How long is the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam?

February 24, 2006

I read that the Gita is 700 verses? And I located the book as krishna.com. The Bhagavad Gita As It Is was 636 pages. Is most of that comentary? And the Srimad Bhagavatam was presented in 12 volumes. How many verses are there in the Srimad Bhagavatam? Without comentary or translation would it be able to fit into one book? Also is the Srimad Bhagavatam for the common man to read and understand? Or is it for more advanced devotees?

February 25, 2006

The Bhagavad Gita As It Is' is about 860 pages (at least, my edition (hardback)) is. Yes, the book is mostly the commentary, as Prabhupada made sure that the reader would understand the text completely by his fantastic commentary. It is common for someone to read the verses only and not understand, or get the wrong understanding, so the purports included in the Bhagavad-gita eliminate the chance of this.

It is the same with the Bhagavatam.

It is recommended that the Bhagavad-gita is read before the Bhagavatam so that the user has a firm understanding of the philosophy, however it is not a requirement.

February 25, 2006

The Bhagavata Gita has 700 verses. you can find it at common indian stores as a small booklet that has only the verses. By reading this, you will get some benefit, but the benefit is miniscule when compared to actually reading the explanation and purports of the verses from a god-realized saint (such as our beloved Srila Prabhupada).

The Srimad Bhagavatam is the crown jewel of all scriptures. It has 18000 verses. It is published in 18 volumes and is available on krishna.com The 12 volumes that you refer to are the ones originally written by Srila Prabhupada. After he left this world, his disciples finished translating the rest of the book and thus there are 18 volumes. It is recommended that you read the Bhagavatam after reading and understanding the Gita. The Bhagavatam starts where the Gita ends.

Haribol!