God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita

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Summary: A Humbled Reader from East Quogue, L.I., New York
Review: After reading "Autobiography of a Yogi", "The Holy Science" and other Self-Realization Fellowship books and pamphlets, I thought I was given the "complete" treasure-trove of The Truth. Wrong! "God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita" is the most detailed and truthful book on creation, life and "death" that I have ever read! It strikes a solid chord within and doesn't let go! Not only that, but it seems to "coincidentally" answer questions that just happen to present themselves in my daily life at just the right moment. It is not an easy read, but in the words of the Great Illumined Master Yogananda, "...the charcoal does not burn red by itself". Don't waste another second--read it now!

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Summary: The conscienceness of Sage Vyasa -- As it is.
Review: All the stars in the universe will fall short to rate this book on Yoga. As Shri Yoganandji said "Intelligence is Mark of God", only a very highly illumined, Self-Realized, God-aware, Cosmic Conscious Soul can write such Yogic, original, deep, balanced, sensible, practical, religious, spiritual, interesting, wonderful, breath-taking, thought provoking, life changing, faith cultivating, character fixing, and tolerance building book. A master piece. How you can spend your life without reading it. Blessed are those who read and follow it. It is the practical example of "Seek his rightousness and everything else will be added onto you". Every thing got added onto Shri Yogananda Paramhansa and then he wrote this book. Many version of Bhagavat Gita have been written by many saints. But in the introduction of this book Shri Yogananda writes on page xxv:
"I arrived at the spiritual understanding expressed in these pages by attunement with Vyasa, and by perceiving the Spirit as God of creation relating wisdom to the awakened Arjuna within myself. I became Arjuna's soul and communed with Spirit; let the result speak for itself". Now the readers all over the world are proclaiming that nothing can more than "As-it-is" than this version of Bhagavat Gita. It is the practical example of "Seek his rightousness and everything else will be added onto you". Every thing got added onto Shri Yogananda Paramhansa and then he wrote this book. Every sentence weighs in Tons. Can you imagine the weight of the book? It is a very difficult read but every person must read pages 19 throu 27 where Shri Yogananda describes how the estates of Optical, Auditory, Olfactory, Gustatory, Tactual, Vacalization, Manual Dexterity, Locomotion, Elimination, and Procreation in the mans body act under the soul and ego regime. Most people will take pity on themselves after reading these pages. In the introduction Shri Yogananda wonderfully explains chronology of creation through genealogy of the Kurus and Pandus and explains how "Kutastha Chaitanya" or "The Universal Unchangeable Spirit Shining everywhere" is drowned or "hidden" from ordinary man/consciousness. (The way 6 siblings of Bhishma Pitamah were drowned by Ganga and only the "Abhasa Chaitanya" or "The reflected Spirit was left behind i.e. The Bhishma Pitamah). This book, in the form of conscienceness of sage Vyasa, is the essence of the ponderouds four vedas and 108 Upanishads -- The holy scriptures of India. In "Autobiography of a Yogi", in chapter 37, page 342 (soft bound copy) Shri Yogananda asks his Guru Shri Yuktiswar, "But sir, Seldom have I given a lecture, and never in English. Please bless me with a push over the hurdles of the english language." Readers will be amazed to find more than perfect english in this book. Most people will have to refer to dictionary on every page to feel the statement. Apparently, Goddess Saravasti (The goddess of learning and music) herself sat on shri Yogananda's mind and hand to help him embarrass the owners of the language. Shri Yogananda used to say "Increase the receptive power of your brain cells so that you can learn varied things in one life time." He demonstrated this receptive power in each of his work.
Nothing can be a better description of this book than reading one. It is so funny that man is willing to take so much pain but he is not willing to meditate for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. Shri Yogananda used to say "Whatever you want to do in life, meditate deeply upon it and you will be guided by divine wisdom". Just read this book and you will feel that Shri Yogananda was full of divine wisdom.

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Summary: Best I've Read
Review: Anyone who is looking for answers to the true reason for their existence will find the answers here. The true nature of the Spirit and the Soul is expounded throughout its eighteen chapters. I believe Paramahansa Yoganada had a direct link to God by his precise use of words, and explaining unambiguously his translation of the Gita.

It's a must read because you owe it to your soul to find its way back to its true home immersed in Spirit.

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Summary: The real translation of Bhagavad Gita
Review: As any other book of Yoganandaji this book is also is a wonderful one.Iam sure many will be turned to true spirituality through this book.

