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Bhagavad Gita : Pocket Edition

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This is an especially good translation for those with some knowledge of yoga or Hinduism or Vedanta. Rather than employ artificialities like "discipline" or "duty" or "the Supreme God," Nikhilananda retains in his translation many Sanskrit words like yoga, dharma, Brahman, etc. that have no real one-to-one English equivalent. One of the virtues of not attempting to translate every term is a more natural expression that preserves some of the immediacy of the original. This is a boon for those who have some experience with the terms, and a detriment to those who do not. In doing so of course he violates one of the prime dicta of translation, namely that a translation should stand on its own without recourse to augmentation by other works.

Nonetheless the book itself does stand on its own because Nikhilananda has provided along with the text a commentary taken primarily from Sankaracharya's famous and instructive gloss from the ninth century. (In some cases, it is true, the reader might wish that a commentary on Sankara's commentary be included!)

A point well made in the Foreword by William Ernest Hocking is that too many of the newer translations (and this applies today as it did in 1944) tend to avoid "a happy expression...to seek the different solely for the sake of differing." Nikhilananda is not afraid to use the tried and true and readily employs the "happy expression" that has worked so well in previous translations. His is a modest translation. One can see that his purpose is not so much to be the poet himself as it is to make the work accessible to English speakers. In his introduction, Nikhilananda interprets the Gita from the standpoint of Vedanta philosophy, which is to be distinguished from yogic philosophy and to some extent from the Hare Krishna movement. The Gita, as Nikhilananda expresses it in his Introduction, along with the earlier Upanishads and the Brahma sutras, "form the bed-rock of Vedanta philosophy." He follows his Introduction with a chapter entitled, "The Story of the Mahabharata," the grand Indian epic in which the Gita is nestled. Then there is Sankara's brief Introduction followed by a traditional "Meditation." After the text there is a Glossary of Sanskrit words and an Index.

This book, originally published by the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in New York in 1944, is in keeping with the high quality of Swami Nikhilananda's engaging translation of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and the books on yoga by Swami Vivekananda also published by the Center. I would recommend that the serious English-speaking student of the Gita have this book, now in its Sixth Printing, alongside a more recent translation of the Gita--perhaps Stephen Mitchell's poetic Gita of 2000 or Kees Boole's Gita of 1979, which includes on left-facing pages a verse by verse transliteration of the Sanskrit--as an aid to study.

I have only one small complaint with Nikhilananda's book: the chapter and verse numbers should be placed at the top of each page for easy reference by the reader!

Bhagavad Gita is the most popular of the scriptures of Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism). However, the message is for the whole mankind and not just for the Hindus. It is one of the three canons of Vedanta (the other two are the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras). The Gita discusses the various paths to Self-Realization, known as yogas, systematically.

There are dozens of English translations of the Gita. How to choose?

The best commentary to Gita is by Adi Sankara, the 7th century saint and non-dual philosopher of India. His commentary takes a non-dual approach, which is the widely accepted vedantic philosophy.

There are a few literal translations of Gita with Adi Sankara's commentary. The more recent ones are by Swami Gambhirananda and by Swami Nikhilananda. Gambhirananda's is a literal translation and at times it is very difficult to comprehend. One feels like some explanation of Sankara's commentary is needed. On the other hand, Swami Nikhilananda's approach is to present notes to each verse based on Adi Sankara's commentary which makes it very easy to read and comprehend. He elaborates where an elaboration is needed and has omitted occasional portions of the commentary which are extremely technical and don't interest majority of the readers. This makes it an excellent read and hence I prefer Nikhilananda's version. Also his English is excellent. No wonder, Time Magazine gave a great review for this edition of Gita.

A brief summary of the Mahabharata is included, which helps one understand the context in which the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna takes place.

Highly recommend this book.

Also recommended (to complete your collection of Prasthana Traya or Triple Canon of Vedanta):
-The Upanishads (4 volumes) by the same author, and
-Brahma Sutras according to Adi Sankara by Swami Vireswarananda.

