[Advaita-l] Gita Jayanti

[Dinesh Patel MD]

Thank you Jalandhar 

Dinesh Patel MD





> On Jan 7, 2016, at 2:21, "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 22 Dec 2015, Dinesh Patel MD wrote:
>> 
>> Thank you Jaldhar
>> I like it
>> Tell me which book should I buy and read to learn my sanskriti
>> I am in vanprasthasan stage but still eager to
>> Can some one recommend books
>> English
>> Thanks
> 
> Dear Dineshbhai JSK,
> 
> There are plenty of books many of which are available online but practice is key and books are only a supplement.  If you are in India it should be relatively easy to find some satsang, outside more difficult but not impossible.  Being with like minded people will help you progress and a proper Guru can give you the individualized guidance that anonymous people on the Internet simply cannot.  But to get back to books why not the Gita itself?  My attitude towards translations is that they they are like a wheelchair.  For a crippled person it gives freedom but for an able-bodied man it would only be a hindrance.  As a doctor you must be quite intelligent.  Why not learn basic Sanskrit and with the help of a dictionary take up your own translation of the Gita.  It's language is relatively simple. If you run into difficulties you can ask here.  And as a retired person what better use of your free time?
> 
> If you do use a translation, I suggest you use a Gujarati or Hindi one. It is not that good English translations don't exist but they can actually make things harder.  For instance my son recently asked me what nescience, a word he had read in some book on Hinduism, meant.  When I told him avidya you could see the light bulb light up.  For someone whose background is in the Western philosophical tradition maybe nescience makes more sense but for us, everyone has idea of what avidya means if not necessarily the precise Vedantic definition.  Why start at step 0 when you are already atleast a little ahead?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
>