Amir Or is a major voice in contemporary world literature and the 2020 Golden Wreath laureate. His poetry, recognized with awards including the 2019 Homer European Medal, the 2021 Vinicius and Wladislaw Reimont Prizes, and the 2022 Shabdagucha Award, has been translated into more than 50 languages and published in 46 books worldwide. He is the author of 14 poetry collections, two novels, essays, and 12 volumes of translations.

The Song of God – Bhagavad Gita, is one of the most sacred classical Indian texts, and for many, the most sacred. Even in the West, this text is considered one of the most beautiful and profound in Indian culture and human culture in general. The Gita has earned this status both because of its religious-gothic depth and because of its poetic beauty. It was written in the first centuries BCE, but it has echoes of much older scriptures. It can be said that the Gita contains all the spiritual currents of India that preceded it, and delivers them to the reader as a poetic dialogue between the god Krishna and the warrior Arjuna. The Gita deals with many matters: what is between man and the universe, between man and his God, and between man and his actions. The work is based on the principle of the unity of existence, the one and the absolute, and says that the self in each individual is universal and eternal. The breadth of the existence of the individual is the cosmic totality, and this totality – in the form of the eternal God – exists in each individual, and in every being. This is the key to human redemption: whoever does not cling to his current form on earth, and is not enslaved to the results of his actions, is temporary in his current manifestation, but eternal in his absolute manifestation. The book deals, therefore, with the human soul, ethics, and the path to salvation. This foundation is love, man and his devotion to the eternal God, who is present in every creature and also in the heart of man. This is, then, man’s love for himself as an expression of totality.

Or translated the original poem into poetry rather than prose, and the result is a complex and very beautiful work of art. The Hebrew is faithful to the original language’s sublimeness and preserves its lyricism, is delivered in contemporary language, and does not lose the beauty of the poem. The translation is accompanied by a clear introduction to the historical and conceptual background of the work, and at the end of the translation there is a study of the work by Ronen Meyuhas, whose interpretation is based on Prabhupada’s book, “Bhagavad Gita As It Is.”