Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita: An exposition of the Gita in the Light of Modern Thought and Modern Needs.

Swami Ranganathananda

Jan 2000 · Advaita Ashrama (A Publication House of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math)

About this ebook

Among the several modern commentaries on the Gita, this one is unique in the sense it is both down to earth and fascinatingly erudite. In explaining every verse, the author, the 13th President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, relates its real connotation and significance to not only what Shankaracharya said in his introduction to the Gita, or how Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda interpreted it in terms of practical Vedanta, but also how it conforms to the thinking of some of the greatest Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.The author also takes the readers on an enlightening voyage of discovery, where they meet Buddha, Mahavir, Tao, Christ and most of the thinkers in the West and he relates their thought by an ingenious interaction with the message of Sri Krishna. Even scientists like Einstein, famous neurologists like Charles Sherrington and poets like Wordsworth and Shelley and philosophers like Julian Huxley and Bertrand Russell are brought in by the author to give the readers an in-depth understanding of this great scripture. The author weaves every verse into the requirements of modern life and throws light on how man should lead his life while involved in his daily chores and fulfil his duties in accordance with the philosophy of action as taught by Sri Krishna.

The book contains the Sanskrit slokas in Devanagari script, their English transliteration, simple meaning in English followed by explanation in English.

Ratings and reviews

A very good book. Everything was explained in a modern narrative. Good to come across various world class personalities. The only disadvantage is the length of the books and at times felt bored hearing the same repetitive things. But overall speaking. It gave a broad understanding of Gita which acts as a core essence of Hinduism.

Divine book...explained in modern 2020 terminology. The Gita is timeless and the Swami explains it for the modern man in search for the meaning of his birth, his life, how work, his sacrifice, his Sadhana, his worship and the goal of his human life. Einstein, Darwin, Gandhi, Plato, Socrates, Radhakrishnan, modern scientists ...all find their place in the modern way of looking at the Gita. Laced with powerful quotations from Swami Vivekananda, youngsters to elders, all will benefit from this wonderful narration by Guruji Swami Ranganathananda.

Request you to please correct the verse 2.7. This verse is only available in English and Sanskrit equivalent is missing. Verse 2.8 Sanskrit has been duplicated here. This means Sanskrit version of 2.7 and 2.8 are same. Please rectify the same.

About the author

Swami Ranganathananda (1908 – 2005), the 13th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, was hailed as one of the greatest exponents of Vedanta in the 20th century, especially in the lines of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. Taking to monastic life at a very young age, the Swami was initiated into Sannyasa in 1933 by Swami Shivananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.

The Swami’s tenure as the head of Ramakrishna Math and Mission centres like New Delhi, RKM Institute of Culture, Kolkata, and Hyderabad marked the development of those centres to new heights especially for the dissemination of spiritual knowledge. His lectures were very popular among the intelligentsia, and auditoriums would be packed with the city’s elite during his brilliant and profound discourses on Vedanta.

Between 1956 and 1972 he went on several world tours as an ambassador of religion and Indian culture, travelling to over fifty countries in North and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe, including the then Communist states of USSR, Poland and Czechoslovakia. During these government sponsored tours, he lectured regularly, tirelessly and brilliantly. Universities, colleges, schools, cultural institutions, clubs and small groups of interested people, all received something solid from him.

From 1973 to 1986, the Swami undertook annual tours to the US, Europe and Australia spreading the message of Vedanta and Ramakrishna-Vivekananda. At the Government’s urging, the Swami gave yearly talks to trainees at the National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, and the National Defence College, Delhi. Generations of administrators and bright minds destined to lead the country heard his wonderful expositions on Indian values and how they could be implemented in administrative fields.

The Swami was a constant traveller and an unrelenting karma-yogi of the highest order who never thought twice about foregoing food and sleep to help people selflessly. In appreciation of his noble contribution as an integrator of humanity, he was honoured in 1985 with the first Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.