Bhagavad Gita

For other uses, see Bhagavad Gita (disambiguation).

Gita redirects here. For other uses, see Gita (disambiguation).
The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit: , rmadb-

Numerous commentaries have been written on the Bhagavad Gita with widely diering views on the essentials. Vedanta commentators read varying relations between Self and Brahman in the text: Advaita Vedanta
sees the non-dualism of Atman (soul) and Brahman as its
essence,[8] whereas Bhedabheda and Vishishtadvaita see
Atman and Brahman as both dierent and non-dierent,
and Dvaita sees them as dierent. The setting of the Gita
in a battleeld has been interpreted as an allegory for the
ethical and moral struggles of the human life.
The Bhagavad Gita 's call for seless action inspired many
leaders of the Indian independence movement including
Bal Gangadhar Tilak & Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Gandhi referred to the Gita as his spiritual dictionary.[9]

1 Composition and signicance

Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, c. 1830 painting

hagavadgt, pronounced [bd ita] ( )), literally meaning The Song of the Bhagavan, often referred to
as simply the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is
Bronze chariot, depicting discourse of Krishna and Arjuna in
part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.
Kurukshetra

The Gita is set in a narrative framework of a dialogue

between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna. Facing the duty as a warrior to ght the
Dharma Yudhha or righteous war between Pandavas and
Kauravas, Arjuna is counselled by Krishna to fulll his
Kshatriya (warrior) duty as a warrior and establishing
Dharma.[1] Inserted[1] in this appeal to kshatriya dharma
(chivalry)[2] is a dialogue [...] between diverging attitudes concerning and methods toward the attainment of
liberation (moksha)".[3]

1.1 Authorship
The epic Mahabharata is traditionally ascribed to the
Sage Ved Vyasa; the Bhagavad Gita, being a part of the
Mahabharata, is also ascribed to him.[10]

1.2 Date of composition

The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis[4][5] of the Brahmanical concept of Dharma,[4][5][6] theistic bhakti,[7][6]
the yogic ideals[5] of moksha[5] through jnana, bhakti,
karma, and Raja Yoga (spoken of in the 6th chapter). [7]
and Samkhya philosophy.[web 1][note 1]

Theories on the date of composition of the Gita vary

considerably. Scholars accept dates from fth century
to second century BCE as the probable range. Professor Jeaneane Fowler, in her commentary on the Gita,
1

considers second century BCE to be the likely date of

composition.[11] Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, a Gita scholar,
on the basis of the estimated dates of Mahabharata,
Brahma sutras, and other independent sources, concludes
that the Bhagavad Gita was composed between fth and
fourth centuries BCE.[12]
It is generally agreed that, Unlike the Vedas, which
have to be preserved letter-perfect, the Gita was a popular work whose reciters would inevitably conform to
changes in language and style, so the earliest surviving components of this dynamic text are believed to be
no older than the earliest external references we have
to the Mahabharata epic, which may include an allusion
in Paninis fourth century BCE grammar. It is estimated
that the Sanskrit text probably reached something of a nal form by the early Gupta period (about the 4th century
CE). The actual dates of composition of the Gita remain
unresolved.[10]

1.3

Hindu synthesis and smriti

See also: Smarta Tradition

COMPOSITION AND SIGNIFICANCE

which incorporates bhakti into the Brahmanical fold.[13]

According to Deutsch and Dalvi, the Bhagavad Gita attempts to forge a harmony[15] between dierent strands
of Indian thought: jnana, dharma and bhakti.[7] Deutsch
and Dalvi note that the authors of the Bhagavad Gita
must have seen the appeal of the soteriologies both of
the heterodox traditions of Buddhism and Jainism and
of the more orthodox ones of Samkhya and Yoga,[4]
while the Brahmanic tradition emphasised the significance of dharma as the instrument of goodness.[4]
Scheepers mentions the Bhagavat Gita as a Brahmanical text which uses the shramanic and Yogic terminology
to spread the Brahmanic idea of living according to ones
duty or dharma, in contrast to the yogic ideal of liberation
from the workings of karma.[5] According to Basham,
The Bhagavadgita combines many dierent elements from Samkhya and Vedanta philosophy. In matters of religion, its important contribution was the new emphasis placed
on devotion, which has since remained a central path in Hinduism. In addition, the popular theism expressed elsewhere in the Mahabharata and the transcendentalism of the
Upanishads converge, and a God of personal
characteristics is identied with the brahman
of the Vedic tradition. The Bhagavadgita
thus gives a typology of the three dominant
trends of Indian religion: dharma-based householder life, enlightenment-based renunciation,
and devotion-based theism.[web 1]

Due to its presence in the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad

Gita is classied as a Smriti text or that which is
remembered.[note 2] The smriti texts of the period between 200 BCE-100 CE belong to the emerging Hindu
synthesis, proclaiming the authority of the Vedas while
integrating various Indian traditions and religions.[13] Acceptance of the Vedas became a central criterion for
dening Hinduism over and against the heterodoxies,
Raju too sees the Bhagavad Gita as a synthesis:
which rejected the Vedas.[13]

The so-called Hindu synthesis emerged during

The Bhagavadgita may be treated as a great
the early Classical period (200 BCE-300 CE) of
synthesis
of the ideas of the impersonal spiriHinduism.[13][5][14] According to Hiltebeitel, a period
tual monism with personalistic monotheism, of
of consolidation in the development of Hinduism took
the yoga of action with the yoga of transcenplace between the time of the late Vedic Upanishad
dence of action, and these again with yogas of
(ca. 500 BCE) and the period of the rise of the Guptas
devotion and knowledge.[6]
(ca. 320467 CE) which he calls the Hindu synthesis,
Brahmanic synthesis, or orthodox synthesis.[13] It
developed in interaction with other religions and peoples: The inuence of the Bhagavad Gita was such, that its
synthesis was adapted to and incorporated into specic
Indian traditions. Nicholson mentions the Shiva Gita as
The emerging self-denitions of Hinduism
an adaptation of the Vishnu-oriented Bhagavat Gita into
were forged in the context of continuous inShiva-oriented terminology,[16] and the Isvara Gita as
teraction with heterodox religions (Buddhists,
borrowing entire verses from the Krishna-oriented BhaJains, Ajivikas) throughout this whole period,
gavad Gita and placing them into a new Shiva-oriented
and with foreign people (Yavanas, or Greeks;
context.[17]
Sakas, or Scythians; Pahlavas, or Parthians;
and Kusanas, or Kushans) from the third phase
on [between the Mauryan empire and the rise
1.4 Status
of the Guptas].[13]
The Bhagavad Gita is the sealing achievement of
this Hindu synthesis,[13] incorporating various religious traditions.[13][7][5][web 1][6] According to Hiltebeitel,
bhakti forms an essential ingredient of this synthesis,[13]

