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 1.5 million copies of his books are in print.

• Preface: The Wisdom of India Introduction 1. The War Within 2. The Search for Reality 3. The Higher and Lower Mind 4. The Causes of Delusion 5. Yoga as the Way Forward 6. Meditation 7. Yoga in Daily Life 8. Yoga in Work and Relationships 9. Healing the Unconscious 10. Death and the Continuity of Life 11. Spiritual Evolution 12. Faith and Incarnation 13. The End of Sorrow: Portraits of the Illumined Person Further Reading Glossary Favorite Verses from the Gita Index

"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." - H U S T O N S M I T H, author of The World's Religions (Reviewing Easwaran's translation, The Bhagavad Gita)