Customer Reviews

Bhagavad-gita: The Song Divine--A New, Easy-to-Understand Edition of India's Timeless Masterpiece of Spiritual Wisdom

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This book is a real treasure! Its rhyming verses make the Gita fun to read, especially out loud with friends or family. I've found my kids are very attracted to it, whereas the more philosophical versions seem boring to them. (Mitchell's version was a complete dud!) The verses tell the complete story of this important and instructive meeting between Krishna and Arjuna, condensing it without leaving out anything essential. The profound spiritual messages of the Gita come through loud and clear, yet Woodham's brilliant couplets make it palatable even to those whose interest in spirituality isn't very strong. This is just the kind of book I'll love to give as a gift to young people, old friends, relatives of all ages---even myself! The price is right, and it's very attractively put together. That combined with its entertainment factor makes this a highly recommended choice.

This is an edition of the Gita unlike any I've seen. At first the poetic approach caught me off guard, but when I read a bit I found it very entertaining. The discipline of the meter and rhyme brings the verses into a 'sutra' (nutshell) form, and considering the involved subject matter, the writer does it very well.

The interpretation strongly favors the personal God, clearly the proper and most illuminating view of the Bhagavad-gita.

For me this compact, enjoyable, and uplifting book is a perfect companion on long trips.

One reviewer here seems to have forgotten that the original Sanskrit text rhymed, so to render it into rhyme in English is, in my opinion, clever.

As one who owns many translations of the Gita myself, I must say that this is the most readable. Past efforts to translate the Sanskrit into English have given us stilted, stiff and confusing text. Though I love Prabupada and consider myself a fringe devotee, even HIS translation can be, well, tedious to read, especially some of the overlong purports.

This Gita just grooves along, painting a much clearer picture of the conversation between Sri Krishna and Arjuna and the situation in which it is framed. Recommended, especially if you want to read to kids.

I am 17 and didn't exaclty find poetry of much interest to me till I read Bhagavad Gita THE SONG DIVINE. I recommend this book for anyone who likes to read, it is a pleasent addition to ones library or backpack (if you are a student like me).

sincerly,
Harry Jaganath.

Critique: Bhagavad Gita: The Song Divine Author: Carl E. Woodham

Carl Woodham has done a great service by rendering the Bhagavad-gita into English verse. Poetry, of course, is difficult to translate, and to further versify it is to run the risk of distorting the meaning beyond even translation as the translator/poet shoehorns the text into the target language and meter. No doubt, Woodham's versification suffers from this double distortion of meaning, but his solid and longtime participation in the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition nevertheless bolsters his holistic understanding of the tradition and the text in particular. Although students and admirers of the Bhagavad-gita outside the Gaudiya tradition will take issue with the details of the interpretations of Woodham and his guru, Prabhupada, no one can challenge their commitment to their faith, which holds the text central among its canon. Woodham enhances the strong syncretism of the text with the unavoidable cross-cultural influences introduced by English versification, but renders the message more accessible both by metric regularity and compartmentalization of extraneous commentary into chapter summaries. The book thus provides an easy introduction to the traditions belief system and the text. Indian traditions are historically aural. Most editions cloak the Gita's oral aspect of the "text" by straight translations striving for meaning at the expense of "flow." Although Woodham's iambic heptameter is necessarily non-Indian, it does provide an acceptable compromise for the translation of meaning/meter of the (mostly shloka) Sanskrit verses. The Gita is widely considered an eclectic work, and Woodham is forced to include footnotes to clarify distinctly Indian cultural, religious, and philosophical references, even as he strives to avoid interruption in the "dialogue." In the original Sanskrit, the Gita is a mesmerizing text for Hindus, and it will be interesting to see if the English verses will similarly appeal to the Hindu diaspora and western converts. One might want, also, an accompanying tape/cd reading or singing of Woodham's verses. That will be the true test of how "divine" the song sounds in its target language of English.

Peter T. Henry, MA Department of Religious Studies University of Virginia

When I first picked up this book to preview it, I'd flip through it and would read individual lines in each chapter. The lines seemed clear in isolation. (I have a number of Gita translations). But after I bought this and read it from the start, I realized every last word on each line rhymes with every last word on the next line or, every 2 lines rhymes on the last word. Examples from the book: nonviolence-science, clean-serene, life-wife, attitude-solitude, truth-aloof, souls-control, etc.. Obviously they aren't all perfect rhymes but all the verses are manipulated to make a rhyme or near rhyme no matter what it takes. I'll admit the author doesn't go too far astray of topic to do this but does take definite liberties to make the rhymes work. As I read, I found myself boppin' my head like I was reading an elementary nursery rhyme. It sounds like the Munchkins of Munchinkin Land on the Wizard of Oz who always had to speak and or sing in rhyme; hardly a dignified Gita translation. It's distracting me. I found myself concentrating on following a rhythm rather than trying to understand the meaning of the words. I should have looked closer before purchasing and I threw away my reciept so I'm a little upset, (relatively speaking on the level of the gunas or on the level where I think I'm a doer that is). I thought I was getting an easy to read translation but instead got a rappin', hand clapping, foot tappin', head boppin, finger snappin, head bangin, i'm down on the street and I got the beat how now brown cow. It's throwing me off...hoe down. As other reviewers have said perhaps this is meant for children or those who wouldn't read the gita otherwise. If you don't mind boppin' along with the gita than fine. Just know what you're getting.