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The Teaching of the Bhagavad Gita
A classical interpretation for the modern mind. For centuries the Bhagavad Gita has remained the single most influential philosophical text shaping Indian thought and life. It addresses itself foursquare to the universal limitations each human being is confronted with: ignorance, sorrow and death. The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita opens with the audacious statement that all these are illegitimate problems caused by ignorance about the real nature of the self. Drawing upon the essence of all Upanishads, Gita explains how the self, the atman, is limitless, indestructible, unborn. This knowledge, Brahmavidya, frees one from all sense of limitation. This is the principal teaching of the Bhagavad Gita. Swami Dayananda's is a classical vedantic interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita. Without getting lost in a rigid verse-by-verse translation, he plunges with great verve and energy into the central theme of the gita, unerringly picking and choosing key verses to highlight its message. A highly respected and very popular teacher of vedanta, Swami Dayananda succeeds marvelously in conveying the profundity of the Bhagavad Gita, unfolding its teaching with a style and clarity which will appeal to every modern mind.
- GenresSpiritualityHinduism
168 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2005
15 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
About the author
Dayananda Saraswati
148 books71 followersSwami Dayananda Saraswati (दयानन्द सरस्वती) (born August 15, 1930, died September 23, 2015) was a monk of the Hindu monastic order, a renowned traditional teacher of Advaita Vedanta and a scholar in Sanskrit in the tradition of Sankara. He has been teaching Vedanta in India for more than five decades and around the world since 1976. His deep scholarship and assimilation of Vedanta combined with a subtle appreciation of contemporary problems make him that rare teacher who can reach both traditional and modern students. A teacher of teachers, Swami Dayananda taught six resident in-depth Vedanta courses, each spanning 30 to 36 months. Four of them were conducted in India and two in the United States. Each course graduated about 60 qualified teachers, who are now teaching throughout India and abroad. Under his guidance, various centers for teaching of Vedanta have been founded around the world; among these, there are three primary centers in India at Rishikesh, Coimbatore, Nagpur and one in the U.S. at Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. There are more than one hundred centers in India and abroad that carry on the same tradition of Vedantic teaching. In addition to teaching, Swami Dayananda has initiated and supported various humanitarian efforts for the last forty-five years. The most far-reaching of these is the establishment of All India Movement for Seva in 2000. Awarded consultative status with ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council) by the United Nations in 2005, this organization is devoted to serving people in the remote areas of India, mainly in the field of Education and Health Care. Swami Dayananda Saraswati has also promoted several international events and participated as a speaker in several global forums, among which are: the United Nations gathering of NGO's, the UNESCO Seoul Global Convention, the United Nations 50th Anniversary Celebration, the Millennium World Peace Summit, the International Congress for the Preservation of Religious Diversity, the Conference on the Preservation of Sacred Sites, the World Council for Preservation of Religious Diversity, the Youth Peace Summit, the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, a Hindu-Christian dialogue with the World Council of Churches, and the Hindu-Jewish Leadership Summit.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 18, 2014
Philosophy of Bhagavadgita: Swami Dayananda's Interpretation
The author unfolds the teaching of Lord Krishna in a lucid and effortless manner. While retaining the profound nature of the text he discusses the inner meaning of its philosophy so that everyone can understand. He highlights the message of all relevant chapters and interprets key hymns in great detail. The author illustrates his profound understanding of one of the greatest texts ever presented to mankind. The metaphysics of Gita according to the author is summarized below;
The knowledge of the self will eliminate the sense of inadequacy in life. When one discovers oneself to be a full and complete being, all the conflicts and grief vanish: This is called Brahmavidya. The Gita teaches karma yoga as a means of eliminating likes and dis-likes which may be achieved through bhakti or devotion to the Lord, according to the author.
