[Advaita-l] Bhagavad Gita translation

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

Namaste Jaldharji, We've been using Chatgpt for translations of SSSS's
works and then formatting the text. English is smooth and editing goes far
more easily I believe. Maybe a new AI generated, pundit reviewed, Gita
Bhasya translation would be a workable project for the right person.

regards, michael



On Fri, May 23, 2025 at 3:36 PM Jaldhar H. Vyas via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 23 May 2025, Aravind M via Advaita-l wrote:
>
> > I came across swami chinmayananda holy gita and Swami Dayananda Saraswati
> > gita....still want to know about other translations available
> >
>
> Aravind can you read any Indian language?  You are more likely to find
> good translations in Hindi, Tamil etc.
>
> But ask yourself do you really need a translation? Long ago, my guruji
> compared the usage of translations to a wheelchair.  If you are disabled,
> the use of a wheelchair can vastly improve your quality of life.  If you
> are able-bodied it would actually impede you from making full use of your
> limbs.  I susoect that you like most people who think they need
> translations are actually in the able-bodied group.  Throwaway the
> wheelchair and read the Gita in Sanskrit.
>
> "But I don't know Sanskrit"
>
> Then learn it.  There are more resources available now than at practically
> any time in history.
>
>
> "But Sanskrit is very hard"
>
> At advanced levels yes but you can start slow and work yourself up.  The
> Gita itself for instance is quite simple languagewise.  Samskrita Bharati
> is an organization that has branches all over India and internationally
> and they have a course called Gita Pravesha which can teach you enough
> Sanskrit to be be able to read the Gita in about six months.  There are
> many other courses, youtube videos and websites that do the same.
>
> "I don't have the time."
>
> I put the readers of advaita-l into two groups, sadhakas and tourists.
> The sadhaka wants to know about subjects like Gita etc.to know dharma and
> jnana with a view to improving himself to the point where they can get
> liberation from samsara and unity with Brahman.  The tourist has only
> intellectual or academic or cultural curiosity.  While I hope the tourists
> find reading these posts interesting and worthwile, it is the sadhakas who
> are main reason advaita-l exists.
>
> To the sadhaka I would respond, really?  You can't spare the time to
> thoroughly master that which you agree  is the true purpose of your
> birth in human form?
>
> To the tourist, I can understand that you have other priorities in your
> life that might make you look for a shortcut but translations have
> problems particularly when they are crossing cultures as well as
> languages.  The translator may have his own agenda.  He may misundestand
> the meaning himself. It might take him 100 words to explain what is 1
> word in the original because there is no exact equivalent.  And different
> translators might make their own arbitrary decisions about how to
> translate.   Now you don't only have to understand the Gita, you
> have to understand the translation too.  Your "shortcut" ends up causing
> you double the effort.
>
>
> If after all this you are not convinced, some translations have been
> mentioned in this thread.  I would recommend getting as many of them as
> possible and compare them as you read.  Sit with a Sanskrit dictionary and
> look up words that you don't recognize to form your own translation and
> compare that with the others.  And if you are still perplexed, feel free
> to ask here.  Good luck!
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
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