The Bhagavad Gita with The Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya (Hardcover)

~ Sri Sankaracharya (Author)
Key Phrases: steady knowledge, freedom from activity, knowledge conjoined, Supreme Lord, Lord Himself, Highest Self (more...)

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Product Description

Adi Sankara's is the earliest extant commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.The text of the Gita as cited by him has come down to the centuries as the authentic text and this commentary of his proved to be of seminal value ever since.Later commentators may differ from him on textual and even metaphysical interpretation but the spiritual well being flowing into us on reading the Gita-Bhashya of Sankaracharya is universally acknoledged.One has only to read it to feel it. This Book contains the original Sanskrit text of the Gita in Devanagari followed by its translation as also the translation of Sanakara's Gita Bhashya by Alladi Mahadeva Sastri.The translation has stood the test of the time since its first publication in 1897,being the best available English translation of Sankaracharya's commentary. The learned translator has added in the form of foot-notes(marked A)explanations mostly extracted from Anandagiri's Tika which always is the clearest and most to the point and is almost indispensable for a proper understanding of some important portions of the Bhashya.

From the Publisher

This particular Book translated by Alladi Mahadeva Sastri is so popular it has been reprinted ten times in a span of twenty years.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 533 pages
• Publisher: Samata Books (December 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 8185208085
• ISBN-13: 978-8185208084
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #769,797 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An older translation which reads reasonably well., March 15, 2001

By	tepi "tepi" - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

The full title of this book is 'The Bhagavad Gita - With the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, Translated from the original Sanskrit into English by Alladi Mahadeva Sastry.' The book contains the Sanskrit text of the Gita in Devanagari script followed by its translation, and also the translation of Sankara's famous commentary or Bhashya. Although this book was first published in 1897, it still reads reasonably well.

Trevor Leggett, in his superb study of the Gita - 'Realization of the Supreme Self - The Yoga-s of the Bhagavad Gita' (Kegan Paul International, 1995) - comments on the Bhashya: "Sankara explains the revelatory flashes of the Gita by putting them side by side with Upanishadic texts and with each other. He presents a system which is internally consistent, and which resolves the apparent contradictions of some of the texts" (page 7).

The Sastry edition is sturdily bound in cloth, stitched, and for an Indian publication is reasonably well printed on good paper. Although no-one today would probably want to sit down and read through the entire commentary, since a certain amount of the exposition is there to answer the objections of rival schools which no longer exist, much of what Sankara has to say is of abiding interest and his Bhashya belongs in the library of all serious students of Advaita Vedanta.

Those who may be interested in finding a more recent translation, one that is fuller, in contemporary idiom, and far more clearly printed, might care to look at Swami Gambhirananda's 'Bhagavad Gita - With the Commentary of Sankaracharya' (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1995), an edition that is available through the Vedanta Press, CA. One of the more useful features of the Gambhirananda edition is that, unlike that of Sastry, it does not omit that part of the Bhashya which shows in what order the words of the Gita are to be construed, and which gives their various synonyms. The beginning student of Sanskrit will find this a very useful help in understanding the text.

Another useful edition is the 'Srimad Bhagavad Gita Bhasya of Sri Samkaracarya' by Dr. A.G. Krishna Warrier (Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, n.d.). This, besides giving the Devanagari of the Gita, also gives it for the Bhashya, along with excellent contemporary translations of both.

Any of these three editions would serve the interested student. I keep my own copy of the Gambhirananda constantly at hand and often find myself referring to it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shankarazation of the Gita, April 28, 2001

By	Per Kistler (Zurich, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

One would not think at first that one could interprete the Bhagavad Gita in the sens of Shankara. The value of this commentary, I think, lies not primarly in it's elucidation of the Gita, but more in giving the advaitic commentator a chance to deal with different aspects of advaita, which otherwise would not have surfaced, if not the Gita would have provided all these topics. An advaitin for himself would probably not need much more than the statement: Sarvam kalvidam brahma. Compared to the commentaries to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad or to the Vedanta Sutras, one may have some doubts, whether the original Shankara was really the author of this commentary. The Dashnamis seem clear about it that Shankara was the author. In any case it's 100% advaita vedanta. The book is quite interesting to read, whether in this version from Samata Books or for instance the one from Krishna Warrior.

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, November 21, 2007

By	Jason Attard - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are looking for an essential work in indian philiosophy, look no further. "The Bhagavad Gita with The Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya" is, bluntly put, a poetic parable about the conflict of a man and his path to wisdom. The book is a translation, from the ancient indo-european language of Sanskritt, of The Bhagavad Gita, which is a discourse between Krishna (the creator of all) and Arjuna (his conflicted great nephew)about the path to self-realisation; and there is the commentary of Shankara which is a key to understanding the path and ultimately living it.