Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation
by Stephen Mitchell
List Price:
Our Price: $7.92
You Save: $6.08 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen MitchellEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-08-27
ISBN: 0609810340
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780609810347
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation
Book Review: Mitchell's Gita in a universal spiritual context
Summary: 5 Stars
Remarkable how Mr Mitchell liberates this book from the bondage of Indian philosophy and shows it as the mystical and universal text it needs to be. And with remarkable restraint he represents a universal poem of love to the divine without the western baggage of religiousity and pomp. So there are two qualities to enjoy in this book which put it above other translations.
In the context of 21st century publishing, Mitchell's position is almost unique in having translated and rendered a universal core of spiritual literature. The positioning this book seems pure hearted to me, as part of Mitchell's own seeking, and part of what he has to share to the world. So it is deep in that sense.
But some passages left me puzzled. I know a little bit of sanskrit, much less no doubt than this translator, but specific passages of American will not yield the same nuances of the original language no matter how you twist them, nor will the readership tolerate graceless translations of this luminous poem. It just won't fit into the words!
So the problem if any is between different readerships, the traditional and the modern especially.
The text is beautiful and deep and lovely. I read it over a large coffee in a Borders cafe, then twice at home over the next three days, so its simplicity is not to be doubted. The book really is all it promises to be: a new translation for an open minded readership wishing to gain a quick acquaintence with a deep book. And it works wonders there. Other translations have taken days to read a few chapters at a time and this is so easy to read and digest.
One gripe is that he refers to the female readership in his introduction, because of the male orientation of Krishna's advice. I don't know that this piece of political correctness adds anything at all to the book's timeless quality. When a poem speaks for all humanity for all time, does Mitchell need to concern himself with the lack of a reference to the feminine gender in the text? Surely women can tolerate a few "he" and "his" without threatening their humanism. Frankly I would prefer the next edition delete this from the introduction.
I love this book and intend to read it many times over. I don't think it suffers from Mitchell's universalist spirituality, nor do I think it will go out of print for many years to come, because it is beautifully packaged, lucid to the point of transparency, and appropriately contextualised for the global spirituality of the 21st century.
I highly recommend it.
Summary of Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation
Stephen Mitchell is widely known for his ability to make ancient masterpieces thrillingly new, to step in where many have tried before and create versions that are definitive for our time. His celebrated version of the Tao Te Ching is the most popular edition in print, and his translations of Jesus, Rilke, Genesis, and Job have won the hearts of readers and critics alike. Stephen Mitchell now brings to the Bhagavad Gita his gift for breathing new life into sacred texts.The Bhagavad Gita is universally acknowledged as one of the world's literary and spiritual masterpieces. It is the core text of the Hindu tradition and has been treasured by American writers from Emerson and Thoreau to T. S. Eliot, who called it the greatest philosophical poem after the Divine Comedy. There have been more than two hundred English translations of the Gita, including many competent literal versions, but not one of them is a superlative literary text in its own right.
Now all that has changed. Stephen Mitchell's Bhagavad Gita sings with the clarity, the vigor, and the intensity of the original Sanskrit. It will, as William Arrowsmith said of Mitchell's translation of The Sonnets to Orpheus, "instantly make every other rendering obsolete."
From the Hardcover edition.
On the list of the greatest spiritual books of all time, the Bhagavad Gita resides permanently in the top echelon. This poem of patently Indian genius sprouted an immense tree of devotional, artistic, and philosophical elaboration in the subcontinent. The scene is a battlefield with the prince Arjuna pitted against his own family, but no sooner does the poem begin than the action reverts inward. Krishna, Arjuna's avatar and spiritual guide, points the way to the supreme wisdom and perfect freedom that lie within everyone's reach. Worship and be faithful, meditate and know reality--these make up the secret of life and lead eventually to the realization that the self is the root of the world. In this titular translation, Stephen Mitchell's rhythms are faultless, making music of this ancient "Song of the Blessed One." Savor his rendition, but nibble around the edges of his introduction. In a bizarre mixture of praise and condescension, Mitchell disregards two millennia of Indian commentary, seeking illumination on the text from Daoism and Zen, with the Gita coming up just shy of full spiritual merit. Perhaps we should take it from Gandhi, who used the Gita as a handbook for life, that it nourishes on many levels. --Brian Bruya
Bhagavad Gita Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Bhagavad Gita Books
Beyond Race: The Bhagavad-gita in Black and Whiteby Charles Michael Byrd
Xlibris Corp; Published: 2002-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $30.99
Die Bhagavad Gitaby F. Lorinser
BiblioLife; Published: 2011-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $36.88
Price in other shops:
Hints on the Study of the Bhagavad Gitaby Annie Besant
Kessinger Publishing, LLC; Published: 2010-05-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.12
Price in other shops:
The Bhagavad Gita, Or, the Sacred Lay; A Sanskrit Philosophical Poemby John Davies
General Books LLC; Published: 2010-01-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.32
Price in other shops:
Bhagavad Gita: A Translation of the PoemAutumn Hill Books; Published: 2010-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.01
Price in other shops:
El Yoga del Bhagavad Guita (The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita) (Spanish Edition)by Paramahansa Yogananda
Self-Realization Fellowship; Published: 2010-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.67
Price in other shops:
Commentaries on the Bhagavad Gitaby Sri Chinmoy
Multimedia Pub Corp; Published: 1967-06; Paperback; Book
Bhagavad-gita: Economic Development and Managementby Avadesh K. Srivastava
Abhinav Publications,India; Published: 1980-12; Hardcover; Book
The Bhagavad Gitaby Yogi Ramacharaka
Asia Book Corp of Amer; Published: 1978-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
The Bhagavad Gita (Oxford World's Classics)Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2009-09-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.73
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Hatha Yoga Pradipikaby Swami Muktibodhananda
Bihar School of Yoga; Published: 1998-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.94
Price in other shops:
The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: A New Translation with Commentary (Shambhala Classics)by Patanjali
Shambhala; Published: 2003-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.31
Price in other shops:
Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillnessby Erich Schiffmann
Gallery Books; Published: 1996-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.57
Price in other shops:
Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations and Techniquesby Mark Stephens
North Atlantic Books; Published: 2010-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.07
Price in other shops:
The Key Muscles of Yoga: Scientific Keys, Volume Iby Ray Long
BandhaYoga; Published: 2009-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.76
Price in other shops:
Yoga Anatomy-2nd Editionby Leslie Kaminoff, Amy Matthews
Human Kinetics; Published: 2011-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.88
Price in other shops:
Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipikaby B. K. S. Iyengar
Schocken; Published: 1995-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.46
Price in other shops:
The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practiceby T. K. V. Desikachar
Inner Traditions; Published: 1999-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.05
Price in other shops:
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidanandaby Sri S. Satchidananda
Integral Yoga Publications; Published: 1990-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.05
Price in other shops:
Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)by Lao Tzu
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2006-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.35
Price in other shops: