Essence of the Bhagavad Gita

Eknath Easwaran (1910 – 1999) was brought up in the Hindu tradition and learned Sanskrit from a young age. He was chairman of the English department at a major Indian university when he came to the United States on a Fulbright fellowship in 1959.A gifted teacher and writer who settled in the West, Easwaran lived out the principles of the Gita in the midst of a busy family and community life. His translations of the Indian classics, The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, and The Dhammapada, are all best-sellers in their field, and more than 2 million copies of his books are in print.

• Preface: The Wisdom of IndiaIntroduction1. The War Within2. The Search for Reality3. The Higher and Lower Mind4. The Causes of Delusion5. Yoga as the Way Forward6. Meditation7. Yoga in Daily Life8. Yoga in Work and Relationships9. Healing the Unconscious10. Death and the Continuity of Life11. Spiritual Evolution12. Faith and Incarnation13. The End of Sorrow: Portraits of the Illumined PersonFurther ReadingGlossaryFavorite Verses from the GitaIndex

"It is impossible to get to the heart of those classics unless you live them, and [Easwaran] did live them. My admiration of the man and his works is boundless." — HUSTON SMITH, author of The World’s Religions (Reviewing Easwaran’s translation, The Bhagavad Gita)