The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700-
verse
Verse may refer to:
Poetry
* Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry
* Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza
* Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme
* Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...
epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' (chapters 23–40 of book 6 of the Mahabharata called the
Bhishma Parva
The Bhishma Parva ( sa, भीष्म पर्व), or ''the Book of Bhishma,'' is the sixth of eighteen books of the Indian epic ''Mahabharata''. It is the only Parva in Mahabharata where the main hero is not Arjuna but is rather Bhishma an ...
), dated to the second half of the
first millennium BCE
The 1st millennium BC, also known as the last millennium BC, was the period of time lasting from the years 1000 BC to 1 BC (10th to 1st centuries BC; in astronomy: JD – ). It encompasses the Iron Age in the Old World and sees the transit ...
and is typical of the
Hindu synthesis
The history of Hinduism covers a wide variety of related religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. It overlaps or coincides with the development of religion in the Indian subcontinent since the Iron Age, with some of its traditions ...
. It is considered to be one of the holy scriptures for
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
.
The Gita is set in a narrative framework of a dialogue between
Pandava
The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledg ...
prince
Arjuna
Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...
and his guide and charioteer
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
. At the start of the
dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
Pandava
The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledg ...
Arjuna
Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...
is preoccupied by a
moral
A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...
and emotional
dilemma
A dilemma ( grc-gre, δίλημμα "double proposition") is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. The possibilities are termed the ''horns'' of the dilemma, a clichéd usage, but disti ...
and despairs about the violence and death the war will cause in the battle against his kin. Wondering if he should renounce the war, he seeks Krishna's counsel, whose answers and discourse constitute the Gita. Krishna counsels Arjuna to "fulfil his
Kshatriya
Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...
(warrior) duty to uphold the
dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
" through Karma ("selfless action"). The Krishna–Arjuna dialogues cover a broad range of spiritual topics, touching upon ethical dilemmas and philosophical issues that go far beyond the war that Arjuna faces.
Numerous commentaries have been written on the Bhagavad Gita with widely differing views on the essentials. According to some, the Bhagavad Gita was written by the god
Ganesha
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
commentators read varying relationships between the Self and
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
in the text:
Advaita Vedanta
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...
sees the non-dualism of
Atman Atman or Ātman may refer to:
Film
* ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto
* ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo
People
* Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian hand ...
(Self) and
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
(universal Self) as its essence';
Bhedabheda
Bhedābheda Vedānta is a subschool of Vedānta, which teaches that the individual self (''jīvātman'') is both different and not different from the ultimate reality known as Brahman.
Etymology
''Bhedābheda'' (Devanagari: ) is a Sanskrit wor ...
and
Vishishtadvaita
Vishishtadvaita (IAST '; sa, विशिष्टाद्वैत) is one of the most popular schools of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. Vedanta literally means the in depth meaning ''of the Vedas.'' ''Vishisht Advaita'' (literall ...
see Atman and Brahman as both different and not different; while
Dvaita Vedanta
Dvaita Vedanta (); (originally known as Tattvavada; IAST:Tattvavāda), is a sub-school in the Vedanta tradition of Hindu philosophy. The term Tattvavada literally means "arguments from a realist viewpoint". The Tattvavada (Dvaita) Vedanta sub ...
sees the dualism of
Atman Atman or Ātman may refer to:
Film
* ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto
* ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo
People
* Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian hand ...
(Self) and
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
as its essence. The setting of the Gita in a battlefield has been interpreted as an allegory for the ethical and moral struggles of human life.
The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis of Hindu ideas about
dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
bhakti
''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...
, and the
yogic
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
ideals of
moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
Bhakti
''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...
,
Karma
Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...
, and
Rāja yoga
In Sanskrit texts, ''Rāja yoga'' (; राजयोग) was both the goal of yoga and a method to attain it. The term also became a modern name for the practice of yoga in the 19th-century when Swami Vivekananda gave his interpretation of th ...
s (spoken of in the 6th chapter), incorporating ideas from the
Samkhya
''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...
-
Yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
philosophy.
The Bhagavad Gita is the most revered of all the Hindu texts, and has a unique pan-Hindu influence. The Gitas call for selfless action inspired many leaders of the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
including
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
and
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
, the latter referring to it as his "spiritual dictionary".
Nomenclature
The ''gita'' in the title of the Bhagavad Gita means "song." Religious leaders and scholars interpret the word '' Bhagavad'' in a number of ways. Accordingly, the title has been interpreted as "the word of God" by the theistic schools, "the words of the Lord", "the Divine Song", and "Celestial Song" by others.
In India, its Sanskrit name is often written as Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, श्रीमद् भगवद् गीता (the latter two words often written as a single word भगवद्गीता), where the Shrimad prefix is used to denote a high degree of respect. This is not to be confused with the Shrimad Bhagavatam, which is a
Purana
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
dealing with the life of the Hindu God
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
and various avatars of
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
.
The work is also known as the ''Iswara Gita'', the ''Ananta Gita'', the ''Hari Gita'', the ''Vyasa Gita'', or the Gita.
Authorship
In the Indian tradition, the Bhagavad Gita, as well as the epic ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'' of which it is a part, is attributed to the sage
Vyasa
Krishna Dvaipayana ( sa, कृष्णद्वैपायन, Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana), better known as Vyasa (; sa, व्यासः, Vyāsaḥ, compiler) or Vedavyasa (वेदव्यासः, ''Veda-vyāsaḥ'', "the one who cl ...
, whose full name was Krishna Dvaipayana, also called Veda-Vyasa. Another Hindu legend states that Vyasa narrated it when the lord
Ganesha
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...
broke one of his tusks and wrote down the Mahabharata along with the Bhagavad Gita.
Scholars consider Vyasa to be a mythical or symbolic author, in part because Vyasa is also the traditional compiler of the
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
and the
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
, texts dated to be from different millennia. The word ''Vyasa'' literally means "arranger, compiler", and is a surname in India. According to Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, a Gita scholar, it is possible that a number of different individuals with the same name compiled different texts.
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
, the 19th-century Hindu monk and Vedantist, stated that the Bhagavad Gita may be old but it was mostly unknown in Indian history till the early 8th century when
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
(Shankaracharya) made it famous by writing his much-followed commentary on it. Some infer, states Vivekananda, that "Shankaracharya was the author of Gita, and that it was he who foisted it into the body of the ''Mahabharata''." This attribution to Adi Shankara is unlikely in part because Shankara himself refers to the earlier commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita, and because other Hindu texts and traditions that compete with the ideas of Shankara refer to much older literature referencing the Bhagavad Gita, though much of this ancient secondary literature has not survived into the modern era.
According to J. A. B. van Buitenen, an Indologist known for his translations and scholarship on ''Mahabharata'', the Gita is so contextually and philosophically well knit with the ''Mahabharata'' that it was not an independent text that "somehow wandered into the epic". The Gita, states van Buitenen, was conceived and developed by the ''Mahabharata'' authors to "bring to a climax and solution the dharmic dilemma of a war".
