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Have you read Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita? Its structure is Chapter-Introduction, Gita Chapter. If I remember correctly, the authenticat
by hackingthelema 5y ago
Have you read Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita?
Its structure is Chapter-Introduction, Gita Chapter. If I remember correctly, the authenticated background information is mostly what goes on in the introduction to each chapter (i.e. 'Drona was born a brahmin, a member of the priestly caste, but in search of wealth he took up the way of the warrior and excelled in the knowledge of arms,' since the background of the character is not explained in the Gita itself).
I don't remember much personal commentary in the chapter introductions, and you can easily skip them and just read the Gita translation itself, since there are no commentaries interspersed with Gita translation.
I'm not sure if that meets your 'no personal commentaries' criteria, but I liked the translation. [Edit to add: listing some of the translations you have found wanting might help guide suggestions.]
- qart 5y agoThanks! I checked it out, and Eknath Easwaran's translation looks good to me. All I have to do is skip the first couple of pages of each chapter. I have not read any translation yet. Archive.org has Prabhupada's translation, which was the exact opposite of what I was looking for. So I dropped it after 5 minutes of skimming. I have chanted the Gita in some prayer groups when I was very young, without understanding any of it. That's about it.
- vram22 5y agoPartly related: I found Eknath Easwaran's book on meditation interesting. Cannot comment more since I read it many years ago and don't remember details.
- hackingthelema 5y agoI've not read that one, but I also found his Dhammapada and Upanishads to be quite nice. His name on a work is a good sign, to me!