The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Prasthanatrayi, which

also includes the Upanishads and Brahma sutras. These
are the key texts for the Vedanta,[18][19][20] which interprets these texts to give a unied meaning. Advaita
Vedanta sees the non-dualism of Atman and Brahman as

2.2

Characters

its essence,[8] whereas Bhedabheda and Vishishtadvaita

see Atman and Brahman as both dierent and nondierent, and Dvaita sees them as dierent. In recent
times the Advaita interpretation has gained worldwide
popularity, due to the Neo-Vedanta of Vivekananda and
Radhakrishnan, while the Achintya Bheda Abheda interpretation has gained worldwide popularity via the Hare
Krishnas, a branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.[21]
Although early Vedanta gives an interpretation of the sruti
texts of the Upanishads, and its main commentary the
Brahman Sutras, the popularity of the Bhagavad Gita was
such that it could not be neglected.[3] It is referred to in the
Brahman Sutras, and Shankara, Bhaskara and Ramanuja
all three wrote commentaries on it.[3] The Bhagavad Gita
is dierent from the Upanishads in format and content,
and accessible to all, in contrast to the sruti, which are
only to be read and heard by the higher castes.[3]
Some branches of Hinduism give it the status of an
Upanishad, and consider it to be a ruti or revealed
text.[22][23] According to Pandit, who gives a modernorthodox interpretation of Hinduism, since the Bhagavad Gita represents a summary of the Upanishadic
teachings, it is sometimes called 'the Upanishad of the
Upanishads.[24]

Content

3
beloved friends, and revered teachers, he turns to his charioteer and guide, Krishna, for advice. Responding to Arjunas confusion and moral dilemma, Krishna explains to
Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, elaborating on
a variety of philosophical concepts.[26]

2.2 Characters
Arjuna, one of the Pandavas
Krishna, Arjunas charioteer and guru
Sanjaya, counsellor of the Kuru king Dhritarashtra
Dhritarashtra, Kuru king.

2.3 Overview of chapters

Bhagavad Gita comprises 18 chapters (section 25 to
42)[27][web 2] in the Bhishma Parva of the epic Mahabharata and consists of 700 verses.[28] Because of dierences in recensions, the verses of the Gita may be numbered in the full text of the Mahabharata as chapters
6.2542 or as chapters 6.2340.[web 3] According to the
recension of the Gita commented on by Adi Shankara, a
prominent philosopher of the Vedanta school, the number of verses is 700, but there is evidence to show that old
manuscripts had 745 verses.[29] The verses themselves,
composed with similes and metaphors, are poetic in nature. The verses mostly employ the range and style of
the Sanskrit Anustubh meter (chhandas), and in a few
expressive verses the Tristubh meter is used.[30]
The Sanskrit editions of the Gita name each chapter as a
particular form of yoga. However, these chapter titles do
not appear in the Sanskrit text of the Mahabharata.[web 3]
Swami Chidbhavananda explains that each of the eighteen chapters is designated as a separate yoga because
each chapter, like yoga, trains the body and the mind.
He labels the rst chapter Arjuna Vishada Yogam or
the Yoga of Arjunas Dejection.[31] Sir Edwin Arnold
translates this chapter as The Distress of Arjuna[32]

A manuscript illustration of the battle of Kurukshetra, fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, recorded in the Mahabharata.

2.1

Narrative

In the epic Mahabharata, after Sanjayacounsellor of

the Kuru king Dhritarashtrareturns from the battleeld to announce the death of Bhisma, he begins recounting the details of the Mahabharata war. Bhagavad Gita
forms the content of this recollection.[25] The Gita begins
before the start of the climactic Kurukshetra War, where
the Pandava prince Arjuna is lled with doubt on the battleeld. Realizing that his enemies are his own relatives,

Gita Dhyanam:
(contains 9
verses) The Gita Dhyanam is not
a part of the main Bhagavad Gita,
but it is commonly published with
the Gt as a prex. The verses
of the Gita Dhyanam (also called
Gt Dhyna or Dhyna lokas)
oer salutations to a variety of
sacred scriptures, gures, and entities, characterise the relationship
of the Gt to the Upanishads,
and arm the power of divine
assistance.[33] It is a common
practice to recite these before
reading the Gita.[web 4][34]

2 CONTENT
5. KarmaSanyasa yoga (Religion by Renouncing
Fruits of Works[32] contains 29 verses): Arjuna asks
Krishna if it is better to forgo action or to act (renunciation or discipline of action).[35] Krishna answers that both are ways to the same goal,[web 9] but
that acting in Karma yoga is superior.
6. Dhyan yoga or Atmasanyam yoga (Religion by
Self-Restraint [32] contains 47 verses): Krishna describes the Ashtanga yoga. He further elucidates the
diculties of the mind and the techniques by which
mastery of the mind might be gained.[web 10]
7. GyaanaViGyaana yoga (Religion by Discernment [32] contains 30 verses): Krishna describes the
absolute reality and its illusory energy Maya.[web 11]
8. AksaraBrahma yoga (Religion by Devotion to
the One Supreme God[32] contains 28 verses): This
chapter contains eschatology of the Bhagavad Gita.
Importance of the last thought before death, differences between material and spiritual worlds, and
light and dark paths that a soul takes after death are
described.[web 12]

Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (Universal Form) to Arjuna on

the battleeld of Kurukshetra (chapter 11).

1. ArjunaVisada yoga (The Distress of Arjuna[32]

contains 46 verses): Arjuna has requested Krishna
to move his chariot between the two armies. His
growing dejection is described as he fears losing
friends and relatives as a consequence of war.[web 5]
2. Sankhya yoga (The Book of Doctrines[32] contains
72 verses): After asking Krishna for help, Arjuna
is instructed into various subjects such as, Karma
yoga, Gyaana yoga, Sankhya yoga, Buddhi yoga and
the immortal nature of the soul. This chapter is often considered the summary of the entire Bhagavad
Gita.[web 6]
3. Karma yoga (Virtue in Work[32] contains 43
verses): Krishna explains how Karma yoga, i.e. performance of prescribed duties, but without attachment to results, is the appropriate course of action
for Arjuna.[web 7]
4. GyaanaKarma-Sanyasa yoga (The Religion of
Knowledge[32] contains 42 verses): Krishna reveals
that he has lived through many births, always teaching yoga for the protection of the pious and the destruction of the impious and stresses the importance
of accepting a guru.[web 8]

