Reddit mentions of The Bhagavad Gita (Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality Book 1)

VERY to the point:

ON ACTION.

​

Find the best version of translation and commentary you can find in your preferred language.

Digest ve..............ry slowly.

​

I'd think this book, like a good movie, it's better approached being clueless as to what it is "about".

This doesn't intend [oh the irony] to be a solution to anything, though,

it's a gift I'd gift you if I were you.

There's the reading list in the side-bar, but that doesn't really have secondary books on Hinduism.

There's Gavin Flood's An Introduction to Hinduism. I haven't read it yet, but it's the only thing I got off the top of my head. If you want, I can look through the copy I found on the sidewalk and tell you about it.

But Flood seems to have a pretty good pedigree. But I don't know if he's a Hindu. I would also recommend Eknath Easwaran's translation of the Bhagavad Gita. I have it, and his intro goes into Hindu concepts. This book also seem well-received, though I don't have it.

There's a public domain book called The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India. There's also The Wonder that was India, which is good. And apparently the same guy wrote The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism.

Most Indian history books talk about Hinduism, so maybe the Cambridge History of India?

I couldn't say, but I am reading Eknath Easwaran's. Many people like that one.

http://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Classics-Indian-Spirituality-ebook/dp/B004DI7R5G/ref=la_B000APGY1O_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369413456&sr=1-1

Sure!

My teacher, one of the first women to receive full monastic ordination, wrote a book called Buddhism For Beginners. She teaches in the Tibetan tradition which isn't always everyone's cup of tea as it is pretty ritualized and religion-y.

As an alternative, you might consider the exceptional book The Three Pillars of Zen.

I am still very new to Advaita Vedanta and, so far, I've mostly just watched YouTube videos and am currently reading the Bhagavad Gita which is considered to be an important text to that tradition.

The post got removed but I just wanted to reply to this last comment you made in case you come back to see it. What I would advise is just try not to be perfect. Just be yourself. What makes you feel good. It can be anything. Especially related to fashion, the places you hang out, the people you choose to be with.

Please note you didn't really get donwvoted here. You can go off on people in r/rant, r/angry (not anger) or r/offmychest all day. But this sub we really try to dig in and help people with anger management.

We can work ourselves up into an existential crisis over almost anything. Please realize you are not in a worst case scenario and other people don't wake up in the morning intent on ruining your day. So go easy on yourself and on everyone else. Spewing hatred at people will not foster peace. The transgender community is in the spotlight right now and it's basically being treated as the red-headed step-child of the world. So you need to seek out calm people for advice, people who have already been through it and aren't in the throws of figuring out who they are right now. Seek wisdom not opinions.

I used to hang out in punk clubs, gay bars, goth clubs and basically what most people would consider the worst dive bars in town because i was really low but found I could talk to other people who felt like outcasts out there. I didn't have any commonality with most people. But I started seeing people who dressed as weird as humanly possible because it made them feel like they were expressing themselves. It was a circus but it's a beautiful circus to those who appreciate it.

Even physically ugly people find love. We know this for a fact just people-watching on Saturday nights.
But thank God, right? If not, half of us would never find mates. We don't get to choose what we look like. We can alter it but only so much. Do what you would want to do anyway in life and the right people will come along. Gratitude, compassion, forgiveness will attract what you want.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you are kind to people and give them a chance they might have an easier job seeing the beauty in you. So omit those bad words and harsh feelings toward any specific group of people. They didn't help you. If something's not doing you any good, stop doing it. But don't lash out at them like it's their fault. When we know we have a hard problem on our hands, we have to work extra hard and find what heals us by ourselves. The power to choose your life is in your own hands. Take the wheel.

I suggest you find a counselor/therapist who deals with what you're dealing with. There are a lot out there that are well versed specifically in things like gender identity, body dysmorphia and conditions we don't even have names for yet. Shop around a bit to find the one that you connect with and offers suggestions that help you. Keep a journal and write your thoughts in it so you can go back and evaluate it and see if it's really true or if you're being negative. Having a journal gives you something to immediately go to and stay on track when you have a therapist as well. Also, you should just read. Read and read and read. Until you're kind of done. And then write. Write about what your experience has been. Being positive takes work, it doesn't just fall in our lap.

Movies are good too. Movies, movies, movies. Find movies that make you feel better and then ask yourself why they make you feel better.

It was twenty years ago and I'm not hip or that daring anymore. But I found my circus. Find your circus.

Hope you can feel better soon.