Mr. Magoo wrote: > But you must remember MMY's Gita was never meant to be > the final word on the subject.....read the disclaimer > in the introduction!! > Billy - Yogananda teaches a meditation that is transcendental. It's very similar to the meditation taught by Maharishi. I enrolled in Yoganannda's course in 1963 and completed all the instructions. I used to attend services at the SRF on a regular basis at Mount Washington.
Yogananda's analysis of the Bhagavad Gita essentially agrees with the comments published by Maharishi - they're both based on the Yoga philosophy first composed by Vyasa. The SRF translation of the Bhagawad Gita is oriented towards Kriya Yoga, a variant of basic meditation practice. "The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita: Explained by Paramhansa Yogananda, as Remembered by His Disciple, Swami Kriyananda" by Swami Kriyananda Crystal Clarity Publishers, 2007 http://tinyurl.com/27s7bh However, the translation of the Gita by Prabhavananda is more slanted toward the Vedanta philosophy. Probably the best translation of the Gita is by Barbara Stoller Miller, who has also recently translated the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. However, nothing can compare to the richness of commentary detail in "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" by Swami Bhaktivedanta Saraswati. As you probably know, the philosophy of the Gita was supperceeded by that of the Vedanta - the Gita was commented on only by courtesy, as it were, by Shankara. The Gita supports the notion that Ishvara is the God of Yoga, a Transcendental Person, a notion that is not very compatitble with the concept of Maya espoused by Shankara. Apparently all of the authors of the Upanishads were transcendalists, but not all of them agree with the impersonalist philosophy. However, according to what I've read, neither Yogananda nor the Maharishi are/were Sanskrit readers, so your mileage may vary.