9. RajaVidyaRajaGuhya yoga (Religion by the

Kingly Knowledge and the Kingly Mystery[32] contains 34 verses): Krishna explains how His eternal energy pervades, creates, preserves, and destroys
the entire universe.[web 13] According to theologian
Christopher Southgate, verses of this chapter of the
Gita are panentheistic,[36] while German physicist
and philosopher Max Bernhard Weinstein deems the
work pandeistic.[37]
10. VibhutiVistarayoga (Religion by the Heavenly
Perfections[32] contains 42 verses): Krishna is described as the ultimate cause of all material and
spiritual existence. Arjuna accepts Krishna as the
Supreme Being, quoting great sages who have also
done so.[web 14]
11. VisvarupaDarsana yoga (The Manifesting of the
One and Manifold[32] contains 55 verses): On Arjunas request, Krishna displays his universal form
(Vivarpa),[web 15] a theophany of a being facing
every way and emitting the radiance of a thousand
suns, containing all other beings and material in existence.
12. Bhakti yoga (The Religion of Faith[32] contains 20
verses): In this chapter Krishna glories the path of
devotion to God. Krishna describes the process of
devotional service (Bhakti yoga). He also explains
dierent forms of spiritual disciplines.[web 16]
13. KsetraKsetrajna Vibhaga yoga (Religion by Separation of Matter and Spirit [32] contains 35 verses):
The dierence between transient perishable physical body and the immutable eternal soul is described. The dierence between individual con-

5
don all forms of dharma and simply surrender unto
him and describes this as the ultimate perfection of
life.[web 22]

3 Themes

Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (Universal Form) to Arjuna on

the battleeld of Kurukshetra, described in VisvarupaDarsana
yoga, chapter 11

sciousness and universal consciousness is also made

clear.[web 17]
14. GunatrayaVibhaga yoga (Religion by Separation
from the Qualities[32] contains 27 verses): Krishna
explains the three modes (gunas) of material nature pertaining to goodness, passion, and nescience.
Their causes, characteristics, and inuence on a living entity are also described.[web 18]
15. Purusottama yoga (Religion by Attaining the
Supreme[32] contains 20 verses): Krishna identies the transcendental characteristics of
God such as, omnipotence, omniscience, and
omnipresence.[web 19] Krishna also describes a
symbolic tree (representing material existence),
which has its roots in the heavens and its foliage
on earth. Krishna explains that this tree should be
felled with the axe of detachment, after which Bhagavad Gita, a 19th-century manuscript
one can go beyond to his supreme abode.
16. DaivasuraSampadVibhaga yoga (The Separateness of the Divine and Undivine[32] contains 24
verses): Krishna identies the human traits of the
divine and the demonic natures. He counsels that to
attain the supreme destination one must give up lust,
anger, greed, and discern between right and wrong
action by discernment through Buddhi and evidence
from the scriptures.[web 20]

3.1 Dharma
Main article: Dharma

The term dharma has a number of meanings.[38] Fundamentally, it means what is right.[38] Early in the text, responding to Arjunas despondency, Krishna asks him to
17. Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga yoga (Religion by the follow his swadharma,[39][note 3] the dharma that belongs
Threefold Kinds of Faith[32] contains 28 verses): Kr- to a particular man (Arjuna) as a member of a particular
ishna qualies the three divisions of faith, thoughts, varna, (i.e., the ksatriya).[39]
deeds, and even eating habits corresponding to the According to Vivekananda:
three modes (gunas).[web 21]
18. MokshaSanyasa yoga (Religion by Deliverance
and Renunciation[32] contains 78 verses): In this
chapter, the conclusions of previous seventeen chapters are summed up. Krishna asks Arjuna to aban-

If one reads this one Shloka, one gets all

the merits of reading the entire Gita; for in this
one Shloka lies imbedded the whole Message
of the Gita.[40]

Do not yield to unmanliness, O son of
Prith. It does not become you. Shake o this
base faint-heartedness and arise, O scorcher of
enemies! (2.3)

THEMES

the Pandava is exhorted by his charioteer, Krishna, among others, to stop hesitating and fulll his Katriya (warrior) duty as a warrior and
kill.[1]

According to Malinar, Arjunas crisis and some of the

arguments put forward to call him to action are connected
to the debates on war and peace in the UdP [Udyoga
Parva]".[45] According to Malinar, the UdP emphasizes
3.1.1 Dharma and heroism
that one must put up with fate and, the BhG personalises
the surrender ones personal interests to the power of desThe Bhagavad Gita is set in the narrative frame of the tiny by propagating the view that accepting and enacting
Mahabharata, which values heroism, energy, dedication the fatal course of events is an act of devotion to this god
and self-sacrice,[1] as the dharma, holy duty[41] of [Krsna] and his cause.[45]
the Ksatriya (warrior).[41][1][42] Axel Michaels in his book
Hinduism: Past and Present writes that in the Bhagavad
Gita, Arjuna is exhorted by his charioteer, Ka, among 3.1.2 Modern interpretations of dharma
others, to stop hesitating and fulll his Katriya (warrior)
Svadharma and svabhava The eighteenth chapter of
duty as a warrior and kill.[1]
the Gita examines the relationship between svadharma
According to Malinar, a central point in the dispute be- and svabhava.[note 6][46] This chapter uses the gunas of
tween the two parties in the Mahabharata is the ques- Shankya philosophy to present a series of typologies, and
tion how to dene the law of heroism.[43][note 4] Malinar uses the same term to characterise the specic activities
gives a description of the dharma of a Ksatriya (warrior) of the four varnas, which are distinguished by the "gunas
based on the Udyogaparvan, the fth book of the Mahab- proceeding from their nature.[46]
harata:
Aurobindo modernizes the concept of dharma and svabhava by internalizing it, away from the social order and
This duty consists rst of all in standing
its duties toward ones personal capacities, which leads
ones ground and ghting for status. The main
to a radical individualism,[47] nding the fulllment of
duty of a warrior is never to submit to anythe purpose of existence in the individual alone.[47] He
body. A warrior must resist any impulse to
deduced from the Gita the doctrine that the functions
self-preservation that would make him avoid
of a man ought to be determined by his natural turn,
a ght. In brief, he ought to be a man (pugift, and capacities,[47] that the individual should deruso bhava; cf. 5.157.6; 13;15). Some of the
velop freely[47] and thereby would be best able to serve
most vigorous formulations of what called the
society.[47]
heart or the essence of heroism (ksatrahrGandhis view diered from Aurobindos view.[48] He
daya) come from the ladies of the family. They
recognized in the concept of swadharma his idea of
bare shown most unforgiving with regard to
swadeshi, the idea that man owes his service above all to
the humiliations they have gone through, the
those who are nearest to him by birth and situation.[48]
loss of their status and honour, not to speak of
To him, swadeshi was "swadharma applied to ones imthe shame of having a weak man in the house,
[2][note 5]
mediate environment.[49]
whether husband, son or brother.
Michaels denes heroism as power assimilated with in- The Field of Dharma The rst reference to dharma in
terest in salvation.[44] According to Michaels:
the Bhagavad Gita occurs in its rst verse, where Dhritarashtra refers to the Kurukshetra, the location of the
battleeld, as the Field of Dharma, The Field of RighEven though the frame story of the Mahabteousness
or Truth.[38] According to Fowler, dharma
harata is rather simple, the epic has an outin this verse may refer to the sanatana dharma, what
standing signicance for Hindu heroism. The
Hindus understand as their religion, for it is a term
heroism of the Pandavas, the ideals of honor
that encompasses wide aspects of religious and tradiand courage in battle, are constant sources of
tional thought and is more readily used for ""religion.[38]
treatises in which it is not sacrice, renunciTherefore, 'Field of action' implies the eld of righteousation of the world, or erudition that is valness, where truth will eventually triumph.[38]
ued, but energy, dedication and self-sacrice.
The Bhagavad Gita, inserted in the sixth book
(Bhismaparvan), and probably completed in
the second century A.D., is such a text, that is,
a philosophical and theistic treatise, with which

