The Concise Srimad Bhagavatam

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book !
Review: I have read mostly all the books from Swami Venkateshananda. He is not only a scholar but also a great teacher and meditator.

The problem we have with many hindu scriptures is that many of them are translated by hindu people who don't have a great command of the english language and who don't know a great deal about american problems and concerns.

On the other hand, many hindu scriptures are translated by american people who are only scholars and did not live in an hindu culture or environment.

Swami Venkateshananda gives us the best of both worlds. Born in India, being a sanskrit scholar and a monk under the supervision of Swami Shivananda, he is qualified for translating these scriptures and drawing from them the spiritual meaning.

Moreover , his written english is excellent and his is also well acquainted with the occidental mind, having lived many years in South Africa.

His version of the Bhagavad gita is, according to me, the best I have read. His commentaries are to the point for modern people. Unfortunately, his version of the Bhagavad gita seems to be out of print. His rendering was based on a 365 days. You read one page each day and at the end of the year, you've read all the book.

His first versions of the Ramayana and Yoga Vasishta were great. Each page started with a sanskrit verse wich was the heart of the page. Reading one page a day would ensure the completion of the book at the end of the year. Unfortunately, subsequent editions have been disappointing: publishers took out these sanscrit verses at the top of the page and rearranged the book in a way that one page was no more a one day lecture. In this way, most of the spiritual side of the book was lost.

Then, The concise srimad bhagavatam : BUY THIS BOOK BEFORE IT GOES OUT OF PRINT !!

Like all his other books, it is an abridgement. I don't know if previous versions had a sanskrit verse at the beginning of each page, but this one has not. However, the book is still arranged in a one chapter/one page/one day to read.

Being an abrigment is often seen as being a flaw. But in this case it is not. Instead of loosing ourselves into minor and unnecessary details, Venkateshananda brings up the spiritual side of the text.

His abridgment is better than the original ! I have the complete version of the Shrimad Bhagawatam by Goswami M. A. Shastri. I read both version in parallell and I can tell you that anything important is never taken out by Venkateshananda. Moreover, we don't have the feeling that Venkateshananda's rendering is an abridgement! We don't loose anything.

The rendering of Venkateshananda is so great than when you read the first chapter of the first canto ( 1 page only ), the day after, you don't read the second page, but you reread the first page because there were so many spiritual thruths to meditate upon. And this applies for each page. After reading one page, you close the book and you ponder about the spiritual teachings you've just read.

So, highly recommended and 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Concise english intro to a holy work of Sanatana Dharma.
Review: The Srimad Bhagavatham is one of the eighteen puranas that form part of the hoary and divine literature that Sanatana Dharma (eternal doctrine of life) encompasses. It is also a fairly massive work. Swami Venkatesanda has done a highly creditable job of rendering this purana in English in a concise manner.

Division of the contents of this translation into page-length chapters, 365 in number, is a good idea, so one could read and reflect upon a relatively small but significant portion of the large work, one chapter a day.

As is common with such divine literature, each sub-story in the Bhagavatham has a phalasruthi (fruit of reciting or listening to the sub-story); in this translation, the phalasruthis have been stated in a manner that is soothing and reassuring to the reader.

The author has not polluted the work of literature with irrelevant or inappropriate anecdotes or other unnecessary references to entities or persona either in space or in time. In other words, the translation is extremely compact. The original Srimad Bhagavatham has been authored by none other than the great Sage Vyasa. A concise translation of such a work is no mean feat. This translation by Swami Venkatesananda serves to inspire the reader to explore the treasure trove of divine literature that is part of Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana Dharma asserts that God may be attained by, among other means, discerning intellect (Gnyana Yoga) or loving devotion (Bhakthi Yoga). The Srimad Bhagavatham is a delicious blend of both, and Swami Venkatesanda has brought out this characterization in an appealing and convincing manner.

It is said that repetitive study of scriptures leads to the attainment of the state/bliss that the phalasruthis promise. Going by that, repeated study of The Concise Srimad Bhagavatam by Swami Venketasanda should help in achieving some semblance of peace and tranquillity in this tumultuous world that we currently live in.

Personally, this translation has given me an excellent introduction to the Srimad Bhavatham. I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in Sanatana Dharma (the eternal religion) in general and the Srimad Bhagavatham in particular.

Badri Krishnamoorthy.