The Song Divine, or Bhagavad-gita (pocket)

The book presented here in a metrical English translation is hardly in need of an introduction in today's climate of widespread global cultural literacy. An ancient Sanskrit text more than two thousand years old, it has been translated hundreds of times into English alone, not to mention the many other languages of the world it has found expression in. It is one of those rare texts that belong to the most exclusive ingroup of religious texts, the “classics of world religion.” There, too, it sits in a place of honor alongside the Bible, the Koran, the Dhammapada and Lotus-sutra, the

Dao De Jing, and the Analects of Confucius.

Millions of Hindus read and recite this book today and look to it for encouragement, reassurance, guidance and solace. It is read and studied as well by thousands outside that community who are interested in the practice of various kinds of yoga. Indeed, yoga is a central theme of the text. But, despite what many modern writers have claimed, the yoga of the Gītā does not mean “union” or

“integration” or “yoking.” It means primarily “discipline,” “application” or “practice.” Thus, yoga in the Gītā is the putting into practice or the application of the teachings of the Gītā.