According to
Alexus McLeod Alexus is a given name and a surname. Notable people with this name include the following:
Given name
* Alexus Laird (born 1993), Seychellois swimmer
Surname
* Ajiona Alexus (born 1996), American actress
See also
*Alexis (disambiguation)
*Alexi ...
, a scholar of Philosophy and Asian Studies, it is "impossible to link the Bhagavad Gita to a single author", and it may be the work of many authors. This view is shared by the Indologist Arthur Basham, who states that there were three or more authors or compilers of Bhagavad Gita. This is evidenced by the discontinuous intermixing of philosophical verses with theistic or passionately theistic verses, according to Basham.
Date
Theories on the date of the composition of the Gita vary considerably. Some scholars accept dates from the 5th century to the 2nd century BCE as the probable range, the latter likely. The Hinduism scholar Jeaneane Fowler, in her commentary on the Gita, considers second century BCE to be the probable date of composition.
J. A. B. van Buitenen also states that the Gita was likely composed about 200 BCE. According to the Indologist
Arvind Sharma
Arvind Sharma is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University. Sharma's works focus on Hinduism, philosophy of religion. In editing books his works include ''Our Religions'' and ''Women in World Religions,'' ''Feminism in W ...
, the Gita is generally accepted to be a 2nd-century-BCE text.
Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, in contrast, dates it a bit earlier. He states that the Gita was always a part of the ''Mahabharata'', and dating the latter suffices in dating the Gita. On the basis of the estimated dates of ''Mahabharata'' as evidenced by exact quotes of it in the Buddhist literature by Asvaghosa (c. 100 CE), Upadhyaya states that the ''Mahabharata'', and therefore the Gita, must have been well known by then for a Buddhist to be quoting it. This suggests a ''
terminus ante quem
''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items..
A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...
'' (latest date) of the Gita to be sometime prior to the 1st century CE. He cites similar quotes in the dharmasutra texts, the '' Brahma sutras'', and other literature to conclude that the Bhagavad Gita was composed in the fifth or fourth century BCE.
According to Arthur Basham, the context of the Bhagavad Gita suggests that it was composed in an era when the
ethics of war
The just war theory ( la, bellum iustum) is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics which is studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policy makers. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that a war is m ...
were being questioned and renunciation to monastic life was becoming popular. Such an era emerged after the rise of
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
and
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
in the 5th century BCE, and particularly after the semi-legendary life of Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. Thus, the first version of the Bhagavad Gita may have been composed in or after the 3rd century BCE.
Linguistically, the Bhagavad Gita is in
classical Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
of the early variety, states the Gita scholar
Winthrop Sargeant
Winthrop Sargeant (December 10, 1903 – August 15, 1986) was an American music critic, violinist, and writer.
Early life
Sargeant was born in San Francisco, California on December 10, 1903. He studied violin in his native city with Albert Elku ...
. The text has occasional pre-classical elements of the Sanskrit language, such as the
aorist
Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...
and the prohibitive ''mā'' instead of the expected ''na'' (not) of classical Sanskrit. This suggests that the text was composed after the
Pāṇini
, era = ;;6th–5th century BCE
, region = Indian philosophy
, main_interests = Grammar, linguistics
, notable_works = ' (Sanskrit#Classical Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit)
, influenced=
, notable_ideas=Descript ...
era, but before the long compounds of classical Sanskrit became the norm. This would date the text as transmitted by the
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
to the later centuries of the 1st-millennium BCE, and the first written version probably to the 2nd or 3rd century CE.
According to Jeaneane Fowler, "the dating of the Gita varies considerably" and depends in part on whether one accepts it to be a part of the early versions of the ''Mahabharata'', or a text that was inserted into the epic at a later date. The earliest "surviving" components therefore are believed to be no older than the earliest "external" references we have to the ''Mahabharata'' epic. The ''Mahabharata'' – the world's longest poem – is itself a text that was likely written and compiled over several hundred years, one dated between "400 BCE or little earlier, and 2nd century CE, though some claim a few parts can be put as late as 400 CE", states Fowler. The dating of the Gita is thus dependent on the uncertain dating of the ''Mahabharata''. The actual dates of composition of the Gita remain unresolved. While the year and century is uncertain, states Richard Davis, the internal evidence in the text dates the origin of the Gita discourse to the Hindu lunar month of '' Margashirsha'' (also called '' Agrahayana'', generally December or January of the Gregorian calendar).
Composition and significance
The Bhagavad Gita is the best known, and most influential of Hindu scriptures. While Hinduism is known for its diversity and its synthesis therefrom, the Bhagavad Gita has a unique pan-Hindu influence., Quote: "Its hagavadgita'simportance as a religious text is demonstrated by its uniquely pan-Hindu influence".Gerald James Larson – an Indologist and scholar of classical Hindu philosophy, states that "if there is any one text that comes near to embodying the totality of what it is to be a
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, it would be the Bhagavad Gita."
The Bhagavad Gita is part of the
Prasthanatrayi
Prasthanatrayi ( sa, प्रस्थानत्रयी, IAST: ), literally, ''three sources (or axioms)'', refers to the three canonical texts of theology having epistemic authority, especially of the Vedanta schools. It consists of:
# The ...
, which also includes the
Upanishads
The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...
and Brahma sutras. These are the three starting points for the
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
school of Hindu philosophy.NV Isaeva (1992), Shankara and Indian Philosophy, State University of New York Press, , p. 35 with footnote 30 The Brahma sutras constitute the ''Nyāya prasthāna'' or the "starting point of reasoning canonical base", while the principal Upanishads constitute the ''Sruti prasthāna'' or the "starting point of heard scriptures", and the Bhagavad Gita constitutes the ''Smriti prasthāna'' or the "starting point of remembered canonical base". The Bhagavad Gita is a "summation of the Vedanta", states Sargeant. It is thus one of the key texts for the
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
, a school that provides one of the theoretical foundations for Hinduism, and one that has had an enormous influence over time, becoming the central ideology of the Hindu renaissance in the 19th century, according to Gavin Flood – a scholar of Hinduism.
Some Hindus give it the status of an Upanishad, and some consider it to be a "revealed text". Others consider the Bhagavad Gita as an important
Smriti
''Smriti'' ( sa, स्मृति, IAST: '), literally "that which is remembered" are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally written down, in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, that ...
, or secondary text that exist in alternate versions such as one found in Kashmir though it does not affect the basic message of the text.
Hindu synthesis
The Bhagavad Gita is the sealing achievement of the
Hindu synthesis
The history of Hinduism covers a wide variety of related religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. It overlaps or coincides with the development of religion in the Indian subcontinent since the Iron Age, with some of its traditions ...
