Thoughts on The Gita

During his sojourn in Calcutta in 1897, Swami Vivekananda used to stay for the most part at the Math, the headquarters of the Rama-krishna Mission, located then at Alambazar. During this time, several young men, who had been preparing themselves for some time previously, gathered round him and took the vows of Brahmacharya and Sannyasa, and Swamiji began to train them for future work, by holding classes on the Gita and Vedanta, and initiating them into the practices of meditation. In one of these classes he talked eloquently in Bengali on the Gita. The first chapter, 'Thoughts on the Gita', is a translation of the summary of the discourse as it was entered in the Math diary. The passages appended to this chapter, and those at the end of the last one are from different volumes of Complete Works. The next four chapters are reproduced from the Vedanta and the West. These were originally delivered in San Francisco in 1900, and recorded by Ida Ansell in shorthand. Long after, a few months before her passing away on January 31, 1955, she transcribed these for publication. "In the interest of absolute faithfulness, when transcribing them, no alterations were made in the some-what incomplete notes Ida Ansell was able to take down. Where omissions were left because of some obscurity, these in the printed version have been indicated by three dots. Any matter added for a purpose of clarification has been placed in square brackets" (Editor, Vedanta and the West). In spite of these shortcomings the speeches are charming and inspiring enough to be presented here. And the last chapter is based on a talk Swamiji gave at a meeting of the Ramakrishna Mission held on 20 March 1898, at 57 Ramkanta Bose Street, Calcutta.

**Contents and Sample Pages**