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Summary: How to know God
Review: As students of Self-Realization Fellowship teachings, we are cautioned not to direct someone else to God unless we have ourselves reached God. This becomes a challenge in itself because the path is so filled with joy that you find you can't contain it. These two books contain information you wouldn't want to live without. Also, there are many footnotes, several of which link the reader to evidence that science is beginning to catch up with religion. How exciting!

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Summary: The best book I've ever read
Review: Crystals, atheism, ecology, Seinfeild, TV dinners, Prozac, astrology, depth psychology, the rise and fall of the British Empire. But what about where we came from? What happens after death? Why do we suffer? Why are some people happy. Yogananda's life was impeccable. I have looked for dirt everwhere. Found only solid gold. This book is incredible. Atheism postulates a "peaceful nothingness" after death. And since this contradicts Newton's second law, the law of conservation, it too is a religion. In Buddhism, no matter how good a life you have lived, you may be reborn as a hell being if you die a violent death. In Christianity, if you are a wonderful human being, you will go to eternal hell if you are not a Christian. And if you are a rotten apple, don't worry. If you believe in Jesus then He will save you and eternal happiness will be yours. Where can we turn? Existentialism? Humanitarianism? Alcoholism? For answers that are congrruent with science, testimonies, reason, logic and faith. This book does it. Go heavily into psychic research for 10 years. Study comparitive religions for another 10. Meditate for 20 more years. Get a Ph.D in science. And finally, you will most likely end up saying, "Yes, now I understand" after reading and studying this book. It took me 30 years of meaningless searches and trips, and yogis, and psychologists, and scientists to find this book. It was like finding the Holy Grail. The only thing bad about this book is that, once read, you will always come back to it. Always. Even if you don't like what reality spells out for us. Truth can be very addicting. It is like quicksand. You can get stuck in it. And the more you struggle, the harder it becomes to get out of it. I recommend this book highly. So beautifully written. So enlivening. And a bit earth-shattering. Because the pieces fit. The notes rhyme. And you grimace as you say, "Yes. That rings true with everything I've ever experienced, read, or lived through." Enough said. Buy the book if you are one to open Pandora's box. And it is definitely not for people with weak knees.

Bill Butler ([e-mail])

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Summary: Superb. A masterpiece.
Review: Essential reading for anyone interested in yoga, whether as a practictioner or as a scholar, this book also offers a lot to those interested in other paths of transformation. This is a brilliantly executed work: verse by verse, the book provides the sanskrit text, the English translation and Yogananda's comprehensive commentary mining the Gita's many levels of meaning. For example, Yogananda explores the Gita's depiction of events (the armies of Arjuna and his brothers arrayed against their foes) as an allegory for every aspirant's internal struggle between the forces leading towards spiritual realization and the forces (e.g. sense-slavery, sloth, lack of discrimination)that thwart it. Within this context, he also examines the dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna as a reflection of the inner dialogue between Spirit and soul (hence the "God Talks" title). On other fronts, Yogananda makes connections between the Gita and Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras and the Sankhya philosophical traditions. In ways I am not yet able to articulate, this book helped me bridge the gap between what I categorize--imprecisely I'm sure--as yogic and non-yogic traditions. (By yogic I mean any meditative tradition that predicated on the existence of Spirit, the realization of which serves as the final goal, vs. non-yogic by which I mean meditative traditions that assert Emptiness as the final goal.) Ultimately, what makes this book so powerful is that Yogananda clearly knows whereof he speaks. The result is a book that speaks in direct and practical terms to the aspirant, while also able to satisfy the pedant.

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Summary: One should read it always.
Review: I am now reading this book written by my Gurudeva. I am really impressed with the interpretation of Verses of Bhagabat Gita. When I start to read this book everytime I feel that it is writeen just to uplif my soul. One should read and understand it to understand spirituality, life and matter of deciding right and wrong

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Summary: "A NEW SCRIPTURE HAS BEEN BORN"
Review: I am still reading this book at the present moment and can only say that I have been amazed at the wonderful truths that have been exposed to me in this wonderful book. There are no words that I have that can possibly justify the greatness of this book, so therefore I place before you what Paramhansa Yogananda said about this book in His own words:

"A new scripture has been born! Millions will find God through this book. Not just thousands. Millions! I KNOW. I have SEEN it."

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Summary: Unparalled interpretation
Review: I first read the International Society for Krishna Consciousness interpretation of the Gita... nothing special. Then, in a quiet library in Gdansk, Poland, I had the chance to read Paramhansa Yogananda's interpretation. I was overwhelmed, answered my deepest spiritual dilemas; truly timeless, universal and breathtaking. Finally, the world is able to see Christianity and Hinduism as there were intended to be; universal highway to Infinity via the science of the soul -kriya yoga.