A candid review of 'Who Wrote the Bhagavad Gita? – A Secular Inquiry into a Sacred Text by Meghnad Desai’

“karmanyevaadhikaaraste maa phaleshu kadaachana | maa karmaphalaheturbhuu maatesangotsvakarmani ||”

“A person has the right towards action alone and not towards the fruit of action. Let not the fruit of action be the motive for acting. Also, let there not be any attachment to inaction.”

In the layman’ language, the above said Sanskrit proverb literally states that one should work, considering his responsibility and should not expect the fruits of Karma. Thus, you will gain the purification of your heart, which is a path to get Moksha. These lines have been said to Arjuna by Lord Krishna in the battlefield, during the war in Mahabharat. Krishna further explains that a person has the right towards action alone and not the fruit of his action. Fruit should not be the motive of one’s action and there should not be an attachment to inaction.

Born in India, Meghnad Desai is British Economist Lord Meghnad Desai is known for holding globalization in a well efficient manner, which in turn has clearly indicated that hi effort had improved Indian democracy. The just-released new book, 'Who Wrote the Bhagavad Gita? – A Secular Inquiry into a Sacred Text by Meghnad Desai' ,is portrayed as a humanist critique of the Gita. The book describes about the Bhagavad-Gita as well as the Vedas and the Upanishads, which makes up as a basic arpeggio (prasthanatrayi), associated with the Hindu religion.

Bhagawad Gita is by far one of the most revered and holy books among Hindu sacred texts as it makes up the base for the emerging of most of the ideologies of the Hindu religion and of course it is one of the reasons of the existence of the Hindu religion in The world. It is recognized as a conscience keeper, playing a role of a compendium and also is a source of inspiration to the people from all across the world. Bhagwad Gita indeed is the most widely interpreted and read books in the world. Yet, in the modern time, the story of this great Indian epic appears to be far stretched to the readers. Thus, in order to make a secular inquiry over the divine origin and authorship, Meghnad Desai, introduces a book ‘Who Wrote the Bhagavad-Gita?’ in order to to unravel the identity of its author.

The book opens up by giving a brief background about the text, including its importance during the historical times as well as the contemporary. The author, in this book states how Gita used to be employed as a uniting factor during the freedom struggle as a weapon in anti-colonial struggle movement. The book has also inscribed few commentaries made by many famous people such as            Vivekananda, Tilak, Gandhi, Ambedkar etc. on the Gita is briefly explained and has also added a few lines about the evolution of Jaya to Bharata and then to Mahabharata. The author further gives a conclusion about Gita  that it was not writer by one, but three authors. The author described the facts with a different style from that of the original one. He further talks about the facts in detail that out of the total 700 verses, the first author wrote 126 verses, the second author 119 verses, and the third author 455 verses.

The first author wrote during the pre-Buddhist times, around 600 BCE, and mostly for a learned and high-class audience. The main philosophical concern is sanyasa and the answer is karma-yoga. The second author was a contemporary of Buddha and he mentioned the philosophical issue as karma and the key to crack it is sattvikatva. The third author is the editor and the final arbiter of the document, and is dated to be around 300-300 BCE. 

In this book the author has endeavored to find the identity of these three authors and has also mentioned the main concern of the present generation is ‘diverse creeds’ and the solution is Bhakti.

Meghnad has used very few and selected works for his research and the conclusions drawn by him are based on Khair’s research.

Though, the book is interesting and has opened up with many new facts about Bhagwad Gita, yet if it would have been written with some more research work, it would have been interesting with the answers with some of the interesting questions.

To find out more religious facts and Hinduism, just read it out this book and discover some of the interesting things of the past. Buy books online at lelobooks and get your favorite book at your doorstep. Hurry now and win attractive discounts! The book is worth reading!