ISKCON Bhagavad Gita As It Is in English Language

ISKCON Bhagavad Gita As It Is in English Language by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada from Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Original translated form

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) is widely regarded as the foremost Vedic scholar, translator, and teacher of the modern era. He is especially respected as the world's most prominent contemporary authority on bhakti-yoga, devotional service to the Supreme Person, Krishna, as taught by the ancient Vedic writings of India. He is also the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Srila Prabhupada, as he's known to his followers, translated and commented on over eighty volumes of the Vedas' most important sacred bhakti texts, including the Bhagavad-gita—a concise handbook for understanding the purpose and goal of human life—and the multi-volume Srimad-Bhagavatam—an epic biography of Krishna, Krishna's avatars, and His many devotees throughout the history of the universe.

Srila Prabhupada's own spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, was the leading proponent of Krishna consciousness in India during the early part of the twentieth century. He specifically taught the philosophy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the divine avatar who revived Krishna-bhakti all over India in the 1500s. When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta first met the young man later known as Srila Prabhupada - in Calcutta in 1922 - he urged him to preach Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's message of Krishna consciousness throughout the English-speaking world.

After forty years of struggling within India to carry out his guru's order, while maintaining family and business responsibilities, Srila Prabhupada boarded a steamship bound from Calcutta to New York City in 1965. At age sixty-nine, with forty rupees and a trunk of his Bhagavatam commentaries - the first ever in English - his aim was to introduce "India's message of peace and goodwill" to the western world. During the last twelve years of his life, Srila Prabhupada would inspire thousands of Westerners and Indians to devote their lives to Krishna consciousness, launching one of the fastest-growing spiritual movements in the history of the world.

Many scholars and professors who met him and became familiar with his work continue to use Srila Prabhupada's books as standard university texts, and regard him as a genuine, realized, and scholarly teacher of bhakti. His authoritative yet down-to-earth presentation of Vedas continues to inspire a worldwide audience.

With the help of his students, he founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). ISKCON is popularly known as the "Hare Krishna" movement, due to its members' widespread practice of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra in public. Srila Prabhupada intended ISKCON to facilitate the association and education of bhakti-yoga practitioners, and his followers continue to spread that mission.

Bhagavad Gita As It Is, presented by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, is a devotional interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita based on the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition associated with ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The book presents the dialogue between Lord Krishna and the warrior Arjuna as a profound guide to spiritual life, duty, consciousness, devotion, and the ultimate purpose of human existence. Rather than treating the Gita simply as a philosophical text or a historical conversation, Prabhupada presents it as Krishna’s direct spiritual instruction and emphasizes that its teachings are meant to be practiced in everyday life.

The story begins on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The armies of the Pandavas and Kauravas have assembled for a great war. Arjuna, one of the leading warriors of the Pandava side, asks Krishna, who is serving as his charioteer, to place his chariot between the two armies so that he can see the people gathered to fight. When Arjuna recognizes teachers, relatives, friends, and respected elders among those whom he may have to kill, he becomes overwhelmed by sorrow and moral confusion. His bow slips from his hands, and he declares that he does not want to fight.

This crisis is the starting point of the Bhagavad Gita. Prabhupada interprets Arjuna’s confusion as an example of the human condition. People often become confused when temporary emotions, personal attachments, social responsibilities, and deeper spiritual truths come into conflict. Arjuna believes that refusing to fight will save him from wrongdoing, but Krishna begins by teaching him that the real self is not the temporary physical body.

One of the foundational teachings of the book is the distinction between the body and the soul. According to Krishna’s teaching as presented by Prabhupada, the living being is an eternal spiritual soul temporarily occupying a material body. The body changes from childhood to youth to old age and ultimately dies, while the soul itself does not undergo destruction. Death therefore represents the departure of the soul from one body, rather than the annihilation of the individual self.

This teaching changes the way Arjuna is asked to understand his situation. Krishna does not simply tell him to ignore suffering. Instead, He asks Arjuna to understand life from a broader spiritual perspective. Fear of death, attachment to the body, and excessive identification with temporary circumstances are presented as major sources of human anxiety. Real spiritual knowledge begins when a person understands that one's deepest identity is spiritual rather than merely physical.