, incorporating its various religious traditions. The synthesis is at both philosophical and socio-religious levels, states the Gita scholar Keya Maitra. The text refrains from insisting on one right ''marga'' (path) to spirituality. It openly synthesizes and inclusively accepts multiple ways of life, harmonizing spiritual pursuits through action (''karma''), knowledge (''gyaana''), and devotion (''bhakti''). According to the Gita translator Radhakrishnan, quoted in a review by Robinson, Krishna's discourse is a "comprehensive synthesis" that inclusively unifies the competing strands of Hindu thought such as "Vedic ritual, Upanishadic wisdom, devotional theism and philosophical insight". Aurobindo described the text as a synthesis of various
Yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
s. The Indologist Robert Minor, and others, in contrast, state that the Gita is "more clearly defined as a synthesis of Vedanta, Yoga and Samkhya" philosophies of Hinduism.
The synthesis in Bhagavad Gita addresses the question of what constitutes the virtuous path that is necessary for spiritual liberation or release from the cycles of rebirth (''moksha''). It discusses whether one should renounce a householder lifestyle for a life as an ascetic, or lead a householder life dedicated to one's duty and profession, or pursue a householder life devoted to a personalized God in the revealed form of Krishna. Thus Gita discusses and synthesizes the three dominant trends in Hinduism: enlightenment-based renunciation, dharma-based householder life, and devotion-based theism. According to Deutsch and Dalvi, the Bhagavad Gita attempts "to forge a harmony" between these three paths.
The Bhagavad Gitas synthetic answer recommends that one must resist the "either-or" view, and consider a "both-and" view. It states that the dharmic householder can achieve the same goals as the renouncing monk through "inner renunciation" or "motiveless action". One must do the right thing because one has determined that it is right, states Gita, without craving for its fruits, without worrying about the results, loss or gain. Desires, selfishness, and the craving for fruits can distort one from spiritual living. The Gita synthesis goes further, according to its interpreters such as Swami Vivekananda, and the text states that there is Living God in every human being and the devoted service to this Living God in everyone – without craving for personal rewards – is a means to spiritual development and liberation. According to Galvin Flood, the teachings in the Gita differ from other Indian religions that encouraged extreme austerity and self-torture of various forms (''karsayanta''). The Gita disapproves of these, stating that not only is it against tradition but against Krishna himself, because "Krishna dwells within all beings, in torturing the body the ascetic would be torturing him", states Flood. Even a monk should strive for "inner renunciation" rather than external pretensions.
The Gita synthesizes several paths to spiritual realization based on the premise that people are born with different temperaments and tendencies (''guna''). According to Winthrop Sargeant, the text acknowledges that some individuals are more reflective and intellectual, some affective and engaged by their emotions, some are action driven, yet others favor experimentation and exploring what works. It then presents different spiritual paths for each personality type respectively: the path of knowledge (''jnana yoga''), the path of devotion (''bhakti yoga''), the path of action (''karma yoga''), and the path of meditation (''raja yoga''). The ''guna'' premise is a synthesis of the ideas from the Samkhya school of Hinduism. According to Upadhyaya, the Gita states that none of these paths to spiritual realization is "intrinsically superior or inferior", rather they "converge in one and lead to the same goal".
According to Hiltebeitel, ''Bhakti'' forms an essential ingredient of this synthesis, and the text incorporates ''Bhakti'' into ''Vedanta''. According to Scheepers, The Bhagavad Gita is a Brahmanical text which uses Shramanic and Yogic terminology to spread the Brahmanic idea of living according to one's duty or ''dharma'', in contrast to the ascetic ideal of liberation by avoiding all karma. According to Galvin Flood and Charles Martin, the Gita rejects the Shramanic path of non-action, emphasizing instead "the renunciation of the fruits of action". The Bhagavad Gita, according to Raju, is a great synthesis of impersonal spiritual monism with personal God, of "the ''yoga'' of action with the ''yoga'' of transcendence of action, and these again with the ''yogas'' of devotion and knowledge".
Manuscripts
The Bhagavad Gita manuscript is found in the sixth book of the ''Mahabharata'' manuscripts – the ''Bhisma-parvan''. Therein, in the third section, the Gita forms chapters 23–40, that is 6.3.23 to 6.3.40. The Bhagavad Gita is often preserved and studied on its own, as an independent text with its chapters renumbered from 1 to 18.
The Bhagavad Gita manuscripts exist in numerous Indic scripts. These include writing systems that are currently in use, as well as early scripts such as the now dormant
Sharada script
The Śāradā, Sarada or Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. The script was widespread between the 8th and 12th centuries in the northwestern parts of Indian Subcontinent (in Kashmir and neighbouring ...
. Variant manuscripts of the Gita have been found on the Indian subcontinent Unlike the enormous variations in the remaining sections of the surviving ''Mahabharata'' manuscripts, the Gita manuscripts show only minor variations.
According to Gambhirananda, the old manuscripts may have had 745 verses, though he agrees that “700 verses is the generally accepted historic standard." Gambhirananda's view is supported by a few versions of chapter 6.43 of the ''Mahabharata''. According to Gita exegesis scholar Robert Minor, these versions state that the Gita is a text where "Kesava rishnaspoke 574 slokas, Arjuna 84, Sanjaya 41, and Dhritarashtra 1". An authentic manuscript of the Gita with 745 verses has not been found. Adi Shankara, in his 8th-century commentary, explicitly states that the Gita has 700 verses, which was likely a deliberate declaration to prevent further insertions and changes to the Gita. Since Shankara's time, "700 verses" has been the standard benchmark for the critical edition of the Bhagavad Gita.
Content
Structure
The Bhagavad Gita is a poem written in the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
language. Its 700 verses are structured into several ancient Indian poetic
meters
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its prefi ...
, with the principal being the ''shloka'' (''Anushtubh chanda''). It has 18 chapters in total. Each ''shloka'' consists of a couplet, thus the entire text consists of 1,400 lines. Each ''shloka'' has two quarter verses with exactly eight syllables. Each of these quarters is further arranged into two metrical feet of four syllables each. The metered verse does not rhyme. While the ''shloka'' is the principal meter in the Gita, it does deploy other elements of Sanskrit prosody. At dramatic moments, it uses the ''tristubh'' meter found in the Vedas, where each line of the couplet has two quarter verses with exactly eleven syllables.
Narrative
The Gita is a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna right before the start of the climactic
Kurukshetra War
The Kurukshetra War ( sa, कुरुक्षेत्र युद्ध ), also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the ''Mahabharata ( sa, महाभारत )''. The conflict arose from a dynastic succession struggle be ...
in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. Two massive armies have gathered to destroy each other. The Pandava prince Arjuna asks his charioteer
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
to drive to the center of the battlefield so that he can get a good look at both the armies and all those "so eager for war". He sees that some among his enemies are his own relatives, beloved friends, and revered teachers. He does not want to fight to kill them and is thus filled with doubt and despair on the battlefield. He drops his bow, wonders if he should renounce and just leave the battlefield. He turns to his charioteer and guide Krishna, for advice on the rationale for war, his choices and the right thing to do. The Bhagavad Gita is the compilation of Arjuna's questions and moral dilemma and Krishna's answers and insights that elaborate on a variety of philosophical concepts. The compiled dialogue goes far beyond the "rationale for war"; it touches on many human ethical dilemmas, philosophical issues and life's choices. According to Flood and Martin, although the Gita is set in the context of a wartime epic, the narrative is structured to apply to all situations; it wrestles with questions about "who we are, how we should live our lives, and how should we act in the world". According to Sargeant, it delves into questions about the "purpose of life, crisis of self-identity, human Self, human temperaments, and ways for spiritual quest".
