Bhagavad Gita translations

Which Bhagavad Gita translation do you prefer? I have taken a liking to Prasad's from the gita-society.com... I used to use Prahupada's but I'd rather avoid ISKCON material since it's slanted towards their interpretation. I also have Easwaran's but he uses a lot of untranslated Sanskrit words which make it harder to read.

The Swami Sivananda translation of the Bhagavad Gita.

"Sivananda intensely worked in the Great Work of the Father. Thus, he is a Guru-Deva in the most complete sense of the word."

- Samael Aun Weor

The Paramahansa Yogananda translation of the Bhagavad Gita.

"The Tantric type of Hatha Yoga is extraordinary and leads the esoterist to the realization of the Innermost Self. However, Hatha Yoga without Tantra is like a garden without water.

"The Hindu esoteric school of Laya Yoga with its famous Laya-Kriya Tantric sadhana is marvelous, by all means, and leads the neophytes to the realization of the Innermost Self.

"If Yogananda would have accepted matrimony, it is clear that his Guru would have given him the complete Kriya.

"An in depth Tantra exists in Chinese (Ch’an) Buddhism and also in Japanese Zen. It is lamentable that many Orientalists are content with the mere exterior cortex of Buddhism.

"The medullar bone of esoteric Buddhism and of Taoism is Tantra, Maithuna (Sexual Yoga).

"The Tantric practitioners from secret Tibet and sacred India practice the positive Sexual Yoga; this is to connect the Lingam-Yoni without the ejaculation of the Ens Seminis.

"The Tantric Gurus of Tibet and Hindustan are very strict. Before the male and female Yogi couple has the right to practice the Tantric Sadhana (a sexual position which is very special for the sexual connection among the Tantric practitioners), they first must become experts in the exercises of Laya-Kriya."

- Samael Aun Weor

reply to post by TinFoilHatMan55


I like the Michael Zammit translation into Maltese...ok, I'm only plugging it because I know the guy. And I'm probably the only person on ATS that understands the language.

I had read it but I forget which translation I have and I don't feel like going to my shelf at this hour.

More from Swami Sivananda, on the Bhagavad Gita:


Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Mahasamadhi

The Swami Nikhilananda translation of the Bhagavad Gita.


(See also: Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda; and also Nikhilananda's Upanishads)

Panchatattva Ritual

"According to Indian tradition, Ramakrishna had Sarada Devi sit on the throne of the Divine Mother within the temple. At the same time, he began to sing the hymn to Devi Kundalini with the ancestral ritual ceremony, which culminated in the famous Shorashi Puja, the adoration of woman. He and she achieved Samadhi during the Maithuna... In this way one reaches the point of exercising all power over the Akashic Tattva."

- Samael Aun Weor

"We feel infinite pain when we notice these capricious brethren. Many of them practice marvelous exercises. Certainly there are many good practices in all schools.

"The practices of Yogananda, Vivekananda, Ramacharaka, etc., are admirable. Students practice them with very good intentions. These are very sincere students. We value greatly all those students and all those schools.

"Nonetheless, we feel great and unremediable pain for they who, with such yearning seek for their final liberation. We know that they must engender their internal vehicles. We know they must practice Sexual Magic. We know that only with Sexual Magic will they be able to awaken their Sacred Fire and engender their internal vehicles to incarnate their Soul. We know this through our own experience. Nonetheless, what can we do to convince them? We, the Brethren, suffer greatly... and without remedy..."

- Samael Aun Weor

Swami Sivananda wrote:

Please go through my translation of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

Practice the sort of renunciation advocated by it. It does not require you to renounce family life. You have to live in the world and learn through the world without becoming one of the world. Your duty is to maintain the household, but not to get attached to it. Then and then alone will you have that purity of mind which will enable you to progress on your path towards the attainment of perennial peace, joy and bliss.

Enough of your wrong notions. Awake and understand your true imperishable nature. Behold your true immortal, all-pervading Self and rest in it drinking the nectar of immortality. Follow my instructions. You will be a thoroughly changed personality with inner spiritual strength. Have faith and sincerity. Success is yours. Thou art That.