Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation (edició 2002)

El Bhagavad-Gita es un episodio de unos 700 versos tomados de los 220.000 que tiene el Mahabharata, y que está considerado como un libro sagrado para los hinduistas y varias otras sectas y religiones derivadas (como por ejemplo el Hare Krishna o los yoguis). Por ser un libro tan antiguo e influyente, su lectura resulta útil para entender las alusiones que a él se hacen en textos literarios, sobre todo si provienen de Oriente o también si son occidentales, especialmente del Modernismo y algunas corrientes posteriores. ( )

> La Bhagavadgītā, Traduction, présentation, notes, synopsis et bibliographie par Marc BALLANFAT (Paris, Flammarion, 2007, 218 p.)
In: Couture, A. (2008). Compte rendu de [La Bhagavadgītā. Traduction, présentation, notes, synopsis et bibliographie par Marc Ballanfat. Paris, Flammarion, 2007, 218 p.] Laval théologique et philosophique, 64 (2), pp. 549–552… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://doi.org/10.7202/019514ar

Reviewing a work that is a sacred text for a lot of people is a complicated endeavour. Here, I am discussing it entirely as a piece of literature, and as that alone it didn’t really work for me. In this particular translation, I didn’t find a lot of beauty in the language, and the content was repetitive. I am not a philosophy person, and The Bhagavad Gita didn’t change that fact.

Cover is different but same ISBN

Easwaran’s best-selling translation of the Bhagavad Gita is reliable, readable, and profound. His 55-page introduction places the Gita in its historical context, presents key concepts, and brings out the universality and timelessness of its teachings. This edition includes chapter introductions, notes and a Sanskrit glossary.

Easwaran grew up in the Hindu tradition in India, learned Sanskrit from a young age, and became a professor of English literature before coming to the West. He is a gifted teacher and an authority on the Indian classics and world mysticism.

The Gita opens, dramatically, on a battlefield, as the warrior Arjuna turns in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna, for answers to the fundamental questions of life. Yet the Gita is not what it seems – it’s not a dialogue between two mythical figures at the dawn of Indian history. “The battlefield is a perfect backdrop, but the Gita’s subject is the war within, the struggle for self-mastery that every human being must wage if he or she is to emerge from life victorious.”