Ramanuja On The Gita

Srimad Bhagavad Gita is now widely recognised as a scriptural text of worldwide importance. Sri Ramanuja is one of the noted commentators on the Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana and the Bhagavad Gita. This has brought him recognition as one of the greatest exponents of Vedanta from the Vaishnava point of view. Swami Adidevananda, one of the distinguished scholarly monks of the Ramakrishna Order who retained his inherent Sri Vaishnava heritage, has translated the original verses and Sri Ramanuja’s commentary into English. This book is of special importance because it is the only English translation now available with the original Sanskrit commentary as well. The book opens with meditation on the Gita followed by the Gitartha-sangraha of Sri Yamunacharya with English translation. Swami Tapasyananda, who was a scholarly monk with deep devotional temperament and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order, has written a scholarly introduction to this work.

An attempt is made in this book to give the meaning of the verses of Gita and highlight a few salient features of Ramanuja Siddhanta. Four books are required to be studied for a thorough understanding of the religious philosophy of Visishtadvaita. They are Sri Bashyam, Gita Bashyam, Bhagavad Vishayam and Rahasya Traya Saram. Sri Bhashya, the commentary on Brahma Sutras, is polemical in nature meant for those who are well versed in the exercise of Nyaya or Logic. But the Gita Bhashyam is free from polemics, meant for all discerning public. Three great teachers of the tradition, namely, Ramanuja, his predecessor Yamuna and his successor, Deshika, have dealt with the subject matter of Gita. Deshika's Gitartha Sangraha (Tamil) is used to sum up the chapters of Gita. Finally, references are made, where necessary, to a few books in English written by modern scholars for further reading.

In this book published by Advaita Ashrama (Publication House of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India), the author closely follows Sri Ramanuja’s commentary on the Gita with singular conviction and remarkable ability. He gives the connection from verse to verse and chapter to chapter and brings out all this in a conspicuous manner. He presents clearly and concretely the comprehensive ideal of the Gita with insight and authority. This book is a distinct contribution to the Gita literature.

The Bhagavad-Gita, with the commentary of Sri Sankaracharya

For years, this edition of the Bhagavad Gītā has allowed all those with a lively interest in this spiritual classic to come into direct contact with the richness and resonance of the original text. Winthrop Sargeant's interlinear edition provides a word-for-word English translation along with the devanagari characters and the transliterated Sanskrit. Detailed grammatical commentary and page-by-page vocabularies are included, and a complete translation of each section is printed at the bottom of each page, allowing readers to turn the pages and appreciate the work in Sargeant's translation as well. Discussions of the language and setting of the Gītā are provided and, in this new edition, editor Christopher Key Chapple offers guidance on how to get the most out of this interlinear edition. Long a favorite of spiritual seekers and scholars, teachers and students, and lovers of world literature, Sargeant's edition endures as a great resource for twenty-first-century readers.

Bhakti Schools of Vedānta’, of which this volume is a part, is a work intended to bring to the notice of the general reader that it is not correct to equate Vedānta exclusively with Advaita Vedānta, associated with Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. There are several other Ācāryas who have expounded the Vedānta in quite a different way and whose status as teachers of Vedānta requires recognition. The personages treated in the above book are Sri Rāmānuja, Śrī Nimbārka, Śrī Vallabha, Śrī Madhva and Śrī Caitanya. Besides their theo-philosophies, detailed accounts of their lives are given. For it is the support of their lives that gives more authority to their teachings than the philosophical writings of mere armchair philosophers. The frame-work of their lives is mainly historical, but most of the miraculous and extraordinary incidents mentioned in them may largely be projections of the pious imaginations of their followers. These too are to be respectfully received and not pooh-poohed as mere cock and bull stories. It is the way of the Indian mind to convey the idea that these Ācāryas are endowed with extraordinary powers. But for this, their teachings could not have survived through so many centuries influencing the lives of innumerable generations of men.