What do you think?
Rate this book
The Bhagavad Gita With the Uttara Gita
The Bhagavad Gita, translated with an instructive and compelling introduction by Raghavan Iyer, is a luminous rendition of this timeless spiritual classic, universally appreciated for its profound truth and practical relevance. The dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, between God and Man, is elegantly rendered into English, accompanied by the original Sanskrit text in transliteration. Each verse of the eighteen discourses is complemented by an apposite and incisive citation drawn from the world's spiritual and philosophical heritage. This volume contains a rendition of the rare Uttara Gita, as well as seven texts for contemplation, including "Bhishma's Last Message to Yudhishthira", "The Nine Stages of Devotion", "The Ten Incarnations", "The Self-Governed Sage", read daily in Mahatma Gandhi's ashram, and "Self-Knowledge", forty-two verses chosen by Shri Ramana Maharshi. There is a helpful guide to pronunciation, a detailed glossary and a thematic index, as well as a valuable note on "The Mystic Number Eighteen".
408 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1985
17 people want to read
About the author
Raghavan N. Iyer
28 books7 followersRaghavan Narasimhan Iyer was born in Madras, India on March 10, 1930, the son of Narasimhan Iyer and Lakshmi Iyer. He was educated at the Universities of Bombay and Oxford. At Bombay he received first class honors in Economics and won a variety of commendations and prizes, including the Chancellor's Medal. At the age of 18 he became the youngest lecturer in the University of Bombay, at Elphinstone College. After being awarded his master's degree in Advanced Economics in Bombay, he was sent as the sole Rhodes Scholar for India for 1950 to Magdalen College, Oxford. He secured First Class Honors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and later received the D. Phil. Degree in moral and political philosophy. While a student at Oxford, he was elected President of the Oxford Union, the Voltaire Society, the Oxford Majlis, the Oxford University Peace Association, the Oxford Social Studies Association and several other societies.
On returning to India, he served as Director of the Indian Institute of World Culture and as Associate Editor of the Aryan Path. He then served as Chief Research Officer for the Head of the Planning Commission of the Indian Government, and helped to elaborate the theory of democratic planning.
In 1956 he returned to Oxford, where he taught Moral and Political Philosophy for eight years. He was Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oslo, Ghana and Chicago. He also lectured at the College of Europe in Belgium, the Erasmus Seminar in Holland, and at Harvard, Bowdoin, Berkeley, U.C.L.A., Rand Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. He was actively associated with the world federalist movement in Europe, participated in many television and radio programmes of the B.B.C. and lectured at various international conferences in Sweden, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and Japan.
He settled permanently in Santa Barbara in 1965, where he was a Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara until his retirement in 1986. He became a Consultant to the Fund for the Republic, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Academy of World Studies and the Management Development Institute of the State of California. From 1971 to 1982 he was a member of the Club of Rome, and from 1978 to 1988 he was a member of the Reform Club in London. In the Spring of 1985 he was Alton Brooks Visiting Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. He was also a member of the American Society for Legal and Political Philosophy, the International Society for Gandhian Studies and the International Society for Neo-Platonic Studies.
In 1988 he visited the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, met Dr. Broadus Butler and Bishop Featherstone, and intoned the Gayatri mantram for the sake of all souls. In New Orleans he paid tribute to the memory of Louis Armstrong, the herald of 'the American Century'. In Savannah, Georgia he entered into a deep midnight meditation at the Pulaski monument by the sea, invoking myriad stars in accordance with ancient custom, on behalf of the disinherited billions upon this earth.
After five and one-half decades of service to the Theosophical Movement and to the emerging City of Man, Sri Raghavan Iyer passed away on June 20, 1995 in Santa Barbara, California. His profound insights into the spiritual promise and therapeutic trials of contemporary man, his radical proposals for creative modes of individual and collective growth, and his deep devotion to a new and more vibrant world culture will continue to resonate to myriad, receptive souls for generations and centuries to come.
