itihasa
श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता
Bhagavad Gita
Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā
A 700-verse dialogue in which Krishna counsels the warrior Arjuna, who has collapsed in despair on the battlefield, on action, the Self and devotion.
Primary sourceFull text available
- Tradition
- Vedanta · Epics & Puranas (Itihasa-Purana) · Bhakti traditions · Yoga (Patanjala) · Sankhya
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Attribution
- Vyasa (Veda Vyasa)Part of the Mahabharata (Bhishma Parva); traditionally attributed to Vyasa
- Period · language
- Scholars commonly place its composition between roughly the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE, with some proposing later layers; traditionally set at the start of the Kurukshetra war · Sanskrit
- Themes
- Duty · Action · Self · Devotion · Knowledge · Equanimity · Liberation · God
Full text available
Read all 700 verses with Sadhak Sanjivani
Sanskrit, Hindi & English, word-by-word meanings, Swami Ramsukhdas’s complete commentary, and a learning layer — Learn, Read and Deep-dive modes.
Why read this?
The Gita is one of the most widely read and commented-on texts in Indian thought, and it brings together threads from the Upanishads, Sankhya, Yoga and devotional religion in a single conversation. It is also the one primary source fully available in this app: all 700 verses with Swami Ramsukhdas's Sadhak Sanjivani commentary, so you can read any verse cited elsewhere.
The frame story
On the eve of the Kurukshetra war, Arjuna asks his charioteer Krishna to drive between the two armies. Seeing teachers, relatives and friends on the opposing side, he refuses to fight. Krishna's response, spread over eighteen chapters, moves from the immortality of the Self to disciplined action, meditation, the nature of God, a vision of Krishna's cosmic form, and finally surrender; at the end Arjuna says his confusion is gone. The dialogue is framed as Sanjaya's report to the blind king Dhritarashtra.
Questions it answers
- ?How should I act when every choice seems to cause harm?
- ?What in me does not die?
- ?Can one act without being bound by the results?
- ?What is the relation between knowledge, action and devotion?
- ?Who or what is God?
Key teachings
Editorial overview
1
The Self is not born and does not die
Krishna begins by distinguishing the unchanging Self from the changing body. Grief over death, the text argues, comes from identifying with what is perishable.
2
Act without attachment to results
A central teaching is that one has a claim on action but not on its fruits. Action done as duty and offering, without craving for outcomes, is said not to bind.
3
Equanimity is itself yoga
The Gita repeatedly defines yoga as evenness of mind in success and failure, pleasure and pain. Its portrait of the person of steady wisdom (sthitaprajna) is a model of this.
4
Several paths, one goal
The text discusses the disciplines of action (karma), knowledge (jnana), meditation (dhyana) and devotion (bhakti). Commentators disagree about how these relate: Shankara emphasises knowledge, Ramanuja devotion, and many modern readers see an integration.
5
The three gunas
Drawing on Sankhya, the Gita analyses nature (prakriti) into three qualities, sattva, rajas and tamas, and uses them to classify food, faith, charity, knowledge and character.
6
Surrender to God
In its closing teaching Krishna invites Arjuna to take refuge in him alone. Devotional traditions treat this as the culmination of the text.
