God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita [Paperback]

Paramahansa Yogananda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

The Bhagavad Gita is India's most sacred text: the Hindu "Bible". Yogananda's translation and commentary brings a unique and deeply penetrating insight into this great scripture, which is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive books available on the science and philosophy of Yoga. God Talks With Arjuna explains the Bhagavad Gita's profoundest spiritual, psychological, and metaphysical truths, long obscured by metaphor and allegory. Yogananda takes Lord Krishna's counsel to the warrior Arjuna and applies it to our everyday struggles with the human ego. Our greatest battle he explains, like Arjuna's, takes place within our own minds as we fight our doubts, fears, negative habits, self-defeating thoughts, and erroneous thinking. Appealing to scholar and general reader alike, there is no other Gita on the market as attractive, and comprehensive.
Yogananda said, "From the moment of conception to the surrender of the last breath, man has to fight in each incarnation innumerable battles—biological, hereditary, bacteriological, physiological, climatic, social, ethical, political, sociological, psychological, metaphysical—so many varieties of inner and outer conflicts. Competing for victory in every encounter are the forces of good and evil. The whole intent of the Gita is to align man's efforts on the side of dharma, or righteousness. The ultimate aim is Self-realization, the realization of man's true Self, the soul, as made in the image of God, one with the ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss of Spirit."
This edition includes:
• two volumes with slipcase
• Genealogy chart of the Kurus and Pandus
• Lahiri Mahasaya's diagram of the chakras
• Sanskrit transliteration of each verse
• 36 page comprehensive index

Editorial Reviews

Review

A great story of the inner struggle for spiritual growth, mankind's most important but most difficult and daring quest...This is a book that one can study and cherish for a lifetime. --Yoga International

A monumental work...a masterpiece of spiritual, literary, and philosophical work. --India Post

Yogananda's commentary penetrates to the heart of the Bhagavad Gita to reveals deep spiritual and psychological truths...Classic on how to live a spiritual life. --Publisher's Weekly

A great story of the inner struggle for spiritual growth, mankind's most important but most difficult and daring quest...This is a book that one can study and cherish for a lifetime. --Yoga International

A monumental work...a masterpiece of spiritual, literary, and philosophical work. --India Post

A great story of the inner struggle for spiritual growth, mankind's most important but most difficult and daring quest...This is a book that one can study and cherish for a lifetime. --Yoga International

A monumental work...a masterpiece of spiritual, literary, and philosophical work. --India Post

About the Author

Born in India on January 5, 1893, Paramahansa Yogananda devoted his life to helping people of all races and creeds to realize and express more fully in their lives the true beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit. After graduating from Calcutta University in 1915, Yogananda took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order. Two years later, he began his life's work with the founding of a how-to-live school since grown to twenty-one educational institutions throughout India where traditional academic subjects were offered together with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. In 1920, he was invited to serve as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. His address to the Congress and subsequent lectures on the East Coast were enthusiastically received, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. Over the next three decades, Paramahansa Yogananda contributed in far-reaching ways to a greater awareness and appreciation in the West of the spiritual wisdom of the East. In Los Angeles, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, the nonsectarian religious society he had founded in 1920. Through his writings, extensive lecture tours, and the creation of Self-Realization Fellowship temples and meditation centers, he introduced hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its universally applicable methods of meditation. Today, the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the direction of Sri Mrinalini Mata, one of his closest disciples and president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India since 2011. In addition to publishing his writings, lectures and informal talks (including a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study), the society also oversees temples, retreats, and centers around the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1224 pages
• Publisher: Self-Realization Fellowship (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876120311
• ISBN-13: 978-0876120316
• Product Dimensions: 2.1 x 6.5 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism > Bhagavad Gita

More About the Author

Hailed as "the father of Yoga in the West," Paramahansa Yogananda - author of the bestselling classic "Autobiography of a Yogi" - is regarded as one of the great spiritual figures of our time. Born in northern India on January 5, 1893, he devoted his life to helping people of all races and creeds to realize and express more fully in their lives the true beauty, nobility, and divinity of the human spirit. After graduating from Calcutta University in 1915, Yogananda took formal vows as a monk of India's venerable monastic Swami Order. Two years later, he began his life's work with the founding of a how-to-live school since grown to twenty-one educational institutions throughout India where traditional academic subjects were offered together with yoga training and instruction in spiritual ideals. In 1920, he was invited to serve as India's delegate to an International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. His address to the Congress and subsequent lectures on the East Coast were enthusiastically received, and in 1924 he embarked on a cross-continental speaking tour. Over the next three decades, Paramahansa Yogananda contributed in far-reaching ways to a greater awareness and appreciation in the West of the spiritual wisdom of the East. In Los Angeles, he established an international headquarters for Self-Realization Fellowship, the nonsectarian religious society he had founded in 1920. Through his writings, extensive lecture tours, and the creation of Self-Realization Fellowship temples and meditation centers, he introduced hundreds of thousands of truth-seekers to the ancient science and philosophy of Yoga and its universally applicable methods of meditation. Today, the spiritual and humanitarian work begun by Paramahansa Yogananda continues under the direction of Sri Mrinalini Mata, one of his closest disciples and president of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India since 2011. In addition to publishing his writings, lectures and informal talks (including a comprehensive series of Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons for home study), the society also oversees temples, retreats, and centers around the world.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

206 of 208 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Far more than a translation - an illumined commentary November 12, 2002

By richardpinneau.com VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Just as Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi has established itself as peerless and eternal among the masses of spiritual biographies and surveys published each century, God Talks to Arjuna is becoming recognized as that singular presentation of the Bhagavad Gita which will be studied and restudied by sincere seekers and scholars for ages to come. The handsome and lavishly illustrated 1200-page, two-volume set is available in both a finely bound slipcased hardcover edition ... and a surprisingly inexpensive paperback printing ... For a volume that will likely be reconsulted, Bible-like, many times over the years, the hardcover edition is to be recommended if your budget can possibly permit.