Characters
*
Arjuna
Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...
, one of the five
Pandavas
The Pandavas (Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. They are acknowledg ...
*
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
, Arjuna's charioteer and
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
who was actually an incarnation of
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
*
Sanjaya
Sanjaya or Sanjay (Sanskrit: सञ्जय, meaning "victory") or Sanjaya Gavalgana is an advisor from the ancient Indian Hindu war epic ''Mahābhārata''.
In ''Mahabharata''—An ancient story of a war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas ...
, counselor of the Kuru king Dhritarashtra (secondary narrator)
* Dhritarashtra, Kuru king (Sanjaya's audience) and father of the Kauravas
Chapters
Bhagavad Gita comprises 18 chapters (section 23 to 40) in the
Bhishma Parva
The Bhishma Parva ( sa, भीष्म पर्व), or ''the Book of Bhishma,'' is the sixth of eighteen books of the Indian epic ''Mahabharata''. It is the only Parva in Mahabharata where the main hero is not Arjuna but is rather Bhishma an ...
of the epic ''Mahabharata''. Because of differences in recensions, the verses of the Gita may be numbered in the full text of the ''Mahabharata'' as chapters 6.25–42 or as chapters 6.23–40. The number of verses in each chapter vary in some manuscripts of the Gita discovered on the Indian subcontinent. However, variant readings are relatively few in contrast to the numerous versions of the ''Mahabharata'' it is found embedded in.
The original Bhagavad Gita has no chapter titles. Some Sanskrit editions that separate the Gita from the epic as an independent text, as well as translators, however, add chapter titles.see For example,
Swami Chidbhavananda
Swami Chidbhavananda (11 March 1898 – 16 November 1985) was born in Senguttaipalayam near Pollachi in Coimbatore District, Madras Presidency, India. His parents named him 'Chinnu'. He studied in Stanes School, Coimbatore. He was one of the ...
describes each of the eighteen chapters as a separate yoga because each chapter, like yoga, "trains the body and the mind". He labels the first chapter "Arjuna Vishada Yogam" or the "Yoga of Arjuna's Dejection". Sir
Edwin Arnold
Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work ''The Light of Asia''.
Chapter 1: Arjuna Vishadayoga (47 verses)
Translators have variously titled the first chapter as '' Arjuna vishada yoga'', ''Prathama Adhyaya'', ''The Distress of Arjuna'', ''The War Within'', or ''Arjuna's Sorrow''. The Bhagavad Gita is opened by setting the stage of the Kurukshetra battlefield. Two massive armies representing different loyalties and ideologies face a catastrophic war. With Arjuna is Krishna, not as a participant in the war, but only as his charioteer and counsel. Arjuna requests Krishna to move the
chariot
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nbs ...
between the two armies so he can see those "eager for this war". He sees family and friends on the enemy side. Arjuna is distressed and in sorrow. The issue is, states
Arvind Sharma
Arvind Sharma is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University. Sharma's works focus on Hinduism, philosophy of religion. In editing books his works include ''Our Religions'' and ''Women in World Religions,'' ''Feminism in W ...
, "is it morally proper to kill?" This and other moral dilemmas in the first chapter are set in a context where the Hindu epic and Krishna have already extolled ''
ahimsa
Ahimsa (, IAST: ''ahiṃsā'', ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in most Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.Bajpai, Shiva (2011). The History of India ...
'' (non-violence) to be the highest and divine virtue of a human being. The war feels evil to Arjuna and he questions the morality of war. He wonders if it is noble to renounce and leave before the violence starts, or should he fight, and why.
Chapter 2: Sankhyayoga (72 verses)
Translators title the chapter as ''Sankhya Yoga'', ''The Book of Doctrines'', ''Self-Realization'', or ''The Yoga of Knowledge (and Philosophy)''. The second chapter begins the philosophical discussions and teachings found in the Gita. The warrior Arjuna whose past had focused on learning the skills of his profession now faces a war he has doubts about. Filled with introspection and questions about the meaning and purpose of life, he asks Krishna about the nature of life, Self, death, afterlife and whether there is a deeper meaning and reality. Krishna answers. The chapter summarizes the Hindu idea of rebirth, samsara, eternal Self in each person (Self), universal Self present in everyone, various types of yoga, divinity within, the nature of knowledge of the Self and other concepts. The ideas and concepts in the second chapter reflect the framework of the
Samkhya
''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...
and
Yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
schools of
Hindu philosophy
Hindu philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views and teachings of Hinduism that emerged in Ancient India which include six systems ('' shad-darśana'') – Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.Andrew Nicholson (20 ...
. This chapter is an overview for the remaining sixteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita.
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
memorized the last 19 verses of the second chapter, considering them as his companion in his non-violent movement for social justice during colonial rule.
Chapter 3: Karmayoga (43 verses)
Translators title the chapter as ''Karma yoga'', ''Virtue in Work'', ''Selfless Service'', or ''The Yoga of Action''. Arjuna, after listening to Krishna's spiritual teachings in Chapter 2, gets more confounded and returns to the predicament he faces. He wonders if fighting the war is "not so important after all" given Krishna's overview on the pursuit of spiritual wisdom. Krishna replies that there is no way to avoid action (karma), since abstention from work is also an action. Krishna states that Arjuna has an obligation to understand and perform his duty (dharma), because everything is connected by the law of cause and effect. Every man or woman is bound by activity. Those who act selfishly create the Karmic cause and are thereby bound to the effect which may be good or bad. Those who act selflessly for the right cause and strive to do their dharmic duty do God's work. Those who act without craving for fruits are free from the Karmic effects, because the results never motivated them. Whatever the result, it does not affect them. Their happiness comes from within, and the external world does not bother them. According to Flood and Martin, chapter 3 and onwards develops "a theological response to Arjuna's dilemma".
