The Bhagavad Gita with the Complete Story of The Mahabharata

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To translation of Plato is definitive; no translation of the Tao Teh King; no translation of the Bhagavad Gita. The more searching and impressive a work, the more it is impossible to convey, in any one version in another tongue, its full meaning. For that reason, the great classics of meditation require ever new translations, and each one adds a facet to the total sense. A new translation is always sufficiently formidable a task to deter anyone lacking in devotion, especially if he is familiar with the labors of his predecessors. A new translation of a great work, by a competent scholar, is therefore to be received with gratitude. It is especially to be welcomed if he has avoided, as I think Swami Nikhilananda has avoided, the warping of new translations by old: where a previous translator has hit upon a happy expression, a later translator is often constrained to avoid that expression, to seek the different solely for the sake of differing. The translation. Here given seems to me to be natural and direct, conveying the sense in admirably idiomatic English. At the same time, there has been no hesitation about using a few Sanskrit terms, such as dharma, yoga abays, essentially untranslatable, whose meaning the reader readily acquires.

No one who desires to grasp the spirit of religious aspiration of India can afford to remain unacquainted with this, "The Lord's Song." It is, in a sense, the New Testament of Hinduism. It had an important message to a people whose religious ideal tended to be contemplative and mystical, who had the genius to reveal to the world that ultimate goal for thought and reverence sometimes called "The Absolute," the One without a second. Its message was the meaning, of action, the justification even of warfare in the light of union with the Ultimate.

The aim T of this new translation of the Bhagavad Gita is to present the book to the world as a manual of Hindu religion and philosophy. To achieve that purpose, notes and explanations have been added to the text, and the connection of thought between the verses has been shown, wherever that seemed necessary. The explanations follow, in the main, the commentary on the Gita by Śańkarācārya. Abstruse and technical portions of the commentary have been omitted as of no particular interest to most readers of the book.

There has also been included the story of the Mahabharata, which will acquaint the student of the Gita with its background and with the character of Sri Krishna. The bewilderment many students feel at the choice of a battle-field for the unfolding of a scheme of the Highest Good and liberation will, it is hoped, be removed by a perusal of the story.

The Bhagavad Gita, popularly known as the Gita, comprises eighteen chapters-the twenty-fifth through the forty-second-of the section on Bhīşma in the Mahābhārata. It takes the form of a dialogue between Śrī Krşņa and Arjuna on the battle-field of Kurukşetra. The setting of the battle-field contributes a dramatic element to the book and relates religion to the realities of life.

The Gita is one of the most important religious classics of the world. Hindus of all sects and denominations revere the book. It is read daily by unnumbered Hindus for spiritual inspiration and is held in the highest esteem by all-men and women, young and old, householders and monks.

The teacher of the Gita is Krşņa, who is regarded by the Hindus as the supreme manifestation of the Lord Himself. Ideal friend, wise teacher, far-seeing statesman, devout yogi, and invincible warrior, Krşņa harmonizes in His character the various conflicting activities of life. He is the most highly esteemed religious prophet in India.

From the human standpoint Krsna and Arjuna are friends and companions; but in a deeper sense they are one soul in two bodies, two aspects of the one Reality, each incomplete without the other. Their conjoined forms are still worshipped in India under the name of Partha- sārathi, Krşņa as Arjuna's charioteer. Again, at the shrine of Badri-Nārāyaņa, in an almost inaccessible part of the Himalayas, they are worshipped as Nara-Nārāyaņa, Arjuna as Nara, Man, and Krşņa as Nārāyaņa, God. The two, God-Man, form the total picture of the Godhead.