Is Bhagavad Gita difficult to understand? Take any verse and this book gives, simultaneously, a simple introduction to the novice, a philosophical understanding for the initiated and plenty of cross-references for the nuanced reader. The writing is mathematically precise in unravelling the jargon, making Krishna's teachings accessible and relevant for you today. You may feel that Krishna Himself is talking to you in an intimate way, motivating you into working towards your own spiritual evolution.

Prof. V.Krishnamurthy is a former Professor of Mathematics and Deputy Director of BITS Pilani with over two decades of association with that great Institution. Born in 1927 into the family of an erudite Vedic scholar, Shri. R. Visvanatha Shastrigal, he has been systematically trained and drunk deep of the Vedic tradition and Shastras from boyhood. This shines in the present offering. He has lectured widely to both domestic and foreign audiences on our ancient scriptures like the Upanishads, Valmiki Ramayana, Shrimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita. As a prolific writer with more than a dozen books on Mathematics, Hinduism and Advaita Philosophy, he is noted for his missionary zeal for making these accessible to the educated layman. His latest publication among others is Meet the Ancient Scriptures of Hinduism. In addition, he is a recipient of half a dozen awards and honours for his distinguished thoughts and contributions, the latest being a Grateful 2 Gurus Award by the Indic Academy.

THUS SPAKE KRISHNA is the Bhagavad-GITA, shloka by shloka with meanings and explanations of Krishna's teachings. It is unimaginable how this unique conversation between man and God took place right on the battlefield and how it remains, as the most sought-after teaching, even after several millenia, not only on spiritual matters but also for purposeful living in this world.

The inspiration for writing this book came from a series of classes that I had the good fortune to present to my friends, who devotedly followed and got deeply involved in the subject over more than a year of weekly sittings. The interlinking of shlokas within the GItA and the copious cross-referencing of the content from various scriptures, appealed immensely to this motley group of mostly newcomers to the study of the GITA. These interactions impelled me to put pen to paper and bring forth this book. In the process of conveying the complexities of the philosophical content involved, certain helpful presentations of charts were used and these, combined with other supplementary essays/articles for the understanding of the nuances of the divine exposition, constitute the two sets of appendices kept at the end of the book.

Most of my thoughts and style can be traced back to the exceptional training I received, even as a boy, almost involuntarily, from the talks and writings of my father-cum-guru Brahma Sri R. Visvanatha Sastrigal. (1882-1956). It is from him that I learnt to connect statements in the GIA with the various scriptural master-pieces like, Srimad Bhagavatam, Mandukya KArikA, Manu Smriti, Mahabharata., Tirukkural, Valmiki Ramayana., various Upanishads, Avadhoota GITA, Shiva GITA, Yoga- vAshishhTaM and other scrpitural writings.

In the writing of this book I crave the pardon of GItA-stalwarts like, Sri Aurobindo, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Swami Dayananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Paramarthananda, Swami Tapasyananda, Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha and a few others, whose words I might have carried verbatim at several places, without directly mentioning their names, mostly because of my continued familiarity with their invaluable writings.

Two Vedantic scholar-friends, whom I hold in great esteem: Acharya Kuntimaddi Sadananda and Subrahmaniam Vaidyanathan, alias Subbu- ji, often helped clear subtle points in my understanding of the GIA. I am deeply grateful for their help.

Most Respectful PraNAms to Jagadguru Kanchi Kamakoti Shankaracharya for a valuable Srimukham and to Swami Paramarthananda for the earliest blessings for the book. In addition, my indebtedness to the five erudite scholars Acharya Sadananda, Dr. K. Aravinda Rao, Sri Subbu-ji, Sri Ram V. Chandran and Sri Sarma Sastrigal for devoting enough time and energy to read through my manuscript and write very encouraging incisive forewords to this book. Most of all I bow in grateful appreciation of the Indic Academy, with its head, Sri Harikiran Vadlamani, for sponsoring and undertaking the publication of this work.

The tiny text The Bhagavad Gita, with only 700 verses in it, is indeed an ocean of philosophical, religious and sociological thought, meant to overhaul the inner personality of the reader. Several deep-ocean divers have explored this ocean, but every time we find a new diver coming up with a wonderful vision and a novel way of presenting issues. The present text by Prof. VK is one such. I deem it a privilege to explore his research and express my impressions about the book.

Prof VK imbibed traditional education from his father, Sri Visvanatha Sastrigal, a renowned Vedanta scholar of his day, whose book 'Gitamrita- Mahodadhi' (The Great Ocean of Nectar of the Gita) in Sanskrit has been of great inspiration to the writer, as acknowledged by him. However, as a Professor in Mathematics, Sri VK has evolved a mathematical approach for spiritual progress while explaining the Gita.

The book is not a mere conventional type of writing on the Gita with word to word meaning and explanation. It has analyzed the content and divided each chapter into several lessons followed by questions and answers. In the introduction we find the writer's way of classifying the verses as the five-star verses (which demand deep attention), pinnacle sloka-s which reflect grandeur, trademark verses which are popular among most people.

A total overview of the argument in the Gita is given in an introductory chapter, which is called as chapter zero. We rarely see this term, but the mathematician-writer has prepared the ground zero to build the edifice. As we enter the text, we see that the writer is sensitive to what he rightly calls the imperfectly translatable words. He prefers to avoid terms like 'soul' while referring to jiva, because the term soul has different connotations in other religious traditions. Similarly, he does not prefer to translate the words such as sthita-prajna, or jnani, as they can only be translated inadequately. The student can know the full import of the words if he or she can know the etymological meanings and the accepted meaning in Vedanta tradition.

In each chapter the writer brings out what he calls the FMs, the fundamental maxims. For instance, while explaining forbearance, he notices the maxim, 'EVERY EXPERIENCE IS TRANSIENT (2-14). The writer says, 'remember to think every experience as THIS TOO WILL PASS'. A right message to situations like corona too. Another FM is the ACTIONLESSNESS OF THE SUPREME LORD. We find such FMs all through. With such forceful presentation, the reader's attention never deviates from what is being told.

The eternal nature of the jina is told in the very beginning by Krishna (2-16). This is one of the five-star verses for all commentators. Similar is the verse on the seer and the seen (13-2). The nature of Reality and the degree of reality of the world are discussed in the commentary on such verses. The writer has brought out one of the most important messages of the Gita with great clarity.

**Contents and Sample Pages**