The next major idea is duty. Arjuna is a warrior, and Krishna explains that he has a responsibility connected with his position and circumstances. Prabhupada places great importance on performing one's prescribed duties without becoming attached to the personal results. The problem is not action itself. The problem is selfish attachment to the fruits of action.

This principle develops into the teaching of karma-yoga. A person should act responsibly but offer the results of those actions to God rather than treating personal gain as the ultimate purpose of life. Work therefore becomes a means of spiritual development. Ordinary activities need not be abandoned; instead, their purpose and consciousness can be transformed.

Prabhupada repeatedly emphasizes that renunciation does not necessarily mean escaping from one's responsibilities. Genuine renunciation means giving up selfish attachment. Someone can live an active life while cultivating spiritual consciousness, whereas a person who outwardly gives up work but remains absorbed in material desires has not achieved genuine renunciation.

The book then develops the idea of knowledge. Human beings are often confused because they identify themselves with temporary possessions, social positions, relationships, and bodily identities. Spiritual knowledge enables a person to see these things in their proper relationship to the eternal self and to God.

Krishna explains that the material world is governed by the three modes of material nature: goodness, passion, and ignorance. These modes influence human behavior, desires, habits, emotions, and ways of thinking. Goodness is associated with clarity, knowledge, discipline, and harmony; passion is associated with desire, ambition, attachment, and restless activity; and ignorance is associated with confusion, laziness, negligence, and destructive tendencies.

Understanding these modes allows a person to observe one's own behavior more carefully. Instead of believing that every impulse represents one's true self, one learns to recognize how material influences affect consciousness. Spiritual progress involves rising beyond these temporary influences through genuine knowledge and devotion.

Another important theme is meditation and control of the mind. The Gita recognizes that the mind can either assist spiritual progress or become a source of bondage. An uncontrolled mind is repeatedly pulled toward temporary pleasures and anxieties, while a disciplined mind can become an instrument for spiritual realization.

However, Prabhupada's presentation ultimately places devotional service above impersonal meditation or purely intellectual speculation. The purpose of spiritual discipline is not merely to empty the mind or achieve temporary peace. It is to awaken one's relationship with Krishna.

This leads to the central concept of bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. In Prabhupada's interpretation, bhakti is the highest and most direct spiritual path because the living being is eternally related to Krishna. Human life reaches fulfillment when that forgotten relationship is revived.

Krishna is presented not merely as an enlightened teacher or symbolic representation of divinity, but as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This theological position is central to Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Prabhupada distinguishes his interpretation from approaches that treat Krishna as primarily metaphorical, allegorical, or as one divine manifestation among many.

The book therefore repeatedly encourages the reader to cultivate remembrance of Krishna through hearing about Him, chanting His names, worshiping Him, offering food to Him, serving Him, and organizing daily life around devotion. These practices are intended to transform consciousness gradually.

The famous teaching of offering one's activities to Krishna is particularly important in Prabhupada's presentation. Eating, working, giving charity, performing religious activities, and other aspects of life can become spiritualized when they are performed as offerings to God. Spiritual life is therefore not limited to a particular place or time. It can become a way of living.

The Gita also discusses different paths of yoga and explains their relationship. Karma-yoga emphasizes dedicated action, jnana-yoga emphasizes spiritual knowledge, dhyana-yoga emphasizes meditation, and bhakti-yoga emphasizes loving devotion. Prabhupada presents these paths as connected, but he gives bhakti the central position because devotion brings the individual into a personal relationship with Krishna.

The concept of reincarnation is another important element. The soul passes through different bodies according to karma and consciousness. Human life is considered particularly valuable because it offers the opportunity to pursue spiritual realization rather than remaining absorbed exclusively in material pleasure.

This perspective changes the meaning of success. Wealth, social status, physical beauty, professional achievement, and sensory pleasure are temporary. They cannot provide permanent satisfaction because the soul itself is eternal. According to the book, the deepest dissatisfaction of human life comes from trying to obtain lasting fulfillment from things that are inherently temporary.

Prabhupada also discusses the process of death. A person's consciousness at the time of death is presented as highly significant because consciousness influences the soul's subsequent destination. Therefore, spiritual practice is not something to postpone until old age. The purpose of devotional practice is to cultivate remembrance of Krishna throughout one's life so that remembrance of God becomes natural.