Structure
- 18 chapters, 700 versesSet in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata
- Chapters 1–6Often read as emphasising action and self-discipline
- Chapters 7–12Often read as emphasising God and devotion; includes the cosmic vision of chapter 11
- Chapters 13–18Often read as emphasising knowledge: field and knower, the gunas, and the final synthesis
Important passages
Primary source
- 2.13The embodied Self passes through childhood, youth and age, and likewise to another bodycf. Gita2.13
- 2.20The Self is never born and never diescf. Gita2.20
- 2.47One's claim is on action alone, never on its fruitscf. Gita2.47
- 2.48Yoga defined as equanimitycf. Gita2.48
- 2.55Beginning of the description of the person of steady wisdomcf. Gita2.55
- 3.35Better one's own duty, even imperfectly done, than another'scf. Gita3.35
- 4.7–4.8The divine descends whenever dharma declinescf. Gita4.74.8
- 6.5One should lift oneself by oneself; the mind is friend or enemycf. Gita6.5
- 9.26Even a leaf, flower, fruit or water offered with devotion is acceptedcf. Gita9.26
- 13.1The body is called the field, and its knower the knower of the fieldcf. Gita13.1
- 14.5Sattva, rajas and tamas bind the embodied beingcf. Gita14.5
- 15.7The individual self as an eternal portion of the divinecf. Gita15.7
- 18.66The call to relinquish all dharmas and take refuge in Krishnacf. Gita18.66
Concepts
Conceptआत्मन्Atman — the SelfThe innermost Self — what you are beneath body, mind and personality.Conceptधर्मDharmaWhat upholds — order, duty, right conduct, and the nature of things.Conceptकर्मKarmaAction — and the way actions shape future experience.Conceptनिष्काम कर्मNishkama karmaAction performed without selfish desire for its results.Conceptस्वधर्मSvadharmaOne's own duty, suited to one's nature and situation.ConceptयोगYogaJoining or disciplining — a path of practice toward freedom.Conceptभक्तिBhakti — devotionLoving devotion to God, as a path and as an end in itself.Conceptज्ञानJnana — knowledgeLiberating knowledge — seeing reality and the Self as they are.ConceptगुणGunas — the three qualitiesSattva, rajas and tamas — the three strands of all nature.Conceptसमत्वSamatvaEquanimity: evenness of mind in gain and loss, success and failure.Conceptस्थितप्रज्ञSthitaprajna — steady wisdomThe person whose understanding has become steady — the Gita's portrait of the realised human being.ConceptशरणागतिSharanagatiTaking refuge in God; total surrender.Conceptप्रकृतिPrakriti — naturePrimal nature or matter — everything that changes, including the mind.ConceptपुरुषPurusha — pure consciousnessThe conscious witness, distinct from all that changes.Conceptमोक्षMoksha — liberationFinal freedom from bondage and the cycle of rebirth.Conceptयज्ञYajna — sacrifice, offeringOffering: from the Vedic fire ritual to the inner attitude of doing all action as an offering.Conceptत्यागTyaga — relinquishmentLetting go of attachment to action and its fruit, rather than of action itself.Conceptसंन्यासSannyasa — renunciationRenunciation — as a formal stage of life, and as an inner attitude of letting go.Conceptईश्वरIshvara — GodThe Lord — God as ruler, creator and object of worship.Conceptब्रह्मन्BrahmanThe ultimate reality, the ground from which everything arises.Conceptअहङ्कारAhankara — I-maker, egoThe 'I-maker' — the sense of being a separate doer and owner.ConceptअहिंसाAhimsa — non-harmNot harming living beings, in deed, word or thought.Conceptअनित्यAnitya / Anicca — impermanenceEverything conditioned changes and passes away.Conceptअनुग्रहAnugraha — graceDivine grace — God's freely given favour that frees the soul.Conceptआसक्तिAsaktiAttachment: clinging to objects, people or outcomes.Conceptअविद्याAvidya — ignoranceFundamental misunderstanding of oneself and reality — the root of bondage.Conceptबुद्धिBuddhi — intellectThe discerning, deciding faculty — the highest of the inner instruments.Conceptचित्तChitta — mind-fieldThe whole field of mind, with its thoughts, memories and latent impressions.Conceptध्यानDhyanaMeditation: an unbroken flow of attention toward one object.ConceptदुःखDukkha — suffering, unsatisfactorinessSuffering, stress or unsatisfactoriness — the starting point of the Buddha's teaching and a shared concern of Indian thought.ConceptजीवJiva — the individual soulThe living, embodied individual who acts, experiences and transmigrates.ConceptकामKamaDesire; also, as one of four aims of life, pleasure and love.Conceptक्रोधKrodhaAnger, often described as frustrated desire.ConceptलीलाLila — divine playCreation as God's spontaneous play rather than an act of need.Conceptमनस्Manas — mindThe mind that receives, coordinates and desires — restless by nature.ConceptमायाMayaThe power of appearance — why the world seems other than it is.Conceptनिर्वाणNirvanaThe 'blowing out' of craving, hatred and delusion — the Buddhist goal; also used in the Gita as brahma-nirvana.ConceptफलPhalaThe fruit or result of action.Conceptप्रमाणPramana — means of valid knowledgeThe accepted sources of valid knowledge, such as perception, inference and testimony.Conceptप्राणायामPranayamaRegulation of the breath and the life-force (prana).Conceptप्रपत्तिPrapatti — refuge in GodTaking refuge in God as the sole means, a central teaching of Sri Vaishnavism.Conceptप्रेमPrema — divine lovePure, selfless love for God — for many bhakti traditions the highest goal, beyond even liberation.ConceptऋतRta — cosmic orderThe Vedic principle of cosmic, ritual and moral order — a forerunner of dharma.Conceptसाक्षीSakshi — the witnessThe Self as the silent witness of the mind's changing states.ConceptसमाधिSamadhiComplete absorption of the mind in its object, or beyond any object.ConceptसंसारSamsara — the cycle of rebirthThe round of birth, death and rebirth driven by action and ignorance.ConceptसेवाSevaSelfless service offered without seeking reward.ConceptशरीरShariraThe body; in Vedanta, understood as gross, subtle and causal layers distinct from the Self.Conceptश्रद्धाShraddhaFaith or trust; confident commitment to a teaching, teacher or ideal.Conceptतत्त्वTattva — principle of reality'Thatness' — a basic category or principle of reality, counted differently by different schools.Conceptवैराग्यVairagya — dispassionFreedom from craving — the fading of attraction to what cannot satisfy.ConceptविवेकVivekaDiscernment between the real and the unreal, the Self and the not-Self.
