Bhagwad Gita made easy!

 Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya explaining how the Easy Chanting CD ROM aids in learning how to chant the verses of the Gita at a release function during Ganesh Chaturthi festivities in 2012 at Andheri West, Mumbai.

The team that was involved in the project and some ardent fans of the product.

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya with her brother, Bharat Savur at the twin release - The review of Bharat's book, A Way With Words in my previous post in this blog.

The Bhagwad Gita made easy - CDRom and Book

The Bhagwad Gita is undoubtedly the most revered of the ancient Sanskrit scriptures in the Hindu religion. It has been accorded this supreme position because it contains timeless wisdom as told and elaborately explained by God to Man - Lord Krishna to Arjuna.  Mahatma Gandhi referred to it as his “spiritual dictionary”.  The central part of the epic Mahabharata, the Gita serves as the guide in dealing with the battles within our minds. We often turn to the gist of the messages in the Gita, when our daily struggles require us to choose between several alternate courses of action. Without this handy aid, we would opt for inaction instead!  The sacred texts have withstood the test of time when generation after generation turn to the pearls of wisdom contained in it have been referred to by scholars all over the world.

Across the globe, spiritual thinkers and modern day philosophers continue to believe that the ultimate truths about life have been explained in the Bhagwad Gita like no other work till date.  It is believed that the battle really is all about the effort of man over his own 100 vices (Kauravas) for the 5 virtues (Pandavas) to emerge winners in life. One learns that the  “Arjuna syndrome” affects us all as we find ourselves sulking when confronted with enemies – within us or amongst us - that we need to fight and conquer! Needless to say, we all need to absorb the timeless wisdom to cope with the challenges in life!

But the advent of the electronic media and several gadgets and the internet tend to sway the tech-savvy generations in different directions. There is the possibility of an increasing disconnect between the youngsters and the teachings of the Gita!  In order to prevent this drift, Dr. Deepika Pandya (nee Savur), a medical practitioner and an avid Gita-enthusiast took up a project to produce an interactive CDRom for “Easy Chanting and Easy Reading”, with a book on “Easy Chanting” and one for "Easy Reading" to read and reflect upon. This is to help the future generations to recite the shlokas, and simultaneously understand their meaning in a simplified manner!

Dr Deepika Savur Pandya is the daughter of Savur Narsingh and Ahilya, both true yogis who introduced her to the Gita whilst very young.  In 1965, Ahilya suffered from a stroke and Narsingh faced a severe financial setback. At such times, the essence of all these learnings held in good stead, as the family sported smiling faces as Deepika completed her medical education and set up a successful medical practice in Santacruz Mumbai. Dr. Deepika believes in righteousness and reaching out to the under-privileged sections of society.

In this project undertaken by Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya, several team members from various fields put in great amount of efforts. I had been privileged to be part of this project and contributed to it by doing the final proof-reading of this flawless work. In other words, I did nothing!.  In order to understand the effort that went into the project, yours truly posed her some questions.  The responses are as below:

Q 1: From the "Afterword" one learns that you were initiated into the Bhagwad Gita by your father when you were only 17. Please provide some details about how passionate your father was about Bhagwad Gita. What kind of writings did your father leave behind that motivated you to take up this project?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya:  My father was a many lettered man, but a man of few words. In my childhood, he was very regular about performance of pujas and rituals. Later, he took up reading, studying, chanting from, and writing his notes on various scriptures, mostly the Upanishads and the Gita. At 17, I was actually struggling with German, while my friends who knew Sanskrit were sailing through! Knowing Sanskrit would have certainly helped me, but later in life, it was my German that helped me learn Sanskrit – there was so much similarity between the two!

As I grew up, I read and made my own notes on the Gita, from various available translations and authorities. In 2006, my brother, Bharat Savur, came across Daddy's fountain-pen notes, of the 70’s which were almost crumbling, for having lain on the loft for such a long time.  Knowing my interest in the subject, he brought this hidden treasure to my notice - it took me 2 years to organise these pages. They form a major part of our current text.

Q 2: Your command over the English language is apparent. What level of proficiency did you possess in Sanskrit language? Did you seek to improve your understanding of Sanskrit through this exercise and if so, how successful have you been?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: I was keen to learn Sanskrit, and began a self-study.  I read from various available books, provided by family and friends. Several attempts, going over 20 years, taught me one thing: Sanskrit was an endlessly deep ocean. Grappling with its intricacies, I was barely able to keep myself afloat. Even a 2 years’ course at the Arya Samaj (with exams et al) took me just a few steps ahead - or so it seemed. It was then that I decided to attend Gita Chanting classes. These helped tremendously - I realised the importance of simultaneous listening, reading, reciting and writing (which my grandfather had put me through in childhood). This was the key which opened up the doors ahead.Soon, I decided to take up a methodical study of the Gita, aiming at simplifying it for myself to understand it better. Shalan Savur (nee Trikannad), my sister-in-law, showed keen interest and we decided to do it together. This was in 2009.

Q3: You have accredited several persons who have participated in this project due to their knowledge of Sanskrit and the Vedas. Could you please elaborate on the nature of support the Vedanta experts from Chinmaya Mission, and others provided while working on the Beginner's Guide?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: Before embarking upon the project, I sought blessings from our Swamiji Sadyojat Shankarashram in Talmakiwadi, on December 4, 2009.

In January 2010, I carried a demo to Bangalore, to seek the blessings of Swami Brahmananda-ji, of the Chinmaya Mission, whose rendition we have used. His response was very encouraging. He was the first to give me His instant approval and support for this project. He also gave a practical demonstration and explanation of how best to simplify and display the Text to help Easy Chanting.

Swami Swatmananda-ji is considered one of the most dynamic Teachers of Chinmaya Mission today. He gave excellent suggestions for enhancement of the presentation, insisting upon the inclusion of Basic information for the Beginner. Dr. Manu Kothari (Prof of Anatomy – Seth G S Medical College), a versatile speaker and well-known published author has written the Introduction in the Book.

Dr. Narain Bhatia, who heads the Chinmaya Mission, is a Teacher of Vedanta. He suggested people who would proofread the Sanskrit. He set me several tests on my knowledge of Vedanta, my skills of translation, and ability to remove ambiguity, by identifying the most difficult verses to work upon. When he saw my method of working, and was convinced about my ability to give him the required outputs, he agreed to guide me.  

I was simultaneously recommended to work with Smt Pratibha Jobanputra, an expert on Vedanta.  She has extensive experience in literary fields and proofreading of the Chinmaya mission texts, and was instrumental in allowing us to beautify the text in all ways possible. She went through the text, to ensure that there were no errors of commission or omission. The entire process of finalisation of text went on for over a year (through 2011).

Interacting with Brahmacharini Vibhooti Chaitanya was a uniquely beautiful experience. The Overviews emerged thanks to her ideas and helpful contributions, to give the beginner a good start for every chapter.

Shrimati Pushpa Adhyaru (shishya of Swami Brahmananda-ji) was my link to the Chinmaya mission and all the Swami-jis I needed to interact with. She was very enthusiastic from the start, and instantly introduced me to and connected me with the right people at the right time.

At times my fading knowledge of English grammar, of simplifying words, found me looking for synonyms, coining of new words would prompt me to believe that, perhaps I could do with some more help! Shalan and Bharat Savur – my sister-in-law and brother – who have been into journalism for several decades, were useful in editing and simplifying the text, as their skills in the written language, synonyms, punctuation and grammar – which I lacked.

Sheela Nair has an in-depth knowledge of Sanskrit, being well-versed in the study of various scriptures. She is an educationist and teacher of Carnatic music. She helped me temper down the heavy words which faced me, when I was reading all the available literature and translations, as also find suitable alternatives.

Poonam Sethi is the Vedanta expert who taught me chanting of the Gita and the Durga Saptashati, her enthusiasm pushed me to take the plunge.

Navaz Hilloowala, who has extensive experience training children and adults in spoken English, urged me to simplify in as many ways possible. She helped me in giving titles to the groups of verses in every chapter, and suggested we have an overview for each chapter.

Dr Mitra Mukherjee Parikh, head of the Dept of English in the SNDT University, is a linguist. She worked on beautifying the Overviews, which I consider one of the most difficult parts of the project. We were particular that we adhered to British English in our choice of words, spellings and syntax. We wanted to avoid archaic words, yet the language had to sound ancient (hence note the use of Thou etc.) and have an appeal for the newcomer.

I am blessed that I had the support from my husband Dr. Pankaj Pandya and the entire Pandya family and also the ‘help from above’ all along. At times, during my struggle with the text, suddenly a word I was seeking for days, would just look out at me, from a newspaper headline or a hoarding. I was happy meeting and working with all these people, picking up what I thought was best. They left me to make the final choice. Sometimes, working late in the night, I trained myself to invoke their faculties and think the way they would have. And Bingo! I would get the right word.  

