Bhagvad Gita (Song of the Lord) is one of the most popular religious texts in the world. It is undoubtedly one of the highly revered texts of the Hindus across the world, generally transcending all narrower aspects of caste and linguistic differences, which unfortunately continue to exist among them. Perhaps next only to Bible this is the most translated work in world literature, according to Win and M. Callewaert and Silanand Hemraj, who have made extensive studies on trans-cultural translation.
What strikes the reader at the outset, is the stark simplicity of the language that would be easily read by an eighth grade student and inspire his interest if only he likes to know more about the Gita. And historically many devout scholars were about the same age, or even younger as they undertook study of the Gita. We have instances of Shankara, who was only eight-year old when he wrote a commentary on Gita.
Hundreds of students and scholars following him wrote commentaries on Gita, interpreting it as a philosophy according to their points of, which include, Advaita, Dvaita, Vishishtadwaita. Dwaitadwaitya, etc, to name but a few. These commentaries, especially, are focused on the Atma, translated as soul, which is enshrined in all living beings according to Hindu philosophy and upheld by most Vedic scholars.
The Sermon of the Lord (Krishna) begins on the battlefield of Kurukshetra in northern India, where two factions of warring cousins with equal claim to the kingdom are set to battle. Arjuna, third among the Pandavas, sons of King Pandu, refuses to fight against his own brethren, teachers and relatives. At this juncture, as the authors write, an unassuming charioteer begins to persuade him to fight and perform his duties as the one belonging to the warrior clan, who is obligated to fight as the duty (Dharma) of a warrior (Kshatriya).
What follows is the legendary, Song of the Lord (Gita), a profound, insightful existential dialogue on life, death, the soul and morality in seven hundred of the most beautiful Sanskrit verses ever written.
In their erudite work, The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation, Oxford scholar Gavin Flood and award winning poet and translator Charles Martin bestow on this commendable work of Eastern religion the glorious gusto it deserves.
In dexterous and limber four-line stanzas (Chatushpadi) Floode and Martin render this seminal document of world thought with all the otherworldly power and grace we would expect from a book that has come to influence many of the world’s greatest thinkers from Gandhi to Einstein, Emerson to Jung.
“This world is bound by action” Krishna instructs early in the Gita, “therefore act without attachment to the fruits.” Unencumbered by dated affectations, Flood and Martin’s nimble translation allows us to fully enjoy Krishna’s still-resonant message, his enlightened conception of “bliss” as action over non-action, detachment over desire.
Beyond the book’s eighteen enlightening chapters, this new translation also includes, an illuminating 28-page introduction conceptualizing the significance of Bhagavad Gita in the epic Mahabharata, as well as its larger historical and cultural context;
eighteen pages of brief, helpful, endnotes.
With the scrupulous accuracy and poetic charm of a translation team composed of one of the world’s foremost Hindu scholars and one of America’s finest poets, Flood and Martin deliver The Bhagavad Gita to a new generation of scholars and English speakers increasingly interested in Eastern thought and yogic teaching.
In their new translation, we have the most vibrant and accessible interaction of this scripture to date, and its publication is cause for celebration. This version of the Bhagavad Gita will undoubtedly be the gold standard for many years to come.
Gavin Flood is a professor of Hindu studies and comparative religion at Oxford University and the academic director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. He lives in Oxford, England.
Charles Martin is a poet, critic, and translator. His translation of ‘the Metamorphoses of Ovid’ received the Harold Morton Landon Award from the Academy of American Poets in 2004. In 2005 he received an Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Syracuse, New York.
Surendra Ullal
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