Bhagavad-gita ‘as it is’

Bhagavad-Gita is the crown jewel of India’s spiritual wisdom, spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. It is both authoritative and confidential. The Bhagavad-Gita answers very clearly the most pressing questions of human life, about harmony in society and the environment, and about human beings relationship with God. Here are some of the questions and their answers:

The  Question: What are birth and death?

Answer of the Gita: “As a man puts off old clothes and puts on new ones, so the soul gives up old and useless bodies and takes on new ones.”(Bg 2.22)

Bhagavad-Gita is the crown jewel of India’s spiritual wisdom, spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. It is both authoritative and confidential. The Bhagavad-Gita answers very clearly the most pressing questions of human life, about harmony in society and the environment, and about human beings relationship with God. Here are some of the questions and their answers:

Question: Who am I?

Answer of the Gita: “The living beings in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmentary parts. Because they lead a conditioned life, they struggle very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Bg 15.7)

Question: Who is God?

Answer of the Gita: “Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Narada, Asita, Devala, and Vyasa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.” (Bg 10.12-13)

Question: Where is God?

Answer of the Gita: “I dwell in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. I can be recognised through all the Vedas; indeed, I am the author of the Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” (Bg 15.15)

Question: How does one attain God?

Answer of the Gita: “Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.” (Bg. 9.34)

Question: How can one control the mind and senses?

Answer of the Gita: “The Blessed Lord said: O strong-armed son of Kunti, it is no doubt very difficult to restrain the restless mind, but by constant practice and detachment it is possible.” (Bg. 6.35)

Question: How can peace and happiness be attained?

Answer of the Gita: “Knowing Me as the ultimate goal of all sacrifices and penances, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-meaning friend of all living beings, the wise attain peace from the pangs of material existence.” (Bg. 5.29)

Question: What is sin and what are its consequences?

Answer of the Gita: “My dear Arjuna, a person who does not follow this prescribed Vedic system of sacrifice leads a life of sin, as one who finds pleasure only in the senses lives in vain.” (Bg. 3.16)

Question: What is a guru and how should one approach him?

Answer of the Gita: “Try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Ask him questions in a humble attitude and serve him. The self-realised soul can reveal knowledge to you because he has seen the truth.” (Bg. 4.34)

Question: Who is our greatest enemy?

Answer of the Gita: “The Blessed Lord said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world.” (Bg. 3.37)

Question: Why do happiness and suffering constantly alternate in this world?

Answer of the Gita: “Thus the living being in material nature follows the paths of life and enjoys the three modes of nature. This has its cause in the connection with this material nature. In this way it meets with good and bad among the different modes of life.” (Bg. 13.22)

Question: What is the purpose of chanting God’s holy names?

Answer of the Gita: “Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.” (Bg. 9.14)

Question: What is yoga?

Answer of the Gita: “Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.” (Bg. 2.48)

Question: How can we reawaken our God-consciousness?

Answer from the Gita: “Freed from attachment, fear and anger, completely absorbed in thoughts of Me and seeking refuge in Me, many, many people in the past were purified through knowledge of Me. And so they all attained transcendental love for Me.” (Bg. 4.10)

Question: What is the secret of all secrets?

Answer of the Gita: “This knowledge is the king of education and the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives a direct experience of the Self through realisation, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting and is practised with joy.” (Bg. 9.2)

Question: What does Sri Krishna recommend?

Answer from the Gita: “Give up all kinds of religion and just surrender to Me. I will free you from all sinful reactions. Do not be afraid.” (Bg. 18.66)

And last but not least: Why is this edition of Bhagavad-gita “As It Is”?

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is the name of the Bhagavad-gita presented by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder and acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

Time and again, translators have neglected the personality of Krishna when translating the Bhagavad-gita into German because they wanted to make room for their own ideas and philosophies. The story of the Mahabharata is dismissed as whimsical mythology and Krishna becomes a poetic tool to portray the ideas of an anonymous genius, or at best He becomes an insignificant historical figure.

However, if one sticks to the text of this book, the person of Krishna is both the goal and the content of the Bhagavad-gita.

Lord Sri Krishna says, “The aim of all the Vedas is to realise Me; verily. I am the author of the Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” (BG 15.15)

“Of all that is material and all that is spiritual in this world, know for certain that I am both its origin and dissolution.” (BG7.6)

“O conquerer of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.” (BG 7.7)

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.“(BG 18.66)

“Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.” (BG 18.65)

The Bhagavad-gita As It Is aims to lead the reader towards Krishna, and not away from Him. In this respect, the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, is unique. What is also unique is that the Bhagavad Gita is completely consistent and understandable in this way. Since Krishna is the speaker of the Gita and also its ultimate goal, the Bhagavad-gita As it Is presents this great scripture in its true statements and fulfills the original intent of the Bhagavad-gita, namely, to liberate humanity from the ignorance of material existence. See also Commentaries on the Bhagavad-gītā:

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