Translators From England

"I have a theory of my own about what this art of the novel is, and how it came into being. To begin with, it does not simply consist in the author's telling a story about the adventures of some other person. On the contrary, it happens because the storyteller's own experience of men and things, whether for good or ill—not only what he has passed through himself, but even events which he has only witnessed or been told of—has moved him to an emotion so passionate that he can no longer keep it shut up in his heart."

"To the European poet the relation between man and woman is a thing of supreme importance and mystery. To the Chinese, it is something commonplace, obvious—a need of the body, not a satisfaction of the emotions."

"Where Kṛiṣṇa is, Lord of Control, where is the bowman, son of Pṛithā, there—so I hold—are fortune, triumph, welfare sure, and statesmanship."

"Better a man's own duty, though ill-done, than another's duty well-performed; if a man do the duty his own nature bids him, he incurs no stain."

"W. Douglas P. Hill, who in 1928 gave us the most outstanding English rendering of the text, was quite conscious of the difference between good and bad translations. He noted in his "Bibliographical Notes" that in the eighteen eighties and nineties the Bhagavadgītā had become "the playground of western pseudo-mystics." He did not appreciate the attempts that he grouped together as "Theosophical Versions"; he referred to the greater part of other works on the Gītā as comparatively worthless," and he added: "Hundreds of vernacular editions have found a home in the Indian Office Library, and still continue to encumber its reluctant shelves.""

"By me, in form unmanifest, is all this universe pervaded; all beings dwell in me, but I dwell not in them."

"The order of the four castes was created by me, with due distribution of Strands and works; I did that work indeed; yet know me as no worker and immutable."

"For the saint who seeks to scale the heights of control work is said to be the means; when that same man has scaled the heights of control, quietude is said to be the means."

"Fools scorn me when I dwell in human form: my higher being they know not as Great Lord of beings."

"If, O Janārdana, discernment be held by thee more excellent than work, then why, O Keśava, dost thou set me to do a work of violence?"

"Guarded by Bhīṣma, this our force is all too weak; and all too strong that force of theirs, by Bhīma guarded."

"If Dhṛtarāṣṭra's men, with weapons in their hands, should slay me in the fight, unresisting and unarmed, that were happier for me!"

"To Vivasvat I expounded this immutable doctrine of control; to Manu did Vivasvat declare it; Manu told it to Ikṣvāku."

"Thus spoke Arjuna on the field of battle, and sat down upon the chariot seat, dropping his arrows and his bow, his soul o'erwhelmed with grief."

"On the Field of Right, the Kuru-Field, assembled, eager to fight, what did my warriors and the warriors of Pāṇḍu, O Saṁjaya?"

"The universe is a puppet-show; Brahman is sole producer, Brahman is scenery and players, Brahman is sole spectator. The universe is Brahman, sportively self-deluded, taking delight in itself. The means of production is the power of delusion, or māyā; scenery and puppets are Brahman, self-stamped with 'name and form', its 'lower nature'—prakṛiti; as spectator it is puruṣa, retaining its proper nature."

"There seems to be a general consensus of opinion among modern scholars that the Bhagavadgītā, as it now appears in the Epic, is not an original poem composed by a single hand, but an ancient work, rewritten and enlarged. But all are not agreed as to the history of the poem's composition."

"The Bhagavadgītā presents the doctrine that Kṛiṣṇa Vāsudeva, who helped the Pāṇḍava princes at the battle of Kurukṣetra as Arjuna's charioteer, was Supreme God, a descent of the Absolute into the world of men. Kṛiṣṇa is called Bhagavat, and the poem is a product of the Bhāgavata or Vāsudeva sect, which at the time of its composition was beginning to identify Kṛiṣṇa with Viṣṇu."

"Kṛiṣṇa says (vii. 19) that the man of knowledge affirms that Vāsudeva is All. This is the central doctrine of the Bhagavadgītā. Kṛiṣṇa Vāsudeva is one with Brahman, the ultimate unity that lies behind this manifold universe, the changeless truth behind impermanent appearance."

"The author of the Gītā is interested in man and his destiny; for man is the centre of creation. Brahman, it is true, dwells equally in every living creature; but to man is given a gift denied even to the Lords of Heaven—man alone in all creation's scale can win release."

"God descends with a purpose. From the earliest times sacrifice (yajña) had been accounted the most important work, and in the Gītā so imperative a work is sacrifice considered that we are told that 'ever on sacrifice firm-founded is Brahman all pervading'."

