Voices

THE EPIC ITSELF

Veda Vyāsa

Traditional compiler of the Mahābhārata — honored by name in the verse recited before every Gītā reading

Om. O Bhagavad Gītā, by which Pārtha was taught by the Lord Nārāyaṇa himself, and which was strung together in the midst of the Mahābhārata by Vyāsa, the ancient sage — Mother, showering the nectar of non-duality in eighteen chapters, I meditate on thee.

Gītā Dhyānam, verse 1

THE EPIC ITSELF

Sañjaya

The narrator of the Gītā, closing the dialogue he has just witnessed

Wherever is Krishna, Yoga's Lord, wherever is Pârtha, the archer, assured are there prosperity, victory and happiness. So I think.

Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma Parva — Bhagavad Gītā 18.78

All the Upaniṣads are the cows; the milker is Kṛṣṇa; Arjuna the calf; the wise the drinkers; the milk, the great nectar of the Gītā.

Traditional dhyāna-śloka (verse 4)

Let the Gītā be well sung — what need of other lengthy scriptures? It flowed from the lotus mouth of Padmanābha himself.

Gītā-māhātmya, Padma Purāṇa

8TH CENTURY

Ādi Śaṅkarācārya

Founder of Advaita Vedānta, in the opening of his Gītā commentary

This famous Gītā-śāstra is an epitome of the essentials of the whole Vedic teaching.

Gītā-bhāṣya, tr. A. Mahadeva Sastri, 1897

11TH CENTURY

Śrī Rāmānuja

Founder of Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, opening his Gītā commentary

Under the pretext of having to persuade Arjuna to fight, Krishna promulgated… that Path of loving-Devotion which is the burden of all the Vedanta-teaching.

Gītā-bhāṣya, tr. A. Govindāchārya, 1898

13TH CENTURY

Śrī Jñāneśvar

Marathi saint-poet who opened the Gītā to the people's tongue

The pinnacle of the jewel-temple of the Gītā, made of the wish-fulfilling gem of its meaning — revealing the vision of the whole Gītā. (our gloss)

Jñāneśvarī, adhyāya 18, ovī 30 — original Marathi via Wikisource

1785

Warren Hastings

Governor-General of Bengal, commissioning the first English translation

These will survive when the British dominion in India shall have long ceased to exist, and when the sources which once yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance.

Letter prefacing Charles Wilkins's Bhagvat-Geeta, 1785

1840s

Ralph Waldo Emerson

American essayist and poet

It was the first of books; it was as if an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent.

Journals, 1840s

1854

Henry David Thoreau

Author of Walden

In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagvat Geeta… in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial.

Walden, 'The Pond in Winter', 1854

19TH CENTURY

Sri Ramakrishna

Bengali mystic

Say 'Gītā' rapidly many times and it becomes 'tāgi' — one who has renounced. That is the secret of the Gītā.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, 19 September 1884

1890s

Swami Vivekananda

Who carried Vedānta to the West

…the Gita is like these truths beautifully arranged together in their proper places — like a fine garland or a bouquet of the choicest flowers.

Thoughts on the Gita, Complete Works, Vol. IV

1915

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Lokmanya — scholar of the freedom movement, who wrote his Gītā-Rahasya in prison

How very profound is the importance of the Gītā, which was expounded in ancient times by wise men.

Gītā-Rahasya, Author's Preface (tr. Sukthankar, 1935)

1925

M. K. Gandhi

Leader of India's freedom movement

When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gītā and find a verse to comfort me.

Young India, 1925

1916

Sri Aurobindo

Philosopher and yogi

We approach it for help and light… to distinguish its essential and living message, that in it on which humanity has to seize for its perfection and its highest spiritual welfare.

Essays on the Gita, 1916–20

1922

Annie Besant

Whose translation you are reading throughout GitaDeep

Among the priceless teachings that may be found in the great Hindu poem of the Mahābhārata, there is none so rare and precious as this — The Lord's Song.

Preface to her translation, 1922

1933

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Physicist — he began learning Sanskrit to read it, and would recall it at the Trinity test

…very easy and quite marvelous… the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue.

Letter to his brother Frank, 1933

1942

Swami Sivananda

Founder of the Divine Life Society

The Gita is the cream of the Vedas. It is the essence of the Upanishads. It is a universal scripture applicable to people of all temperaments and for all times.

The Bhagavad Gita, Introduction

20TH CENTURY

Paramahansa Yogananda

Author of Autobiography of a Yogi

The Bhagavad Gita is the most beloved scripture of India, a scripture of scriptures.

God Talks with Arjuna (published 1995)

1962

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Aerospace scientist and 11th President of India — he steadied himself with these verses before the interview that launched his career

All beings are born to delusion . . . overcome by the dualities which arise from wish and hate . . . . But those men of virtuous deeds in whom sin has come to an end, freed from the delusion of dualities, worship Me steadfast in their vows.

Wings of Fire, 1999 — recalling Bhagavad Gītā 7.27–28

2006

Sunita Williams

NASA astronaut — the Gītā has now left the planet

Carried the Bhagavad Gītā with her aboard the International Space Station.

NASA Expedition 14, December 2006