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Realization Of The Supreme Self

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Trevor Leggett's background is impressive. Head of the BBC Japanese Service for twenty years, he has lived in both India and Japan, has a string of publications on various Eastern topics to his credit, and his knowledge of the languages and thought of the East is both extensive and deep. In addition, he underwent, under the personal guidance of the late Dr Hari Prasad Shastri, formal training for eighteen years in the meditative practices he describes, and one is gratified to find him applying his considerable expertise to elucidating the Bhagavad Gita.

The Gita, though enormously popular, is a difficult text. It contains many seeming contradictions and inconsistencies, and it has generated a wide range of conflicting interpretations. The great Shankara Acarya himself (+ 788-820), one of the acutest minds India has ever produced, states in the Introduction to his 'bhasya' or commentary on the Gita, that "this scripture called the Gita ... is the collection of the quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedas, and its meaning is difficult to understand" (Gambhirananda tr. page 5).

Unfortunately for the modern reader, the ancient Indian commentaries such as those of Shankara can, for a variety of reasons, be often more difficult to understand than the text on which they comment.

This is where Leggett Sensei steps in, for what he has done is to extract the essential core of the Gita, particularly as it applies to "the main points of Gita practice presented by Shankara, the earliest and greatest commentator" (page 9), and to present this in a clear, simple, and readable English, and in a way suited to the non-specialist modern reader.

As soon as I started reading this book I found that it immediately began to clear up problems I'd been having, particularly the vexing problem of whether the Gita is to be understood as primarily Monistic or Theistic.

Most commentators tend to explain the Gita as being primarily about a single yoga, the yoga of action or the yoga of devotion or the yoga of knowledge. What Leggett points out, however, is that the technique of the Gita is more subtle. It contains, as we saw Shankara affirm, not merely one but "all the teachings of the Vedas," and hence all yoga-s, and the method it employs is one of "Teaching Down" (Leggett, pages 18-20).

For a full description of this method you will, of course, have to read Leggett. Basically it consists in starting with the highest and most difficult yoga in the hope that the student is already highly advanced and will immediately understand (as is the case with King Janaka in the 'Ashtavakra Gita'). But if, as happens with Arjuna, the student is not particularly advanced and fails to understand, one then gradually steps down the degree of difficulty in stages until one discovers the student's true level.

The Gita, in other words, although it contains much metaphysics, is not primarily to be thought of as a metaphysical treatise but as a book of practical instruction. As Leggett points out: "In the end, the system has to be confirmed by practice; it is not a dogma. There has to be enough faith in it to carry out the outer and inner training" (page 7). He adds that: "To study the holy texts is a sacred duty.... But if it is done without meditation, it leads to a kind of frustration" (pages 30-31). In short, for true understanding practice is essential.

Leggett's book is divided into five main parts: Part 1 - Introductory; Part 2 - Yoga-s of the Gita (which takes us chapter-by-chapter through the whole Gita, using selected verses to point up the features of the various yogas); Part 3 - Shankara on Gita Practice (Worship for Sceptics, Line of Light, Karma-Yoga Action, Samadhi, etc.); Part 4 - Pointers for Practice (The Experimental Basis, Mistakes, The Four Vocations, Rebirth, etc.); and Part 5 - Technical Appendixes.

There are many theoretical studies of the Gita, studies, for example, like those of George Feuerstein which argue that the Gita is to be understood as a purely theistic and devotional work. It is the great merit of Leggett's book that he has risen above all such sectarian narrowness, and has redirected our attention to the real nature of the Gita as a practical manual of training in 'all' yoga-s.

In addition to Leggett's intensely practical orientation, another striking feature of his book is the very high quality of his translations from the Gita. Here is an example:

"Here, O son of Kuru, thought is one-pointed and decisive: Endlessly branching out are the thoughts of the indecisive." (II.41)

I have compared this with about ten other translations and nowhere did I find the meaning of this verse expressed so clearly and crisply, and Leggett has many other similarly impressive verses. It would be wonderful to see a complete translation of the Gita from him some day. 'Realization of The Supreme Self' is a unique and invaluable book. It is also very well-produced, being cloth-bound, Smyth-sewn, and well-printed in a good-sized font on strong heavy paper. My only criticism of the book is its very high price. One hopes that at some point the publishers will see fit to issue it in a less expensive paperbound version, for it is a book that will be of real value to anyone with a serious interest in the Gita.

Two other books that the interested reader might care to consult, both again with a practical bent and written by clear-headed Englishmen who had lived in India, are Douglas Harding's 'On Having No Head' and Sri Krishna Prem's 'Initiation into Yoga.' Both serve to complement Leggett Sensei's book beautifully. Their collective aim might be said not so much to help us understand Self as to become it.

The late Trevor Leggett may be more familiar to many readers as an engaging, insightful commentator on Japanese Zen and martial arts traditions. He was also a serious student of Vedanta, studying with the famous pundit and yogi, Dr. Hari Prasad Shastri, for 18 years. The current book reflects that training, approaching the Bhagavad Gita not as a revelatory scripture, but as a practical manual of yoga for people engaged with the world - reminiscent of Sri Krishna Prem's classic THE YOGA OF THE BHAGAVAD GITA, but focusing more directly on the Gita's methodological aspect.

It's telling that Arjuna's talk with God (as Krishna) takes place on a battlefield just moments before all heck breaks loose. Krishna's advice to the troubled warrior is nothing if not practicable, offering a concrete approach to keeping the mind centered in the consciousness of the supreme Self, even in the face of life's most horrific realities. The Gita is thus a book for warriors and for the rest of us - spiritual counsel for anyone enmeshed in ups, downs, and contradictions of daily life.

While I don't doubt Mr Leggetts "qualifications" for writing books about Zen and Vedanta I have to wonder how this book has added anything of value to the multitudes of commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita available to the modern reader.

Seemingly anyone can write a book about the B.G. and is an "expert" after reading a few commentaries, or having studied for "x number of years" with "insert favorite guru"; or, my favorite - as an "exercise" in translating Sanskrit.

I am not surprised that Mr. Leggett, with his Zen background (i.e. meandering meditation on "nothing"), embraces the Sancarya school of thought which seeks to "impersonalize" the quest for self-realization and unification with The Lord. According to this school of thought after death our souls merge into the "Great Void". This is the wrong premise and not stated anywhere in the B.G. The Lord says work for Me, be devoted to Me, meditate on Me and in the end you will come to Me. How much more simply can it be stated?

I would suggest that a serious new-comer to the B.G. read "Srimad Bhagavadgita - Sadhaka-Sanjivani" by Swami Ramsukhdas from Gita Press. This is a very well written complete commentary and in my opinion stays true to the intended meaning and emphasizes the actual message of the B.G. - Devotion to Krishna. It is completely absent of any political/social agenda. It is inspiring and devotional, rather than dry and impersonal like this book and so many of the westernized translations and commentataries.

"I shall unfold to you, in full, this knowledge (Jnana) along with secrets of manifest Divinity, having known which nothing more remains to be known." BG 7.2