God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita [Paperback]

Each of the 700 Bhagavad Gita verses is presented in both Sanskrit and English. More importantly, each verse is followed by commentary and expansion that integrates your study of the Gita with the entire spiritual science of Raja (meditative) Yoga. Hundreds of thoughtful commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita have been published over the centuries; some have been finely crafted by brilliant intellects; only a handful have come from realized sages; in this long-awaited Self-Realization Fellowship edition we have the insights of a soul who has experienced and mastered all the spiritual heights extoled by this dearest of Indian scriptures.

Yogananda dictated his commentaries to his most trusted students during retreats to the southern California desert during the late 1940s. Those disciples related how the yoga master would, from his state of samadhi (conscious communion with God), pour out this uninterrupted stream of spiritual erudition throughout the night, surpassing the endurance of his much younger scribes. One close disciple vividly recalls today how merely to enter the room during these divine dictations had the feel of being ''in the very presence of The Divine.'' In meditating lovingly upon his words in these volumes the modern reader may again dip into that Presence.

READING RECOMMENDATION: These volumes are highly distilled spiritual liquor - unsuitable for casual guzzling. The extensive introduction alone provides a spiritual-eye-opening background to the Himalayan heights of India's most venerated scripture. Yogananda therein explains how he applied the special intuitive approach to scripture taught him by his guru, the Puri sage Sri Sri Swami Yukteswarji. From his ability to sustain the highest spiritual state of Nirbikalpa Samadhi, Yogananda would derive his Gita commentary by uniting his consciousness with that of the Gita's author, Vyasa, and of its principles, Bhagavan Krishna and disciple Arjuna. Your intellectual analysis of Yogananda's resulting masterpiece will immediately impress your mind with his ability to reveal multiple levels of meaning from the complexities of the Sanskrit verses; but it will require a gradual digestion of these meanings and quiet reflection (ideally: interspersed with periods of meditation) to begin to assimilate their spiritual potency. As an example of 'gradual' I will mention the approach our local study groups took: reading one page per day, then meeting weekly to meditate and share insights and questions. At this rate the two groups I facilitated each took three years to complete the two volumes - but provided us with our richest spiritual rewards ever. However you pace yourself, first of all SAVOR. Then, best of all, PRACTICE... the guidance offered by Krishna, Vyasa, Arjuna, Yogananda: meditate on The Divinity within and around you.

Namaste. --rp

I have never read a book so filled with wisdom. Paramahansaji's knowledge is plumbless.......and his style of writing unparalleled. The book is the most rational and scientific book on spirituality I have come across. The vibes emanating from this book are so incredible that I feel a certain sacredness toward it.

He that is fortunate enough to read it and even more he that is clever enough to digest and implement it, is blessed.

It is as if Lord Krishna himself wrote it.