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AUTHOR'S PREFACE
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exhaustive speech of the Blessed Lord, "giving new pleasures at every step". Evidently, one who merely reads the Marathi translation cannot make a metaphorical use of the stanzas in the Gitä on various occasions, as can be done by a person who understands the Sanskrit language. Nay, there is very often a chance of such a person making mistakes. It is, therefore, my earnest entreaty to everybody that, whoever can do so, should not fail to study the original Gita in Sanskrit; and that is one of the reasons why I have given the original stanza side by side with the translation In order that it should be convenient to grasp the subject-matter of each chapter of the Gitä, I have given separately, in the beginning, the contents showing all these subjects, according to stanzas, and in the order of the chapters, on the basis of the groups of sections adopted in the Vedanta-Sutras. If one does not read each stanza separately, but reads the groups of stanzas as a whole by reference to this index, the present misunderstanding about the import of the Gita will to a considerable extent be reduced; because, the different meanings of some stanzas which have been given by doctrine-supporting commentators, who have stretched the meaning of the stanzas for proving their doctrines, have been usually given, disregarding this previous and subsequent context. (For example, see my commentary on Gl. 3. 19; 6. 3; and 18. 2). Considering the matter from this point of view, it may well be said that this translation of the Gita and the Gitä-Rahasya are mutually complementary. And he who wishes to fully understand what I want to say, must read both these parts. As it is usual to learn by heart the whole of the Gitä, one does not come across important variant readings in it. Nevertheless, I must state here that I have accepted as genuine the text of the Gita as given in the Samkarabhasya, which is the most ancient of Bhasyas on the Gitā now available.
