I never mentioned it in a post, I didn’t list it in my sidebar as a book I was reading, and for a couple of weeks I even forgot I was reading it until I picked up the book that was sitting on top of it. And now, having finished it, I look at it’s pages bristling with page points and suddenly know where they have all gone to. The Bhagavad-Gita is a really interesting little book. I’ve always wanted to read it and finally picked it up because of Emerson. And what an obvious influence it had on him too. But I won’t get you yawning with comparing and contrasting. I’ll just leave Emerson out of the picture and talk about the Gita
I picked up my edition for a few dollars in the Barnes and Noble bargain section years ago. It is translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood and has an introduction by Aldous Huxley. The translation itself seems fine. What I don’t like is that they chose to translate parts of it in verse and other parts in prose. It gives the effect of the prose being a summary, even though it isn’t. The Huxley introduction is good. The book also has two appendices. One is on the cosmology of the Gita and the other is on war and the Gita.
The title, Bhagavad-Gita, translates as “Song of God.” The book takes place just before a big battle. Both sides wanted Krishna to be on their side. Krishna said he could only be on one side and that they would have to choose between him and calling in allies. Duryodhana, the bad greedy king in the story, chose the allies. Arjuna, brave, strong warrior, chose Krishna. Arjuna recognizes many people that he knows in the army of Duryodhana and wavers in his resolve to fight because he does not want to kill people who are friends. But Krishna, who is serving as Arjuna’s charioteer, tells Arjuna he’s full of it and that he needs to fight. The Gita then turns into a lesson in which Krishna teaches Arjuna about Brahman.
Through Arjuna’s questions and Krishna’s answers, Krishna teaches about different kinds of yoga (yoga means both union with God and a prescribed spiritual path) which include knowledge, karma, renunciation, meditation, mysticism, and devotion. There are also the three gunas, ways of being that combine in various ways in everyone, but in each there is generally one that predominates. They are sort of like the old western idea of humors. We also learn about the cycles of birth and death as well as the many faces of God.
It is a beautiful book, rich and deep. I don’t know what else to say about it other than I plan on reading it again sometime. I’ll leave you with two short quotes that I really liked that also reminded me of Emerson:
The faith of each individual corresponds to his temperament. A man consists of the faith that is in him. Whatever his faith is, he is.
…
A man’s own natural duty, even if it seems imperfectly done, is better than work not naturally his own, even if this is well performed. When a man acts according to the law of his nature, he cannot be sinning. Therefore, no one should give up his natural work, even though he does it imperfectly. For all action is involved in imperfection, like fire and smoke.
Not bad for having been written sometime between the fifth and second century B.C.E.
I love its message about following your natural duty, your dharma. Each and everyone of us having a destiny and path unique to ourselves. If you are warrior, like Arjuna, then fight.
Follow your dharma, do your duty, and relinquish all attachment to the fruits of your labour. Karma will take care of all.
I think T. S. Eliot wrote something similar:
“For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.”
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Thanks for the post. The Bhagavad Gita has been on my bookshelf, along with the Upanishads, for more years than I’d like to admit to. I’ll have to look at who translated them. This might get me actually reading them, too–thanks!
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Interesting post on some interesting material. I read the Gita long long ago when my fascination with India was just getting off the ground. Great story and gave me much insight into some aspects of post-modern western thought too a la Hesse.
Just curious… what does “Not bad for having been written sometime between the fifth and second century B.C.E.” actually mean?
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Dark Orpheus, it’s all so lovely but so hard to follow, especially the unattachment part. It took me a good part of the book to finally start to understand what Krishna meant by it. I love the Eliot quote.
Gentle Reader, I’d like to read the Upanishads one of these days too. Hope you get to the Gita soon. Read it slowly so it can soak in. There are sections I read too fast that are rather blurry now. But that’s what re-reading is for π
Arukiyomi, I didn’t even think of a connection with Hesse, probably because the only Hesse I’ve read is Siddhartha. Must rectify that sometime. As for the “Not bad…” statement, I was being facetious.
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Oh, I’ve been meaning to read this forever! I’m glad you enjoyed it — those quotations are great; now you’ve got me all interested again …
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I love this translation. I have a 1947 Phoenix House first edition in a lovely small format hardback. I bought it in a cavernous second hand bookshop called ‘Baggins’ in Rochester. I appreciated your succinct summary. I go back and dip into the treasures of this book quite often, so I miss the larger picture I think.