Chapter 4: Gyana Karma Sanyasayoga (42 verses)
Translators title the fourth chapter as ''Jñāna–Karma-Sanyasa yoga'', ''The Religion of Knowledge'', ''Wisdom in Action'', or ''The Yoga of Renunciation of Action through Knowledge''. Krishna reveals that he has taught this yoga to the Vedic sages. Arjuna questions how Krishna could do this, when those sages lived so long ago, and Krishna was born more recently. Krishna reminds him that everyone is in the cycle of rebirths, and while Arjuna does not remember his previous births, he does. Whenever dharma declines and the purpose of life is forgotten by Man, says Krishna, he returns to re-establish dharma. Every time he returns, he teaches about the inner Self in all beings. The later verses of the chapter return to the discussion of motiveless action and the need to determine the right action, performing it as one's dharma (duty) while renouncing the results, rewards, fruits. The simultaneous outer action with inner renunciation, states Krishna, is the secret to the life of freedom. Action leads to knowledge, while selfless action leads to spiritual awareness, state the last verses of this chapter. The 4th chapter is the first time where Krishna begins to reveal his divine nature to Arjuna.
Chapter 5: Karma Sanyasayoga (29 verses)
Translators title this chapter as ''Karma–Sanyasa yoga'', ''Religion by Renouncing Fruits of Works'', ''Renounce and Rejoice'', or ''The Yoga of Renunciation''. The chapter starts by presenting the tension in the Indian tradition between the life of ''sannyasa'' (monks who have renounced their household and worldly attachments) and the life of ''grihastha'' (householder). Arjuna asks Krishna which path is better. Krishna answers that both are paths to the same goal, but the path of "selfless action and service" with inner renunciation is better. The different paths, says Krishna, aim for—and if properly pursued, lead to—Self-knowledge. This knowledge leads to the universal, transcendent Godhead, the divine essence in all beings, to Brahman – to Krishna himself. The final verses of the chapter state that the self-aware who have reached self-realization live without fear, anger, or desire. They are free within, always. Chapter 5 shows signs of interpolations and internal contradictions. For example, states Arthur Basham, verses 5.23–28 state that a sage's spiritual goal is to realize the impersonal Brahman, yet the next verse 5.29 states that the goal is to realize the personal God who is Krishna.
Translators title the sixth chapter as ''Dhyana yoga'', ''Religion by Self-Restraint'', ''The Practice of Meditation'', or ''The Yoga of Meditation''. The chapter opens as a continuation of Krishna's teachings about selfless work and the personality of someone who has renounced the fruits that are found in chapter 5. Krishna says that such self-realized people are impartial to friends and enemies, are beyond good and evil, equally disposed to those who support them or oppose them because they have reached the summit of consciousness. The verses 6.10 and after proceed to summarize the principles of Yoga and meditation in the format similar to but simpler than Patanjali's ''Yogasutra''. It discusses who is a true yogi, and what it takes to reach the state where one harbors no malice towards anyone.
Chapter 7: Gyana Vigyanayoga (30 verses)
Translators title this chapter as ''Jnana–Vijnana yoga'', ''Religion by Discernment'', ''Wisdom from Realization'', or ''The Yoga of Knowledge and Judgment''. The chapter 7 opens with Krishna continuing his discourse. He discusses ''jnana'' (knowledge) and ''vijnana'' (realization, understanding) using the Prakriti- Purusha (matter-Self) framework of the
Samkhya
''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
framework of its
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
school. The chapter states that evil is the consequence of ignorance and attachment to the impermanent, the elusive Maya. It states that Self-knowledge and union with Purusha (Krishna) are the highest goal of any spiritual pursuit.
Chapter 8: Akshara Brahmayoga (28 verses)
Translators title the chapter as ''Aksara–Brahma yoga'', ''Religion by Devotion to the One Supreme God'', ''The Eternal Godhead'', or ''The Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman''. The chapter opens with Arjuna asking questions such as what is Brahman and what is the nature of ''karma''. Krishna states that his own highest nature is the imperishable Brahman, and that he lives in every creature as the ''adhyatman''. Every being has an impermanent body and an eternal Self, and that "Krishna as Lord" lives within every creature. The chapter discusses cosmology, the nature of death and rebirth. This chapter contains
eschatology
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negati ...
of the Bhagavad Gita. Importance of the last thought before death, differences between material and spiritual worlds, and light and dark paths that a Self takes after death are described.
Chapter 9: Raja Vidya Raja Guhyayoga (34 verses)
Translators title the ninth chapter as ''Raja–Vidya–Raja–Guhya yoga'', ''Religion by the Kingly Knowledge and the Kingly Mystery'', ''The Royal Path'', or ''The Yoga of Sovereign Science and Sovereign Secret''. Chapter 9 opens with Krishna continuing his discourse as Arjuna listens. Krishna states that he is everywhere and in everything in an unmanifested form, yet he is not in any way limited by them. Eons end, everything dissolves and then he recreates another eon subjecting them to the laws of ''Prakriti'' (nature). He equates himself to being the father and the mother of the universe, to being the Om, to the three Vedas, to the seed, the goal of life, the refuge and abode of all. The chapter recommends devotional worship of Krishna. According to theologian Christopher Southgate, verses of this chapter of the Gita are panentheistic, while German physicist and philosopher Max Bernhard Weinstein deems the work pandeistic.Max Bernhard Weinsten, ''Welt- und Lebensanschauungen, Hervorgegangen aus Religion, Philosophie und Naturerkenntnis'' ("World and Life Views, Emerging From Religion, Philosophy and Perception of Nature") (1910), p. 213: "Wir werden später sehen, daß die Indier auch den Pandeismus gelehrt haben. Der letzte Zustand besteht in dieser Lehre im Eingehen in die betreffende Gottheit, Brahma oder Wischnu. So sagt in der Bhagavad-Gîtâ Krishna-Wischnu, nach vielen Lehren über ein vollkommenes Dasein." It may, in fact, be neither of them, and its contents may have no definition with previously developed Western terms.
Chapter 10: Vibhutiyoga (42 verses)
Translators title the chapter as ''Vibhuti–Vistara–yoga'', ''Religion by the Heavenly Perfections'', ''Divine Splendor'', or ''The Yoga of Divine Manifestations''. When Arjuna asks of the opulences (Vibhuti) of Krishna, he explains how all the entities are his forms. He reveals his divine being in greater detail as the ultimate cause of all material and spiritual existence, as one who transcends all opposites and who is beyond any duality. Nevertheless, at Arjuna's behest, Krishna says the following are his major opulences. He says he is the ''atman'' in all beings, Arjuna's innermost Self, also compassionate Vishnu,
Surya
Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...
, Indra, Shiva-Rudra, Ananta, Yama, as well as the Om, Vedic sages, time, Gayatri mantra, and the science of Self-knowledge. Krishna says, "Among the Pandavas, I am Arjuna," implying he is manifest in all the beings, including Arjuna. He also says that he is
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
when he says, "Among the wielders of weapons, I am Rama". Arjuna accepts Krishna as the ''purushottama'' (Supreme Being).
Translators title the chapter as ''Vishvarupa–Darshana yoga'', ''The Manifesting of the One and Manifold'', ''The Cosmic Vision'', or ''The Yoga of the Vision of the Cosmic Form''. On Arjuna's request, Krishna displays his "universal form" (''Viśvarūpa''). This is an idea found in the ''
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
'' and many later Hindu texts, where it is a symbolism for ''
atman Atman or Ātman may refer to:
Film
* ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto
* ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo
People
* Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian hand ...
