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The Bhagavad Gita : A Walkthrough for Westerners

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Have you heard of the Bhagavad Gita, but that's the extent of your knowledge about it? Are you interested in reading this ancient text but are less than confident in your ability to understand it? Are you not exactly a religious or ancient history scholar? Are you more comfortable with reading paragraphs of prose than stanzas of poetry? Have you read or tried to read the Gita before but aren't quite sure you "got it"? Then this may be the Gita for you!

Jack Hawley's "A Walkthrough for Westerners" is the version used in my beginners' "Intro to the Bhagavad Gita and Tao Te Ching" class. The instructor has read many versions of the Gita and figures we semi-clueless westerners are most likely to understand this version. :-)

This version reads like a novel/sermon. If you can read the newspaper, you can successfully read and understand this version of the Gita. Helpful features for beginners include:

* A discussion of why to read the Gita - The nutshell version is that the Gita is full of advice for living--timeless advice and wisdom that is as relevant to 21st century westerners as it was to ancient warriors. And besides, we all have inner warriors.

* Advice on how to read it - Hawley tells us to be receptive, to not immediately dismiss things we read, to not take things literally, to apply the advice to our own inner battles, and to not get wrapped in issues such as whether war is justified. His discussion is worth reading, no matter which version of the Gita we select.

* Setting up the story - Hawley doesn't just launch into the Gita without explanation. He tells us, "The year is 3141 B.C.E. Arjuna, an esteemed warrior-prince at the height of his powers...is readying to go into battle. It is a righteous fight to regain a kingdom rightfully his...." Hawley doesn't provide the detailed dysfunctional multi-generational feuding family saga, but just enough to understand the Gita.

* Mysterious Sanskrit words are explained - Don't know your dharma from your karma? Not to worry! Hawley explains the Sanskrit words, often in parentheses where the word appears in the text. The reader doesn't need to break the flow of reading to look up a term. Some terms are explained many times such as jnana (spiritual wisdom or knowledge) and atma (the true self within). A beginner could turn to any page at random and probably understand what's on the page. A seasoned Gita scholar might find so much explanation a little annoying, but it's rather seamlessly done and doesn't detract from the reading.

Is there a downside to reading this version? Possibly. Ironically, the upside of writing the Gita in easy-to-understand prose might also be a downside. The Gita is an epic poem, which is generally translated stanza-by-stanza into a poem in English and other languages. We lose the poetry feel and rhythm in this translation. But this is a tradeoff, because this version is highly understandable and not everyone is a "poetry person." To picture this tradeoff, imagine the Shakespeare plays have been translated into modern English prose. Instead of "To be or not to be" we have, "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, paces back and forth contemplating suicide." The reader doesn't have the confusion of "what the heck is he talking about?" but the reader doesn't have the AHA! moment of, "Ah yes, he's contemplating suicide." If you're a reader who likes to read poetry or symbolism and to try to figure things out for yourself, this spoon-fed version might not be best for you.

If you want to maintain the best of both worlds--a poetry and cadence closer to the original Gita but with the easy-to-understand prose of Hawley's version, you might want to read a poetry translation of the Gita such as Stephen Mitchell's translation alongside Hawley's translation. I would begin with the poetry translation, read a section, meditate on it and process it, then read Hawley's version for the plain English lowdown.

Hawley writes that his mantra in writing this version of the Gita was "clarity and flow". He has certainly achieved that! I recommend this version for beginning and intermediate "gitatologists", preferably with a poetry version alongside.

I have always had a passion for the Gita, more commonly known as the Song of God, with the deity Krishna telling his friend Arjuna why he should go into battle against people who were once his friends, as well as his family. It is a poem of devotion and love but it is a complex poem that touches philosophy, and it's not your run of the mill philosophy either. The Gita is not the easiest book in the world to understand, especially when translated from Sanskrit into English, it seems to loose something and up until now I have not been able to put my finger on what that "loss" was. Reading Jack Hawley's translation I can now see where other translators have gone wrong (for me personally). They have been quite LITERAL in their translation of the Gita and in being so literal have lost the passion that is the telling of the Gita. Jack has managed to put that passion into his translation and I cannot thank him enough. He has switched a light on inside my head and now I don't have to phone my father every five minutes shouting "Baba, what does this part of the Gita mean????" Not only that but this version of the Gita is so easy to read, with a good bibliography and index at the back for reference, plus some interesting musings from the author in the introduction and afterword. It is also a fairly compact book, which makes it easy to carry around, a bonus in my opinion, especially as most Gita's I have come across are bulky and very heavy. We could do with this translation being available in the United Kingdom; it would make life for the younger Hindus like myself so much easier.

You know Sanskrit? Then you should read the original text.

You don't know Sanskrit but you are very familiar with Hinduism, and the meaning of words like "Atma", "Vijnana", "Vibhutis", "Dharma" are common for you? Then you should read faithful translation of the Gita by authors like Eknath Easwaran.

