• Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right! - Isaac Asimov
  • World Fame takes a lifetime of effort. Though sometimes the fame preceeds the effort - Me
  • I cant understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm afraid of the old ones - John Cage
  • Nearly all men can stand adversity, if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - A. Lincoln

January 05, 2007

Review of 'Bhagvad Gita As It Is'

First of all, this review is not about the Gita itself but the above
mentioned publication/translation of the Gita by Mr. "A. C. Bhaktivedanta".

Pros:
The organization of the book is really good. The best part is that it has a word by word translation which is without any interpretation by the author. So the translation would be free of any mental bias of the author. I have not personally verified whether the translation is correct but having faith in the author in this respect.

The book lists all verses in the following format
1st - The verse in Devanagari script.
2nd - The verse in roman script (with accented characters for proper pronunciation).
3rd - Word meanings of all the words used in the verse.
4th - Translation of the verse in English.
5th - Author's interpretation of the translation.

Cons:

The Author's interpretation is quite biased towards worship of Krishna. It often goes too away from the actual words and context. There are many assumptions made like.

1 - References to detachment have been interpreted as devotion to Krishna. So if the text says that one cannot be free of misery without detachment, the author interprets it as - "One cannot be free without devotion to Krishna". (Text 55, Page 141).
2 - References to god in general are also interpreted as references to Krishna.
3 - The interpretation keeps rotating about Krishna consciousness although there is not much reference to that in the verses.
4 - Verse (Ch 3 text 3) clearly says that there are 2 ways to realize the self. 1. Through empirical Philosophical speculation or 2. By devotion to God. But the books always preaches the second and ignores the first one, thus being biased.
5 - Meanings of some words in the translation are also dubious. "Karma Yoga" is again ambiguously interpreted as devotion to Krishna. There are too many places in the translation carrying repetitive reference to sacrifice and devotion to gods and pleasing gods which I am doubtful of.
6 - The author is printed as "HIS DIVINE GRACE A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada". If the author actually believed in the Gita and had learn t from it, I would expect him to be above ego and not refer to himself using the words 'His Divine Grace', 'Swami'.

Overall:

I would recommend reading this book to have a first hand knowledge over what is there in the Gita. It is very difficult to find a religious book with pure translation unbiased by the author's views. Some word meanings in the direct translation are questionable but otherwise, its good. Take care about words like "sacrifice, devotion, Krishna consciousness", which tend to support 'pleasing the gods'. Also be a little vary of the interpretation ("Purport") section in each verse. Better to read the translation but skip the purport.

[Will post more about the content later]