Reddit reviews Bhagavad Gita: The Beloved Lord's Secret Love Song

I would not recommend the version of the Bhagavad Gita /u/wtf_shroom linked to. Understanding the Gita is particularly difficult when it is poorly translated and explained. This one in particular was translated by a British man in the 1800s, when India was a colony and the British were particularly interested in painting Hinduism and Indians as backward.

There are free online translations and commentaries, using modern English. One is here; another is here. These are both Vaishnava translations. This version was used in a very good class at the University of Florida in 2009. That translator is fluent in Sanskrit and also has a Ph.D. in comparative religion from Harvard. He has also studied Vaishnavism with notable Vaishnava teachers.

This brings me to the final reason one should carefully select their version of the Bhagavad Gita. It is an essentially Vaishnava text: in it, Krishna (Vishnu) explains spirituality and the self to his friend and devotee, Arjuna. Vaishnavas worship Krishna/Vishnu as the only God. In the end, Krishna tells Arjuna to "abandon all varieties of religion (or righteousness) and surrender to me." BG 18.66 So, the translation should ideally be by someone who is well-educated as a Vaishnava; someone with a guru, who is linked into the tradition of teachings that have been passed down through the ages. The least ideal arrangement is to have a translation that is made by someone who doesn't understand the tradition, and therefore can't make the translation clear and understandable. Sanskrit is a very context-dependent language, and it is extremely complex: learning the language is not sufficient to qualify a person to translate scripture.

I just read Graham Schweig translation and I thought it was amazing. He kept it as literal as possible (especially in terms of word order) but still managed to make it clear and poetic.

Bhagavad Gita

He's coming from the Vaisnava tradition, a disciple of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami and with a Harvard degree in Sanskrit and Indian Studies.

For me, the essential verse, summing it all up as it were is 18.65. Check it out for yourself :)