For everybody else who is not ready yet to read a translation that is close to the original text, Hawley's version is an excellent choice. This is not a literal translation: a single verse can be expanded, clarified an enriched to the point that it has become a paragraph. But Hawley did a wonderful job in making the Gita accessible while preserving the delicacy and the nuances of its teachings.

Warmly recommended for your first reading of the Bhagavad Gita.

It has long been accepted that the Baghavad Gita should be at everyone's bedside and in their travel bag. Dr Hawley's 'Walkthrough' is a stunningly direct and accessible version for those not brought up in the Indian tradition and is the ideal constant companion. Although not as lyrical as Sir Edwin Arnold's version, it seems to speak more directly to the modern western heart. A gem, to be given to anyone who seriously desires to hear the truth, unencumbered by religious dogmatism.

Like my favorite collection of Eastern wisdom, "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life" by Taro Gold, this translation of the Bhagavad Gita is less about Eastern philosophy and more about the struggle within to 'know thyself'. The war spoken about in this book is the war that we all can relate to, the dualities, the fears, the skepticism and then realization of the incomprehensible. The beauty in the Bhagavad Gita resembles the poetry of life, calm but forceful, stern while also sympathetic and compassionate. This book doesn't question beliefs, but it somehow insures that there is a belief, and offers different perceptions toward our own personal outlooks.

It is evident from the outset of this book that Jack Hawley is more concerned with delivering the spirit and meaning of the Bhagavad Gita than a scholarly translation. On my way to India I began reading this book, and when I arrived, I found that there were many aspects of the Bhagavad Gita expressed very simply by Jack Hawley that some of the Hindus didn't fully understand themselves! Although, some of the beauty seems to be lost in over westernization of terms a couple times, it is very good through out. (Sorry, I can't remember the words I'm referring to here...) I think this book would be perfect for people looking to understand the Bhagavad Gita; either as by itself as an introduction, as a supplement to a more scholarly version for the student, or as a refresher for those already familiar with Hinduism.

I have been attending an in depth series of lectures on the entire Bhagavad Gita from 2004 to Oct 2009. I wanted something that would bring to mind the essence of each verse in such a way that I would be able to relate to it immediately. I did not want something written in complicated language where I would have tease out the meaning, or ponder over it to understand it. Jack Hawley's Gita does this to perfection. I love to read excerpts before going to bed. I also love to read a few verses before I sit down to meditate to set the tone for my meditation. I cannot write down how much I love this version of the Gita. It brings tears to my eyes. Very simply and beautifully written, and at the same time not a jot of the meaning is lost.

Jack Hawley's Bhagavad Gita provides an important survey for Westerners of a classic Eastern spiritual piece. This translation makes the prose and content of the Gita much more accessible to Western readers, showing how its lessons in how to live can apply to daily life as much as spiritual concerns. An excellent, easily accessible approach.

I found this version of the Gita to be very understandable. I read this book quickly and with great clarity. I feel like I could study one of the traditional versions of the Gita and it would flow more easily now. As I was reading this book, it was as if I became the text and the words. My being experienced a real transformation as a result of reading this story of Krishna(God) and Arjuna(God's best friend). Jack Hawley was able to capture this in his writing for all of us to experience on a very deep level. I can read this over and over and continue to see from new perspectives.

It took me fifty years to recognize the deficiencies of the command and control or top down elite-dominated model of governance, and to discover the spiritual and practical integrity of collective intelligence, openness, appreciative inquirty, deliberative public dilaog, and so on. It's taken another seven years to discover detachment from outcome, and that in turn set the stage for what I find to be the absolute essence of this book: speaking truth to power is half the battle, losing the anger is the other half. Harder to do than it sounds, this Westernized version of the Bhagavad Gita does help.

Here are the two paragraphs I pulled from page 129 and then 147 for intelligence (decision-support) professionals:

"Those who transcend the gunas are in essence watchers, beyond the worldly. Although constantly aware of the inevitable cycle of birth, disease, senility, grief, and so forth, they dwell above it all, and merely witness it.

My personal take on the above is that sacred dispassion is a prerequisite for both spirtual vision and professional integrity.

"Always tell the truth, Arjuna, and present it in as pleasant a way as possible. If you cannot do that, remain silent. If something absolutely needs to be said, you must uphold the truth, but find a way to do it that is gentle and obliging."

Talk about one's life flashing past--A for truth, F for gentle. Something to work on in my last 20 years.

The book was recommended to me by Harrison Owen, most recently author of Wave Rider: Leadership for High Performance in a Self-Organizing World, and it is--as he said it would be--easy to understand and appreciate. Below are my notes.

+ Author draws on 30 other works and a decade or more of spending six months out of every year in India. The work was specifically asked for by an Indian seer in order to reach Western audiences. The author is respectful of the other works, but I agree with Harrison, this is the one book to buy as a starting point or a sufficiency of understanding.

