Gita translations

Harry Spier harryspier at HOTMAIL.COM
Fri Mar 5 19:23:57 UTC 1999


).
Brian Akers Wrote:
>My question is, is there one translation into English that is generally
>recognized as the best translation? If so, what is it? If not, why not?
>
>Brian
>
>
In the many translations of the Bhagavad Gita, the name that keeps
coming up again and again in the translators remarks about whose
translation they are indebted to  is Franklin Edgerton.  Franklin
Edgerton in his introduction names those to whom he is indebted, but
then singles out one other not as useful to him in translation or
scientifically exact but as one that particularly captured the spirit of
the Gita, and that was "The Song Celestial" by Edwin Arnold.  There can
never be a "best" translation of the Gita because of its spiritual and
multi-dimensional character.  There are so many translations because it
has touched so many people.  And each translation is successful to the
extent that the author is successful in transmitting what it touched in
him, which must necessarily be different in each individual.

No great book will ever be encompassed in a dry recording of the exact
meanings of its individual words.


Harry Spier


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