The Bhagavad Gita - Song Celestial

 

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi's selection of 42 verses, translated by Major Chadwick and edited by Bhagavan.

Sri Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of Arunachala, selected 42 key verses from Bhagavad Gita and arranged them in an appropriate order for the use of devotees. 

His long term British devotee, and inmate at Sri Ramanasramam, Major Chadwick, translated all of the verses into English, presenting each verse to the Maharshi for confirmation and, if needed, editing. The original chapter and verse reference is given in brackets after each verse.

The English, by modern standards, might be considered a little stilted in places and reminiscent of late 19th - early 20th century Gita translations but it remains a wonderful historical record of the way in which Bhagavan worked closely with his devotees, ...and, of course, reveals the essential message of the Gita in a format which even the busiest individual can read in its entirety.

 

1. Sanjaya said:

To him who was with pity overcome
With smarting, brimming eyes, despondent, thus
Madhusudhana spake to him these words:

(11. 1)

2. BHAGAVAN said:

This body that ye see the Field is called,
And that which knoweth it the Sages call
The Knower of the Field, O Kunti's son.

(X111. 1)

3. Knower of Field in all Fields, know Me.
Knowledge of Field and Knower of it too,
True Knowledge that in my opinion is.

(X111. 11)

4. 'Tis I, O Gudakesha, am the SELF
Seated within the Heart of everyone,
Of all I am Beginning, Middle, End.

(X. 10)

5. For death is certain for all creatures born
And birth is certain for all those who die,
Therefore thou should'st not grieve for what must be.

(11. 27)

6. He is not born, nor dies, nor having been
Ceaseth he evermore to be; unborn,
Abiding, everlasting, ancient too,
He is not slain the body being killed.

(11.20)

7. Uncleavable and incombustible,
And neither to be wetted nor be dried,
Perpetual, all-pervasive, stable too,
Immovable, from everlasting He.

(11. 24)

8. For know that THAT is indestructible
Whom all this doth pervade. There is no one
Who can destroy th' imperishible One.

(11. 17)

9. The unreal hath no being; and the real
Doth never cease to be; the truth of both
By seers of Reality has been seen.

(11. 16)

10. As omnipresent ether is not touched
By reason of its subtlety, so too
The SELF is not touched either as it dwells
Within the body, seated everywhere.

(X111. 32)

11. There the Sun lightens not, nor moon, nor fire;
Having gone thither they return no more;
This is of me the one Abode Supreme.

(XV. 6)

12. And this unmanifested One is called
"The Indestructible", the highest State.
Those reaching It will never more return,
This is of me the one Abode Supreme.

(V111. 21)

13. Without pride or delusion victors they
Over attachment, dwelling e'er in SELF,
With pacified desire, free from the "Pairs"
Of pain and pleasure, from delusion free,
They to the place immutable do go.

(XV. 5)

14. He who the Scriptures' ordinance forsakes
And followeth the promptings of desire,
Attaineth not perfection, happiness,
Nor doth he gain unto the highest goal.

(XV1. 23)

15. Seated within all beings equally
The Supreme Lord, unperishing within
The perishing - he who sees Him, he sees.

(X111. 27)

16. But by devotion unto Me alone
I in this way in essence may be seen
And known and entered too, O Arjuna.

(X1. 54)

17. The faith of each to his own nature's shaped;
Man is instinct with faith, O Bharata;
Wherein his faith so verily is he.

(XV11. 3)

18. The man intent on faith doth Knowledge gain,
Also that one with senses held in check;
Knowledge obtained, he Peace doth swiftly gain.

(1V. 39)

19. To these, e'er tranquil, worshipping in love,
The yoga of enquiry I vouchsafe,
By which they come to Me, O Bharata.

(X. 10)

20. From pure compassion, dwelling in their SELF,
By shining lamp of Knowledge I destroy
Their darkness which from ignorance is born.

(X. 11)

21. Truly, in whom is ignorance destroyed
By Knowledge of the SELF, Knowledge in them,
Discloses the Supreme shining like Sun.

(V. 16)

22. The senses are called great, greater the mind,
Greater than mind, the understanding is
Than understanding greater far is HE.

(111. 42)

23. Knowing Him higher than understanding far,
And petrifying ego by the SELF,
Slay thou the enemy that is desire,
So hard to overcome , O Mighty-armed.

(111. 43)

24. As burning fire of fuel ashes makes
So doth the fire of Knowledge, Arjuna,
Reduce all actions unto ashes too.

(1V. 37)

25. Whose works are free from moulding of desire,
Whose acts by fire of Knowledge are burned up,
That person 'Learned One' is designate.

(1V. 19)

26. The Bliss of the ETERNAL enfolds those
Who know themselves, weaned from desire and wrath,
Subdued in nature and subdued in thought.

(V. 26)

27. Little by little let him peace obtain
By understanding steadiness attained;
Having made mind within the SELF abide
Let him not think of anything at all.

(V1. 25)

28. Whenever the unsteady, wavering mind
Outward projects, withdraw it from that place,
And lead it under sway of SELF alone.

(V1. 26)

29. With senses, mind and Reason e'er controlled
The Sage, on Liberation solely bent,
Having for ever cast away desire,
With fear and wrath, in truth has Freedom.

(V. 28)

30. The one, by yoga harmonized, doth see
The SELF dwelling in all and all in SELF;
And looks on everything impartially.

(V1. 29)

31. To those people who worship Me alone
Thinking of no one else, harmonious e'er,
For them I undertake to gain and guard.

(1X. 22)

32. Of these the Wise One ever harmonized
And worshipping the One, is best of all;
I am supremely dear to the Wise One
And the Wise One supremely dear to Me.

(V11. 17)

33. At close of many births he who is full
Of Knowledge worships me, thinking the while
"Vasudeva is all," Mahatma he,
Such is indeed most difficult to find.

(V11.19)

34. When one gets rid of all the mind's desires
And is contented in the SELF by SELF,
Then is he called one of a stable mind.

(11. 55)

35. Whoso forsaketh all desires and goes
Upon his way from every yearnings free,
Devoid of "I" and "mine" - he Peace achieves.

(11. 71)

36. That man by whom the world is not perturbed
Nor by the world's perturbed, free from the cares
Of anger, joy and fear, is dear to Me.

(X11.15)

37. The same in honour, ignominy too,
The same to friend and foe, abandoning
All undertakings - he is said to have
Gone quite beyond all the three qualities.

(X1V. 25)

38. But that man who rejoices in the SELF
With SELF is satisfied, with SELF content,
For him in truth there's nothing more to do.

(111. 17)

39. He gains or loses nothing by his acts
Or by inaction, and he has no need
From any being anything to ask.

(111. 18)

40. Content with all he without effort gets,
Free from the "Pairs", from envy also free,
Balanced in failure and in success too,
Though acting he by action is not bound.

(1V. 22)

41. The Lord dwells in the Heart of everyone
Causing by His illusive Power them all
To spin like marionettes upon a wheel.

(XV111. 61)

42. To Him for shelter flee with all thy heart,
By His grace peace supreme thou shalt obtain,
Which is the everlasting dwelling-place.

(XV111. 62)