The Field of Dharma is also called the Field of action

by Sri Aurobindo, a freedom ghter and philosopher.[38]
Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher and the second
president of India, saw the The Field of Dharma as

3.1

Dharma

the world (Bhavsagar), which is a battleground for moral mind.[note 7]

struggle.[50]
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, in his commentary on
the Gita,[55] interprets the battle as an allegory in which
the battleeld is the soul and Arjuna, mans higher impulses struggling against evil.[56]
Swami Vivekananda also emphasised that the rst discourse in the Gita related to the war could be taken
allegorically.[57] Vivekananda further remarked,
This Kurukshetra War is only an allegory.
When we sum up its esoteric signicance, it
means the war which is constantly going on
within man between the tendencies of good and
evil.[58]
In Aurobindo's view, Krishna was a historical gure, but
his signicance in the Gita is as a symbol of the divine dealings with humanity,[59] while Arjuna typies
a struggling human soul.[60] However, Aurobindo rejected the interpretation that the Gita, and the Mahabharata by extension, is an allegory of the inner life,
and has nothing to do with our outward human life and
actions":[60]

Illustration of the battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna (far right), with

Krishna as the charioteer, is battling the Kauravas as the gods
look down.

Allegory of war Unlike any other religious scripture,

the Bhagavad Gita broadcasts its message in the centre of
the battleeld.[51] The choice of such an unholy ambience
for the delivery of a philosophical discourse has been an
enigma to many commentators.[web 25] Several modern Indian writers have interpreted the battleeld setting as an
allegory of the war within.[52]

...That is a view which the general character and the actual language of the epic does
not justify and, if pressed, would turn the
straightforward philosophical language of the
Gita into a constant, laborious and somewhat
puerile mystication....the Gita is written in
plain terms and professes to solve the great ethical and spiritual diculties which the life of
man raises, and it will not do to go behind this
plain language and thought and wrest them to
the service of our fancy. But there is this much
of truth in the view, that the setting of the doctrine though not symbolical, is certainly typical...
Swami Krishnananda regards the characters and the circumstances depicted in the Bhagavad Gita as symbolic of
various moods, vicissitudes, and facets of human life.[61]
He highlights the universal applicability of the Gita to human life by saying:

It is not the story of some people that lived

Eknath Easwaran writes that the Gita 's subject is the
sometime ago but a characterisation of all peowar within, the struggle for self-mastery that every huple that may live at any time in the history of
man being must wage if he or she is to emerge from life
the world.[62]
victorious,[53] and that The language of battle is often
found in the scriptures, for it conveys the strenuous, long,
drawn-out campaign we must wage to free ourselves from Swami Chinmayananda writes:
the tyranny of the ego, the cause of all our suering and
sorrow.[54]
Here in the Bhagavad Gita, we nd a pracSwami Nikhilananda, takes Arjuna as an allegory of ttical handbook of instruction on how best we
man, Krishna as an allegory of Brahman, Arjunas charcan re-organise our inner ways of thinking,
iot as the body, and Dhritarashtra as the ignorance lled
feeling, and acting in our everyday life and

THEMES

draw from ourselves a larger gush of productivity to enrich the life around us, and to emblazon
the subjective life within us.[63]

As noted by various commentators, the Bhagavad Gita

oers a practical approach to liberation in the form of
Karma yoga. The path of Karma yoga upholds the necessity of action. However, this action is to be undertaken
without any attachment to the work or desire for results.
3.2 Moksha: Liberation
Bhagavad Gita terms this inaction in action and action
in inaction (4.18)". The concept of such detached acMain article: Moksha
tion is also called Nishkam Karma, a term not used in the
Gita.[71] Lord Krishna, in the following verses, elaborates
Liberation or moksha in Vedanta philosophy is not some- on the role actions, performed without desire and attachthing that can be acquired or reached. tman (Soul), the ment, play in attaining freedom from material bondage
goal of moksha, is something that is always present as the and transmigration:
essence of the self, and can be revealed by deep intuitive
To action alone hast thou a right and never
knowledge. While the Upanishads largely uphold such a
at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be
monistic viewpoint of liberation, the Bhagavad Gita also
thy motive; neither let there be in thee any ataccommodates the dualistic and theistic aspects of moktachment to inaction
sha. The Gita, while occasionally hinting at impersonal
Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of
Brahman as the goal, revolves around the relationship bewealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with
tween the Self and a personal God or Saguna Brahman.
an even mind in success and failure, for evenA synthesis of knowledge, devotion, and desireless action
ness of mind is called yoga. (2.47-8)[72]
is given as a prescription for Arjunas despondence; the
[64]
same combination is suggested as a way to moksha.
Winthrop Sargeant further explains, In the model preWith the body, with the mind, with the insented by the Bhagavad Gt, every aspect of life is in
tellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis
fact a way of salvation.[65]
perform action toward self-purication, having
abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined
in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action,
3.3 Yoga
attains steady peace. (5.11)[web 26]
Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita refers to the skill of union
with the ultimate reality or the Absolute.[66] In his commentary, Zaehner says that the root meaning of yoga is
yoking or preparation"; he proposes the basic meaning
spiritual exercise, which conveys the various nuances in
the best way.[67]
Sivanandas commentary regards the eighteen chapters
of the Bhagavad Gita as having a progressive order, by
which Krishna leads Arjuna up the ladder of Yoga from
one rung to another.[68] The inuential commentator
Madhusudana Sarasvati divided the Gita 's eighteen chapters into three sections of six chapters each. Swami
Gambhirananda characterises Madhusudana Sarasvatis
system as a successive approach in which Karma yoga
leads to Bhakti yoga, which in turn leads to Gyaana
yoga:[69][70]
Chapters 16 = Karma yoga, the means to the nal
goal
Chapters 712 = Bhakti yoga or devotion