Everything you know is an object and you are the subject. There are only two things in creation: ksetra, the object, and ksetrajna the subject, the one who knows the object. This concept is discussed in detail in the thirteenth chapter of the Gita, but it is also unfolded in the second chapter. The subject, the knower, must be distinct from the known, the sense organs. You can rightly say that you are the knower of the deafness of your ears, the blindness of your eyes, or the congestion in your nose, but you are not the deaf ears, the blind eyes, or the blocked nose. If you are not the sense organs, who are you? Who is the knower? Through this inquiry you are able to conclude that you must be distinct from the body, sense organs, mind, knowledge, memory, and ignorance. You are none of the relative roles, like father, son, etc., because to play a particular role you have to stop playing the others. You are therefore "distinct from all of these. You must now say, "I am someone who is aware of my ignorance, my knowledge, my memories, my emotions, my hunger, my sense organs, and my body. All that I hear, see, smell, taste or touch are objects. I am the subject, the aware being, who is aware of all the objects, including the body and the mind." This Awareness, I, is limitless and non-dual. Any object can be limited by time, space, or another object; but Awareness, I, is not an object, and so it has no dimension, no shape, no limitation.
There cannot be any distance between the moon and space because the moon is in space and space is in and through the moon. Distance itself is the space between two objects in space, but between space and space there is no distance. Similarly, the sun, the sky, the stars all exist Within Awareness. Your body exists within Awareness. Space exists within Awareness. There can be no distance. You are Awareness, and in Awareness are the stars above. Between Awareness and the stars there is no distance. You are Awareness, he is Awareness, she is Awareness, I am Awareness. How many awareness's are there? There is one, all-pervasive Awareness in which all objects exist. And this Awareness is not limited by time, because I, the Awareness being aware of time. Anything that is born in time can be destroyed in time; but Awareness, the very basis of time, is beyond the realm of time. Further, because Awareness is formless, it cannot be destroyed by dividing it into parts. An object can be destroyed, but Awareness is the subject to the basis of everything. Thus all agents of destruction are incapable of destroying I-Awareness. Lord Krishna says in verses 2.23-24, "Weapons cannot cut it; fire cannot burn it; water cannot wet it; even wind cannot dry it. It is not subject to being cut, burned, wet or dried. It, is beyond time, all-pervasive, Immovable, and immutable." In sleep, neither time nor space, nor the mind (which objectifies the world) exists; but I exist in and through waking, dream, and sleep. Therefore I am not circumscribed by space or time: I am sarvagata, all-pervasive and nitya, free from the limitation of time. In Awareness are space and time, and in time-space alone is the whole creation. Therefore, I am free from all limitations. Talking about Awareness, Lord Krishna says in verse 2.25: "This is not manifest (cannot be perceived), nor can this be thought of (as one thinks of an object); not subject to mutation either (because it is not born). Therefore knowing this Awareness to be thus you have no cause or grief." Eternity is a concept that is timeless, because anything that is material must change with time, but eternity is unaffected by time, and I, awareness is beyond time and hence not subject to death. Therefore, Lord Krishna says in verse 2.21, killing or causing others to be killed is totally immaterial to the one who knows this Self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and not subject to decline
The Self is the reason for awareness of your emotions, your thoughts, and all the objects of the world. Happiness is manifest only in a satisfied mind, a mind that desires nothing, because the Self is the source of happiness. Verse 2.55 states that "when one completely renounces all the desires entertained by the mind, satisfied in the Self, by the Self, one is called a person of steady wisdom." The one who recognizes that the Self is sat-cit-ananda - existence, Awareness, and ful1ness is wise. That person is cal1ed sthitaprajna, well rooted in wisdom. The one into whom al1 desires enter, as waters flow into the ocean, which remains unchanged and ever full, that one gains peace, and not the one who desires objects (verse 2.70). Verse 2.71 states, `having given up al1 desires, the man who moves about without attachment, who has no thought of ''I'' or "my", gains peace." In the next verse the Lord goes on to state that; with limitless space, you will no longer feel limited. This knowledge is cal1ed here the Brahmi state, a state of Brahman,
In verse 2.47, Krishna states that "Work alone is your privilege, never its results." Many interpreters take this to mean that one should perform action without expecting a result, but no one performs action without expecting some result. This verse really means that you have a choice in your action, but never in the results. The results of action are governed by physical laws. It is through His laws that one gets a particular result.
