What is the Bhagavad Gita?
To many in the east, the Bhagavad Gita is one of, if not the most, inspirational sacred texts. Many in the west, however, have never heard of it and are, consequently, unaware of the many deep truths it sets forth.
Intro
While I had heard of the Bhagavad Gita previously, I didn't become acquainted with it until around 2019 or 2020 when I read several books that quoted it a few times. Soon thereafter, I purchased an English language copy of the Gita (Easwaran) and began reading it for myself. To say it was a transformative experience for me would be an understatement.
As a child, I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, so I was exposed to the teachings of the Bible at a very early age. In my teens and early twenties, the Bible was a very transformative text for me as well. But after being a youth pastor at a church in Arlington, Texas during my mid to late-twenties, I began to question my Christian faith and all that I had understood up to that point in my life. This set the stage for me to become an agnostic, and as such, the Bible no longer held the same inspiration for me that it once had.
While my own spiritual journey is a story for another day, suffice it to say that I eventually came to a place in which I believed God exists in some form or other. Exactly who God is and what his/her/its characteristics are I cannot say. One of the consequences of this is that in my late-forties I became open-minded to many sacred texts. By this point in my life, I had regained some of my awe and respect for the Bible - at least parts of it - but I also recognized that I might find inspiration in a number of other ancient texts as well.
And so, as I began to read the Bhagavad Gita, I experienced a familiar old stirring inside I had once felt with the Christian scriptures.
Overview of Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita - literally translated as "The Song of the Lord" - is part of a large epic poem called the Mahabharata. In the Gita, we come face to face with the story of a local warrior hero named Arjuna who is set to go to battle. But this isn't just any battle. There has been division and deception within Arjuna's family. His brother is the rightful heir to the throne, but his uncle - who has ruled as de facto king since the death of Arjuna's father who shared the throne with the uncle - and cousins have decided one of the cousins should be king instead of Arjuna's brother.
As a result, a massive battle has been set up between the Pandavas (Arjuna's side) and the Kauravas (the Uncle's side). As both sides stand in opposition to each other in a large field, Arjuna asks his charioteer, Krishna - an incarnation of God - to take him between the two factions so he can look at both sides. When Krishna does so, Arjuna is heartbroken. He sees people he has loved his entire life ready to go to battle against him. In this moment of personal crisis and angst, Krishna offers the most profound advice, and it is this advice that is the remainder of the Bhagavad Gita.
Translating Portions of the Gita
The Gita was originally written in Sanskrit sometime around the 2nd to 1st centuries BCE - roughly the same time some of the Old Testament scriptures were being penned - in ancient India. As I began to study these sacred verses a few years ago, I was struck by how varied some of the different English translations were. Having grown up studying the Bible, I knew that certain words or phrases in ancient texts don't always have precise English equivalents, so I figured the same must be true for the Bhagavad Gita. But how could I reconcile some of the English differences I was seeing?
Once ChatGPT reached a point where it could accurately help translate many ancient languages into English (including Sanskrit), I decided to ask it for help in understanding some of the obscure passages of the Gita. It was a remarkable experience. Suddenly, I could have a conversation any time, day or night, with an expert in Sanskrit who could explain the nuances of the original language and the author's intent, and the expert wouldn't get tired, bored, or frustrated with my slowness.
I had previously memorized the second half of the second chapter of the Gita, so I decided to have ChatGPT help me translate this entire passage of verses. This little project has been extraordinarily enlightening. The richness of these words is profound, and I have discovered that many of these passages parallel the Christian scriptures I grew up learning in surprisingly close ways.
I am fairly confident in my translation, as I not only used ChatGPT, but I also consulted with several existing English translations to be sure ChatGPT wasn't leading me astray. Having said that, I am not a Sanskrit expert, and I am no professional scholar of ancient texts. So, if any of you are experts, and you see a mistake or problem, please let me know.
To be clear, I did not simply ask ChatGPT to give me a final rendering of these verses. I started by asking it to give me a literal word-for-word translation and transliteration of each verse. I then put the verse into my own vernacular and would have a back and forth conversation with ChatGPT until I arrived at something that both honored the Sanskrit and made sense to me in modern American English.
Conclusion
I will be sharing these verses that I have translated in a series of upcoming blog posts. My goal in translating this passage was to make it meaningful for me. I hope that it speaks to you as well. I truly believe that these sacred verses can radically change our world around us if we allow them to.
"There is never any harm in following these principles, and your effort is never wasted. Even a little practice in this spiritual discipline will protect you from great fear." - Bhagavad Gita 2:40 (Lee Harbaugh translation)