+ At the very end of the book the point is made that it is not the Gita itself that is spiritual, but the daily immersion in the Gita--this is closure for one of the first observations made in the book, that Gandhi read the Gita every day, and that millions in India today still do.

QUOTE (xvii). The Gita is an epic mystical poen about life, death, love, and duty from the peoples who settled in the river valleys in southern Asia and developed a sophisticated culture thousands--probably scores of thousands--of years ago. It is a half-inch thick poem embedded in the middle of a six-inch-thick poem, the Mahabharatha, a literay masterpiece about the heights and depths of the human soul.

+ Author points out that Sanscrit is much more nuanced than English in the spiritual arena, and I am both reminded of Howard Bloom's Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century making the same point about fifty Eskimo words for snow, and the reality that we have over 5,000 languages in danger of extinction at the same time that we also have over 5,000 separatist movements at the same time that we desperately need to appreciate and integrate our diversity in order to be resilient in the face of enormous complexity we ourselves have created without understanding the consequences.

+ All religions and philosophies have a concept of God [as well as the Golden Rule]--Gita is one of the earliest

+ Reading the Gita with an open mind is a way of being in Gita

+ Integrity of family is first up, which is consistent with the Chinese tradition as well as the emphasis on Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore

+ A truth-based life is the objective, with the core question being "what is my duty?"

+ Ultimate responsibility is to never violate the true self; have a duty to rightwousness, but a detached duty

QUOTE (20). The tendency to get trapped in apparent opposites is a common and debilitating malady. [Argh. See my own Election 2008: Lipstick on the Pig (Substance of Governance; Legitimate Grievances; Candidates on the Issues; Balanced Budget 101; Call to Arms: Fund We Not Them; Annotated Bibliography).

+ Concept of ownership is toxic, must restore commons to all

+ Two paths to righteousness, one indirect (knowledge) and the other direct (action), this is interestingly consistent with James McGregor Burns distinction between indirect leaders of ideas and direct leaders of people, as discussed in Leadership.

+ Sacrifice is noblest from of action, wor for all not self [I am reminded of the 12 principles from the Santayana Institute.

+ Strive to integrate knowledge, action, and renunciation.

QUOTE (39). Handed down in this way through the ages, eminates sages learned these great secrets. But through time, the right type of people became scarce, and the practice of this knowledge dwindled. I use the word secrets not because these truths are hidden, but because so few people are prepared to hear them today.

+ Bodies are like the sun, they come and go. Material goods are earth-bound, spiritual goods are not, they carry forward.

+ Balance in eating, drinking, and sleeping really does matter greatly. [It's more or less a given that the Gita embraces Diet for a Small Planet while looking with concern to Fast Food Nation.

+ Wisdom demands freedom from delusion; knowledge is learned, wisdom is invited. I have to mention Jim Rough's book, Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People]

+ Essence of divinity is to achieve a DNA spiral between the spirtual and the natural

+ Live life for death, each moment could be your last, make each moment one of grace.

QUOTE (79) As the river enters the ocean, so individual consciousness should flow into collective consciousness.

QUOTE (81). As the individual wave does not have any existence independent of the sea, the separate soul does not have any real existence apart from Me, the Universal Soul.

These two quotes really capture the essence of We are One, and so at this point I will list four books from the West that that complement this rendition of the Gita:
Reflections on Evolutionary Activism: Essays, poems and prayers from an emerging field of sacred social change
Conscious Evolution: Awakening Our Social Potential
Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

In the middle of the book I am absorbed by the emphasis on the vitality of the open path versus the closed path, this certainly reinforces my personal commitment to the "three opens," (open source software, open source intelligence, open spectrum).

+ While serving the Whole, "give up desire for the fruit of your actions." DETACHMENT.

+ Knowing demands both heart and head. This lends added emphasis to the emergent literature on the importance of feelings and intuition, as well as the urgency of re-integrating the female caring ethic with the over-powering male justice ethic. Rational can be crazy.

+ Although Alvin Toffler is the one who taught me that information is a substitute for time, space, labor, capital, and material, the Gita really comes across as an operating manual for spaceship earth in the sense of mind of matter.

+ Divinity enters the womb before birth, after conception.

+ Reincarnation is a form of evolving consciousness (fewer pigs in each cycle)

+ Pages 137-138 have a great side by side dialog on the attributes of the divine versus the demonic.

+ Page 145, three food types, this is a MUST READ.

The book's own bottom line: righteous renunciation both gives up selfish actions and achieves detachment from outcomes, which I take to mean that by allowing everyone to put their own truth on the table (diversity) but being detached from outcomes, no one (Dick Cheney and Rahm Emmanuel, thinking of you) feels compelled to demand that "their" truth be the sole truth.

I put this book down very pleased that Harrison recommended it and that I followed his advice. I have not yet found a similar offering for the Koran, with a lot of white space, if anyone knows of one, would be glad to see it recommended in the comments section here or at Phi Beta Iota, the Public Intelligence Blog, where I offer many more links to my reviews across 98 non-fiction areas.