Download Review: The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation

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Reviews
Review: The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation
Gavin Flood and Charles Martin, eds. — reviewed by Laxman D. Satya
The Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation
Edited by Gavin Flood and Charles Martin
New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2012
208 pages
Hardcover ISBN 978-0-393-08165-7
Price: US $25.95 + shipping
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-393-34513-1
Price: US $13.95 + shipping
M
ercifully, the main translator Gavin Flood,
who is a professor of “Hindu” Studies at
Britain’s Oxford University, spares us the
fetters of Orientalism, the bane of Cambridge School
scholarship on South Asian history. This translation,
which he calls “New,” is really not that new. There
are innumerable translations of this well-known Brahmanical scripture that was in fact a later interpolation
into the main text of the epic Mahabharata. The author fails to mention this fact that the Bhagavad Gita
was not a part of the original text of the epic.
Basically a theistic doctrine, the message of the Gita
is to confirm strong belief in a personal god (Krishna)
who urges action, because there is a difference between
matter and spirit. The spirit is associated with Self or
knowledge vis-à-vis nature. Interestingly, the philosophy of the Gita comes out of the atheistic Sankhya
School of ancient Indian thought, which expounds two
realities, i.e., Self (Purusha) and Matter (Prakriti). Effort of the Self to free itself from matter leads to action. Accordingly, action is the essence of Self. The
central message repeated ad nauseam is, “detachment
from the fruits of action.” In other words, it advocates
the performance of unattached action. This apparently
would lead to devotion (Bhakti).
The translators shy away from stating that the Gita
was a reaction to the Buddhist and Jainist attacks on
Brahmanical sacrificial practices, which involved the
killing of animals on a large scale. Instead he informs
us that this was a reform movement within Brahmanism whereby the warrior (Kshatriya) class asserts itself
by reinterpreting sacrifice not so much in the physical sense but in spiritual sense. Accordingly, the Gita
is presented as a reaction to Brahmanical orthodoxy.
Animal sacrifice is replaced by sacrifice of the Self
in the service of the one true god. This is heralded as
devotionalism challenging Brahmanism to re-connect
with the Vedas, which had been rejected by Buddhism,
Jainism, and other heterodox creeds of ancient India.
Dating of the Gita is placed between the second century BCE to the third or fourth century CE, when the
society was undergoing a transformation from pastoralism to urbanism. Sankara picks it up almost a thousand years later by writing the first full-length commentary on the Gita in the late 8th century to create his
famed monistic philosophy of advaita. Ramanuja in
the 12th century differs by distinguishing the Self from
god. And Madhava in the 13th century completely detaches the two. Vivekananda in the 19th century took
three paths out of the Gita: action (Karma), knowledge
(Jnana), and devotion (Bhakti). Finally, Gandhi in the
20th century turned it into a weapon of non-violent action against evil, i.e., the British Empire.
EXEMPLAR: THE JOURNAL OF SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES
Reviews
To spare us the anguish of presenting Indian society as “caste” based on “Hindu” scriptures, the book
refreshingly presents a four-class occupational model
of social organization: priest, warrior, merchant, and
peasant. However, the Gita, like most theistic literature, advocates segregation of classes and women.
In a sense, the Gita is a psychological maneuver to
see one’s actions as a natural duty. Krishna is playing upon Arjuna’s conscience, urging him to end evil
through his actions. If this involves enormous violence, so be it, because ultimately the righteous approach is to practice detached action, or action without
attachment to desire. However, the emphasis is more
on the knowledge of the action rather then the action
itself. It is suggested that within the womb of knowledge lies “consciousness.” Hence all action is perfected not just by practice, but also most significantly by
the cultivation of knowledge. Its not action but knowledge of the Self that dispels all doubts caused by ignorance. Therefore, the emphasis is on self-knowledge.
If knowledge is theory, then action is its practice. The
Gita propagates that one should not stop at knowledge.
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Knowledge is obligated to take the next step, which is
action without attachment. And Yoga is presented as
the practice of that action through the exercise of control over the body, speech, and mind.
The Bhagavad Gita opens and ends as a live reportage of the character Sanjaya to the blind king Dhritarashtra, who is witnessing the destruction of his entire
clan in a war that is about to begin. Even though the
volume is easy to read and flows very nicely, it reads
like a religious document for a believer rather than the
lay public. A proper historical context is needed as a
background. And also a bibliography of some basic
scholarship would have been helpful. The chapters
numbered in the table of contents have no subject. The
book also needs an index. The volume feels rushed,
and one wonders what was the need to put together
an ancient text like the Gita in such a great hurry. Finally the use of the terms “BC” and “AD” to designate
the origin of the Gita (p. XXIII) betrays a Christian
bias which the editors have failed to overcome. So this
looks like some of the blinders of Orientalism are subconsciously still on.
Laxman D. Satya is a Professor in the Department of History at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania
EXEMPLAR: THE JOURNAL OF SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES