The Git

The first really readable, authoritative English translation of one of the world's oldest and greatest religious classics was published last fortnight. It is The Bhagavad Gita (The Song of the Lord), often called the Hindu New Testament, translated by Swami Nikhilananda (Rama-krishna-Vivekananda Center, New York; $3). Also published, without the profuse notes and comments of the larger volume, was a $2 pocket-size edition of the Glta's text ("for daily devotional study . . . very convenient when traveling").

Says Harvard's Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, William Ernest Hocking (Contemporary Science and the Idea of God) in his foreword: "May this majestic poem find its way into the familiar literary friendship of many readers, and contribute to the sense of spiritual kinship with the most gifted people of Asia, akin to us both in blood and language."

The Gita is daily spiritual reading for millions of Hindus, from man-in-the-street to monk. It forms a part of the 2,000-year-old Mahabharata (Greater India). The Bhagavad Gita comprises 18 chapters of the Mahabharata, takes the form of a dialogue between Sri Krishna, also a manifestation of God, and Arjuna, an Indian prince.

Arjuna and Krishna. The Gita is just as timely as it was 2,000 years ago, for it opens with the problem of the righteous man's attitude toward war. Drawn up on the historic plain of Kurukshetra, on chariots, elephants, horses and afoot, were thousands of Indian warriors. They had assembled to fight a battle to decide who should rule a kingdom. Arjuna was the rightful contender, and Krishna, in person, was with him on the vast plain.

The sight of the armies made Arjuna weep. It was senseless (and sinful) that so many men should die for his earthly glory. To Krishna, Arjuna recited the evils of war as they have always been known to men who have always made wars. "O Krishna," he cried, "at the sight of these my kinsmen assembled here eager to give battle, my limbs fail and my mouth is parched . . . . I desire neither victory nor empire nor even any pleasure. . . . I would not kill though they should kill me. . . . Far better would it be for me if [they] should slay me in the battle unarmed and unresisting."

The Unreal Never Is. Krishna knew that Arjuna's confusion arose from his failure to discriminate between the Real and the unreal, Spirit and matter, Soul and body. Said Krishna: "The unreal never is. The Real never ceases to be. . . . None can cause the destruction of that which is immutable. Only the bodies of which this eternal, imperishable, incomprehensible Self is the indweller, are said to have an end. Fight, therefore. . . . He who looks on the Self as the slayer, and he who looks on the Self as the slain--neither of these apprehends aright. The Self slays not, nor is slain. It is never born nor does It ever die, nor, having once been, does It again cease to be. Unborn, eternal, permanent, and primeval, It is not slain when the body is slain. . . ."

Krishna goes on to explain that it is futile to oppose God's will, since all things have been accomplished already in His foreordaining mind: "By Me and none other have they already been slain. Be an instrument only, O Arjuna . . . . To a warrior nothing is better than a righteous war."

Fortified by Krishna's teaching, Arjuna dashes into the battle, which lasts 18 days. Arjuna wins.

Spiritual Allegory. Later Krishna points out the three stages of man's spiritual evolution: 1) dualism, in which man identifies himself only with his body ; 2 ) qualified non-dualism, in which man regards himself as a part of God; 3) absolute non-dualism, in which man regards himself as one with God. Thus, the Glta is sometimes held to be an allegory. Arjuna represents the individual soul, Krishna the Supreme Being dwelling in every man's heart. The warriors are evil forces besetting man. The battle is the never-ending struggle between good & evil.

The Translator. Swami (Hindu monastic teacher) Nikhilananda, who also translated The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (TIME, Nov. 2, 1942), is a tall, slender, fluent English-speaking Hindu, born (1895) near Calcutta. He was educated in Calcutta University, spent two years as associate editor of one of Calcutta's biggest newspapers, Amrita Bazar Patrika. Later he took his vows in the Hindu monastic Order of Ramakrishna. He came to the U.S. in 1931, went to the Ramakrishna center in Providence. Eleven years ago he opened a center in Manhattan. (There are eleven others in the U.S.)

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.