Friday, March 21, 2014

 Ballad DivineMy book 'Ballad Divine - Bhagavad-Gita' is now available at Amazon. It took a few painstaking years to get there, but every moment was worth it. 

The printed book and Kindle editions are available at Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Ballad-Divine-Bhagavad-Gita-Dev-Bhattacharyya/dp/1495969835/
You may also review the book. Would love to hear about your reactions to the book. 

Several years back, I spoke to a child about Krishna. The child was so delighted even though she could not pronounce the name properly. I felt if just the lord's name could have such a profound effect, his ballad needed to be re-visited. I went through innumerable books spanning nearly 150 years from Annie Besant, Max Mueller, to Swami Vivekananda, Swami Parmananda, Swami Nikhilananda, S. Radhakrishnan, Srila Prabhupada and Swami Dayananda Saraswati to name a few. Of course, inspired by Chaitanya's Kirtans, I spent many-a-day on Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita, Bankim Chandra's - Krishna Charitra -- and Ballad Divine is the final rendition.

Ballad Divine brings back the Bhagavad-Gita in a very easy to read composition; minus the rhetoric. It is an accurate reference of the original and observed facts and uses the same systemic method to divinity. 

Ballad-Divine is organized around the mainstays of Krishna's doctrines, those of philosophy, action, discipline, concentration, knowledge, meditation, devotion and surrender. These pillars are in turn expounded from smaller building blocks. The theme in the sentences are repeated throughout reinforcing the subject. It is styled mostly as a ballad expressing eighteen different chapters by short stanzas; of which some are metrical.

Excerpt from Chapter 4, Lines 7 and 8


When there is fading of dharma 
And increase in infamy and sloth
Then into birth, 
I loose myself going forth. 

For deliverance of good
For destruction of terror
For enthroning of rights 
I am born from one age to another.

Chapter 18, Lines 69 and 70


No mortal performs 
Service that I value more
No other on earth
Is dear to me than the one I adore.

Judge I will 
Those who study
This sacred discourse of ours
Who offer me sacrifice
By knowledge of course.