The Bhagavad Gita, which translates into ‘The Song of God’, is considered one of the greatest religious scriptures in the world. The first English translation in the late 1700’s served as a major inspiration to European and American philosophers, artists and scientists. It gave rise to the first distinctly American school of philosophy and literature: the transcendentalists. In the twentieth century it has been an inspiration to some of the leading thinkers of science. Oppenheimer made his own translation and quoted it at the first atomic bomb test (“I am time, the destroyer….”). Back home in India, Gandhi freed the entire subcontinent from British rule without a violent revolution, deriving his practice of satyagraha from the teachings of the Gita. His model of nonviolent resistance has been adopted elsewhere, in the civil rights movement of the United States, and in the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa.

Here is a bold new translation of the Gita, rendered in verse at once easy to understand, poetic in aesthetic, and true to the original. Ellen Adele Harper has given us a Gita for the Twenty-First century, that speaks to all people, sharing the beauty and depth of what is truly one of the most amazing documents in the history of humankind, the transcendental teachings of the 'Lord of Love'.

This translation uses gender-neutral pronouns wherever applicable. Also includes an introductory essay from the forthcoming book Sanatana Dharma, and an Afterword: The Gita for a Trans Person. Also includes a glossary.