Sreemad Bhagwad Geeta-A Free Translation Rendered In Modern English

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Some time ago I had asked my niece if she had read the Bhagwad Geeta. Not being proficient in Sanskrit she had to rely on a translation. She had said to me that she had not come across one which explained the Geeta in simple terms. It was for this reason that I undertook to translate and provide a commentary. I cannot provide a better introduction than to quote, selectively, from the letter which I wrote to her. I wrote:

"I think of you living in a foreign country, far away from family and friends, separated from the culture into which you were born and which has nurtured you so far. If you live away for a long time your origins seem to get blurred and you get sucked into something quite foreign. Culture is environmental. But spiritual culture transcends distances. You have said to me that there are many translations of the 'Geeta' but none that explains it in simple terms. It is for this reason that I promised to write a gist of what is in the 'Geeta'. It is with the greatest trepidation that I approached this task. I have tried to make it as simple as possible so that even a young person can understand it. But simplification of the philosophy of the Geeta is a form of transmorgification. The book is so exact. On first reading one feels that perhaps some of the verses could be removed. But on a second or third or more readings you discover that the 700 verses are like bricks in an arch. Remove one and it weakens the arch. Remove more and the whole structure will collapse. So the only way to understand the 'Geeta' is to read the original.

Before I begin to tell you about the "Bhagwad Geeta" let me tell you just a little about the people of Ancient India. About four to five thousand years ago, a lot of immigrants came to India. They entered the country over the Hindukush mountains and the N.W. Himalaya from Afghanistan. (Hindukush is from the original Hindukoh meaning mountain of the Hindus: Himalaya is from Heem = Snow; Alaya = the home: So the "Home of the snow").

These people are thought to have originated in some place near the Caspian sea in Central Asia. They are called Aryan. They worshipped the sun, not a bad thing, because without the sun there would be no life. A lot of today's Europeans are descended from them. The earlier inhabitants of India are known as "Adibashi". In Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, 'Adi" means original and 'bashi' means inhabitant. So "original inhabitant". The earliest of these adibashi are thought to be the 'Gonds'. That is why the land of India before the continents were formed is called "Gondwandaland". The Aryans probably did not have a written language. A lot of their spoken language has entered into the languages of the countries to which they migrated. These are known as "Indo-European" languages. They include all the Sanskrit languages of India, Persian, Latin, German, English, the Romany i.e. Gypsy languages and other related languages.

Debabrata Bose was born in Delhi and educated there. He is an accountant by profession and has lived and worked in London most of his life. He is an amateur photographer and keen mountaineer.

It was while living in Europe that he first discovered the enthusiasm for Hindu philosophy not only among Indian emigrants but also among local people.

This book, written in simple and lucid English is primarily written for lovers of India, settled all over the world.