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The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita
Explained by Paramhansa Yogananda
As remembered by his disciple
Swami
Kriyananda
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Excerpts
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Paperback:
672 pages ISBN: 81-09430-00-4 Hard Cover
Description
Rarely in a
lifetime does a new spiritual classic appear that has the power
to change people's lives and transform future generations. This
is such a book. It shares the profound insights of Paramhansa Yogananda,
as remembered by one of his few remaining direct disciples, Swami
Kriyananda.
Unbelievably, Kriyanandaji finished this work -- comprising as it
did well over six hundred pages -- in less than two months! To everyone,
himself included, it seemed a miracle. "Master's thoughts poured
effortlessly into my mind," Swamiji related, "helping
me to fill page after page with deep insights and inspiration."
"Fortunately,"
he told us, "I have a very clear memory, and can recall vividly
the days I spent in Master's company, reading his entire manuscript,
and helping him with its editing. I said to him at the time, 'Sir,
this is the most wonderful thing I have ever read!'"
This revelation
of India's best-loved scripture approaches it's message from an
entirely fresh perspective, showing its deep allegorical meaning
and also its down-to-earth practicality. This commentary makes these
deep teachings so accessible that it truly has the potential to
bring millions to God as Yogananda predicted.
From Swami
Kriyananda's Preface
The Bhagavad
Gita teaches every important aspect of the spiritual path: during
activity, Karma Yoga; during thinking and discrimination, Gyana
Yoga; when feeling and experiencing emotion Bhakti Yoga. There is
a central teaching, however, in the Bhagavad Gita, which unites
all paths even as subsidiary streams unite in a larger river.
"That river,"
Yogananda said, "is the energy flowing in the spine. The subsidiary
paths of yoga offer guidance to people of different basic temperaments:
the active, the discriminating, the 'heartful.' The central river
to enlightenment, however, is shown by Raja Yoga, the royal yoga:
the pathway of the spine.
"Raja Yoga,"
he continued, "takes one straight up the central pathway of
the spine into the inner silence of divine communion. It is the
teaching of this yoga, finally, that makes the Bhagavad Gita truly
a scripture for all mankind. It is why Krishna stated in the Gita,
'O Arjuna, be thou a yogi.'"
The Story
Behind the Book
It was in May,
1950, while he was still twenty-three years old, that Swami Kriyananda's
Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, asked him to come over to his retreat
to begin work with him on the job of editing his commentaries on
the Bhagavad Gita.
The Master had kept Swamiji with him during the first days of his
dictation of his Gita commentaries. He had then sent him to work
alone, however, while he himself concentrated all his time on his
commentaries. Now he was ready to begin working with Swamiji (whom
at that time he called "Walter") on the editing of his
new manuscript.
The Master had
told his monk disciples in January of that year, when he took "Walter"
with him to the desert, "I prayed to Divine Mother and asked
Her whom I should take with me to help with the editing. Your face
appeared, Walter. That's why I am taking you." For two months
they worked together. The day "Walter" came over, his
Guru exclaimed ecstatically, "A new scripture has been born!
Millions will find God through this work. Not just thousands --
millions! I have seen it. I know!"
It seems clear,
in retrospect, that Yogananda knew from the beginning that Kriyananda
was destined to edit his Gita commentaries. He must surely have
seen they would not come out that year, as he wanted them to do.
The urgency he expressed for their immediate publication must have
been prompted by his knowledge that, if they did not come out during
his lifetime, their publication would be delayed for many years.
---------------
And so, finally,
in October 2005, Swami Kriyananda felt the time had come to at least
begin the work on Paramhansa Yogananda's Gita commentaries for which
his guru had begun to train him during the winter and spring months
of 1950-fifty-five years ago. What began as an "overview"
soon became a stanza-by-stanza commentary.
With a radiant
look on his face, Swami Kriyananda often worked late into the night.
Sometimes he began work again in the early hours, long before dawn.
With quiet humility and deep inner joy, he told us who were with
him. "I am filled with such bliss as I write, it is hard to
think of anything else! I feel the deep delight my Guru takes in
this work."
Here, then, is a book that is a living tribute to two of India's
great spiritual contributions to the world: the wisdom of the Bhagavad
Gita, and the importance of the guru-disciple relationship. Through
a long life of dedication to, and attunement with, his guru, Swami
Kriyananda has presented the vibrant truth and power of his master's
original explanation of this beloved scripture. Yogananda has guided
his disciple's life and thoughts for nearly sixty years in such
a way as to enable him to fulfill that commission, given so many
years ago. - edited from the Foreword
Publisher:
Ananda Sangha
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