The following has been reproduced verbatim from the book 'The Charm and Power of the Gita' by Swami Ranganathananda Ji, published by Advaita Ashrama.
The Gita has a simplicity which we often miss. We are accustomed to complicate things. We cannot appreciate simple things. The human mind wants, in the name of philosophy and religion, something striking in the form of books, dress, rituals, etc. Simple character or simple ethical beauty is not much appreciated. Simple beauty is not appreciated by ordinary men. Truth which is simple is clothed in a variety of ways, and we get not the naked truth but a clothed truth. When you come to the Gita, we have the presentation of this simple truth which helps to take us across life’s problems. It frees us from all attachments of joys and sorrows and good and bad. It gives us absolute calm, and a freedom from all conditions – external and internal. We want this independence of the individual to be maintained at all costs. This is what philosophy seeks to confer on life. If we have this, what else do we require? One who attains this remains fresh in spite of life’s aging and retains the freshness of a new-born babe even unto death. He has philosophy to guide him. This is the true test of philosophy – a philosophy which helps us to pass though life’s struggles without getting scorched, which helps us remain as fresh at the end of the journey as at the beginning.