Q 4: What aspects had to be kept in mind to make the Bhagwad Gita "easy for beginners" as you aimed it to be indeed 'simpler' to aid the younger modern generation?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: We kept in mind barriers such as simplifying Sanskrit compound-letters, breaking of words into their constituent parts for ease, picked out the best font for visual clarity. We re-worked on the entire Roman font (despite several others being ‘available’) to make it easy to read. Wherever possible, we did away with the upper case to provide better readability. We worked on punctuation to simplify, without losing the essence of meaning. We removed all the ambiguity we came across (In earlier texts clod=lump of earth, innumerate=countless). We worked on adding colour coding to the speakers, and gave a comparative study in the CDRom (between the Translation in verse and the Meaning Simplified in prose) with the same idea in mind. 

Q 5:  The project includes an interactive CDRom containing the recitation of all the 700 verses of the Bhagwad Gita supported by the text in Sanskrit and English for the modern user. Could provide some details of the creation of the CDRom ?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: 700 verses are present in all the available texts. There is a verse added at the beginning of Chapter13, by a Sanskrit scholar, several centuries ago, to maintain continuity of the Text. This verse no. 701 is now incorporated into several of today’s accepted Texts. Swami Brahmanandaji very graciously allowed us to record his recitation of this additional verse live. I felt really that I was truly the privileged one, because I had never dreamt this would be possible.

Q 6: You also had to deal with modern Tech and IT related advancements whilst producing the CDRom, did you have experts in every field or did you have to grapple it all by yourself?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: Sukhvinder Singh Vasan from Jalandhar was my computer expert, who did almost 80% of the computer work with me. He taught me whatever skills of programming and designing I would need, from insertion/editing of the text in the Book, to animation in the CDRom. None of this was easy. Chapter 1 took us 2 months to put into the book. In the remaining 6 months the other 17 chapters were done. I learned as we went along.

Q 7: Could you share with us your experiences whilst dealing with Sanskrit, Vedanta and other theological experts that you interacted with in the course of working on this project? How long has you all been working on it?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: I am not sure how many hours all have put in, but most of them have just been there whenever I needed them. The entire work on the Text and the CDRom took about 2 years, and the page layout took about 9 months. It was done piece by piece, eg. Working on the Overviews took about 10 complete days, when Vibhooti-ji from the US, was here in India.  

Some chapters had to be re-done and re-worked upon several times eg. We had to re-do the text of Ch 13 five times until it was approved by all. It took a great deal to convince the Sanskrit experts that all we were trying to simplify was the ‘appearance’ of the text, and not demean its rules or prove a point. It was only to help the purpose of the chanting.

Q 8: What are the benefits of Vedic Chanting, why do you think there is so much interest being evinced in this ancient language in times when translated text in English does express the essence of the Bhagwad Gita better to present generation?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: If you attend Vedic chanting at the Ramakrishna Mission on weekends (Swami Devarupanandaji’s) you will get your answer. Most times, we the students have difficulty with the words, trying hard to follow Swamiji’s fluent footsteps. Then there comes a stanza which we are familiar with. All at once, there is a sudden ambience created when everyone chants in unison. An unexplained wave seems to move across the entire hall, the echoes are in unison. No amount of reading can replace the effect of reading-recitation combined, which is satisfying and soothing. 

Q 9: Do you think that the translations of the Sanskrit verses in other Indian languages would also benefit the spread of the message across India? Do you plan to venture into it?

Dr. Deepika Savur Pandya: Of course, it would. Ours is a vast and diverse population. And translations of other scriptures similarly would help. Unfortunately somebody else would have to continue this relay race. We also have suggestions that making a presentation with animated characters would reach out to the younger generation. The possibilities are endless. 

Q 10:  Is the CDRom with the Easy Chanting book freely available and how does one get them?

The Bhagwad Gita Beginner’s Guide books for Easy Reading and Easy Chanting and the complementary interactive CDROM are widely available at various locations as below:

Available At:

SHABD Publishing Proudly Presents:

The Bhagavad-Gita: A Beginner's Guide,

Easy Chanting and Easy Reading Books

By Dr Deepika (Savur) Pandya

Guidance: Chinmaya Mission

Easy Chanting  - Swami Brahmananda-ji

Price:  Rs. 500/-

The Bhagavad-Gita Easy Changing CD ROM is complimentary

“An eternal scripture linked to mass-media communication”

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