Bhagavad Gita As It Is
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada published this edition of the Bhagavad Gita in 1972 to bring the text to English readers within the interpretive tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Each of the seven hundred verses is presented in Devanagari script, Roman transliteration, word-for-word Sanskrit-to-English glosses, an English translation, and a paragraph of purport that explains the verse in the framework of bhakti yoga and devotion to Krishna. The dialogue itself, set on a battlefield the moment before combat, has Arjuna refusing to fight his own relatives and Krishna answering with a full teaching on duty, the nature of the self, action without attachment, and the path of loving service. Prabhupada's commentary is unapologetically devotional and rooted in the Vaishnava lineage, which distinguishes this edition from academic translations. The book has become the standard text of the Hare Krishna movement worldwide and one of the most widely circulated English editions of the Gita.
What you might want to know about Bhagavad Gita As It Is
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
The founder of ISKCON presents the Bhagavad Gita in the original Sanskrit with transliteration, word-for-word English, translation, and Vaishnava commentary.
Shetty trained as a monk in the Bhakti tradition that Prabhupada founded, and points to this edition as the version he studied and returns to as the source text behind much of his teaching on purpose and duty.
No. The edition is explicitly devotional and reflects a specific Vaishnava lineage, and readers wanting an academic contrast often pair it with a translation like Barbara Stoler Miller's.
Bhagavad Gita As It Is was written by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, published in 1972 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
Bhagavad Gita As It Is is 928 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Bhagavad Gita As It Is takes most readers 14 to 20 hours to finish.
Bhagavad Gita As It Is is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.