On returning to India, he served as Director of the Indian Institute of World Culture and as Associate Editor of the Aryan Path. He then served as Chief Research Officer for the Head of the Planning Commission of the Indian Government, and helped to elaborate the theory of democratic planning.
In 1956 he returned to Oxford, where he taught Moral and Political Philosophy for eight years. He was Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oslo, Ghana and Chicago. He also lectured at the College of Europe in Belgium, the Erasmus Seminar in Holland, and at Harvard, Bowdoin, Berkeley, U.C.L.A., Rand Corporation and the California Institute of Technology. He was actively associated with the world federalist movement in Europe, participated in many television and radio programmes of the B.B.C. and lectured at various international conferences in Sweden, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia and Japan.
He settled permanently in Santa Barbara in 1965, where he was a Professor of Political Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara until his retirement in 1986. He became a Consultant to the Fund for the Republic, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Academy of World Studies and the Management Development Institute of the State of California. From 1971 to 1982 he was a member of the Club of Rome, and from 1978 to 1988 he was a member of the Reform Club in London. In the Spring of 1985 he was Alton Brooks Visiting Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. He was also a member of the American Society for Legal and Political Philosophy, the International Society for Gandhian Studies and the International Society for Neo-Platonic Studies.
In 1988 he visited the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, met Dr. Broadus Butler and Bishop Featherstone, and intoned the Gayatri mantram for the sake of all souls. In New Orleans he paid tribute to the memory of Louis Armstrong, the herald of 'the American Century'. In Savannah, Georgia he entered into a deep midnight meditation at the Pulaski monument by the sea, invoking myriad stars in accordance with ancient custom, on behalf of the disinherited billions upon this earth.
After five and one-half decades of service to the Theosophical Movement and to the emerging City of Man, Sri Raghavan Iyer passed away on June 20, 1995 in Santa Barbara, California. His profound insights into the spiritual promise and therapeutic trials of contemporary man, his radical proposals for creative modes of individual and collective growth, and his deep devotion to a new and more vibrant world culture will continue to resonate to myriad, receptive souls for generations and centuries to come.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 12, 2013
Though this book is written well, it has quotations from various acharyas of different sampradaya-s and some western philosophers like socrates and plato.
It has uttara Gita, but does not contain sanskrit verses.
In Gita, sanskrit is typed in English (romanized sanskrit) and not in devanagari lipi.
It has more vaishnav approach.
There is no commentary. There is translation and then comments by acharya-s like Adi Shankara, Madhusudan Saraswati, Ramanujacharya, plato, socrates, etc. Due to this, there is no consistency of thought.
It has summary of all chapters of Gita in brief by Yamunacharya.
It looks like this book is tailor made for west.
Not good for those who wish to study in traditional way.
It has uttara Gita, but does not contain sanskrit verses.
In Gita, sanskrit is typed in English (romanized sanskrit) and not in devanagari lipi.
It has more vaishnav approach.
There is no commentary. There is translation and then comments by acharya-s like Adi Shankara, Madhusudan Saraswati, Ramanujacharya, plato, socrates, etc. Due to this, there is no consistency of thought.
It has summary of all chapters of Gita in brief by Yamunacharya.
It looks like this book is tailor made for west.
Not good for those who wish to study in traditional way.
January 5, 2011
This is my favorite sacred book. I've spent many summers in the mountains with no other reading material but the Concord Grove Press version of the Bhagavad Gita, and felt no lack whatsoever. It has all I need. Each verse is given with the transliterated sanskrit words (so you can feel like you're at least a little bit aware of the original text), the literal translation, and then a quote from some other philosophical or religious source that helps bring out the meaning of the shloka.
The introductory essay by Professor Raghavan Iyer is wonderfully insightful and helpful to the student.
The introductory essay by Professor Raghavan Iyer is wonderfully insightful and helpful to the student.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews