The Bhagavad Gita (Penguin Clothbound Classics) - Tapa dura

The Bhagavad Gita, a scintillating jewel embedded in the great Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, is a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna set against the background of war. At the beginning of the poem, we learn that there is going to be a great war for the rule of a kingdom. On the battlefield, with armies of the Kuru clan ranged against each other, Arjuna and Krishna explore the necessity of war and the nature of the human soul. The eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita encompass the whole spiritual struggle of a human soul, and the central themes of this immortal poem arise from the symphonic vision of God in all things and of all things in God.

Juan Mascaro read Modern and Oriental Languages at Cambridge, lectured in Oxford and eventually became Professor of English at Barcelona University. He has translated the Upanisads and the Bhagavad Gita. He died in 1987.