The Bhagavad Gita : A Walkthrough for Westerners [Hardcover]

Jack Hawley (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2001

This translation of the epic mystical poem uses everyday prose to walk the reader through difficult concepts. Jack Hawley’s Gita is not an abstract classic but a “universal love song” that covers a wide range of topics, from healing inner pain to celebrating life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A commendable book. The author ‘walks us through’ this classic scripture from India in moving prose that reads as smoothly as a child’s adventure tale.”
— The New Times

“An extremely delightful translation. Lord Krishna’s terms have all been presented faithfully by the author...with depth of knowledge and insight. The author has thoroughly understood this universal [spiritual] classic.”
— The Hindu, India’s foremost national newspaper

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: New World Library; Paper Over Board edition (April 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577311477
• ISBN-13: 978-1577311478
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gita-phobes fear not! Hawley spoon-feeds you the EZ way :-), February 1, 2005

By 

Groovy Vegan (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bhagavad Gita : A Walkthrough for Westerners (Hardcover)

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.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gita you can finally get you teeth into!, November 13, 2001

By 

Kali "bengaligirl" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bhagavad Gita : A Walkthrough for Westerners (Hardcover)

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.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful translation that reads very nicely, August 7, 2007

By 

Matteo Gadioli (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Bhagavad Gita : A Walkthrough for Westerners (Hardcover)

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.