Publisher's Foreword (First edition)

Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the author of the present work, had intended to publish an English translation of his work in order to give it an international circulation, which it would necessarily not have in its Marathi form as originally written out by him. It was his great ambition that the interpretation put by him on the doctrine preached by the Bhagavadgītā, should come before the eyes of learned philosophers, scholars, and alumni, all the world over, so that he could have the benefit of their views on the line of argument and interpretation adopted by him; and he had in his life-time made an attempt to get the work put into the English language. He was, however, unable to see this matter through on account of his numerous activities, and ultimately he suddenly fell ill and died, without seeing the realisation of his desire and ambition.

After his demise, we his two sons, as the publishers of his works, tried to carry out this his wish, but were unable to give the matter our whole-hearted attention, owing to being involved in heavy litigation arising out of the chaos resulting from the unfair advantage which certain interested parties took of his death. We spent a large sum of money in trying to get the work translated into English, but in spite of this expense, the matter remained incomplete; and in the meantime one of us, viz., my brother, Shridhar died, leaving this task unfinished. I am, therefore, now glad to announce that I have at last been able to successfully carry out the most cherished wish of my father, as also of my brother, and am publishing this volume on 1st August 1935, being the fifteenth anniversary of my father's death; and I shall feel that all the trouble which has been taken by me in bringing out this publication will be more than amply rewarded, if it gets into international circulation, and if I am thus enabled to fulfil the wishes of my late father, and brother; for, I shall then feel that I am free from my obligations to the deceased. I am writing this foreword on the seventh anniversary of my brother's death and I am dedicating this publication to his memory.

I am grateful to the various photographers, photographs taken by whom are reproduced in this publication; as also to the eminent writers and the publishers of works containing references to the Gītā, the Gītā-Rahasya, and to my late father, extracts from whose publications or writings, have been included in this publication.

My thanks are also due to a friend whose help was greatly responsible for this publication seeing the light of the day, and especially to Mr. A. V. Patvardhan, a member of the Servants of India Society, and the Manager of the Arya-Bhushan Press, Poona, who, out of regard for the late Lokamanya Tilak, undertook the printing of this work at the Bombay Vaibhava Press, without asking for any advance payment, and has agreed to receive all charges payable to the Press out of the sale proceeds of the book. In fact, but for this most generous accommodation, it would have been difficult for me to undertake and carry out such an expensive and ambitious project, at least in my present circumstances,. I must also here acknowledge my gratitude to the Translator Mr. B. S. Sukthankar, who also has gladly consented to receive the amount payable to him for the translation, out of the sale proceeds of the book, in due course.

It is true that the price of the publication has been put a little high for moderate purses, as also that I have had to publish the book in two volumes, so as to partly meet the costs of the Press out of the sale proceeds of the first volume; but this has been done as there was no alternative course left to me.

Nevertheless, I have not made this division arbitrarily, as will appear from what follows. The book consists of two un- equal parts, as written, the first part being the Philosophical Exposition, consisting of fifteen chapters and Appendices, and going over the first 588 pages of the original text, and the second consisting of the Gītā, with its translation, and the Commentary on such translation, stanza by stanza, which goes over about 360 pages. In publishing the book in two volumes I have included the first thirteen chapters of the Philosophical Exposition in the first volume, and chapters 14 and 15 of the Philosophical Exposition, and the Appendices together with the indices in the second volume, for the following reasons:-

(i) With the thirteenth chapter, the Exposition proper, comes to an end; the three remaining chapters, though an integral part of the Exposition, respectively contain only (a) an explanation about the continuity of the chapters of the Gītā, (b) the Summing up, or resume, and (c) the Appendices; so that strictly speaking, the subject-matter does not suffer by my division (see the last words of the Author at the end of the thirteenth chapter, on p. 618).

(ii) In writing the book itself, the late Lokamanya wrote chapters I to VIII in one book, chapters IX to XIII, in the second book; chapters XIV and XV, and the External Examination (Appendices), and the translation of the first three Adhyāyas (chapters) of the Gītā in the third book; and the translation of the Adhyāyas four to eighteen of the Gītā and his Preface in the fourth book (see, Information regarding the original manuscript of the Gītā-Rahasya printed at p. xxviii following); thus, the first Volume as now published contains a translation of the subject-matter included in the first two books written by the Author.

(iii) The Volumes, as now published are more or less of the same size and price, so that from the point of view of the purchaser, it is easier for him to pay the purchase price of the whole book in two, more or less equal instalments, at different times. If the first Volume had been made to include the fifteen chapters and the Appendices, its price would have been much higher than as now fixed.

I have, however, implicit trust in the inherent spiritual power of this wonderful and well-known work of a recognised Oriental Scholar and Researcher, which enabled the first ten thousand copies of the Marathi publication to be sold off within a few months of its publication, and enabled it to go into several editions in Marathi, and to be translated into half a dozen Indian vernaculars; and I am sure that the same success will be met with by the present English translation.

Not only has the translator, Mr. B. S. Sukthankar, helped me by not putting any financial pressure on me, but he has put the translation through within a comparatively short space of time after it had been entrusted to him, by dint of untiring energy, in spare time, in spite of the numerous other taxes on his time and labour, apart from his professional work as an Attorney-at-Law, which ties him down most part of the day to his office; and he has put me under further obligations by personally carefully examining all the proofs. He has also to a certain extent given me financial accommodation for meeting such payments as had to be met in advance; and I may without exaggeration say that but for his sympathy accommodation, enthusiasm, and help, it would have been difficult for me to bring out the present edition. A. grateful mention must also be made of Dr. V. S. Sukthankar, of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, for the valuable help given by him in looking into the transliterated Sanskrit portions of the work, and making such valuable suggestions regarding the publication, as a man of his qualifications alone could make on account of his Continental experience of publications of similar works.

Last, but not least, my sincere thanks are due to Mr. B. M. Sidhaye, the Manager of the Bombay Vaibhav Press, who has ungrudgingly spared no pains to make the technical and difficult printing of this book as faultless and satisfactory as possible; and but for whose obliging help it would not have been possible to put this work through the press during that short space of time in which it has been actually printed.

I feel that in quoting this stanza, with which I am ending this Foreword, I am only voicing sentiments similar to those expressed by my revered father in the concluding remarks of his, Preface to the original Marathi work, in parting with his precious thoughts and placing them into the hands of his readers:–

"Go little book from this my solitude;
"I cast thee on the water, go thy ways;
"And if, as I believe, thy tone be good,
"The world will find thee, after many days". (Southey)
  —R. B. TILAK, Publisher.
  Bombay, 25th May 1935. p. xi