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi writes, The object of

the Gita appears to me to be that of showing the most
excellent way to attain self-realization, and this can be
achieved by seless action, By desireless action; by
renouncing fruits of action; by dedicating all activities
to God, i.e., by surrendering oneself to Him body and
soul. Gandhi called the Gita The Gospel of Seless
Action.[73] To achieve true liberation, it is important to
control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sense
pleasures. The following verses illustrate this:[74]
When a man dwells in his mind on the object of sense, attachment to them is produced.
From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger.
From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of
memory, the destruction of intelligence and
from the destruction of intelligence he perishes. (2.62-3)[74]

Chapters 1318 = Gyaana yoga or knowledge, the 3.3.2 Bhakti yoga

goal itself
Main article: Bhakti yoga
3.3.1

Karma yoga

Main article: Karma yoga

The introduction to chapter seven of the Bhagavad Gita

explains bhakti as a mode of worship which consists
of unceasing and loving remembrance of God. Faith

9
(raddh) and total surrender to a chosen God (Ishtadeva) are considered to be important aspects of bhakti.[75]
Theologian Catherine Cornille writes, The text [of the
Gita] oers a survey of the dierent possible disciplines
for attaining liberation through knowledge (Gyaana), action (karma), and loving devotion to God (bhakti), focusing on the latter as both the easiest and the highest path
to salvation.[76] M. R. Sampatkumaran, a Bhagavad Gita
scholar, explains in his overview of Ramanujas commentary on the Gita, The point is that mere knowledge of the
scriptures cannot lead to nal release. Devotion, meditation, and worship are essential.[77] Ramakrishna believed that the essential message of the Gita could be obtained by repeating the word Gita several times,[78] "'Gita,
Gita, Gita', you begin, but then nd yourself saying 'taGi, ta-Gi, ta-Gi'. Tagi means one who has renounced everything for God. In the following verses, Krishna elucidates the importance of bhakti:
And of all yogins, he who full of faith worships Me, with his inner self abiding in Me,
him, I hold to be the most attuned (to me in
Yoga). (6.47)[79]
... those who, renouncing all actions in
Me, and regarding Me as the Supreme, worship Me... For those whose thoughts have entered into Me, I am soon the deliverer from
the ocean of death and transmigration, Arjuna.
Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellect
on Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter.
(12.6)[web 27]
Radhakrishnan writes that the verse 11.55 is the essence
of bhakti and the substance of the whole teaching of
the Gita":[80]
Those who make me the supreme goal of
all their work and act without selsh attachment, who devote themselves to me completely
and are free from ill will for any creature, enter
into me.(11.55)[81]

Adi Shankara with Disciples, by Raja Ravi Varma (1904), propounding knowledge of absolute as of primary importance

and he sees how beings are expanded everywhere, he attains to the Brahman conception.
(13.31)[web 28]
Those who see with eyes of knowledge the
dierence between the body and the knower of
the body, and can also understand the process
of liberation from bondage in material nature,
attain to the supreme goal. (13.35)[web 29]

4 Commentaries and translations

Bhagavad Gita integrates various schools of thought, notably Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga, and other theistic
3.3.3 Jnana yoga
ideas. It remains a popular text for commentators belonging to various philosophical schools. However, its
Main article: Jnana yoga
composite nature also leads to varying interpretations of
Jnana yoga is the path of wisdom, knowledge, and direct
the text. In the words of Mysore Hiriyanna,
experience of Brahman as the ultimate reality. The path
renounces both desires and actions, and is therefore de[The Gita] is one of the hardest books to inpicted as being steep and very dicult in the Bhagavad
terpret,
which accounts for the numerous comGita. This path is often associated with the non-dualistic
mentaries
on iteach diering from the rest in
Vedantic belief of the identity of the tman with the
one
essential
point or the other.[83]
Brahman. For the followers of this path, the realisation
of the identity of tman and Brahman is held as the key
Dierent translators and commentators have widely difto liberation.[82]
fering views on what multi-layered Sanskrit words and
When a sensible man ceases to see dierpassages signify, and their presentation in English deent identities due to dierent material bodies
pending on the sampradaya they are aliated to.

10

COMMENTARIES AND TRANSLATIONS

Richard H. Davis cites Callewaert & Hemrajs 1982 count he referred to as his spiritual dictionary.[101] During his
of 1891 BG translations in 75 languages, including 273 in stay in Yeravda jail in 1929,[101] Gandhi wrote a comEnglish.[84]
mentary on the Bhagavad Gita in Gujarati. The Gujarati
manuscript was translated into English by Mahadev Desai, who provided an additional introduction and commentary. It was published with a foreword by Gandhi in
4.1 Classical commentaries
1946.[102][103] Mahatma Gandhi expressed his love for the
The oldest and most inuential medieval commentary was Gita in these words:
that of Adi Shankara (788820 A. D.),[85] also known
as Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: akarcrya).[86][87]
I nd a solace in the Bhagavadgt that I
Shankaras commentary was based on a recension of the
miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When
Gita containing 700 verses, and that recension has been
disappointment stares me in the face and all
widely adopted by others.[88]
alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to
the Bhagavadgt. I nd a verse here and a
Ramanujacharyas commentary chiey seeks to show that
verse
there and I immediately begin to smile
the discipline of devotion to God (Bhakti yoga) is the way
[89]
in
the
midst of overwhelming tragedies and
of salvation.
my
life
has been full of external tragedies
Madhva, a commentator of the Vedanta school,[90] whose
and
if
they
have left no visible, no indelible
dates are given either as (11991276 CE)[91] or as (1238
scar
on
me,
I
owe it all to the teaching of Bha1317 CE),[65] also known as Madhvacharya (Sanskrit:
gavadgt.[104][105]
Madhvcrya), wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad
Gita, which exemplies the thinking of the dualist
school.[86] Winthrop Sargeant quotes a dualistic asser- 4.3 Hindu revivalism and Neo-Hindu
tion of the Madhvas school that there is an eternal
movements
and complete distinction between the Supreme, the many
souls, and matter and its divisions.[65] His commentary
on the Gita is called Gita Bhshya. It has been annotated
on by many ancient pontis of Dvaita Vedanta school
like Padmanabha Tirtha, Jayatirtha, and Raghavendra
Tirtha.[92]
In the Shaiva tradition,[93] the renowned philosopher
Abhinavagupta (1011th century CE) has written a commentary on a slightly variant recension called GitarthaSamgraha.
Other classical commentators include
Nimbarka (1162 CE), Vidyadhiraja Tirtha, Vallabha
(1479 CE)., Madhusudana Saraswati, Raghavendra
Tirtha, Vanamali Mishra, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486 Three translations: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, a Gujarati translation
CE),[94] while Dnyaneshwar (12751296 CE) translated by Gita Press, and another English one published by Barnes &
and commented on the Gita in Marathi, in his book Noble.
Dnyaneshwari.[95]
Although Vivekananda did not write any commentaries
on the Bhagavad Gita, his works contained numerous ref4.2 Independence movement
erences to the Gita, such as his lectures on the four yogas Bhakti, Gyaana, Karma, and Raja.[106] Through
At a time when Indian nationalists were seeking an in- the message of the Gita, Vivekananda sought to enerdigenous basis for social and political action, Bhagavad gise the people of India to claim their own dormant
Gita provided them with a rationale for their activism but strong identity.[107] Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
and ght against injustice.[96] Among nationalists, notable thought that the answer to the problems that beset Hindu
commentaries were written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and society was a revival of Hinduism in its purity, which
Mahatma Gandhi, who used the text to help inspire the lay in the reinterpretation of Bhagavad Gita for a new
Indian independence movement.[97][98] Tilak wrote his India.[108] Aurobindo saw Bhagavad Gita as a scripture
commentary Shrimadh Bhagvad Gita Rahasya while in of the future religion and suggested that Hinduism had
jail during the period 19101911 serving a six-year sen- acquired a much wider relevance through the Gita.[109]
tence imposed by the British colonial government in India Sivananda called Bhagavad Gita the most precious jewel
for sedition.[99] While noting that the Gita teaches possi- of Hindu literature and suggested its introduction into
ble paths to liberation, his commentary places most em- the curriculum of Indian schools and colleges.[110] In the
phasis on Karma yoga.[100] No book was more central to lectures Chinmayananda gave, on tours undertaken to
Gandhis life and thought than the Bhagavad Gita, which revive of moral and spiritual values of the Hindus, he

