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Rating: 
Summary: Gita at its best
Review: Gita with the comments of Sankara charya gives a lot of insight into lige
Rating:
Summary: Shankarazation of the Gita
Review: One would not think at first that one could interprete the Bhagavad Gita in the sens of Shankara. The value of this commentary, I think, lies not primarly in it's elucidation of the Gita, but more in giving the advaitic commentator a chance to deal with different aspects of advaita, which otherwise would not have surfaced, if not the Gita would have provided all these topics. An advaitin for himself would probably not need much more than the statement: Sarvam kalvidam brahma. Compared to the commentaries to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad or to the Vedanta Sutras, one may have some doubts, whether the original Shankara was really the author of this commentary. The Dashnamis seem clear about it that Shankara was the author. In any case it's 100% advaita vedanta. The book is quite interesting to read, whether in this version from Samata Books or for instance the one from Krishna Warrior.
Rating:
Summary: Shankarazation of the Gita
Review: One would not think at first that one could interprete the Bhagavad Gita in the sens of Shankara. The value of this commentary, I think, lies not primarly in it's elucidation of the Gita, but more in giving the advaitic commentator a chance to deal with different aspects of advaita, which otherwise would not have surfaced, if not the Gita would have provided all these topics. An advaitin for himself would probably not need much more than the statement: Sarvam kalvidam brahma. Compared to the commentaries to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad or to the Vedanta Sutras, one may have some doubts, whether the original Shankara was really the author of this commentary. The Dashnamis seem clear about it that Shankara was the author. In any case it's 100% advaita vedanta. The book is quite interesting to read, whether in this version from Samata Books or for instance the one from Krishna Warrior.
Rating: 
Summary: An older translation which reads reasonably well.
Review: The full title of this book is 'The Bhagavad Gita - With the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, Translated from the original Sanskrit into English by Alladi Mahadeva Sastry.' The book contains the Sanskrit text of the Gita in Devanagari script followed by its translation, and also the translation of Sankara's famous commentary or Bhashya. Although this book was first published in 1897, it still reads reasonably well. Trevor Leggett, in his superb study of the Gita - 'Realization of the Supreme Self - The Yoga-s of the Bhagavad Gita' (Kegan Paul International, 1995) - comments on the Bhashya: "Sankara explains the revelatory flashes of the Gita by putting them side by side with Upanishadic texts and with each other. He presents a system which is internally consistent, and which resolves the apparent contradictions of some of the texts" (page 7). The Sastry edition is sturdily bound in cloth, stitched, and for an Indian publication is reasonably well printed on good paper. Although no-one today would probably want to sit down and read through the entire commentary, since a certain amount of the exposition is there to answer the objections of rival schools which no longer exist, much of what Sankara has to say is of abiding interest and his Bhashya belongs in the library of all serious students of Advaita Vedanta. Those who may be interested in finding a more recent translation, one that is fuller, in contemporary idiom, and far more clearly printed, might care to look at Swami Gambhirananda's 'Bhagavad Gita - With the Commentary of Sankaracharya' (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1995), an edition that is available through the Vedanta Press, CA. One of the more useful features of the Gambhirananda edition is that, unlike that of Sastry, it does not omit that part of the Bhashya which shows in what order the words of the Gita are to be construed, and which gives their various synonyms. The beginning student of Sanskrit will find this a very useful help in understanding the text. Another useful edition is the 'Srimad Bhagavad Gita Bhasya of Sri Samkaracarya' by Dr. A.G. Krishna Warrier (Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, n.d.). This, besides giving the Devanagari of the Gita, also gives it for the Bhashya, along with excellent contemporary translations of both. Any of these three editions would serve the interested student. I keep my own copy of the Gambhirananda constantly at hand and often find myself referring to it.
Rating:
Summary: An older translation which reads reasonably well.
Review: The full title of this book is 'The Bhagavad Gita - With the Commentary of Sri Sankaracharya, Translated from the original Sanskrit into English by Alladi Mahadeva Sastry.' The book contains the Sanskrit text of the Gita in Devanagari script followed by its translation, and also the translation of Sankara's famous commentary or Bhashya. Although this book was first published in 1897, it still reads reasonably well. Trevor Leggett, in his superb study of the Gita - 'Realization of the Supreme Self - The Yoga-s of the Bhagavad Gita' (Kegan Paul International, 1995) - comments on the Bhashya: "Sankara explains the revelatory flashes of the Gita by putting them side by side with Upanishadic texts and with each other. He presents a system which is internally consistent, and which resolves the apparent contradictions of some of the texts" (page 7). The Sastry edition is sturdily bound in cloth, stitched, and for an Indian publication is reasonably well printed on good paper. Although no-one today would probably want to sit down and read through the entire commentary, since a certain amount of the exposition is there to answer the objections of rival schools which no longer exist, much of what Sankara has to say is of abiding interest and his Bhashya belongs in the library of all serious students of Advaita Vedanta. Those who may be interested in finding a more recent translation, one that is fuller, in contemporary idiom, and far more clearly printed, might care to look at Swami Gambhirananda's 'Bhagavad Gita - With the Commentary of Sankaracharya' (Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1995), an edition that is available through the Vedanta Press, CA. One of the more useful features of the Gambhirananda edition is that, unlike that of Sastry, it does not omit that part of the Bhashya which shows in what order the words of the Gita are to be construed, and which gives their various synonyms. The beginning student of Sanskrit will find this a very useful help in understanding the text. Another useful edition is the 'Srimad Bhagavad Gita Bhasya of Sri Samkaracarya' by Dr. A.G. Krishna Warrier (Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, n.d.). This, besides giving the Devanagari of the Gita, also gives it for the Bhashya, along with excellent contemporary translations of both. Any of these three editions would serve the interested student. I keep my own copy of the Gambhirananda constantly at hand and often find myself referring to it.
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