The Bhagavad Gita

By: Phoenix Books, Barbara Stoler-Miller - translator

Narrated by: Jacob Needleman

Length: 2 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The search for higher truth must be conducted in the midst of the forces of life, with all its demands and seductions. So teaches The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient text that has been called the quintessence of the spirituality of India. In it, the great warrior Arjuna contemplates the meaning of life, just moments before entering the battlefield. "Why do I exist? Why should I fight against my loved ones? And where shall I go after I die?" he asks himself in search for knowledge of the Absolute.

©1986 Barbara Stoler-Miller (P)1987 Audio Literature

Critic reviews

"Hearing The Bhagavad Gita, rather than reading it, helps one understand why many cultures to this very day refuse to commit their sacred texts to writing, believing that script would profane them." (Huston Smith, author of The Religions of Man)

The reading wears me out

The reader lacks to enter energy in his reading. The dark full voice dies away in every sentence and after an hour or so its just to much. Arjuna!... Is there no light in this book? I very much think so, but for me it needs another reader.

Hot stuff!!

Audio quality could be better, but it was listenable even while driving on the freeway.

The book itself is a classic. Speaking as a non-Hindu, I'd say, if you like this kind of thing, you'll REALLY like this.

Nice and short, hardly a word wasted, quick 'read.'

The one I go back to!

I have enjoyed listening to this many times. I've got hundreds of Audible books that I've listened to once, but this one I like to go back to. I can just start listening at any spot and it takes me to another place right away. Perhaps, it's because I read this material many years ago and so it is already quite familiar to me, so I enjoy the uncomplicated translation which doesn't require hundreds of footnotes and asides to follow.
Although narration is more subjective, I like the calm droning quality, with powerful undertones of Jacob Needleman's voice, which seems to fit the material quite well.

Outstanding!

Where does The Bhagavad Gita rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've downloaded and listened to more than 300 audiobooks. This is one of the top 5 books I've listened to. I've listened to this book more times than any other audio book. IF this material interests you do not miss it!

What other book might you compare The Bhagavad Gita to and why?

The Bhagavad Gita is the most famous book in the world! It compares to the Koran, the Bible and the Scriptures of Buddha. They are all the same endless, timeless story.

Which character – as performed by Jacob Needleman – was your favorite?

The narration is soulfully delivered by Mr. Needleman. It truly makes this translation come alive for our Time. The above question is funny so let me answer with the character of Krishna!

Bhagavad Gita: A Source of Great Wisdom

I listened to this audiobook read by Needleman, along with a copy of the translation by Barbara Stoler-Miller. Having the two together helped a lot in understanding the teachings of Krishna as expounded to Arjuna.

Great Audio.

This is a great format to listen to the Bhagavad Gita. I sincerely enjoyed it.

How do you review the word of God?

Jacob Needleman is horrible with this! But the Gita is life giving, honest, pure, it reaches the soul and speaks to every one of us.

Hindus are nurtured by the Gita, it gives us strength and guidance. It gives us patience and hope.

For seekers, look no further. For the curious, listen over and over to hear and learn. For the skeptic and scoffer of faith- the Gita will explain.

Jacob Needleman- slow, monotone, little feeling in what he is reading. However, he has a lovely pure "manly" voice, deep, resonant.

Buy the Bhagavad Gita read by Jacob Needleman, you won't be sorry.

Seems to play Stephen Mitchell's translation... ?

Any additional comments?

When I play this through Audible for Android, it plays what seems to be an earlier reading of Stephen Mitchell's translation, read by Stephen Mitchell - not the Needleman reading. Not sure why this happens or if it happens for everyone? The version that does play is excellent and a source of continuing inspiration = no harm done.

Academic translation by Barbara Stoler Miller

This is both a brief and profound work requiring many readings and study. ?? I gave the "story" only one star but would have preferred to give none or rendered a "N/A" instead. ?? There is an element of a story partly because the Gita is a very small part of the largest epic ever written, The Mahabharata: Arjuna despairs of going to battle and killing his relatives; but Krishna, his charioteer, tells him to do his duty and fight. ??It is his dharma. ??... or he must perform his dharma because it is his duty. ??That's the story. ??Aside from this flippant "reductio ad absurdum," the Gita is a brief but profound instructional compendium of Hindu thought and yoga. ??It deserves repeated listenings and study. ??I strongly suspect that the original Sanskrit was much more poetic and beautiful to hear as well. As part of an epic, it was meant to be recited aloud or sung.

Needleman does not deliver a dramatic reading, but that's impossible to do with a text that has a minimal story line and is didactic by nature. This is not Genesis.

The publisher's summary mentions that the book was published in 1986 by Barbara Stoler Miller but fails to say that she is the translator. ??She is an excellent academic translator and not a Hindu devotee. ??For this reason, the approach to the poem formatted in quatrain stanzas in the printed version is academic and secular. ??It is a very accurate translation written by a religious scholar. ??However I quibble with some of her translations which are too dry and tend to miss the mark from the point of view of a devotee. ??At the end of the sixth teaching Krishna says in the Miller translation, "Be a man of discipline, Arjuna!" while in the Yogananda translation Krishna says, "Be thou, O Arjuna, a yogi!" ?? To my way of reakoning, the latter is more succinct and actually more understandable because it's more specific. Throughout Needleman's narration, I consciously had to substitute "yogi" for "man of discipline" and "yoga" for "discipline." This is a Hindu text after all where "yogi" is most appropriate and "discipline" is more suitable in self-help books and education.

This is scripture with many layers of meaning. On one level there is the "story" of Krishna admonishing Arjuna to find the courage to enter the fray of battle. On another the battle is a metaphor for spiritual warfare or struggle within oneself -- "jihad" in a different tradition. And yet on another level one finds in the Bhagavad Gita a religious sanction for the Indian caste system.

Everyone should expose oneself to this scriptural text sometime during their life if they are on the Socratic path of the examined life.

Most boring narration.

What did you like best about The Bhagavad Gita? What did you like least?

The content is brilliant, but the narration is really poor.

Did The Bhagavad Gita inspire you to do anything?

Buy the book and read it myself.