Gita: The Song Extraordinary

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This is a book with an utterly new Interpretation of the Gita. With his excellent analysis of Its key words and phrases and its central and supporting Images, the author argues superbly convincingly that the central message of the Gita is a message of an endless journey from being to becoming and that this message has remained unnoticed in its long history of scholarly interpretations. We have a sense of discovery when the author makes us realize with his apt illustrations and penetrating analysis that there is an underlying similarity between the Gita's message of harmony and the structural orientation of music and that delving deep into the hitherto ignored meaning of the word Gita is necessary for a richer understanding of its message. The Gita, he argues, preaches the philosophy of "and" and not the philosophy of "either or". It has creatively assimilated, he says, the basic tenets of all the main trends of ancient Indian philosophy, has infused into them a new vigour and has given them a new shine. He is probably the first to point out in such an effective and persuasive style in English how this ancient scriptural text anticipated in a seminal form many of the findings of the present- day cosmology, quantum theory. ecology and the like. What the book has to say is, to quote one of its reviewers, "out and out original".

Dr Damodar Thakur is an eminent linguist and stylistician and an internationally known professor of English. He had his higher studies in linguistics and stylistics in British universities and did his Ph. D. under the supervision of Dr David Crystal, an internationally famous linguist. For several years, he was Professor and Chairman of the Foreign Languages Section at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and then the Director of the Regional Centres of the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. For more than two decades, he has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Sana'a in the capital city of Yemen. He is a follower of a great spiritual master, Sri Sri Thakur Anukulchandra, who preached the philosophy of being and becoming and lived the essential unity of all religions. This unique togetherness, in Dr Thakur, of modern trends in Westen education and a deep respect for ancient Indian philosophy, values and classics, augmented and enlivened by the blessings of his great spiritual master can be clearly seen in his masterpiece, Gita: The Song Extraordinary. He has been studying and reflecting on the Gita for about forty years and has lectured on it in England, Australia, and the Middle East and in universities and progressive Clubs in India. His listeners have always felt fascinated and often spellbound by his highly illuminating analysis of this great classic.

The Bhagavadgita is surely one of the most widely read and extensively translated spiritual classics in human history. Basing itself essentially on the principles enunciated in the Upanishads, the Gita takes us forward into the realm of an integrated Yoga encompassing Jnana the way of wisdom, Bhakti - the way of devotion, Karma Yoga the way of dedicated works and Raja Yoga the way of psycho spiritual disciplines. In a short span of 700 verses, the Gita presents a dynamic and integrated view of human life, spiritual striving and the quest for illumination.

Accepted as one of the three foundations of the Vedanta along with Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras.. the Gita has over the centuries emerged as probably the most widely read and influential among the rich diversity of Hindu texts. Every acharya and philosopher in the Hindu tradition has felt obliged to present his own translation and commentary of this great classic.