Each of the 700 Bhagavad Gita verses is presented in both Sanskrit and English. More importantly, each verse is followed by commentary and expansion that integrates your study of the Gita with the entire spiritual science of Raja (meditative) Yoga. Hundreds of thoughtful commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita have been published over the centuries; some have been finely crafted by brilliant intellects; only a handful have come from realized sages; in this long-awaited Self-Realization Fellowship edition we have the insights of a soul who has experienced and mastered all the spiritual heights extoled by this dearest of Indian scriptures.

Yogananda dictated his commentaries to his most trusted students during retreats to the southern California desert during the late 1940s. Those disciples related how the yoga master would, from his state of samadhi (conscious communion with God), pour out this uninterrupted stream of spiritual erudition throughout the night, surpassing the endurance of his much younger scribes. One close disciple vividly recalls today how merely to enter the room during these divine dictations had the feel of being ''in the very presence of The Divine.'' In meditating lovingly upon his words in these volumes the modern reader may again dip into that Presence.

READING RECOMMENDATION: These volumes are highly distilled spiritual liquor - unsuitable for casual guzzling. The extensive introduction alone provides a spiritual-eye-opening background to the Himalayan heights of India's most venerated scripture. Yogananda therein explains how he applied the special intuitive approach to scripture taught him by his guru, the Puri sage Sri Sri Swami Yukteswarji. From his ability to sustain the highest spiritual state of Nirbikalpa Samadhi, Yogananda would derive his Gita commentary by uniting his consciousness with that of the Gita's author, Vyasa, and of its principles, Bhagavan Krishna and disciple Arjuna. Your intellectual analysis of Yogananda's resulting masterpiece will immediately impress your mind with his ability to reveal multiple levels of meaning from the complexities of the Sanskrit verses; but it will require a gradual digestion of these meanings and quiet reflection (ideally: interspersed with periods of meditation) to begin to assimilate their spiritual potency. As an example of 'gradual' I will mention the approach our local study groups took: reading one page per day, then meeting weekly to meditate and share insights and questions. At this rate the two groups I facilitated each took three years to complete the two volumes - but provided us with our richest spiritual rewards ever. However you pace yourself, first of all SAVOR. Then, best of all, PRACTICE... the guidance offered by Krishna, Vyasa, Arjuna, Yogananda: meditate on The Divinity within and around you.

Namaste. --rp

143 of 155 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've ever read May 10, 1999

By Bill Butler

Format:Hardcover

Crystals, atheism, ecology, Seinfeild, TV dinners, Prozac, astrology, depth psychology, the rise and fall of the British Empire. But what about where we came from? What happens after death? Why do we suffer? Why are some people happy. Yogananda's life was impeccable. I have looked for dirt everwhere. Found only solid gold. This book is incredible. Atheism postulates a "peaceful nothingness" after death. And since this contradicts Newton's second law, the law of conservation, it too is a religion. In Buddhism, no matter how good a life you have lived, you may be reborn as a hell being if you die a violent death. In Christianity, if you are a wonderful human being, you will go to eternal hell if you are not a Christian. And if you are a rotten apple, don't worry. If you believe in Jesus then He will save you and eternal happiness will be yours. Where can we turn? Existentialism? Humanitarianism? Alcoholism? For answers that are congrruent with science, testimonies, reason, logic and faith. This book does it. Go heavily into psychic research for 10 years. Study comparitive religions for another 10. Meditate for 20 more years. Get a Ph.D in science. And finally, you will most likely end up saying, "Yes, now I understand" after reading and studying this book. It took me 30 years of meaningless searches and trips, and yogis, and psychologists, and scientists to find this book. It was like finding the Holy Grail. The only thing bad about this book is that, once read, you will always come back to it. Always. Even if you don't like what reality spells out for us. Truth can be very addicting. It is like quicksand. You can get stuck in it. And the more you struggle, the harder it becomes to get out of it. I recommend this book highly. So beautifully written. So enlivening. And a bit earth-shattering. Because the pieces fit. The notes rhyme. And you grimace as you say, "Yes. That rings true with everything I've ever experienced, read, or lived through." Enough said. Buy the book if you are one to open Pandora's box. And it is definitely not for people with weak knees.

Bill Butler ([e-mail])

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars TRULY- A MASTERWORK OF MODERN LIVING SCRIPTURE. March 28, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I have enjoyed many noteable works of great inspiration, but reading "God Talks With Arjuna", was literally a breathtaking experience. Not just another Gita commentary - this work contains many original spiritual insights and practical, balanced, religious approaches to life that are desparately needed in to-days world. But most of all, PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA was a Living Example of that ideal Christlike perfection as taught in the Gita and has inspired millions with his "Autobiography of a Yogi". A rewarding in depth revelation awaits any serious, sincere seeker of truth. Especially recommended for the serious religious scholar and devotee. If you have not yet found a satisfying answers to lifes most profound questions, this would be a good place to find clear, simple, practical, spiritual direction and understanding. A complete reference book for living the Spiritual Life and guiding your journey to Self-Realization.