If the Brahman associated with Maya is the cause of everything, how is it that everyone is not similar? When the cause is One, why should the effects be varied? The body-mind complex of a human being is nothing but Prakriti, matter, vivified by caitanya, consciousness. Prakriti and Caitanya being the same in everyone why should one person be contemplative, another ambitious, and a third dull? The fourteenth chapter, called Gunatraya-vibhaga-yoga accounts for these differences. All the constituents of creation can be classified into three categories called gunas (qualities): sattva, related to knowledge; rajas related to activity; and tamas, related to inactivity. So that everything that comes from Prakriti including the psychological disposition of a given individual is characterized by these three gunas. The Lord says that everyone is a mixture of these three gunas, but the predominance of one guna over the other accounts for the dissimilarities observed among people.
The author unfolds the teaching of Lord Krishna in a lucid and effortless manner. While retaining the profound nature of the text he discusses the inner meaning of its philosophy so that everyone can understand. He highlights the message of all relevant chapters and interprets key hymns in great detail. The author illustrates his profound understanding of one of the greatest texts ever presented to mankind. The metaphysics of Gita according to the author is summarized below;
The knowledge of the self will eliminate the sense of inadequacy in life. When one discovers oneself to be a full and complete being, all the conflicts and grief vanish: This is called Brahmavidya. The Gita teaches karma yoga as a means of eliminating likes and dis-likes which may be achieved through bhakti or devotion to the Lord, according to the author.
Everything you know is an object and you are the subject. There are only two things in creation: ksetra, the object, and ksetrajna the subject, the one who knows the object. This concept is discussed in detail in the thirteenth chapter of the Gita, but it is also unfolded in the second chapter. The subject, the knower, must be distinct from the known, the sense organs. You can rightly say that you are the knower of the deafness of your ears, the blindness of your eyes, or the congestion in your nose, but you are not the deaf ears, the blind eyes, or the blocked nose. If you are not the sense organs, who are you? Who is the knower? Through this inquiry you are able to conclude that you must be distinct from the body, sense organs, mind, knowledge, memory, and ignorance. You are none of the relative roles, like father, son, etc., because to play a particular role you have to stop playing the others. You are therefore "distinct from all of these. You must now say, "I am someone who is aware of my ignorance, my knowledge, my memories, my emotions, my hunger, my sense organs, and my body. All that I hear, see, smell, taste or touch are objects. I am the subject, the aware being, who is aware of all the objects, including the body and the mind." This Awareness, I, is limitless and non-dual. Any object can be limited by time, space, or another object; but Awareness, I, is not an object, and so it has no dimension, no shape, no limitation.
There cannot be any distance between the moon and space because the moon is in space and space is in and through the moon. Distance itself is the space between two objects in space, but between space and space there is no distance. Similarly, the sun, the sky, the stars all exist Within Awareness. Your body exists within Awareness. Space exists within Awareness. There can be no distance. You are Awareness, and in Awareness are the stars above. Between Awareness and the stars there is no distance. You are Awareness, he is Awareness, she is Awareness, I am Awareness. How many awareness's are there? There is one, all-pervasive Awareness in which all objects exist. And this Awareness is not limited by time, because I, the Awareness being aware of time. Anything that is born in time can be destroyed in time; but Awareness, the very basis of time, is beyond the realm of time. Further, because Awareness is formless, it cannot be destroyed by dividing it into parts. An object can be destroyed, but Awareness is the subject to the basis of everything. Thus all agents of destruction are incapable of destroying I-Awareness. Lord Krishna says in verses 2.23-24, "Weapons cannot cut it; fire cannot burn it; water cannot wet it; even wind cannot dry it. It is not subject to being cut, burned, wet or dried. It, is beyond time, all-pervasive, Immovable, and immutable." In sleep, neither time nor space, nor the mind (which objectifies the world) exists; but I exist in and through waking, dream, and sleep. Therefore I am not circumscribed by space or time: I am sarvagata, all-pervasive and nitya, free from the limitation of time. In Awareness are space and time, and in time-space alone is the whole creation. Therefore, I am free from all limitations. Talking about Awareness, Lord Krishna says in verse 2.25: "This is not manifest (cannot be perceived), nor can this be thought of (as one thinks of an object); not subject to mutation either (because it is not born). Therefore knowing this Awareness to be thus you have no cause or grief." Eternity is a concept that is timeless, because anything that is material must change with time, but eternity is unaffected by time, and I, awareness is beyond time and hence not subject to death. Therefore, Lord Krishna says in verse 2.21, killing or causing others to be killed is totally immaterial to the one who knows this Self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and not subject to decline