11
borrowed the concept of Gyaana yajna, or the worship
to invoke divine wisdom, from the Gita.[111] He viewed
the Gita as a universal scripture to turn a person from
a state of agitation and confusion to a state of complete
vision, inner contentment, and dynamic action. Teachings of International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(ISKCON), a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organisation
which spread rapidly in North America in the 1970s
and 1980s, are based on a translation of the Gita called
Bhagavad-Gt As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.[112]

4.4

Other modern commentaries

Among notable modern commentators of the Bhagavad

Gita are Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vinoba Bhave, Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo , Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Chinmayananda, etc. Chinmayananda took
a syncretistic approach to interpret the text of the
Gita.[113][114]

British, solidly grounded philologically by the French and

Germans, provided with its indigenous roots by a rich heritage of modern Indian comment and reection, extended
into various disciplinary areas by Americans, and having generated in our time a broadly based cross-cultural
awareness of the importance of the Bhagavad Gita both
as an expression of a specically Indian spirituality and
as one of the great religious classics of all time.[122]:518
Sanskrit scholar Barbara Stoler Miller produced a translation in 1986 intended to emphasise the poems inuence and current context within English Literature, especially the works of T.S. Eliot, Henry David Thoreau and
Ralph Waldo Emerson.[123] The translation was praised
by scholars as well as literary critics[124] and became one
of most continually popular translations to date.[125]

The Gita has also been translated into other European

languages. In 1808, passages from the Gita were part
of the rst direct translation of Sanskrit into German,
appearing in a book through which Friedrich Schlegel
became known as the founder of Indian philology in
Germany.[126] Swami Rambhadracharya released the rst
Paramahansa Yogananda's two volume commentary on Braille version of the scripture, with the original Santhe Bhagavad Gita, called God Talks With Arjuna: The skrit text and a Hindi commentary, on 30 NovemBhagavad Gita, was released 1995.[115]
ber 2007.[web 30] The former Turkish Scholar-Politician,
Eknath Easwaran has also written a commentary on the Bulent Ecevit translated several Sanskrit scriptures inBhagavad Gita. It examines the applicability of the prin- cluding the Gita into Turkish language. Mahavidwan R.
Raghava Iyengar translated the Gita in Tamil in sandam
ciples of Gita to the problems of modern life.[116]
metre poetic form.[127]
Other notable commentators include Jeaneane Fowler,
Ithamar Theodor, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and Sadly
Vasvani.[117][118][119]

5 Contemporary popularity

4.5

Scholarly translations

With the translation and study of the Bhagavad Gita by

Western scholars beginning in the early 18th century,
the Bhagavad Gita gained a growing appreciation and
popularity.[web 1] According to the well-known Indian historian and writer Khushwant Singh, Rudyard Kipling's famous poem "If" is the essence of the message of The
Gita in English.[128]

5.1 Appraisal
Main article: Inuence of Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita has been highly praised, not only
by prominent Indians including Mohandas Karamchand
Ramanandacharya delivering a discourse. He has delivered
Gandhi and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,[129] but also by
many discourses on Gita and released the rst Braille version
Aldous Huxley, Henry David Thoreau, J. Robert Oppenof the scripture.
heimer,[130] Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Herman
[131][132]
Bulent Ecevit[133] and others. The Gita 's
The rst English translation of the Bhagavad Gita was Hesse,
service was a prime source of inspidone by Charles Wilkins in 1785.[120][121] In 1981, Lar- emphasis on seless
[73]
who said:
ration
for
Gandhi,
son listed more than 40 English translations of the
Gita, stating that A complete listing of Gita translations
When doubts haunt me, when disappointand a related secondary bibliography would be nearly
ments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray
endless.[122]:514 He stated that Overall... there is a massive translational tradition in English, pioneered by the
of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita

12

7 NOTES
and nd a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of external
tragedies and if they have not left any visible
or invisible eect on me, I owe it to the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.[134]

the Gita in the opera Satyagraha (1979). The entire libretto of the opera consists of sayings from the Gita sung
in the original Sanskrit.[web 31] In Douglas Cuomos Arjunas dilemma, the philosophical dilemma faced by Arjuna is dramatised in operatic form with a blend of Indian and Western music styles.[web 32] The 1993 Sanskrit
lm, Bhagavad Gita, directed by G. V. Iyer won the 1993
Jawaharlal Nehru, the rst Prime Minister of independent National Film Award for Best Film.[web 33][web 34]
India, commented on the Gita:
The 1995 novel and 2000 golf movie The Legend of Bagger Vance are roughly based on the Bhagavad Gita.[138]
The Bhagavad-Gita deals essentially with
the spiritual foundation of human existence.
It is a call of action to meet the obligations
6 See also
and duties of life; yet keeping in view the
spiritual nature and grander purpose of the
Ashtavakra Gita
universe.[135]
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933
and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original form, citing it
later as one of the most inuential books to shape his philosophy of life. Upon witnessing the worlds rst nuclear
test in 1945, he later said he had thought of the quotation
Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds, verse
32 from chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita.[130][136]

5.2

Avadhuta Gita
The Ganesha Gita
Puranas
Self-consciousness (Vedanta)
Uddhava Gita
Vedas
Vyadha Gita