"On the empiric plane the Gītā teaches theism; it is not, then, surprising to find—still on the empiric plane—an emphasis on ethics absent from the earlier Upaniṣads. Krishna is never weary of telling Arjuna to be virtuous; his own sympathies are decidedly on the side of righteousness; it is to reestablish right when wrong prevails that he takes birth as man."

"The Lord, O Arjuna, dwells in the heart of every being, and by his delusive power spins round all beings set on the machine."

"O son of Kuntī, bound by thine own duty born of thine own nature, that thing which thou desirest not to do by reason of delusion thou shalt do, even against thy will."

"For better is knowledge than constant practice; and than knowledge meditation is more excellent; than meditation, abandonment of the fruit of work; after abandonment, peace ensues."

"Just as the distinction between good and evil is valid only on the empiric plane, so on that plane alone man's will is free to choose, man is responsible for sin. In actual fact, where man is God and personal being a delusion the question of real freedom and responsibility cannot arise. It is this double view of truth —the higher and the lower—that explains the apparent weakness of Hindu doctrine in general (with its incurable inclination to pantheism), and the much-blamed 'inconsistency' of the Gītā, on the subject of freewill."

"Doom am I, that causes worlds to perish, matured and here come forth to destroy the worlds; even apart from thee (i.e. even without thine action. Th. (J. C. Thomson, 1855) translates: 'except thee,' and complains that the prophecy was not fulfilled.) not one of the warriors drawn up in ranks opposing shall survive."

"The senseless think that I am the unmanifest that has come to manifestation;(the meaning of 24 is most uncertain; commentators vary widely in their interpretations...) they do not know my higher being, immutable, supreme."

"More excellent than the austere, more excellent even than men of knowledge is the Ascetic deemed; more excellent than workers is the Ascetic; therefore be thou Ascetic, Arjuna."

"If the aim of life is to escape from life, the watchword of life must be Control. For if the wandering senses are allowed to dwell unchecked on objects of sense, attachment to those objects will arise and cause continual rebirth. The evil must be checked at its source; mind and sense must be restrained. Control, or balance of character, is called Yoga."

"But for those in whom that ignorance of Self is by knowledge destroyed, their knowledge like the sun illumines That Supreme."

"But now suppose the soul, when separate, Could live, and think, in a divided state: Yet what is that to us, who are the whole, A frame composed of body, joined with soul? Nay, grant the scattered ashes of our urn, Be joined again, and life and sense return: Yet how can that concern us, when 'tis done, Since all the memory of past life is gone? Now we ne'er joy, nor grieve, to think that we Were heretofore, nor what those things will be, Which framed from us, the following age shall see. When we revolve, how numerous years have run, How oft the east beheld the rising sun E'er we began, and how the atoms move, How the unthinking seed forever strove; 'Tis probable, and reason's laws allow, These seeds of ours were once combined as now; Yet now who minds, who knows his former state? The interim of death, the hand of fate, Or stopped the seeds, or made them all commence Such motions, as destroyed the former sense."

"The toils of honour dignify repose."

"When highest placed on giddy Fortune's wheel, Unhappy man must soon expect to feel A sad reverse, and in the changing round With rapid whirl as sudden touch the ground."

"'Tis often constancy to change the mind."

"These friendly words awhile consoled the fair; For grief imparted oft alleviates care."

"And Neptune's white herds low above the wave."

"Not beauty, wealth, or lineage e'er could raise A woman's name (he said) to height of praise, If not in action chaste."

"For while the treason I detest, The traitor still I love."

"A noble transmuter of gold into lead. [...] He did exactly so many couplets day by day, neither more nor less; and habit had made it light to him, however heavy it might seem to the reader."

"Of all the sex this certain truth is known, No woman yet was ever content with one."

"For oft the grace Of costly vest improves a beauteous face."

"To others never do That which yourselves would wish undone to you."

"Behold the state of man's unstable mind, Still prone to change with every changing wind! All our resolves are weak, but weakest prove Where sprung from sense of disappointed love."

"In blaming others, fools their folly show, And most attempt to speak when least they know."

"Never let us utter what we never can know, And chiefly when it works another's woe."

"The youth, who pants to gain the amorous prize, Forgets that Heaven with all-discerning eyes Surveys the secret heart; and when desire Has, in possession, quenched its short-lived fire, The devious winds aside each promise bear, And scatter all his solemn vows in air!"

"So from a water clear, the trembling light Of Phoebus, or the silver queen of night, Along the spacious rooms with splendour plays, Now high, now low, and shifts a thousand ways."

"Reflect, ye gentle dames, that much they know, Who gain experience from another's woe."

"What more our folly shows, Than while we others seek, ourselves to lose?"