Like a Thousand Suns The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living Volume II 1st (first) edition Text Only

The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living #2

by Eknath Easwaran

The Gita is an essential book for anyone attempting to awaken. Commentary is from a personal and practical view intended for a Western audience to facilitate one's understanding and appreciation of one of the greatest books ever written. This volume in particular focuses on the nature of relationships and what happens at death. The Bhagavad Gita provides both a mythical story and a practical, almost cookbook approach to accelerate one's spiritual development. “If a thousand suns were to rise at the same time, the blaze of their light would resemble a little the supreme splendor of the Lord.” – Bhagavad Gita 11:12

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Hinduism, Religion, Philosophy

Paperback

First published January 29, 1993

About the author

Eknath Easwaran (1910–1999) is the originator of passage meditation and the author of more than 30 books on spiritual living.

Easwaran is a recognized authority on the Indian spiritual classics. His translations of The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, and The Dhammapada are the best-selling editions in the USA, and over 1.5 million copies of his books are in print.

Easwaran was a professor of English literature and well known in India as a writer and speaker before coming to the United States in 1959 on the Fulbright exchange program. In 1961, he founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, based in Tomales, California, which continues his work today through publications and retreats.

His 1968 class on the theory and practice of meditation at UC Berkeley is believed to be the first accredited course on meditation at any Western university. For those who seek him as a personal spiritual guide, Easwaran assured us that he lives on through his eight-point program of passage meditation.

"I am with you always”, he said. “It does not require my physical presence; it requires your open heart."

Please visit bmcm.org for a fuller biography.

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easwaran has the uncanny ability of translating Eastern spiritual principles into language and practice that is contextually applicable to the Westerners experience. People from different places are different, and it's nice when someone understands that, and is effective at translating it into another cultures experience. This book can be tedious- sometimes it is very slow and very trying to get through. But much like the spiritual path itself, it tends to take it's time to drive home the lessons it intends the reader to learn. This book was very important to me at a certain point in my personal journey. I think it's a good book to read for anyone looking for more answers of a spiritual nature and for anyone wanting to be more open on their spiritual journey.

[Charles Frode · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great commentaries about the Gita. Includes a lot about meditation. Very good for contemplative reading. Anything by Easwaran is great.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very typical Eknath Easwaran. He goes into the Gita in a different way - he goes off on these tangents and while they aren't exactly like, "Arjuna did this, so you should do this in your life," but lots of reflections. This is a three volume set - this is volume 2.

[Steve Chisnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I have been enjoying Easwaran's reflective ideas on the Gita, there is a trade-off between that enjoyment and the time invested in these three large volumes of commentary. I felt at times like 1/3 of the discussion was about the meanings of the Bhagavad Gita text and 2/3 his own applications and thinking about that. There is nothing wrong with this--indeed, it is in the very subtitle of each volume: practical application! Even so, the texts are older now, and as a result, Easwaran's personal applications feel dated, his thinking perhaps at times naive or narrow in its acceptance of change, and his lifestyle wholly different from much of America. I began to believe that, if accepting the teachings of the Gita meant walking the pathways of Easwaran (and he clearly says it does not mean this), I was not interested in them.

In other words, in seeking a guide or counselor for the Gita, I was better served in other directions. Nonetheless, I am in awe of and grateful to what he has produced (including the excellent translation). Unfortunately, I will not complete the work by reading the third volume, at least not now.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful!

Eknath Easwaran gives examples of how to apply the Bagavad Gita to modern life. I am really thankful the Lord encouraged me to purchase the three volumes to help me grow in wisdom, understanding and love for all.

[Fawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2. Wonderful!

[Gaurav Khurana]

Very well written

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Moon Rose (M.R.) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The soul is innately as capable of sharing this divine light as a crystal is in reflecting the radiance of the sun--St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila)

The sacred unity of life is ever present in every cellular of every being that somehow lays dormant in the wake of slumber awaiting its own discovery and the journey of every life is to navigate from the present illusion of reality towards this everlasting and unifying truth, which can open the eyes of the heart to the fountain of love that overflows endlessly right at the center of every being, where the indivisible reality of all existence rests, patiently waiting its turn to be seen and recognized. Once the consciousness awakes to finally see this in its full splendor and glory, it shines the brightest, an effulgence Like a Thousand Suns.

This voice of his (God) is so sweet that the poor soul falls apart in the face of her own inability to instantly do whatever he asks of her.--St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila)

The concept is easy to understand. To put it into writing is at times difficult to convey, but to put it into practice, into actual practice is the hardest and most challenging anyone can do in his life. It is a never ending battle with the mind day in and day out without any armament to use against it, but control and without a clear and significant result in sight as one lifetime could not even be enough to accomplish it. What it only requires from the person is the total dedication to continuously pursue the goal in spite of any pitfalls and the unattractive appearance of his outer circumstances.

Only by dying to our small separate selves can we be set free to fly home to God.--St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila)

What attraction does it take for a person to choose this inward journey? Where everything it promises seems to be a mortification from everything we know is pleasurable and the rewards if diligently followed, as seen from a worldly view we are conditioned to know, are an unlikely source of joy. Is it even possible for any person to give up the outer world of pleasure and seek this inner world of quietude being fully aware of all the sacrifices one has to make?

Humility, I say! Humility is the ointment for our wounds. If we are truly humble, then God, the great physician, will eventually come to heal us.--St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila)

Perhaps, the answer lies not in the manner we know, not in the same logic the mind operates, not in the reality the senses could understand, as the answer will only reveal itself to those who choose it with the full knowledge that the answer itself is irrelevant and only the journey itself counts. It is the wholehearted willingness of a person to go through this grueling task no matter what, knowing in his heart that in his every step, he is guided by an invisible power towards humility to learn to surrender with complete faith and trust. This is what Eknath Easwaran illustrates in this book as he tries to magnify the things we usually just take for granted to develop a higher sense of knowing that will help us to see with a much wider spectrum the inner reality that connects us all to God as to witness firsthand the Light of God, one needs to confront his own darkness that prevents him to truly see. ☾☯

Let nothing upset you
Let nothing frighten you
Everything is changing
God alone is changeless
Patience attains the goal
Who has God lacks nothing
God alone fills all our needs.
--St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila)

Beatus vir, qui timet Dominum--Psalm 111:1