The Self is the reason for awareness of your emotions, your thoughts, and all the objects of the world. Happiness is manifest only in a satisfied mind, a mind that desires nothing, because the Self is the source of happiness. Verse 2.55 states that "when one completely renounces all the desires entertained by the mind, satisfied in the Self, by the Self, one is called a person of steady wisdom." The one who recognizes that the Self is sat-cit-ananda - existence, Awareness, and ful1ness is wise. That person is cal1ed sthitaprajna, well rooted in wisdom. The one into whom al1 desires enter, as waters flow into the ocean, which remains unchanged and ever full, that one gains peace, and not the one who desires objects (verse 2.70). Verse 2.71 states, `having given up al1 desires, the man who moves about without attachment, who has no thought of ''I'' or "my", gains peace." In the next verse the Lord goes on to state that; with limitless space, you will no longer feel limited. This knowledge is cal1ed here the Brahmi state, a state of Brahman,
In verse 2.47, Krishna states that "Work alone is your privilege, never its results." Many interpreters take this to mean that one should perform action without expecting a result, but no one performs action without expecting some result. This verse really means that you have a choice in your action, but never in the results. The results of action are governed by physical laws. It is through His laws that one gets a particular result.
If the Brahman associated with Maya is the cause of everything, how is it that everyone is not similar? When the cause is One, why should the effects be varied? The body-mind complex of a human being is nothing but Prakriti, matter, vivified by caitanya, consciousness. Prakriti and Caitanya being the same in everyone why should one person be contemplative, another ambitious, and a third dull? The fourteenth chapter, called Gunatraya-vibhaga-yoga accounts for these differences. All the constituents of creation can be classified into three categories called gunas (qualities): sattva, related to knowledge; rajas related to activity; and tamas, related to inactivity. So that everything that comes from Prakriti including the psychological disposition of a given individual is characterized by these three gunas. The Lord says that everyone is a mixture of these three gunas, but the predominance of one guna over the other accounts for the dissimilarities observed among people.
June 29, 2021
Pujya Swamiji is one of the foremost teachers of Vedanta in modern times. He is a scholar like no other. He sticks to the teaching and commentary of Shankaracharya and clearly unfolds the teaching of Gita and the vision of Vedanta. This is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to look at the vision of Gita from Advaita perspective which further sends one to dive more deeper into the teaching of Gita and apply it to life.
May 4, 2014
I loved this book since the first page! It's logical, it's entertaining, it's wise! This book has it all. Especially answers for the biggest concerns of human beings: who are we, what is consciousness... I recommend it to anyone engaged in this type of questions.
September 9, 2018
When I read the first page, I knew this book was going to change me. To people who want to understand the teachings of the Gita and people who believe they can never understand what the holy book has to say, read this. It's entertaining, it's logical, it makes sense.
October 25, 2008
Author brings easy to understand interpretation to the Bhagavad Gita. A great study companion.
February 6, 2016
Brilliant book - great intro to the Gita.
January 30, 2024
This was an amazing read.
This book isn't a scholarly, complicated verse by verse translation. It is instead a simple, logical, concise interpretation that utilizes the core message of the Bhagavad Gita to help explain how sorrow, mortality and ignorance are illegitimate problems for one who is established in brahmavidya, the knowledge of the true self. It also explains how karma yoga, the yoga of action, can help an individual develop a mind receptive to this knowledge.
For anyone struggling with the fear of death, fear of suffering and the fear of meaningless-ness in life, I'm sure reading this book will provide immense relief.
This book isn't a scholarly, complicated verse by verse translation. It is instead a simple, logical, concise interpretation that utilizes the core message of the Bhagavad Gita to help explain how sorrow, mortality and ignorance are illegitimate problems for one who is established in brahmavidya, the knowledge of the true self. It also explains how karma yoga, the yoga of action, can help an individual develop a mind receptive to this knowledge.
For anyone struggling with the fear of death, fear of suffering and the fear of meaningless-ness in life, I'm sure reading this book will provide immense relief.
September 1, 2024
Life changing read.
August 17, 2025
Life changing!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews