Widely read, The Bhagavad Gita is a classic of world spirituality while The essential companion to The Bhagavad Gita, The Uddhava Gita has remained overlooked. This new accessible and only English translation in print of The Uddhava Gita offers a previously unexplored path to understanding Hinduism and Krishna’s wisdom. Written centuries apart, the ideas of the two dialogues are similar although their approach and contexts differ. The Bhagavad Gita is filled with the urgency of battle while The Uddhava Gita takes place on the eve of Krishna’s departure from the world. The Uddhava Gita offers the reader philosophy, sublime poetry, practical guidance, and, ultimately, hope for a more complete consciousness in which the life of the body better reflects the life of the spirit.

Widely read, The Bhagavad Gita is a classic of world spirituality while The essential companion to The Bhagavad Gita, The Uddhava Gita has remained overlooked. This new accessible and only English translation in print of The Uddhava Gita offers a previously unexplored path to understanding Hinduism and Krishna’s wisdom. Written centuries apart, the ideas of the two dialogues are similar although their approach and contexts differ. The Bhagavad Gita is filled with the urgency of battle while The Uddhava Gita takes place on the eve of Krishna’s departure from the world. The Uddhava Gita offers the reader philosophy, sublime poetry, practical guidance, and, ultimately, hope for a more complete consciousness in which the life of the body better reflects the life of the spirit.

Swami Ambikananda Saraswati lives in London. Thomas Cleary is one of the most respected translators of Asian philosophy and religion in the United States. He lives in Oakland, CA.