Will the Real Bhagavad Gita Please Stand Up?

The Bhagavad Gita is so rich and versatile that it tends to take on the character of the translator or commentator:

Give it to an historian and you get history. (Feuerstein)

Give it to a Bhakti (yoga of love) devotee and you get love. (Schweig)

Give it to a teacher of dharma (life purpose) and you get life purpose. (Cope)

Give it to a social activist and you get social activism. (Gandhi)

Give it to a psychologist and you get psychology. (Dass)

Give it to a believer and you get religion. (Prabhupada)

Give it to a poet and you get poetry. (Mitchell)

Give it to a literature professor, and you get literature. (Easwaran)

Give it to a businessman and you get leadership. (Chatterjee)

This is a far as I’ve personally gotten. Others?

~

See also
Bhagavad Gita in a Nutshell:
Big Ideas & Best Quotations.

Bob Weisenberg is Editor of Best of Yoga Philosophy and former Yoga Editor & Assoc. Publisher of elephant journal. He is the author of Yoga Demystified, Bhagavad Gita in a Nutshell, and Leadership Is Like Tennis, Not Egyptology. as well as Co-editor of Yoga in America and a contributor to The Poetry of Yoga. Contact Bob at facebook, Twitter, or e-mail.