The Song of the Goddess: The Devī Gītā: Spiritual Counsel of the Great Goddess

by C. Mackenzie Brown (Translator)

A reader-friendly translation of the medieval Indian text, which presents a powerful, compassionate goddess as ruler of the universe.

The Devi Gita, literally the Song of the Goddess, is an Eastern spiritual classic that appeared around the fifteenth century. C. Mackenzie Brown provides a reader-friendly English translation of this sacred text taken from his well-regarded previous book The Devi Gita: The Song of the Goddess, A Translation, Annotation, and Commentary . Here the translation is presented uninterrupted, without the scholarly annotations of the original version, and in its entirety for the pleasure of all readers who wish to encounter this treasure from the world’s sacred literature. Often neglected, the Devi Gita deserves to be better known for its presentations of one of the great Hindu visions of the divine conceived in feminine terms. The work depicts the universe as created, pervaded, and protected by a supremely powerful, all-knowing, and wholly compassionate divine female. It also describes the various spiritual paths leading to realization of unity with the Goddess. The author of the Devi Gita intended for the work to supplant the famous teachings of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (the “Song of the Lord”) from a goddess-inspired perspective.

C. Mackenzie Brown is Professor and Chair of Religion at Trinity University. He is the author of The Triumph of the Goddess: The Canonical Models and Theological Visions of the Devi-Bhagavata Purana , also published by SUNY Press.

Genres: Religion, Hinduism

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful 'song' about Devi Gita and the feminine nature of creation. A wonderful book for everyone, but I think women will (in particular) be very interested in the counsel this book offers. I think that so many people have 'forgotten' the role of the goddess in our collective history; I have several friends who are trying to reconnect with this aspect of divinity - they suggested this book to me.

[Timothy Delaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real good.
Surfaced around the middle ages. Probably has multiple authors.
Good introduction and glossary.
Similar principles to the Bhagavad Gita but where the supreme being is the Mother.
Elements and methods of Kriya Yoga are described. Also covers Bhakti.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

this rating and review apply to brown's commentary and notes, not the actual content of the gita itself, which is beyond rating on any scale and immeasurably profound in numerous ways. brown is an excellent and thorough commentator that provides an easy understanding to a very complex subject but also provides numerous indepth notes for the aspirant looking to dig deeply. my only complaint is that the sanskrit section does not contain a latin transliteration, so any mantra chanting would have to be done by practioners who can read sanskrit - which at this time does not include me. it's a minor barrier, but would have been a "nice to have"