The “Gita” Message

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31542, 2 December 1967, Page 4

The “Gita” Message

Bhagavad-Gita. A Version for Modem Readers. By Christopher Isher* wood and Swami Prabhavananda. J. M. Dent.

The Bhagavad-Gita, or “Gita” for short, properly means the. Song of the Lord and is a part of the great Hindu epie, the Mahabharata. As the translators point qut in their preface, the “Gita” does not easily lend itself to translation into English. It was originally . composed in Sanskrit, the ancient and sacred language of India. The “Gita” has numerous exact philosophical and religious terms quite unfamiliar to Western thought and is compounded of several distinct tones of voice. It is collectively a philosophical document, part of a great epic poem, a gospel, and an example of prophetic writing. Because of these various ranges, the “Gita” cannot be regarded as a literary unit Isherweed and Swami Prabhavananda, in their attempts to present the essential message of the “Gita,” hav'e- rendered it into both verse and prose. The merit of this attempt can perhaps best be judged from one viewpoint: have they made the book readable and comprehensible to Western readers? They have’ certainly achieved a simplicity and a clarity of statement, whilst seeming to preserve much of the essential “Gita” message. This book is a valuable one for it presents one of the great religious documents in a form and language we can understand and appreciate.