CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 1

INTERNATIONAL GITA SOCIETY

(Also known as American Gita Society)

Founded in 1984, the International Gita Society (IGS) is a registered, non-profit, tax-exempt, spiritual institution in the United States of America. Aims and Objectives of IGS include, but not limited to:

1. Publish and distribute The Bhagavad-Gita in simple, easy to understand languages, and put the Gita in prisons, hospitals, hotels, motels, and other public places.

2. Spread the basic universal teachings of The Holy Gita in an easy to understand language by establishing branches of IGS in other countries.

3. Provide support and guidance in establishing Gita Study and Discussion (Satsang) Groups, and provide free Gita correspondence course to youth, students, busy executives and other interested persons.

4. Provide inspiration, cooperation, and support to persons and non-profit organizations engaged in the study and propagation of the Vedic knowledge.

5. To break the barriers between faiths, and establish unity of races, religions castes, and creeds through the immortal non-sectarian teachings of Hindu and other major world scriptures.

Preface and an Appeal for Help .......

Bhai Ramananda Prasad's desire to see the knowledge of Gita spread globally is a duty that should engage all mankind. If this perennial philosophy can influence minds like those of Thoreau, Emerson, Gandhi, and Swami Vivekananda, then we must be more proactive by ensuring that all have access to its prescriptions for spiritual, cultural, and intellectual success.

World leaders today wrestle with numerous problems facing mankind. Notable among these are poverty, disease, injustice, and environmental disasters caused in part by human activities. Practitioners of gita knowledge can contribute to solutions to these and other problems in any country in which they reside by living a way of life guided by principles enshrined in this powerful text.

Lust, anger, and greed, are to be avoided if one wants to achieve salvation. (Gita 16.21) This ancient message is still relevant today. Unless we practice austerity of thought, word, and deed (17.14-16) we may eventually be users of the legal system. This first course in anger management shows us how to avoid, reduce, or resolve conflicts. Excessive demands on the health and legal systems will only cause the quality of service in these areas to deteriorate no matter how wealthy a nation. If therefore we can eat from the lower levels of the food chain, avoid harmful foods (17.10) and otherwise live a healthy and peaceful lifestyle by practicing yoga and meditation we can ease the financial burdens of the state.

If we recognize that every living being has a soul and that all of us are time travelers with an expiry date; if we can regard the earth as our mother and treat the environment with respect then the disasters caused by global warming may still be avoided.

Those of us who grew up in remote villages across the globe may have learnt from teachers, like my late mother, who could not read nor write but who taught by example. Their strength was a culture and a way of life that accompanied Indentured Servants when they first arrived in Guyana from India on May 5, 1838. The value-system that enabled them to survive continues to influence those of us who now reside in some of the most sophisticated and technological societies on earth. Today the need to teach is even greater.

We can fulfill our duties as citizens of any country we call home, honor our ancestors and prepare posterity for the challenges ahead by supplying every person with a copy of this enduring treasure.

Please support our efforts to make this world a better place by generously donating to more publications of this text and by distributing them as far as humans reside, because the gift of non-sectarian, spiritual knowledge of the Gita offers a hope for unity and salvation in our divided and challenged world.

Ramnarine Sahadeo, Barrister and Solicitor

ramjihindu@rogers.com 905-671-9233

Brampton, Ontario, Canada, June 2007

President: Sanatan Dharm Educational Foundation of Canada

"The Gift of Self-knowledge is the best Gift" said sage Veda Vyasa

THE BHAGAVAD-GITA

(The Sacred Song)

A Complete Modern English Translation with

Introduction, Guide for the Beginners

and Daily Reading.

International Gita Society

511 Lowell Place, Fremont, CA 94536, USA

Phone: 001 510 791 6953

E-mail: sanjay@gita-society.com

Visit:

www.gita-society.com

www.GitaInternational.com (Audio)

www.Gita4free.com

provided the credit is given to the

International/American Gita Society

Library of Congress Catalog

Card Number: 88-72192

ISBN 0-9621099-1-6

The one who shall help propagation of this supreme 
secret philosophy shall be performing the
highest devotional service to Me and
shall certainly come to Me. No
one on the earth shall be
more dear to Me.
(Gita 18.68-69)

Since year 2000 over 95,000 pocket size

Gitas have been distributed.

Please help us propagate the Gita Doctrine. Your donation-price
     helps put Gita in every home. In the Vedic tradition
         knowledge was neither sold nor obtained free
              without a donation-fee to support
                       the noble work.

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