The Bhagavad Gita: The Song of Life

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Sadhu Vaswani mystic, poet, philosopher - apostle of India's culture, educationist, humanitarian I was born in Hyderabad-Sind on November 25, 1879.

His life was one of unceasing service and sacrifice. He worked on, day after day - wanting nothing for himself, seeking only opportunities to serve the poor, the lowly and the lost. He kept away from earthly honours and always rejoiced in wisdom as his wealth and the service of the distressed and oppressed as the treasure of his quest. In the words of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, then- President, Indian Republic, "the life of Vaswaniji has been a saga of unassuming service, spiritual illumination and a source of inspiration to us all."

He was a gifted orator and a prolific writer - the author of over five hundred books and booklets. His teaching, in brief, is that in the love of God and the service of man is the secret of true life. His heart rose in reverence to all saints and prophets of East and West. He believed in the unity of all races and religions in the One Spirit. He awakened many with his clarion call:"Build ye a Bridge of Brotherhood between East and West."

The Gita is a song: and a song is a synthesis. The Gita is music: its many notes are blended, one with the other, in a beautiful whole. A Hindu teacher of wisdom rightly says: "All the Upanishads are the cows, the Lord Himself is the Milker, Arjuna is the calf, those of purified under- standing are the drinkers of the milk, the supreme nectar of the Gita."

In the Bhagavad Gita, philosophy bursts into Song. It is, perhaps, the greatest philosophical poem in the world's literature.

The objective yoga of the Vedas and the subjective yoga of the Upanishads are taken up in the synthesis of the Gita. I know of no other scripture which is, in so rich a measure, a scripture of synthesis. The Gita grows out of a vision of supreme synthesis.

The Gita flows from the very heart of Ancient Wisdom. It flowed from India to other nations. It will flow again in the New Age. In this faith I work.

From India, Ancient Wisdom flowed to Assyria and Egypt, to Judea, Greece and Rome, to Tibet and China, to Korea and Japan.

In the morning of history was given the wisdom of the Gita. It was given in the cradle of the Race. Let the culture of India be judged by the Gita.

The Gita is not, to me, a text-book in abstract metaphysic. The Gita I interpret as a song-offering of the Lord of Love to humanity. Men have turned to it for theories, systems, theologies, cold abstract speculations, I read it for spiritual inspiration. Dr. Thomas regards the Gita as "the richest and still the greatest monument to Hindu religion".

I hold that better than metaphysic is life. To me the Gita is a song of Life. I study the Gita not to find support for this theory or that, but to receive inspiration for daily work in the field of life.

I study the Gita not as a document but as a song of creative life, a song of the Spirit. Systems and theologies are products of the mind. But there are, I submit, higher values than what the mind reveals. The Gita subordinates the mind to the Atman. The categories of the mind will not take us beyond a mechanical order. The organic order, that of life, is revealed by the Atman, the Spirit.

Sadhu Vaswani was hailed by those who knew him well, as "a living Gita". He not only read the Gita, reflected on it, spoke of it and wrote about it - he lived the ideals of the Gita in daily life.
This volume offers the sacred text of the Gita in the original Sanskrit along with an English transliteration. Each sloka is followed by Sadhu Vaswani's lucid translation and brilliant commentary.