Swami Kriyananda’s Writing of
The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita

When Paramhansa Yogananda was working on his Bhagavad Gita commentaries in May 1950, near the end of his life, he asked Divine Mother whom She wanted him to take to his desert retreat to help with the editing. “Your face appeared, Walter [Swami Kriyananda]. That’s why I’m taking you.” (Very sweetly, the Master added that he asked Divine Mother again, just to make sure, and again the young twenty-three-year old Swami Kriyananda’s face appeared.)

Over half a century has passed since those days, but the sense of urgency of what this work will mean to the world never for an instant left Swamiji. In his talks, Swami has often recalled Yogananda’s exact words in 1950 as they worked together on these commentaries: “A new scripture has been born! Millions will find God through this work. Not just thousands—millions! I have seen it. I know!”

In October 2005, Swami Kriyananda knew the moment had arrived to embark on one of the greatest tasks of his lifetime as a devoted disciple. He told us, “Master’s thoughts poured effortlessly into my mind, helping me to fill page after page with deep insights and inspiration.” And: “I am filled with such bliss as I write, it is hard to think of anything else! I feel the deep delight my Guru takes in this work.”

Swami had always imagined that this work on the Gita would take at least ten years. Not unreasonably, he wondered if, at the age of 80, he would live long enough to complete what he thought was a Herculean task.

Instead, through the grace of our guru, Swami Kriyananda completed the manuscript, (over 630 pages of text) in two months. This a masterpiece. When someone exclaimed on the flowing, seemingly effortless expression of the subtlest aspects of Self-realization, Swamiji responded, his voice trembling with tears of joy, “Yes! It was like writing music.”

This page was last updated on March 28, 2006.