hinduism

Paramahansa Yogananda's translation of the Bhagavad Gita is the singularly most profound book about religion I have ever read. It will astound you with divine knowledge first revealed herein. It demonstrates repeatedly the linkages between science and religion and provides the entire basis for yoga (or union with God). The depth of meaning and clarity of truth of this translation will be apparent after reading only a few paragraphs, yet each paragraph should be pondered deeply and with reverence. Ultimately, these yoga teachings must be practiced and Self Realization Fellowship can provide the means of practice. This book is the "Holy Bible" of Yoga and the most important scripture of the 1900's.

Essential reading for anyone interested in yoga, whether as a practictioner or as a scholar, this book also offers a lot to those interested in other paths of transformation. This is a brilliantly executed work: verse by verse, the book provides the sanskrit text, the English translation and Yogananda's comprehensive commentary mining the Gita's many levels of meaning. For example, Yogananda explores the Gita's depiction of events (the armies of Arjuna and his brothers arrayed against their foes) as an allegory for every aspirant's internal struggle between the forces leading towards spiritual realization and the forces (e.g. sense-slavery, sloth, lack of discrimination)that thwart it. Within this context, he also examines the dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna as a reflection of the inner dialogue between Spirit and soul (hence the "God Talks" title). On other fronts, Yogananda makes connections between the Gita and Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras and the Sankhya philosophical traditions. In ways I am not yet able to articulate, this book helped me bridge the gap between what I categorize--imprecisely I'm sure--as yogic and non-yogic traditions. (By yogic I mean any meditative tradition that predicated on the existence of Spirit, the realization of which serves as the final goal, vs. non-yogic by which I mean meditative traditions that assert Emptiness as the final goal.) Ultimately, what makes this book so powerful is that Yogananda clearly knows whereof he speaks. The result is a book that speaks in direct and practical terms to the aspirant, while also able to satisfy the pedant.

Judging by all the positive reviews, I wonder if I'm not getting it. I was first exposed to the gita when I was a teenager and it spoke to my heart. The best analogy I could use to describe these books would be if you took a butterfly and looked at it under a microscope. You get to close to see the beauty. Instead I would recommend the translation's by Swami Prabhavananda, Eknath Easwaran, or even Juan Mascaro.