I also noticed on your books in progress list ‘In your Garden’ by VSW. I also have this on my gardening shelf, a lovely 1951 hardback first edition. If you like this sort of book I would recommend a book published in the UK last month by Chatto & Windus called ‘Cuttings: A Year in the Garden with Christopher Lloyd’. A selection of his Guardian pieces over the years. He distills a life time of gardening experience into short, chatty, entertaining pieces, great fun and practical too.
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This is one of those books that’s been on my list for a long time. Thank you for the post Stefanie. It actually makes me want to read it more now. I don’t know I think I kept thinking that it would be a difficult tome to get through or something. Just a bit of a mental block there.
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You always manage to pick out quotes that really speak to me, and I’m sure, everyone else.
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Dorothy, glad you like the quotations. I hope you get to the book soon. I know it is one you will really like.
Octavo, your edition of the book sounds lovely. Mine is a newer reprint. I think it is a book good for dipping into. And thanks for the heads up on “Cuttings” I didn’t know about it but enjoy books like that so will certainly look for it!
Iliana, I was worried it was going to be difficult reading too. But it isn’t. The reading is quick and easy. It’s the ideas behind the words that slow you down, but in a good way.
LK, I pull out the ones that speak to me most and I am glad to know they resonate with you too π
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Oh my goodness, I’ve never even heard of this! But what an extraordinary little thing. I’ll have to see if I can get hold of it.
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I like the Gita very much, but then, I am biased π . It is impossible to grow up in India without having listened to a verse from it. What I like about it is that it is not strictly a religious book. This remains true of much of Hindu philosophy, which I view as a set of recommendations rather than rules. Interpreters differ on what the central message of the Gita is: Some think that it is the path of devotion that is most important, others think that doing one’s duty is the most important. I have my disagreements with the Gita but this has mostly to do with the shift in the moral compass of human beings; the things that are considered good, moral and relevant keep changing from time to time. As you rightly pointed out, it is a great and concise fount of wisdom for something that was written so long ago.
Litlove: You might not have heard of the Gita, but you may have heard of The Mahabharata, one of the epic poems of ancient India. At about 80,000 verses, it is one of the longest poems in all literature. The Gita contains less than a thousand verses, and is an important part (and probably the most famous part) of The Mahabharata.
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Hi, this is on an Emerson theme, I’ve just been reading March by Geraldine Brooks (it was on special offer with a newspaper in the UK) – she apparently based it on Louisa’s father’s life, who was a friend of Emerson. I wondered if you had come across it.
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Litlove, it is a beautiful little book and should be fairly easy to find a copy.
Polaris, yes, I like that it isn’t strictly religious either. It is a very practical philosophy however difficult it may be to actually follow it. I also like how it insists that no matter where you are in your personal and spiritual development it is perfectly fine and acceptable as long as you keep trying to improve. I can see where there can be argument over what the central message is. My impression is that it isn’t an either/or but that the two–devotion and duty–are combined in the ones who are wisest. I had some disagreements too. I understand what Krishna is telling Arjuna about why fighting is okay, but I just can’t agree.
C, I’ve not read March, but I hope to sometime. Emerson and Bronson Alcott were good friends. Alcott sent a few of his manuscripts to Emerson to read before publication. Emerson didn’t think Alcott was the best of writers, though he appreciated the man and the thinker.
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“I understand what Krishna is telling Arjuna about why fighting is okay, but I just canβt agree.”
Exactly. Same for me. I can accept it as a parable or allegory, but not in real life. Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist proposed in “The Argumentative Indian” that Arjuna’s view also carried merit, because both sides deal with the dire consequences of war in the chapters of The Mahabharata that follow the description of the great war. Since the Gita is only a small part of The Mahabharata, he argues, skepticism of Krishna’s point of view is legitimate. I was happily comforted by that position because it happened to coincide with mine π . Sadly, many (Indian) readers of the Gita miss that point.
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Polaris, it is sad that not many readers are skeptical of Krishna’s view of war. Krishna’s reasoning potentially provides a convenient self-serving excuse for people. I think I will have to find a copy of The Mahabharata. Why, do you know, is the Gita separated out from the rest of the poem? It seems it would be better read in context. And thank you too for you wonderful comments, they have helped me think more deeply about the Gita.
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