Bhagavad Gita Commentary

Author: (India) Sri Aurobindo
Translator: Xu Fancheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-12-01
Features: Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita in the original English, consisting of two series. Both were published in his personal magazine Arya. The first series was written from August 1916 to July 1918, revised by the author into a standalone book, and published five times in his lifetime (1922, 1926, 1937, 1944, 1949). The second series was written from August 1918 to July 1920, also revised into a standalone book, and published four times (1928, 1942, 1945, 1949). When these two series were combined into one volume, it was published as part of the Sri Aurobindo Series in New York in 1950. The South Indian International Education Center also published a standalone combined edition of the two series in 1959, with a second edition in 1966. Later, the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo in thirty volumes were published to commemorate his centennial birth (1972). Essays on the Gita is the thirteenth volume in this series. The Chinese translation of this book was completed in 1953. The original intention was to "expound" rather than "translate." Thus, there are combined chapters, newly arranged sections, relocated sentences, and refined passages. Six chapters remain unpublished (in the original series, these are chapters 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 16). At the time, it was thought that the content of these chapters was too distant from modern Chinese thought, and publishing them might create unnecessary conflict, even burdening the wise. Therefore, they were left for future generations. The aim was simply to preserve the profound meaning and broad principles without distortion or error. From the thirteenth chapter onward, the translation became increasingly literal until the end of the book. However, it is not a complete translation, hence the title "expounded." The Chinese translation of The Bhagavad Gita was first published in Hong Kong in February 1957 and reprinted in Beijing by the Chinese Buddhist Cultural Research Institute in June 1990. Minor revisions were made to the scriptural text in the second edition, while the annotations remained as added by the translator. Xu Fancheng wrote this note in Beijing in the autumn of 1992.