Adaptations

7 Notes
[1] The Bhagavad Gita also integrates theism and
transcendentalism[web 1] or spiritualmonism,[6] and
identies a God of personal characteristics with the
Brahman of the Vedic tradition.[web 1]
[2] ruti texts, such as the Upanishads, are believed to be
revelations of divine origin, whereas Smritis are authored
recollections of tradition and are therefore fallible.
[3] Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Swadharma is that action which is
in accordance with your nature. It is acting in accordance
with your skills and talents, your own nature (svabhava),
and that which you are responsible for (karma).[web 23]
[4] Malinar: "[W]hat law must a warrior follow, on what authority, and how does the denition of katriyadharma
aect the position of the king, who is supposed to protect
and represent it?"[43]
[5] Compare Chivalric code of western knights, and Zen at
War for a Japanese fusion of Buddhism with warfareethics.
1

Bhagvad-Gita Treatise of Self-help by BS Murthy[137]

Philip Glass retold the story of Gandhis early development as an activist in South Africa through the text of

[6] Character, inherent nature,

constitution.[web 24]

natural state or

[7] Nikhilananda & Hocking 2006, p. 2 Arjuna represents

the individual soul, and Sri Krishna the Supreme Soul
dwelling in every heart. Arjunas chariot is the body. The
blind king Dhritarashtra is the mind under the spell of ignorance, and his hundred sons are mans numerous evil

13

tendencies. The battle, a perennial one, is between the

power of good and the power of evil. The warrior who
listens to the advice of the Lord speaking from within will
triumph in this battle and attain the Highest Good.

References

[30] Egenes 2003, p. 4

[31] Chidbhavananda 1997, p. 33
[32] translated by Sir Edwin Arnold (1993), Bhagavadgita
(Unabridged ed.), New York, NY: Dover Publications,
ISBN 0486277828
[33] Chinmayananda 1998, p. 3

[1] Michaels 2004, p. 59.

[34] Ranganathananda 2000, pp. 1525

[2] Malinar 2007, p. 39.

[35] Miller 1986, p. 59

[3] Deutsch 2004, p. 60.

[36] Southgate 2005, p. 246

[4] Deutsch 2004, p. 61.

[37] Max Bernhard Weinsten, Welt- und Lebensanschauungen, Hervorgegangen aus Religion, Philosophie und Naturerkenntnis (World and Life Views, Emerging From Religion, Philosophy and Nature) (1910), page 213: Wir
werden spter sehen, da die Indier auch den Pandeismus gelehrt haben. Der letzte Zustand besteht in dieser
Lehre im Eingehen in die betreende Gottheit, Brahma
oder Wischnu. So sagt in der Bhagavad-Gt KrishnaWischnu, nach vielen Lehren ber ein vollkommenes Dasein.

[5] Scheepers 2000.

[6] Raju 1992, p. 211.
[7] Deutsch 2004, p. 61-62.
[8] Deutsch & Dalvi 2004, p. 97
[9] Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Encyclopedia Britannica.
[10] Fowler 2012, p. xxvi
[11] Fowler 2012, p. xxiv
[12] Upadhyaya 1998, p. 16
[13] Hiltebeitel 2002.
[14] Raju 1992, p. 211-212.
[15] Deutsch 2004, p. 62.
[16] Nicholson 2010.
[17] Nicholson 2014.
[18] Nicholson 2010, p. 7.
[19] Singh 2005, p. 37.
[20] Schouler 2009.
[21] Hare Krishna in the Modern World Page 59, by Graham Dwyer, Richard J. Cole
[22] Coburn, Thomas B. (1984), "'Scripture' in India: Towards a Typology of the Word in Hindu Life, Journal
of the American Academy of Religion 52 (3): 435459,
doi:10.1093/jaarel/52.3.435, JSTOR 1464202
[23] Tapasyananda 1990, p. 1
[24] Pandit 2005, p. 27.
[25] Fowler 2012, p. xxii
[26] Deutsch 2004, p. 59-61.
[27] Bose 1986, p. 71
[28] Coburn 1991, p. 27
[29] Gambhiranda 1997, p. xvii

[38] Fowler 2012, p. 2.

[39] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 261.
[40] Vivekananda.
[41] Miller 2004, p. 3.
[42] Malinar 2007, p. 3639.
[43] Malinar 2007, p. 38.
[44] Michaels 2004, p. 278.
[45] Malinar 2007, p. 36.
[46] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 264.
[47] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 266.
[48] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 267.
[49] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, pp. 268
[50] Fowler 2012, p. 2
[51] Krishnananda 1980, pp. 1213
[52] Easwaran 2007, p. 15.
[53] Easwaran 2007, p. 15
[54] Easwaran 2007, p. 24
[55] see Gandhi 2009
[56] Fischer 2010, pp. 1516
[57] Vivekananda, Swami, Sayings and Utterances, The
Complete works of Swami Vivekananda 5
[58] Vivekananda, Swami, Lectures and Discourses ~
Thoughts on the Gita, The Complete works of Swami
Vivekananda 4

14

REFERENCES

[59] Aurobindo 2000, pp. 1516

[92] Rao 2002, p. 86

[60] Aurobindo 2000, pp. 2021

[93] For classication of Abhinavaguptas commentary on the

Gita as within the Shaiva tradition see: Flood 1996, p. 124

[61] Krishnananda 1980, pp. 57

[62] Krishnananda 1980, p. 6
[63] Chinmayananda 2007, pp. 1013
[64] Fowler 2012, p. xlvvii
[65] Sargeant 2009, p. xix
[66] Krishnananda 1980, p. 10
[67] Zaehner 1969, p. 148
[68] Sivananda 1995, p. xvii
[69] Gambhiranda 1997, p. xx
[70] Gambhiranda 1998, p. 16

[94] Singh 2006, p. 55

[95] see Gyanadeva & Pradhan 1987
[96] Robinson 2006, p. 70
[97] For B. G. Tilak and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi as
notable commentators see: Gambhiranda 1997, p. xix
[98] For notability of the commentaries by B. G. Tilak and
Gandhi and their use to inspire the independence movement see: Sargeant 2009, p. xix
[99] Stevenson, Robert W., Tilak and the Bhagavadgitas
Doctrine of Karmayoga, in: Minor 1986, p. 44
[100] Stevenson, Robert W., Tilak and the Bhagavadgitas
Doctrine of Karmayoga, in: Minor 1986, p. 49

[71] Fowler 2012, p. xliiiiv

[72] Radhakrishnan 1993, p. 120
[73] Gandhi 2009, pp. xvxxiv
[74] Radhakrishnan 1993, pp. 125126

[101] Jordens, J. T. F., Gandhi and the Bhagavadgita, in:

Minor 1986, p. 88
[102] Gandhi 2009, First Edition 1946. Other editions: 1948,
1951, 1956.

