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buddhafish 's review for:
The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation
by Gavin Flood
124th book of 2021.
Another ancient text down as I persist in reading the older works from world literature and philosophy. This one was surprisingly readable and enjoyable, whether that's down to the translation or not, I don't know. The work isn't too long so I'll definitely be reading it again from other translators and getting a broader image of the original (as possible as that is with translations). The dialogue, not unlike some sort of Socratic dialogue, is between Krishna and Prince Arjuna. The latter is worried about going into battle and fighting his own kin, and turns to the former for advice. What's interesting is that it starts with the idea of war (what is it good for?) and then moves into life itself, tackling many philosophical questions. The Bhagavad Gita is an important Hindu text that was originally written in Sanskrit. It inspired many writers, as my blurb says, such as Isherwood, Huxley, T.S. Eliot, Gandhi, Oppenheimer, et al. It is riddled with underlinable pages, things like,
'Value knowledge over practice,
meditation over knowledge;
highest is renunciation,
whence comes, immediately, peace.'
A worldly source of knowledge, and within you can see so many other philosophies and religious teachings, that goodness and virtue will prevail and those who practice it will reap its rewards someday.
Another ancient text down as I persist in reading the older works from world literature and philosophy. This one was surprisingly readable and enjoyable, whether that's down to the translation or not, I don't know. The work isn't too long so I'll definitely be reading it again from other translators and getting a broader image of the original (as possible as that is with translations). The dialogue, not unlike some sort of Socratic dialogue, is between Krishna and Prince Arjuna. The latter is worried about going into battle and fighting his own kin, and turns to the former for advice. What's interesting is that it starts with the idea of war (what is it good for?) and then moves into life itself, tackling many philosophical questions. The Bhagavad Gita is an important Hindu text that was originally written in Sanskrit. It inspired many writers, as my blurb says, such as Isherwood, Huxley, T.S. Eliot, Gandhi, Oppenheimer, et al. It is riddled with underlinable pages, things like,
'Value knowledge over practice,
meditation over knowledge;
highest is renunciation,
whence comes, immediately, peace.'
A worldly source of knowledge, and within you can see so many other philosophies and religious teachings, that goodness and virtue will prevail and those who practice it will reap its rewards someday.