Song of Salvation - Bhagawad Gita

Title: Song of Salvation
Author: Kher Rajendra
Category: Fiction / Religion
326 pages;
ISBN: 1-894869-99-0
Rating: 7/10

The Song of Salvation is a novelized version of Bhagawad Gita, literally meaning God's Song, a part of Mahabharata, the Great Indian Epic. Gita, as it is popularly called was a dialogue between Krishna,the God in the human form and Arjuna, the great Pandava Prince and a great warrior. The original Gita is in the form of 700 Slokas (verses) in Sanskrit, divided into eighteen chapters. The dialogue took place on the battlefield of KURU KSHETRA, a big plain named after King Kuru in present day Haryana, a state near Delhi, after whom the dynasty of Kauravas was named. Another meaning of Kuru is 'to do'. So, Kuru Kshetra also means the Field of Action. And it is this dual meaning that is the starting point of a series of wonderful symbolisms, that convey very deep esoteric meanings and take us to the highest peaks of philosophy, knowledge of one's true Self. The book generally follows the setting in Mahabharatha, though at a few places, the author seems to have taken a few liberties with the original version. Like when he wrote on page 123, "Seeing irritation on his friend's face, Arjuna quieted" implying that Krishna was subject to common human emotions. Of course, such liberties are allowed in a work of fiction and Rajendra Kher is quick to point out that his book is exactly that. The book portrays vividly the social conditions of a period of history nearly 5000 years old. The characters of Arjuna, Dhrutarashtra, Draupadi, Krishna etc. are portrayed in good detail. The descriptions of the battle field, the place of dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna etc., are quite good and with a little imagination, the reader can mentally go to that time and be there, like Sanjaya who was given the gift of Divine Vision.

The author generally uses good analogies and metaphors to convey the esoteric philosophical secrets of Gita. But the clarity is fluctuating and is lucid at some places and obtruse at others. The analogy, "No matter how much water is poured into an upside-down pitcher, the pitcher does not hold water." on page 49, is inappropriate since one cannot pour water into an upside down pitcher. Probably a better analogy would have been a pitcher with a hole in the bottom would never get filled. Because Arjuna was without Sraddha, Faith, Krishna's words did not register and take effect. Rajendra Kher's attempt at novelizing Gita is to be praised. In English language, this type of presentation of Gita is certainly new. The reviewer received the Asian Edition printed in India and so all the comments given below, including the quality of printing etc. apply to that edition only. However, it is understood that the Zumaya Edition and the Asian Edition share the same .pdf file, so the printing errors may be common to both. The first impression when I got the book in hand was that print quality is satisfactory, not great. The book has a good sprinkling of typographic and style errors, which generally do not distort the meaning. However, they do distract the reader and convey an impression that pre-press work could have been done more carefully. One exception - the word Brahma is used for Brahman at a number of places on Page 229 and 231, and unless the reader has prior exposure to Gita, confusion will result. It may be clarifed that Brahma is one of the Three Gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. Brahman on the other hand, is used to represent the ultimate Soul, Paramatma, also called ParaBrahma, to differentiate from Brahma. Brahma has a definite life span, Brahman doesn't, since Brahman is the Principle of Eternal Reality. The reviewer had a fairly good exposure to the teachings of Gita and so certainly enjoyed the refresher course provided by Rajendra Kher in this novel form.

However, for a new reader, the concepts are not easy to understand and at places, the going becomes heavy. Also, the author has not given a basis for some of the philosophical statements made. He could have given a list of Commentaries on Gita that he perused for this endeavor. Readers without prior exposure to Gita may have difficulty in coping with the Indian names. And some of the terms used could have been defined or explained with the help of foot-notes or a Glossary at the end of the book. And an index at the end, connecting the chapters of Gita to the chapters in this book would have been welcome. A biographical note about the original Author has been given, but not that of the translator, Mr.Khare. It would have been a welcome addition.The book will definitely interest those who would like to know the concepts of Gita but would not like to take up learned commentaries right now. It would also refresh their memory if they had studied it long ago. A good effort.

Note: This review was originally published a few years ago (September 29, 2005) in http://swamysbookreviews.blogspot.com/2005/09/song-of-salvation.html

but is being copied here so that all the reviews of Indian Books are at one place.