Where the Gita connects
Gita → VedantaOne of the three foundations (prasthāna-traya) of Vedanta, with the Upanishads and Brahma SutrasGita → SankhyaUses Sankhya’s vocabulary — prakriti, purusha, the gunas — especially in chapters 2, 13 and 14Gita → YogaKarma-, jnana-, dhyana- and bhakti-yoga; chapter 6 on meditationGita → BhaktiSurrender and devotion culminate in 9.34, 12 and 18.66Gita → DharmaSvadharma and duty — from Arjuna’s dilemma to 18.47Gita → KarmaAction without attachment to its fruit — 2.47, 3.19, 5.10
Related texts
TextमहाभारतMahabharataThe Gita is chapters of the Bhishma Parva, and its crisis only makes sense within the epic's storyTextकठोपनिषद्Katha UpanishadGita 2.19–20 closely parallels Katha 1.2.18–19 on the undying Self; the asvattha tree of Gita 15.1 also echoes Katha 2.3.1Textईशोपनिषद्Isha UpanishadThe idea of seeing all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings (Isha 6) is echoed in Gita 6.29Textश्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद्Shvetashvatara UpanishadShares the Gita's blend of Upanishadic monism, Sankhya-Yoga vocabulary and a personal LordTextब्रह्मसूत्रBrahma SutrasWith the Upanishads, one of the three foundational sources (prasthana-traya) on which Vedanta teachers wrote commentariesTextसाङ्ख्यकारिकाSankhya KarikaClassical statement of the Sankhya system whose categories (purusha, prakriti, gunas) the Gita uses in its own wayTextयोगसूत्रYoga Sutras of PatanjaliChapter 6's meditation teaching overlaps with, but is not identical to, Patanjali's yogaTextभागवतपुराणBhagavata PuranaDevelops the Gita's devotion to Krishna into a full theology of bhaktiTextउद्धवगीताUddhava GitaKrishna's later teaching to Uddhava, often read as a companion to the GitaTextसाधक-संजीवनीSadhak SanjivaniThe Hindi commentary by Swami Ramsukhdas included with every verse in this appTextगीताभाष्यGita Bhashya (Shankara)Oldest surviving full commentary; reads the Gita through AdvaitaTextगीताभाष्यGita Bhashya (Ramanuja)Reads the Gita as teaching devotion to a personal God within VishishtadvaitaTextगीतातात्पर्यनिर्णयGita Tatparya Nirnaya (Madhva)Madhva's Dvaita reading of the Gita
Thinkers
Thinkerव्यासVyasa (Veda Vyasa)Legendary figure; tradition places him at the end of the Dvapara age. No historical dating is possible.Thinkerआदि शङ्कराचार्यAdi ShankaracharyaTraditionally 788–820 CE; many scholars prefer an earlier 8th-century or late 7th-century date. Dates are debated.Thinkerरामानुजाचार्यRamanujacharyaTraditionally 1017–1137 CE; the traditional lifespan of 120 years is often questioned and scholars treat the dates as approximate (11th–12th century CE).Thinkerमध्वाचार्यMadhvacharyaTraditionally 1238–1317 CE; some scholars prefer 1199–1278 CE.Thinkerस्वामी रामसुखदासSwami Ramsukhdas20th century; c. 1904–2005 CE (birth date reported variously).Thinkerस्वामी विवेकानन्दSwami Vivekananda1863–1902 CE (modern).
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