Gita Bhashya (Ramanuja)

Gītā Bhāṣya

Ramanuja's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, reading it as teaching devotion to a personal God, supported by knowledge and action.

Traditional commentarySource not yet ingested

Tradition: Vishishtadvaita Vedanta · Vedanta · Bhakti traditions
Difficulty: advanced
Attribution: RamanujacharyaRamanujacharya
Period · language: Traditionally 11th–12th century CE · Sanskrit
Themes: Devotion · Surrender · Self · Action

Why read this?

This commentary shows how the Gita reads when bhakti, not knowledge alone, is taken to be its culmination. It is central to the Sri Vaishnava tradition and a natural counterpart to Shankara's commentary.

Questions it answers

?Is devotion the Gita's final teaching?
?How do knowledge, action and devotion relate?
?What does surrender mean?

Key teachings

Editorial overview

Bhakti as the goal

Knowledge and action are treated as disciplines that lead to and support devotion, which is the direct means to God.

Self-knowledge as a step

Knowing the self as distinct from the body is an important step, but not the end; the self is then known as belonging to God.

Surrender

His comments on the Gita's closing teaching became important for the Sri Vaishnava theology of refuge (prapatti).

Structure

Introduction and verse-by-verse commentary

Important passages

Source not yet ingested

References only — the passages themselves are not reproduced until the source text is ingested.

On 18.66The call to take refuge in Krishnacf. Gita18.66

Source not yet ingested

The text of the Gita Bhashya (Ramanuja) is not part of this version. What you see here is an editorial overview with passage references. No verses have been reproduced or invented. The architecture is ready for the text to be added.

Concepts

Conceptभक्तिBhakti — devotionLoving devotion to God, as a path and as an end in itself.Conceptप्रपत्तिPrapatti — refuge in GodTaking refuge in God as the sole means, a central teaching of Sri Vaishnavism.ConceptशरणागतिSharanagatiTaking refuge in God; total surrender.Conceptईश्वरIshvara — GodThe Lord — God as ruler, creator and object of worship.ConceptजीवJiva — the individual soulThe living, embodied individual who acts, experiences and transmigrates.Conceptकर्मKarmaAction — and the way actions shape future experience.Conceptज्ञानJnana — knowledgeLiberating knowledge — seeing reality and the Self as they are.Conceptनिष्काम कर्मNishkama karmaAction performed without selfish desire for its results.Conceptस्थितप्रज्ञSthitaprajna — steady wisdomThe person whose understanding has become steady — the Gita's portrait of the realised human being.

Textश्रीमद्भगवद्गीताBhagavad GitaThe root text Textगीताभाष्यGita Bhashya (Shankara)The Advaita reading Textगीतातात्पर्यनिर्णयGita Tatparya Nirnaya (Madhva)Madhva's Dvaita reading Textश्रीभाष्यSri Bhashya (Ramanuja)Ramanuja's main systematic work Textसाधक-संजीवनीSadhak SanjivaniA modern commentary that also gives surrender a central place

Thinkers

Thinkerरामानुजाचार्यRamanujacharyaTraditionally 1017–1137 CE; the traditional lifespan of 120 years is often questioned and scholars treat the dates as approximate (11th–12th century CE).

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Traditions

विशिष्टाद्वैतVishishtadvaita Vedanta वेदान्तVedanta भक्तिBhakti traditions

Source type: Traditional commentary. Overview text on this page is editorial.