One of the most dramatic moments in the Gita occurs when Krishna reveals His universal form to Arjuna. Arjuna is granted divine vision and sees Krishna's cosmic manifestation, containing innumerable forms and the entire universe. The experience overwhelms him. The universal form reveals both the magnificence of creation and the destructive power of time.

This vision teaches Arjuna that Krishna's existence cannot be reduced to an ordinary human personality. At the same time, Arjuna's response demonstrates the intimacy of Krishna's relationship with him. After seeing the overwhelming universal manifestation, Arjuna asks Krishna to return to His familiar form.

The book also presents an important discussion of the difference between impersonal spiritual realization and personal realization of God. Prabhupada acknowledges that spiritual seekers may approach transcendence through different conceptions, but he argues that realization of the Supreme Person is the fullest understanding. The ultimate reality is not merely an abstract spiritual energy; it is Krishna, who possesses a personal identity and relationship with the living beings.

Another significant subject is the nature of devotion. Krishna explains that sincere devotion is not dependent upon social status, wealth, intellectual achievement, or elaborate external qualifications. What matters is the sincerity of the offering and the consciousness with which it is made. Even simple devotional acts can have spiritual significance when performed with genuine love.

The Gita concludes with Krishna's instruction concerning surrender. Arjuna has gradually moved from confusion to clarity. He has heard explanations of the soul, duty, karma, knowledge, meditation, material nature, devotion, and the nature of God. Ultimately, he understands that spiritual life requires surrendering selfish independence and accepting Krishna's guidance.

Arjuna's transformation is therefore one of the book's central achievements. At the beginning, he is paralyzed by grief and uncertainty. By the end, he has regained his confidence and is prepared to act according to Krishna's instruction. His external situation has not changed: the battlefield is still before him. What has changed is his consciousness.

This transformation reflects the broader message of Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Spiritual realization does not necessarily require withdrawal from the world. Instead, a person can perform responsibilities while changing the consciousness behind those actions. Work, family responsibilities, social relationships, and daily activities can all become part of a spiritual life when they are connected with devotion to Krishna.

Prabhupada's presentation therefore emphasizes a complete transformation of consciousness rather than merely intellectual understanding. Reading the Gita is meant to lead toward practice. The reader is encouraged to hear about Krishna, chant His names, remember Him, associate with devotees, accept spiritual guidance, regulate material desires, and gradually develop devotion.

At its heart, Bhagavad Gita As It Is presents human life as an opportunity for spiritual awakening. The temporary body, changing circumstances, success and failure, pleasure and pain, and even death are placed within a larger understanding of the eternal soul and its relationship with the Supreme.

The book's enduring appeal comes from the way it addresses questions that remain relevant across cultures and generations: Who am I? What happens after death? How should I act when every choice involves difficulty? Why does material success fail to provide lasting happiness? How can the mind become peaceful? What is the purpose of work? What does surrender to God actually mean?

Prabhupada's answer is centered on Krishna consciousness. The human being is understood as an eternal spiritual individual whose natural fulfillment comes through a loving relationship with the Supreme Person. Knowledge helps remove ignorance, disciplined action purifies one's work, and spiritual practices transform consciousness, but devotion ultimately brings these dimensions together.

Thus, Bhagavad Gita As It Is is not presented merely as a book of philosophy. It is a practical spiritual guide in which the crisis of one warrior becomes an examination of the universal human struggle between confusion and clarity, attachment and responsibility, material identification and spiritual identity. Arjuna's journey from despair to determination represents the possibility of a similar inner transformation in the reader.

The final message is one of surrender, devotion, and spiritual responsibility. Human beings cannot control every circumstance, but they can transform the consciousness with which they respond to circumstances. By recognizing the eternal nature of the self, performing one's responsibilities without selfish attachment, cultivating spiritual knowledge, and developing loving devotion to Krishna, a person can gradually move beyond material anxiety and rediscover a deeper purpose in life. In Prabhupada's interpretation, this awakening of Krishna consciousness is the essential goal of the Bhagavad Gita and the foundation of a genuinely spiritual life.