A 21ST CENTURY INTRODUCTION TO BHAGAVADGITA
Last ten years, during
June-December, we(picked up this ‘WE’ from 'Srikrishna' who said ‘We reject…’
in an article published in the Economic Times, and I had to go to the small print to know that ‘WE’ included
his 'SWARUP'…here 'we' include Sudha, my wife and me) stay in Bhandup(West) in the
central suburbs of Mumbai. Every year, during this period, I visit once or
twice, the Shraddha General Stores, on Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, here. This
store, described as MYSORE SUGAHAND BHANDAR’, owned by one Prakash Mishra
sells, besides puja articles, publications from Gita Press.
Yesterday(June 27, 2014), I picked
up a cloth-bound copy of ‘THE BHAGAVADGITA’ for Rs15/-. This edition
(thirty-ninth reprint, 2013, 15,000 copies- taking the total to 9,62,625-which
publisher will keep track of numbers like this?) contains, besides Sanskrit text
of Gita, an introduction by Jayadayal Goyandka and a synopsis of the Gita as
prefix and an article by the same author bearing on the Gita as an appendix.
I had procured my first copy of Bhagavadgita
which was the paper-back edition of the same book during 1963 from the book
stall attached to the Sriramakrishna Hospital in Thiruvananhapuram. The price I
paid was twentyfive paise. That copy is in my son’s house, kept in the puja room
by his wife, Smitha. Books get preserved!
Gita Press, Gorakhpur-273005(Phone:
(0551 2334721/2331250, Website: gitapress.org), in ‘business’ since 1923, publishes Sanskrit/Hindi/English versions of a
variety of Indian scriptures. Their library has about 1400 editions of the
BHAGAVADGITA published in 34 different languages including 8 foreign languages.
Their publications are heavily subsidised, and are made available to public at
affordable prices. Though I couldn’t do full justice to their efforts by
reading those heavy volumes, I have a collection of six cloth-bound volumes
which carry the Sanskrit text of Mahabharatha with Hindi meaning.
M G Warrier
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