This is one of the best translations of the Song of God that I have ever come across. Swami Nikhilananda is the translator -- the actual commentary is taken from Sankaracharya's famous writings. However, as this book was translated as a Ramakrishna monk and uses Adi Sankara's commentary, the emphasis is on radical dualism. The other schools of thought are mentioned in the intorduction (Ramanuja;s qualified non-dualism and Maadhva's dualism), but they are not emphasised. This does give the work a bias, as the Geetaa over and over seems to waver back and forth between the monistic ideals (similar to other Upanishads) and the dualism that is common in much of Hinduism today. Also, a big plus is a summary of the Mahaabhaarata that allows the reader to make a little bit more sense of the battle itself and the goings on in the first chapter. A very good resource for those interested in the advaitic approach.

Yes, this is a classic translation of a seminal Vedanta scripture.

WARNING: do not buy the Kessinger Publishing edition. The copyright belongs to the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York. Oh, I see that the New York edition sells for about half of Kessinger's pirated edition, so people will avoid Kessinger's rip-off anyway.

The Bhagavad Gita, Song of God, is part of the long oral history poem, The Mahabharata. Likely from before written language, stories from ancient seers, dramas of life for human families, as metaphors for the war of good and evil that must be fought within the human heart.

The Gita is quite beyond me to critique or describe. A morality play? The earliest description of the three yogas? They would be karma yoga, bhakti yoga and jinana yoga or the three yogas service, love, knowledge/wisdom). The Gita offers Krishna's instruction to Arjuna as the way to find the one true Self, the one Self of all, within your own heart and mind. Once knowing the One true Self, you are completely free of misunderstanding and petty fears. There's no need to avoid taking action in whatever duties life presents you.

I especially like this edition and translation by one of the disciples of Swami Vivekananda, a direct disciple of Shri Ramakrishna, a bhakti devotee of Mother Kali and a great teacher. Ramakrishna's luminous god intoxication emanates throughout the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, a story of about four years of his life. That book has the same translator as this one, with a lengthy introduction telling Ramakrishna's life story. This is a good translation of the Gita and a lovely little edition to carry about.

This is the book that Shaktiananda Yoga Centers uses and recommends for any serious Raja Yoga student. The translation is excellent and the commentary is authentic. Highly recommend!

i bought this book for my kindle fire. it is a book you do not live without. i have a hardback of this book, but i find i am more apt to read it frequently now that it is on my fire. the way the book is written makes it super simple to understand and contemplate. this is a must have.

This is a review of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda published version. Those with high regard for the classic Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna should have the same regard for Swami Nikhilananda who was the translator. His translation of the Bhagavad Gita carries the same care ensuring a western audience understands Vedanta ideas. The notes and commentary, in the main, follow Sankara. This is the advaita point of view that Brahman is One without the second. Swami Nikhilananda's version is supportive to readers, not verbose and boastfully intellectual. There is a helpful glossary and index.

My reservations are that of a student who likes to compare versions. There is no chapter header at the top of each page to allow the immediate citing of chapter and verse. No one translation, obviously, is all things to all people. In the Hindu spirit there is unity in diversity and an instructional interpretation is wonderful. A more poetic version, however, is the Swami Swarupananda (a disciple of Swami Vivekananda) version. Vedanta Press is still publishing both Nikhilananda and Swarupananda versions.

Please note that there is also a Nikhilananda Pocket Edition that does not include commentary.

simple, concise, bulleted, jacketed, timeless little piece of wisdom.
the size is a lil awkward for a pocket, but none the less it is the bhagavad gita, well translated into short little notions.

This English translation ,alongwith the commentary based on Adi Sankaracharya, by Swami Nikhilananda [Former Minister of Vedanta centre [Ramakrishna Mission] in New York,] is the most readable and easy to follow translation of thie great scripture of the Hindus,nay of the world, The Bhagavad Gita.The author is well known for other beautiful translations such as the "Gospel of Ramakrishna"....

There are many other translations with Sankara Commentray in English---Swami Gambhirananda,Alladi Mahadeva Sastry,Dr Krishna Warrier , among others----these are difficult to read and may appeal only to scholars in this subject.There are ,of course, many other English translations which do not closely follow Sankara's commentaries.
Swami Nikhilananda has also given other viewpoints briefly in this book.He has included a long chapter on the story of Mahabharata for western readers.
In all, this is one of best and more accurate book on the Bhagavad Gita for english readers,though slanted towards Sankara's philosophy of Advaita or monism, as most books from Sri Ramakrishna Mission monks tend to be.