Berkeley, California.
This three-volume project took ten years; he did it out of inspiration for Gandhi who was said to have used the Gita as a manual of everyday conduct.
The Gita starts out with the young warrior-prince Arjuna facing an enemy host across a battlefield; he despairs because the enemy is his own extended family. How can he fight them?
His charioteer and good friend is Lord Krishna whom he apparently doesn't know is the avatar of God. Krishna gives him a pep-talk about his duty, and thus does the Gita explode into a huge metaphor about the battlefield within oneself where one must go to extinguish ego and "separateness" and realize that all things are one with God.
I don't know how easily I could read the unadorned verses because it just goes on forever with Arjuna occasionally asking a worried question which prompts yet more instruction from Lord Krishna. But with Easwaran's interpretations, it's very enjoyable and clear.
I can't read too much at one sitting because the message of unity in God becomes way too repetitive for me. But it's a nice edition with each verse shown in Sanskrit characters and then English. Volume One took me about a month to read, progressing at a few pages every night.
Beautiful, moving work! Can't wait to read the other volumes!October 26, 2007 Lovely piece of work. Eknath Easwaran once more superbly translates and interprets an ancient mystical work into language practical for our time!
Life transforming bookOctober 21, 2007 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is an interpretation of Bhagavad Gita, great Indian spiritual classic. This is the first volume of three volumes. This volume covers first 6 chapters of 18 chapters that are there in the Bhagavad Gita.
For many people, Bhagavad Gita may come across as a set of verses which do not make much sense. There is certainly a need for scholarly interpretation for common people like us to understand this classic. Many great scholars have attempted to interpret this classic with a sole view that the extraordinary wisdom hidden in Bhagavad Gita becomes available to common people. However, the need of the hour is to be able to interpret timeless wisdom in a way that is applicable to current life conditions. Bhagavad Gita, which must have been first developed thousands of years ago, if read in verbatim may not make much sense to people of today.
That's the void Sri Easwaran fills in this three volume commentary on Bhagavad Gita. Easwaran has very nicely developed these volumes. Having been trained in English and Sanskrit and more importantly having the benefit of spending his life time in the 20th century, he is in the best position to help us understand and gain from the wisdom of Bhagavad Gita. It is one thing to be able to give a scholarly commentary. It is altogether a different thing to be able to describe the gist of Gita from self experience. Easwaran being one of the great spiritual masters is able to drive home the point effectively because he is no mere a scholar full of intellectual hot air but someone who spent more than 50 plus years of his fruitful life practicing the spirituality based on timeless principles of Bhagavad Gita.
If you have been wanting to know more about Bhagavad Gita, this is the set of books you want to try reading. The book is organized in short essays which take one verse at a time and Easwaran comments on each verse using day to day parables, anecdotes and how the particular verse applies to our lives today - What we can learn from it. What we can take out of that verse and apply to our lives today. No wonder this books has been considered one of the best books on Bhagavad Gita and has been translated to more than 20 languages.
More information about Easwaran, his spiritual foundation and life can be found at [...].
This is a life changing book. Changing life for better. So, pick it up and immerse yourself in it and see your life change for better.
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