Srīmad Bhagavad Gītā Bhāşya of Sri Samkarācāryaith: W Text in Devanagiri and English Rendering and Index of First Lines of Verses

by Adi Shankaracharya, A.G. Krishna Warrier (Translator)

The Bhagavad Gita with the commentary of Shankara. It should be noted that in the Sanskrit text of Shankara's commentary, the laws of euphonious combinations or samdhi have not all been strictly followed according to Panini's aphorisms. The aim is rather to enable readers not versed in the intricacies of Sanskrit grammar to get familiar with the original text. With text in Devanagari, English rendering and index of first lines of verses.
This edition is especially sought after by those who want Sankara's commentary. The translator is a retired professor of Sanskrit and an accomplished scholar in Vedanta Philosophy

672 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1984

About the author

Adi Shankara(788 CE - 820 CE), also known as Śaṅkara Bhagavatpādācārya and Ādi Śaṅkarācārya was an Indian guru from Kalady of present day Kerala who consolidated the doctrine of advaita vedānta. His teachings are based on the unity of the ātman and brahman— non-dual brahman, in which brahman is viewed as nirguna brahman, brahman without attributes.

Shankara travelled across India and other parts of South Asia to propagate his philosophy through discourses and debates with other thinkers. He is reputed to have founded four mathas ("monasteries"), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara is believed to be the organizer of the Dashanami monastic order and the founder of the Shanmata tradition of worship.

His works in Sanskrit concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of advaita (nondualism). He also established the importance of monastic life as sanctioned in the Upanishads and Brahma Sutra, in a time when the Mimamsa school established strict ritualism and ridiculed monasticism. Shankara represented his works as elaborating on ideas found in the Upanishads, and he wrote copious commentaries on the Vedic canon (Brahma Sutra, principal upanishads and Bhagavad Gita) in support of his thesis. The main opponent in his work is the Mimamsa school of thought, though he also offers arguments against the views of some other schools like Samkhya and certain schools of Buddhism.

AKA Śaṅkarācārya; Śaṃkara; Śaṃkarācārya; Ṣaṅkara Āchārya; Shamkaracharya; Çamkara; Śaṃkara-bhagavat-pāda; Shankara; Çankara; Ādi Śaṅkara; Shankarâchârya; Śaṁkarācharya; Sankara; Shang-chieh-lo; Shangjieluo; Śankaracharya; Adi Sankar; Āticaṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Caṅkarācārya Svāmikaḷ; Adi Sankaracharya; Āticaṅkar; Āticaṅkarācāriyar; Āticaṅkarar; Adi Sankaracarya; Adi Shankaracharya; Camkaracarya

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too tired from reading this to write a review

[Venkat Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The original erudite commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.

Swami Vivekananda said: The greatest teacher of the Vedanta philosophy was Śaṅkarācārya. By solid reasoning, he extracted from the Vedas the truths of Vedanta, and on them built up the wonderful system of Jñāna that is taught in his commentaries... Jñāna is taught very clearly by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. This great poem is held to be the Crown jewel of all Indian literature. It is a kind of commentary on the Vedas. It shows us that our battle for spirituality must be fought out in this life; so we must not flee from it, but rather compel it to give us all that it holds. Through chapter after chapter, Krishna teaches the higher truths of philosophy and religion to Arjuna. It is these teachings which make this poem so wonderful; practically the whole of the Vedanta philosophy is included in them (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 8.1.1.2).

It was Śaṅkarācārya, who discovered the importance of the Gītā and preached it to the people by writing a commentary on it.

Anyone interested in getting a profound understanding of the Bhagavad Gita must read this book.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't speak to the translation (there's at least one other available), but I found this readable and highly informative. If you want a classical Indian commentary on the Gita, this volume or the version by Ramanuja would be the book. Having recently read Nikhilananda's texts on Shankara's commentary on the Upanishads, this one (Advaita framework) was a natural for me. Some prior reading on / familiarity with the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta would be helpful before starting this volume.