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sowalsky's review against another edition
2.0
Those who criticize Western religions due to their reliance on divine revelation should be happy to criticize Hindu scriptures on the same grounds. While the Mantras found in this volume are often thought-provoking, whether they are actually enlightening or not will depend on the individual, and your mileage may vary. What is clear to this reader, however, is that the translator/editor's commentary, the so-called "Purports," which make up the vast bulk of the text here, are a confounding word salad of seeming mystical mumbo-jumbo which is only barely, and in a limited number of cases, elucidated by the anemic Glossary included in the back of this volume.
The commentary abounds with dubious statements such as, "There are 8,400,00 species or forms of life, of which the human form, qualified by brahminical culture, presents the only chance to obtain knowledge of transcendence," which should come as welcome news to naturalists. Or this tidbit, undoubtedly of interest to NASA: "The living being's activities are performed within the body through the movements of different kinds of air... The soul is supposed to rise from one circle of air to another until it rises to the brahma-randhra, the highest circle. From that point the perfect yogi can transfer himself to any desired planet." Perhaps it's a cultural thing. Or, what I suspect is more likely, these statements -- and many, many others like them -- are meant in a figurative or symbolic sense. But then, if the goal of the commentator is to elucidate his beliefs to a largely ignorant Western audience, perhaps he should have been more explicit in this regard? It was also not lost on me that a certain amount of the commentary was given over to what appears to be sectarian squabbling. Overall, I found the Bhagavad-Gita a much more rewarding read.
The commentary abounds with dubious statements such as, "There are 8,400,00 species or forms of life, of which the human form, qualified by brahminical culture, presents the only chance to obtain knowledge of transcendence," which should come as welcome news to naturalists. Or this tidbit, undoubtedly of interest to NASA: "The living being's activities are performed within the body through the movements of different kinds of air... The soul is supposed to rise from one circle of air to another until it rises to the brahma-randhra, the highest circle. From that point the perfect yogi can transfer himself to any desired planet." Perhaps it's a cultural thing. Or, what I suspect is more likely, these statements -- and many, many others like them -- are meant in a figurative or symbolic sense. But then, if the goal of the commentator is to elucidate his beliefs to a largely ignorant Western audience, perhaps he should have been more explicit in this regard? It was also not lost on me that a certain amount of the commentary was given over to what appears to be sectarian squabbling. Overall, I found the Bhagavad-Gita a much more rewarding read.
devm108's review against another edition
5.0
Such ancient knowledge, with the help of which one can cross the vast of ocean of life and skies to go back to Godhead, can only be understood by the commentry of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.