'' (Self) and ''
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
'' (Absolute Reality) eternally pervading all beings and all existence. Chapter 11, states Eknath Eswaran, describes Arjuna entering first into ''savikalpa samadhi'' (a particular form), and then ''nirvikalpa samadhi'' (a universal form) as he gets an understanding of Krishna. A part of the verse from this chapter was recited by Robert
Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
In arts and media
* Alan Oppenheimer (born 1930), American film actor
* Andrés Oppenheimer (born 1951), Argentine author and journalist known for his analysis of Latin American p ...
as he witnessed the first atomic bomb explode.
Chapter 12: Bhaktiyoga (20 verses)
Translators title the chapter as ''Bhakti yoga'', ''The Religion of Faith'', ''The Way of Love'', or ''The Yoga of Devotion''. In this chapter, Krishna glorifies the path of love and devotion to God. Krishna describes the process of devotional service (
Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga ( sa, भक्ति योग), also called Bhakti marga (, literally the path of ''Bhakti''), is a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on loving devotion towards any personal deity.Karen Pechelis (2014), ...
). This chapter of the Gita, states Easwaran, offers a "vastly easier" path to most human beings to identify and love God in an anthropomorphic representation. He can be projected as "a merciful father, a divine mother, a wise friend, a passionate beloved, or even a mischievous child", according to Easwaran. The text states that combining "action with inner renunciation" with the love of Krishna as a personal God leads to peace. In the last eight verses of this chapter, Krishna states that he loves those who have compassion for all living beings, are content with whatever comes their way, who live a detached life that is impartial and selfless, unaffected by fleeting pleasure or pain, neither craving for praise nor depressed by criticism.
Translators title this chapter as ''Ksetra–Ksetrajna Vibhaga yoga'', ''Religion by Separation of Matter and Spirit'', ''The Field and the Knower'', or ''The Yoga of Difference between the Field and Field-Knower''. The chapter opens with Krishna continuing his discourse. He describes the difference between the transient perishable physical body (''kshetra'') and the immutable eternal Self (''kshetrajna''). The presentation explains the difference between ''ahamkara'' (ego) and ''atman'' (Self), from there between individual consciousness and universal consciousness. The knowledge of one's true self is linked to the realization of the Self. The 13th chapter of the Gita offers the clearest enunciation of the
Samkhya
''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...
philosophy, states Basham, by explaining the difference between field (material world) and the knower (Self), ''prakriti'' and ''purusha''. According to Miller, this is the chapter which "redefines the battlefield as the human body, the material realm in which one struggles to know oneself" where human dilemmas are presented as a "symbolic field of interior warfare".
Chapter 14: Gunatraya Vibhagayoga (27 verses)
Translators title the fourteenth chapter as ''Gunatraya–Vibhaga yoga'', ''Religion by Separation from the Qualities'', ''The Forces of Evolution'', or ''The Yoga of the Division of Three Gunas''. Krishna continues his discourse from the previous chapter. Krishna explains the difference between ''purusha'' and ''prakriti'', by mapping human experiences to three ''
Guṇa
( sa, गुण) is a concept in Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, which can be translated as "quality, peculiarity, attribute, property".dualistic. However, its overall thesis, according to Edgerton, is more complex because other verses teach the Upanishadic doctrines and "through its God the Gita seems after all to arrive at an ultimate monism; the essential part, the fundamental element, in every thing, is after all One — is God."
Translators title the chapter as ''Daivasura–Sampad–Vibhaga yoga'', ''The Separateness of the Divine and Undivine'', ''Two Paths'', or ''The Yoga of the Division between the Divine and the Demonic''. According to Easwaran, this is an unusual chapter where two types of human nature are expounded, one leading to happiness and the other to suffering. Krishna identifies these human traits to be divine and demonic respectively. He states that truthfulness, self-restraint, sincerity, love for others, desire to serve others, being detached, avoiding anger, avoiding harm to all living creatures, fairness, compassion and patience are marks of the divine nature. The opposite of these are demonic, such as cruelty, conceit, hypocrisy and being inhumane, states Krishna. Some of the verses in Chapter 16 may be polemics directed against competing Indian religions, according to Basham. The competing tradition may be the materialists (
Charvaka
Charvaka ( sa, चार्वाक; IAST: ''Cārvāka''), also known as ''Lokāyata'', is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embrac ...
), states Fowler.
Chapter 17: Shraddhatraya Vibhagayoga (28 verses)
Translators title the chapter as ''Shraddhatraya-Vibhaga yoga'', ''Religion by the Threefold Kinds of Faith'', ''The Power of Faith'', or ''The Yoga of the Threefold Faith''. Krishna qualifies the three divisions of faith, thoughts, deeds, and even eating habits corresponding to the three modes (gunas).
Chapter 18: Moksha Sanyasayoga (78 verses)
Translators title the chapter as ''Moksha–Sanyasa yoga'', ''Religion by Deliverance and Renunciation'', ''Freedom and Renunciation'', or ''The Yoga of Liberation and Renunciation''. In the final and longest chapter, the Gita offers a final summary of its teachings in the previous chapters. It begins with the discussion of spiritual pursuits through ''sannyasa'' (renunciation, monastic life) and spiritual pursuits while living in the world as a householder. It re-emphasizes the ''karma-phala-tyaga'' teaching ("act while renouncing the fruits of your action").
Chapters
There are total 18 chapters and 700 verses in Geeta. These are:
Themes
Theology
The nature of God
The Gita adopts the Upanishadic concept of Absolute Reality (
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
), a shift from the earlier ritual-driven Vedic religion to one abstracting and internalizing spiritual experiences. According to Jeaneane Fowler, the Gita builds on the Upanishadic Brahman theme, conceptualized to be that which is everywhere, unaffected, constant Absolute, indescribable and ''nirguna'' (abstract, without features). This Absolute in the Gita is neither a He nor a She, but a "neuter principle", an "It or That". Like some of the Upanishads, the Gita does not limit itself to the ''nirguna'' Brahman. It teaches both the abstract and the personalized Brahman (God), the latter in the form of Krishna. It accomplishes this synthesis by projecting the ''nirguna'' Brahman as higher than ''saguna'' or personalized Brahman, where the ''nirguna'' Brahman "exists when everything else does not". The text blurs any distinction between a personalized God and impersonal absolute reality by amalgamating the two and using the concepts interchangeably in later chapters. This theme has led scholars to call the Gita panentheistic, theistic as well as monistic.
The nature of Self
The Gita, states Fowler, "thoroughly accepts" ''
atman Atman or Ātman may refer to:
Film
* ''Ātman'' (1975 film), a Japanese experimental short film directed by Toshio Matsumoto
* ''Atman'' (1997 film), a documentary film directed by Pirjo Honkasalo
People
* Pavel Atman (born 1987), Russian hand ...
