/lit/ - Literature

>>15315591
First tip: don't listen to people who recommend gigantic medieval commentaries for your first read. You will get lost and give up, guaranteed.

Second tip: like any translation of a religious text, it depends what perspective on the text you are happy with. There are multiple translations by western sanskritists who generally don't have theological skin in the game. For a non-Hindu one of those is probably a good bet. I would recommend the Norton Critical Edition which has the translation of Gavin Flood and Charles Martin, along with extracts of Hindu commentaries and essays by scholars. Gavin Flood is a professor of Hindu studies at Oxford. Charles Martin is a poet and translator of Latin poetry. Flood first wrote a literal, academic, translation which he then revised with Martin to make it more poetic in English. The result is a very nice middle ground that is pleasant to read while being pretty accurate.

Prabhupada's translation is very interpretive, he intrusively inserts his theological views into the text and has a heavy verse-by-verse commentary. For example, the word 'deva' literally means 'god' but Prabhupada translates it as 'demi-god' due to his belief in exclusive Krishna worship. This is a misleading translation because it implies some half-divine hybrid like Herakles, but the Hindu devas are much more analagous to western pantheons of gods.

>>15315910
Easwaran was an autodidact without credentials and wasn't even part of a major school's lineage. You are just getting some 20th century guy's interpretation by reading his translation. It's nothing special.