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Indian PhilosophyOS

purana

उद्धवगीता

Uddhava Gita

Uddhavagītā

Krishna's final teaching to his friend Uddhava before leaving the world, found in the eleventh canto of the Bhagavata Purana.
Primary sourceSource not yet ingested
Tradition
Bhakti traditions · Epics & Puranas (Itihasa-Purana) · Vedanta
Difficulty
intermediate
Attribution
Vyasa (Veda Vyasa)Part of the Bhagavata Purana (Canto 11), traditionally attributed to Vyasa
Period · language
As for the Bhagavata Purana: commonly placed between roughly the 6th and 10th centuries CE · Sanskrit
Themes
Renunciation · Devotion · Knowledge · Detachment

Why read this?

It is sometimes called Krishna's last Gita. It covers much of the ground of the Bhagavad Gita but in a setting of renunciation rather than war, and gives more space to the renunciant life and to devotion.

The frame story

As Krishna prepares to leave the world and his clan faces its end, Uddhava asks to go with him. Krishna instead instructs him on detachment, knowledge and devotion, then sends him to live as a renunciant.

Questions it answers

  • ?How should one live when everything familiar is ending?
  • ?Can renunciation and devotion be combined?

Key teachings

Editorial overview
1

The avadhuta and his twenty-four teachers

Krishna tells of a wandering renunciant (avadhuta) who learned from twenty-four teachers in nature, such as the earth, the ocean and a honeybee. Each teaches an aspect of detachment or patience.

2

Devotion above other means

While describing knowledge, yoga and ritual, Krishna presents devotion to himself as the most direct and inclusive path.

3

The gunas and freedom from them

Much of the teaching analyses experience through the three gunas and describes the person who has gone beyond them.

4

Seeing God in all

Uddhava is taught to see the divine in all beings and to treat them with equal regard.

Structure

  1. Bhagavata Purana, Canto 11Commonly taken as roughly chapters 7–29; the exact boundaries are counted differently

Source not yet ingested

The text of the Uddhava Gita 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.Conceptवैराग्यVairagya — dispassionFreedom from craving — the fading of attraction to what cannot satisfy.Conceptसंन्यासSannyasa — renunciationRenunciation — as a formal stage of life, and as an inner attitude of letting go.ConceptगुणGunas — the three qualitiesSattva, rajas and tamas — the three strands of all nature.Conceptज्ञानJnana — knowledgeLiberating knowledge — seeing reality and the Self as they are.Conceptसमत्वSamatvaEquanimity: evenness of mind in gain and loss, success and failure.

Related texts

TextभागवतपुराणBhagavata PuranaThe larger text in which it appearsTextश्रीमद्भगवद्गीताBhagavad GitaA parallel teaching by Krishna; compare Gita chapter 14 on the gunasTextअवधूतगीताAvadhuta GitaA different text on the avadhuta ideal

Thinkers

Thinkerव्यासVyasa (Veda Vyasa)Legendary figure; tradition places him at the end of the Dvapara age. No historical dating is possible.

Continue exploring

Traditions

भक्तिBhakti traditionsइतिहास-पुराणEpics & Puranas (Itihasa-Purana)वेदान्तVedanta

Source type: Primary source. Overview text on this page is editorial.