[103] A shorter edition, omitting the bulk of Desais additional

commentary, has been published as: Anasaktiyoga: The
Gospel of Seless Action. Jim Rankin, editor. The author
[76] Cornille 2006, p. 2
is listed as M.K. Gandhi; Mahadev Desai, translator. (Dry
Bones Press, San Francisco, 1998) ISBN 1-883938-47-3.
[77] For quotation and summarizing bhakti as a mode of worship which consists of unceasing and loving remembrance
[104] Quotation from M. K. Gandhi. Young India. (1925), pp.
of God see: Sampatkumaran 1985, p. xxiii
10781079, is cited from Radhakrishnan 1993 Front mat[78] Isherwood 1965, p. 2
ter.
[75] Fowler 2012, p. xlii

[79] Radhakrishnan 1993, p. 211, verse 6.47

[105] Sahadeo 2011, p. 129

[80] Radhakrishnan 1993, p. 289

[106] Minor 1986, p. 131

[81] Easwaran, Eknath (2008). The Bhagavad Gita (Second [107]

ed.). Nilgiri. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-58638-019-9.
[108]
[82] Fowler 2012, p. xli
[109]
[83] Singh 2006, pp. 5455
[110]
[84] Davis 2014.
[111]
[85] Dating for Shankara as 788820 CE is from: Sargeant
[112]
2009, p. xix

Minor 1986, p. 144

Minor 1986, p. 36
Robinson 2006, p. 69
Robinson 2006, p. 102
Patchen 1994, pp. 185189
Jones & Ryan 2007, p. 199

[113] For Aurobindo, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and Chinmayananda as notable commentators see: Sargeant 2009,
[87] For Shankaras commentary falling within the Vedanta
p. xix
school of tradition, see: Flood 1996, p. 124
[114] For Aurobindo as notable commentators, see:
[88] Gambhiranda 1997, p. xviii
Gambhiranda 1997, p. xix
[86] Zaehner 1969, p. 3

[89] Sampatkumaran 1985, p. xx

[115] Yogananda 1993

[90] For classication of Madhvas commentary as within the [116] Easwaran 1993
Vedanta school see: Flood 1996, p. 124
[117] see Fowler 2012 and Theodor 2010
[91] Dating of 11991276 CE for Madhva is from:
Gambhiranda 1997, p. xix
[118] Mahesh Yogi 1990

9.1

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Bansal, J. L. (2013), Srimad Bhagavadgita (The
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[119] Tilak 1924

[120] Clarke 1997, pp. 5859
[121] Winternitz 1972, p. 11
[122] Gerald James Larson (1981), The Song Celestial: Two
centuries of the Bhagavad Gita in English, Philosophy East and West: A Quarterly of Comparative Philosophy (University of Hawai'i Press) 31 (4): 513540,
doi:10.2307/1398797, JSTOR 1398797.
[123] Miller 1986, pp. 1417
[124] Bloom 1995, p. 531
[125] Doniger, Wendy (August 1993), Obituary: Barbara
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Bloom, Harold (1995), The Western canon : the

books and school of the ages (1st Riverhead ed.),
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[127] Bhagavadgita, Chennai, India: Bharati Publications, 1997

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with Roman transliteration, word-for-word meaning, translation and commentary (revised ed.),
Mumbai, India: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust,
ISBN 81-7597-084-7

[128] Khushwant Singh, Review of The Book of Prayer by

Renuka Narayanan , 2001

Chinmayananda, Swami (2007), Art of Manmaking,

Chinmaya Publications, ISBN 978-81-7597-060-1

[129] Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita, by

Robert Neil Minor, year = 1986, Page 161

Clarke, John James (1997), Oriental enlightenment,

Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-13375-3

[130] Hijiya, James A. The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 144, no.
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[126] What had previously been known of Indian literature in Germany had been translated from the English.
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[131] Pandit 2005, p. 27

[132] Hume 1959, p. 29
[133] The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion.
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[134] Sharma 2008, p. 42

[135] Londhe 2008, p. 191
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[6] Chapter 2, Sankhya Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998
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18

11

EXTERNAL LINKS

[12] Chapter 8, Aksara-Parabrahman yoga. Bhagavad-Gita

Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[33] 40th National Film Awards. India International Film

Festival. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[13] Chapter 9, Raja-Vidya-Guhya Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita

Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[34] 40th National Film Awards (PDF)". Directorate of Film

Festivals. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[14] Chapter 10, Vibhuti-Vistara Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita

Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
[15] Chapter 11, Visvarupa-Darsana Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita
Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
[16] Chapter 12, Bhakti Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998
2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
[17] Chapter 13, Ksetra-Ksetrajna Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita
Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

10 Further reading
Davis, Richard H. (2014), The Bhagavad Gita": A
Biography, Princeton University Press

11 External links

[18] Chapter 14, Gunatraya-Vibhaga Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita

Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

Sanskrit Wikisource has original text related to

this article:

[19] Chapter 15, Purusottama Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita Trust

1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

Works related to The Bhagavad Gita (Arnold

translation) at Wikisource

[20] Chapter 16, Daivasura-Sampad-Vibhaga Yoga.

Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17
July 2012.

Bhagavad Gita at DMOZ

[21] Chapter 17, Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga Yoga. BhagavadGita Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
[22] Chapter 18, Moksha-Opdesa Yoga. Bhagavad-Gita
Trust 1998 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
[23] What Is Swadharma?". artoiving.org.
[24] Klaus Glasho. Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit. spokensanskrit.de.
[25] Reading the Bhagavad Gita today. OnFaith.
[26] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhagavad-gita
As It Is, Verse 5.11. Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network
(ISKCON). Archived from the original on 7 December
2007. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
[27] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhagavad-gita
As It Is, Verse 12.6. Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network
(ISKCON). Archived from the original on 7 December
2007. Retrieved 14 January 2008.
[28] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhagavad-gita
As It Is, Verse 13.31. Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network
(ISKCON). Retrieved 14 January 2008.
[29] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhagavad-gita
As It Is, Verse 13.35. Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network
(ISKCON). Retrieved 14 January 2008.
[30] Bhagavad Gita in Braille Language. Zee News. 3 December 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
[31] Tommasini, Anthony (14 April 2008). Fanciful Visions
on the Mahatmas Road to Truth and Simplicity. The
New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
[32] Tommasini, Anthony (7 November 2008). Warrior
Prince From India Wrestles With Destiny. The New
York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2009.

19

12
12.1

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Text

Bhagavad Gita Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagavad%20Gita?oldid=646740755 Contributors: AxelBoldt, WillWare, Redmist,

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Prabhavati, Raveendra rrr, Cacapowers, Wikismartaleck and Anonymous: 816

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12.2

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