Member Reviews

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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Stephen Mitchell's translation is very pretty, and the introduction is included. It's a quick read and worth the few hours total you'll spend on it (if you read it slowly to let it sink in). Pearls of wisdom that might be difficult to understand are thankfully drilled and repeated throughout the poem in such a manner that it's very hard not to "get it" by the time you're done...whether or not you'll take it to heart...whether or not you can FOLLOW that advice or believe it's correct is up to you. Even so, it is a beautiful piece of writing in praise to God, and even if you're not Hindu, it's pretty easy to transfer that praise of God to whatever you believe in and appreciate it just as much.”

  Alice in Madness wrote this review Wednesday, August 13 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “Gorgeously translated. This might actually be better than the original. If not, I should definitely learn Sanskrit. Although repetitive at times, the poetic heights it reaches at some points more than makes up for the occasional dullness. It tapers off near the end, becoming much less poetic and I had to make myself finish it.”

  Yuri G wrote this review Saturday, July 12 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “I read this (with a group) and it has many words of wisdom. I'm not crazy about war/conflict but sometimes it is necessary. I just think it wouldn't be necessary quite so often if there weren't so much testosterone floating around.”

  Bette L wrote this review Tuesday, November 20 2007. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “The Bhagavad Gita can be read just as a work of literature, but it is pretty hard to understand it without reading some background material.
  
  The poem is one small part of the Mahabharata, one of the longest and most influential epic texts in the world. I came to this text through reading Ghandi, who is known for having read passages of the Bhagavad Gita most every day. It was his favorite text, so you can imagine my surprise when I found that it started on a battleground with a justification of killing. ^_^; There are parts of the Bible that I love, but compared to most Biblical stories, the Bhagavad Gita is a page turner. ^_^
  
  The various translations of this text differ quite a bit. It was written sometime between the second and fifth century B.C. (probably), so there is a lot of room for difference in translation. If you are really interested in this text, you probably want to invest in more than one translation to compare.”

  Peach wrote this review Tuesday, July 24 2007. ( reply | permalink )