Bhagavad Gita : Pocket Edition - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0911206108 ISBN 13: 9780911206104

Publisher: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center,N.Y., 1986

Synopsis

The Bhagavad Gita, an important Hindu scripture, is one of the outstanding religious classics in the world, and this translation by Swami Nikhilananda has been called "the first really readable, authoritative translation".

The Bhagavad Gita is unique among religious texts in its emphasis on the discharge of everyday duties, irrespective of their nature, as an effective discipline for the realization of God. The Gita teaches that if a man performs his duties, surrendering the fruit to God and discarding all selfish motives, he gains purity of heart and achieves ultimate liberation. It is knowledge of God that gives man the strength to face calmly and cheerfully the duties of life. The Gita shows the way to spiritualize life and illumine even its drab and gray phases with the radiance of the Spirit. It lays down practical spiritual disciplines that can be followed by all, irrespective of faith and creed.

This 256 page pocket edition, with only a few necessary notes, is especially designed for devotional reading. It's small size makes it convenient to carry. The text is identical to that of the annotated edition (ISBN 0-911206-09-4) and contains an introduction with a brief background and philosophy of The Gita.

About this title

About the Author

Swami Nikhilananda, a direct disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, was born in a small Indian village in 1895 and was ordained a monk of the Ramakrishna Order in 1924. After spending several years in the Himalayan monastery of his Order, during which time he made a study of Hinduism and other systems of philosophy and religion, he was sent to America in 1931. He founded the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York in 1933 and was its spiritual leader until his passing away in 1973.

The Swami was a gifted writer, and his contributions to the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature cannot be overstated. His translations of the scriptures, his biographies of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda, his compilations of the works of Swami Vivekananda, his other books and many articles in various journals and publications are permanent sources of spiritual knowledge and inspiration. Notable among these works are the following titles: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Vivekananda: A Biography, The Upanishads (volumes I-IV), The Bhagavad Gita, Self-Knowledge, Hinduism, and Man in Search of Immortality. Many of these works were originally introduced by major publishers, such as Harper & Row (New York) and George Allen & Unwin (London). Time Magazine called Swami Nikhilananda's translations of The Bhagavad Gita, "The first really readable, authoritative English translation of one of the world's greatest religious classics." W. Somerset Maugham praised Self-Knowledge as a "wonderful piece of exposition."

But the Swami's monumental work, for which he will ever be remembered, is The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. This complete translation into English from the original Bengali of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita, as recorded by "M," has made the immortal words of this great prophet of the nineteenth century available to countless readers throughout the world. Aldous Huxley was pleased to write a foreword to The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, and high praise was given to the book by such notable persons as Thomas Mann and Henry Miller. Time Magazine referred to The Gospel as "One of the world's most extraordinary religious documents." For more information about Swami Nikhilananda, visit www.ramakrishna.org.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Chapter II - The Way of Ultimate Reality.

Verse 54 - Arjuna said: What, O Kesava, is the description of the man of steady wisdom merged in samadhi? How does the man of steady wisdom speak, how sit, how move?

Verse 55 - The Lord said: O Partha, when a man completely casts off all the desires of the mind, his Self finding satisfaction in Itself alone, then he is called a man of steady wisdom.

Verse 56 - He who is not perturbed by adversity, who does not long for happiness, who is free from attachment, fear, and wrath, is called a muni of steady wisdom.

Verse 57 - He who is not attached to anything, who neither rejoices nor is vexed when he obtains good or evil - his wisdom is firmly fixed.

Verse 58 - When he completely withdraws the senses from their objects, as a tortoise draws in its limbs, then his wisdom is firmly fixed.

Verse 59 - The objects of the senses fall away from a man practising abstinence, but not the taste for them. But even the taste falls away when the Supreme is seen.

Verse 60 - The turbulent senses, O son of Kunti, violently carry off the mind even of a wise man striving for perfection.

Verse 61 - The yogi restrains them all and remains intent on Me. His wisdom is steady whose senses are under control.

Verses 62-63 - When a man dwells on objects, he feels an attachment for them. Attachment gives rise to desire, and desire breeds anger. From anger comes delusion; from delusion, the failure of memory; from the failure of memory, the ruin of discrimination; and from the ruin of discrimination the man perishes.

Verse 64 - The man of self-control, moving among objects with his senses under restraint, and free from attachment and hate, attains serenity of mind.

Verse 65 - In that serenity there is an end of all sorrow; for the intelligence of the man of serene mind soon becomes steady.

Verse 66 - The man whose mind is not under his control has no Self-Knowledge and no contemplation either. Without contemplation he can have no peace; and without peace, how can he have happiness?

Verse 67 - For even one of the roving senses, if the mind yields to it, carries away discrimination as a gale carries away a ship on the waters.

Verse 68 - Therefore, O mighty Arjuna, his wisdom is steady whose senses are completely restrained from their objects.

Verse 69 - In that which is night to all beings, the man of self-control is awake; and where all beings are awake, there is night for the muni who sees.

Verse 70 - Not the desirer of desires attains peace, but he into whom all desires enter as the waters enter into the ocean, which is full to the brim and grounded in stillness.

Verse 71 - That man who lives completely free from desires, without longing, devoid of the sense of "I" and "mine," attains peace.

Verse 72 - This is the Brahmic state, O son of Pritha. Attaining it, one is no longer deluded. Being established therein even in the hour of death, one attains final liberation in Brahman.

Thus in the Bhagavad Gita, the Essence of the Upanishads, the Science of Brahman, the Scripture of Yoga, the Dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the Second Chapter, entitled: The Way of Ultimate Reality

Edition details

• Publisher: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center,N.Y.
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0911206108
• ISBN 13: 9780911206104
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256