'' as a foundational concept. In the Upanishads, this is the Brahmanical idea that all beings have a "permanent real self", the true essence, the Self it refers to as ''Atman'' (Self). In the Upanishads that preceded the Gita, such as the ''
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
The ''Brihadaranyaka Upanishad'' ( sa, बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्, ) is one of the Principal Upanishads and one of the first Upanishadic scriptures of Hinduism. A key scripture to various schools of Hinduism, the ''Bri ...
'', the salvational goal is to know and realize this Self, a knowledge that is devoid of the delusions of the instinctive "I, mine" egoism typically connected with the body and material life processes that are impermanent and transient. The Gita accepts ''atman'' as the pure, unchanging, ultimate real essence.
The nature of the world
The Gita considers the world to be transient, all bodies and matter as impermanent. Everything that constitutes '' prakriti'' (nature, matter) is process driven and has a finite existence. It is born, grows, matures, decays, and dies. It considers this transient reality as Maya. Like the Upanishads, the Gita focuses on what it considers real in this world of change, impermanence, and finitude. To build its theological framework about the world, the text relies on the theories found in the Samkhya and Vedanta schools of Hinduism.
Brahman-atman
The Upanishads developed the equation "Atman = Brahman", states Fowler, and this belief is central to the Gita. This equation is, however, interpreted in a number of ways by different sub-schools of Vedanta. In the Gita, the Self of each human being is considered to be identical to every other human being and all beings, but it "does not support an identity with the Brahman", according to Fowler. According to Raju, the Gita supports this identity and spiritual monism, but as a form of synthesis with a personal God. According to Edgerton, the authors of the Gita rely on their concept of a personalized God (Krishna) to ultimately arrive at an ultimate monism, where the devotee realizes that Krishna is the essential part, the real fundamental element within everyone and everything. Krishna is simultaneously one and all. According to
Huston Smith
Huston Cummings Smith (May 31, 1919 – December 30, 2016) was an influential scholar of religious studies in the United States, He authored at least thirteen books on world's religions and philosophy, and his book about comparative religion, ' ...
, the Gita is teaching that "when one sees the entire universe as pervaded by the single Universal Spirit rishna one contemplates, marvels, and falls in love with its amazing glory. ..Having experienced that Truth oneself, all doubts are dispelled. This is how the flower of devotion evolves into the fruit of knowledge."
Means to God
The Gita teaches several spiritual paths – jnana, bhakti and karma – to the divine. However, states Fowler, it "does not raise any of these to a status that excludes the others". The theme that unites these paths in the Gita is "inner renunciation" where one is unattached to personal rewards during one's spiritual journey.
Karma yoga
The Gita teaches the path of Karma yoga in Chapter 3 and others. It upholds the necessity of action. However, this action should "not simply follow spiritual injunctions", without any attachment to personal rewards or because of craving for fruits. The Gita teaches, according to Fowler, that the action should be undertaken after proper knowledge has been applied to gain a full perspective on "what the action should be".
The concept of such detached action is also called '' Nishkama Karma'', a term not used in the Gita but equivalent to other terms such as ''karma-phala-tyaga''. This is where one determines what the right action ought to be and then acts while being detached to personal outcomes, to fruits, to success or failure. A karma yogi finds such work inherently fulfilling and satisfying. To a ''karma yogi'', right work done well is a form of prayer, and ''karma yoga'' is the path of selfless action.
According to Mahatma Gandhi, the object of the Gita is to show the way to attain self-realization, and this "can be achieved by selfless action, by desireless action; by renouncing fruits of action; by dedicating all activities to God, i.e., by surrendering oneself to Him, body and Self." Gandhi called the Gita "The Gospel of Selfless Action". According to Jonardon Ganeri, the premise of "disinterested action" is one of the important ethical concepts in the Gita.
Bhakti yoga
In the Bhagavad Gita, bhakti is characterized as the "loving devotion, a longing, surrender, trust and adoration" of the divine Krishna as the ''ishta-devata''. While bhakti is mentioned in many chapters, the idea gathers momentum after verse 6.30, and chapter 12 is where is fully developed. According to Fowler, the bhakti in the Gita does not imply renunciation of "action", but the bhakti effort is assisted with "right knowledge" and dedication to one's ''dharma''. Theologian
Catherine Cornille
Catherine Cornille (born 1961) is a professor of comparative theology and specializes in theology of religions and interreligious dialogue. She presently holds the Newton College Alumnae Chair of Western Culture in the department of theology at Bos ...
writes, "The text
f the Gita
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
offers a survey of the different possible disciplines for attaining liberation through knowledge (''Jnana''), action (karma), and loving devotion to God (bhakti), focusing on the latter as both the easiest and the highest path to salvation."
According to M. R. Sampatkumaran, a Bhagavad Gita scholar, the Gita's message is that mere knowledge of the scriptures cannot lead to final release, but "devotion, meditation, and worship are essential." The Gita likely spawned a "powerful devotionalism" movement, states Fowler, because the text and this path was simpler, and available to everyone.
Jnana yoga
Jnana yoga is the path of knowledge, wisdom, and direct realization of the Brahman. In the Bhagavad Gita, it is also referred to as ''buddhi yoga'' and its goal is self-realization. The text states that this is the path that intellectuals tend to prefer. The chapter 4 of the Bhagavad Gita is dedicated to the general exposition of ''jnana yoga''.
The Gita praises the path, calling the jnana yogi to be exceedingly dear to Krishna, but adds that the path is steep and difficult.
Synthesis of yogas, Raja yoga
Sivananda's 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." The influential commentator
Madhusudana Sarasvati
Madhusudana ( sa, मधुसूदन, Madhusūdana, translit-std=IAST) is an epithet of Vishnu and is the 73rd name in the Vishnu Sahasranama.
According to Adi Sankara's commentary on the Vishnu Sahasranama, Madhusudana means the "destroyer ...
divided the Gitas eighteen chapters into three sections with six chapters each.
Swami Gambhirananda
Swami Gambhirananda (1899–1988), born as Jatindranath Datta, was a Hindu sanyasi associated with Ramakrishna Mission. He was born at Sadhuhati in today's Bangladesh. He graduated from Scottish Church College, Calcutta (Kolkata).
Jatindr ...
characterises Madhusudana Sarasvati's system as a successive approach in which Karma yoga leads to Bhakti yoga, which in turn leads to Jnana yoga:
* Chapters 1–6 = Karma yoga, the means to the final goal
* Chapters 7–12 = Bhakti yoga or devotion
* Chapters 13–18 = Jnana yoga or knowledge, the goal itself
Some scholars treat the "yoga of meditation" to be a distinct fourth path taught in the Gita, referring to it as
Raja yoga
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in history of South Asia, South Asia and History of ...
