Books On Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue between Lord Krishna and his beloved friend and disciple Arjuna. The latter was a mighty warrior facing the paradox of fighting against his own relatives, which included his great grandfather. At a total loss as to where his duty at this crucial juncture lay, Arjuna took refuge under Lord Krishna.

The discourse given by Krishna in response to Arjuna's perplexed condition is known as the Bhagavad (divine) Gita (song). Krishna clearly demonstrated to Arjuna that his immediate duty demanded that he (Arjuna) fight this war with all his might. This war was not of Arjuna's creation. Rather it was the result of the misdeeds of their cousins who wanted to misappropriate the kingdom rightly belonging to Arjuna and his brothers.The popularity of the Gita can be gauged from the fact that maximum commentaries have been written (and continue to be written) on this text than any other, by sages, philosophers, bhaktas etc. Each finds what he is looking for in this great scripture. Some of the great commentators on the Bhagavad Gita are:

Shankaracharya (the most ancient commentator on the Gita),

Ramanuja,

Jnaneshwar,

Madhusudan Saraswati,

Shankaranand,

Sridhar Swami,

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur,

Swami Ramsukhdas,

Swami Prabhupada,

Swami Ranganathananda,

Abhinavagupta and

Swami Sivananda

Collected at one place here are more than one hundred Gitas, including commentaries, studies, essays, linguistic and grammatical analysis plus interpretations following various philosophical schools.