The Bhagavad Gita (Vintage)

Translated and with a Preface by Eknath Easwaran (1910 - 1999).

122 Pages | A Vintage Spiritual Classic Original 2000; abridged version | Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., New York | ISBN: 9780375705557.

The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit for 'Song of the Lord') is the most famous poem in all of Hindu literature and part of the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic. The Gita consists of a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Prince Arjuna on the morning of a climactic battle. Krishna provides Prince Arjuna with the spiritual means to take action under trying circumstances . Of course, the larger canvas painted in the poetry is that of the moral universe of Hinduism. As the late noted teacher and scholar Eknath Easwaran writes in the Preface:

'The Gita does not present a system of philosophy. It offers something to every seeker after God, of whatever temperament, by whatever path. The reason for this universal appeal is that it is basically practical: it is a handbook for Self-realization and a guide to action'.

From Chapter 4 - 'Wisdom in Action' (p. 25):

" The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results; all his selfish desires have been consumed in the fire of knowledge. The wise, ever satisfied, have abandoned all external supports. Their security is unaffected by the results of their action; even while acting, they really do nothing at all. Free from expectations and from all sense of possession, with mind and body firmly controlled by the Self, they do not incur sin by the performance of physical action. "