[Advaita-l] Gita Jayanti

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

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>