. Others consider it a progressive stage or a combination of Karma yoga and Bhakti yoga. Some, such as Adi Shankara, have considered its discussion in the 13th chapter of the Gita and elsewhere to be an integral part of Jnana yoga.
Asceticism, renunciation and ritualism
The Gita rejects ascetic life, renunciation as well as Brahminical Vedic ritualism where outward actions or non-actions are considered a means of personal reward in life, after-life or as a means of liberation. Instead it recommends the pursuit of an active life where the individual adopts "inner renunciation", acts to fulfill what he determines to be his ''dharma'', without craving for or being concerned about personal rewards, viewing this as an "inner sacrifice to the personal God for a higher good".
According to Edwin Bryant, the Indologist with publications on Krishna-related Hindu traditions, the Gita rejects "actionless behavior" found in some Indic monastic traditions. It also "relegates the sacrificial system of the early Vedic literature to a path that goes nowhere because it is based on desires", states Bryant.
Dharma
Dharma is a prominent paradigm of the ''Mahabharata'', and it is referenced in the Gita as well. The term ''dharma'' has a number of meanings. Fundamentally, it refers to that which is right or just. Contextually, it also means the essence of "duty, law, class, social norms, ritual and cosmos itself" in the text, in the sense "the way things should be in all these different dimensions". According to Zaehner, the term ''dharma'' means "duty" in the Gitas context; in verse 2.7, it refers to the "right nd wrong, and in 14.27 to the "eternal law of righteousness".
Few verses in the Bhagavad Gita deal with dharma, according to the Indologist Paul Hacker, but the theme of dharma is broadly important. In Chapter 1, responding to
Arjuna
Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...
's despondency,
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
asks him to follow his ''sva-dharma'', "the dharma that belongs to a particular man (Arjuna) as a member of a particular ''
varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria
**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
*Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
'', (i.e., the ''kshatriya'' – the warrior varna)". According to Paul Hacker, the term ''dharma'' has additional meanings in the context of Arjuna. It is more broadly, the "duty" and a "metaphysically congealed act" for Arjuna. According to the Indologist Jacqueline Hirst, the ''dharma'' theme is "of significance only at the beginning and end of the Gita" and this may have been a way to perhaps link the Gita to the context of the ''Mahabharata''.
According to Malinar, "Arjuna's crisis and some of the arguments put forward to call him to action are connected to the debates on war and peace in the '' Udyoga Parva''." The ''Udyoga Parva'' presents many views about the nature of a warrior, his duty and what calls for heroic action. While
Duryodhana
Duryodhana ( sa, दुर्योधन, ) also known as Suyodhana, is the primary antagonist in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata.'' He was the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of the blind king Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari. Being ...
presents it as a matter of status, social norms, and fate, Vidura states that the heroic warrior never submits, knows no fear and has the duty to protect people. The ''
Bhishma Parva
The Bhishma Parva ( sa, भीष्म पर्व), or ''the Book of Bhishma,'' is the sixth of eighteen books of the Indian epic ''Mahabharata''. It is the only Parva in Mahabharata where the main hero is not Arjuna but is rather Bhishma an ...
'' sets the stage of two ideologies in conflict and two massive armies gathered for what each considers as a righteous and necessary war. In this context, the Gita advises Arjuna to do his holy duty (''sva-dharma'') as a warrior; fight and kill.
According to the Indologist Barbara Miller, the text frames heroism not in terms of physical abilities, but instead in terms of effort and inner commitment to fulfill a warrior's ''dharma'' in the battlefield. War is depicted as a horror, the impending slaughter a cause for self-doubt, yet at stake is the spiritual struggle against evil. The Gita's message emphasizes that personal moral ambivalence must be addressed, the warrior needs to rise above "personal and social values" and understand what is at stake and "why he must fight". The text explores the "paradoxical interconnectedness of disciplined action and freedom".
''The Field of Dharma''
The first reference to ''dharma'' in the Bhagavad Gita occurs in its first verse, where Dhritarashtra refers to the Kurukshetra, the location of the battlefield, as the ''Field of Dharma'', "The Field of Righteousness or Truth". According to Fowler, dharma in this verse may refer to the '' sanatana dharma'', "what Hindus understand as their religion, for it is a term that encompasses wide aspects of religious and traditional thought and is more readily used for religion". Therefore, "field of dharma" implies the field of righteousness, where truth will eventually triumph, states Fowler. According to Jacqueline Hirst, the "field of dharma" phrase in the Gita epitomizes that the struggle concerns dharma itself. This dharma has "resonances at many different levels".
Allegory of war
Unlike any other religious scripture, the Bhagavad Gita broadcasts its message in the centre of a battlefield. Several modern Indian writers have interpreted the battlefield setting as an allegory for "the war within". Eknath Easwaran writes that the Gitas subject is "the war within, the struggle for self-mastery that every human being must wage if he or she is to emerge from life victorious".
Swami Nikhilananda
Swami Nikhilananda (1895–1973), born Dinesh Chandra Das Gupta was a direct disciple of Sri Sarada Devi. In 1933, he founded the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, a branch of Ramakrishna Mission, and remained its head until his dea ...
, takes Arjuna as an allegory of Ātman, Krishna as an allegory of
Brahman
In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...
, Arjuna's chariot as the body, and Dhritarashtra as the ignorant mind. Nikhilananda's allegorical interpretation is shared by Huston Smith.
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
interprets the first discourse in the Gita as well as the "Kurukshetra war" allegorically. Vivekananda states that "when we sum up its esoteric significance, it means the war which is constantly going on within man between the tendencies of good and evil".
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...
, in his commentary on the Gita, interprets the battle as an allegory in which the battlefield is the soul and Arjuna embodies man's higher impulses struggling against evil.
In
Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...
's view, Krishna was a historical figure, but his significance in the Gita is as a "symbol of the divine dealings with humanity", while Arjuna typifies a "struggling human soul". However, Aurobindo rejected the interpretation that the Gita, and the ''Mahabharata'' by extension, is only "an allegory of the inner life", and it has nothing to do with our outward human life and actions.
Promotion of just war and duty
Other scholars such as Steven Rosen, Laurie L. Patton and Stephen Mitchell have seen in the Gita a religious defense of the warrior class' (
Kshatriya
Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...
Varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria
**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
*Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
) duty (''svadharma''), which is to wage war with courage. They do not see only an allegorical teaching but also a real defense of just war.
Indian independence leaders like
Lala Lajpat Rai
Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 - 17 November 1928) was an Indian author, freedom fighter, and politician. He played a vital role in the Indian Independence movement. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari. He was one of the three members of ...
and
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
saw the Gita as a text which defended war when necessary and used it to promote armed rebellion against colonial rule. Lajpat Rai wrote an article on the "Message of the Bhagavad Gita". He saw the main message as the bravery and courage of Arjuna to fight as a warrior.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
saw the Gita as defending killing when necessary for the betterment of society, such as, for example, the killing of Afzal Khan.
Moksha: Liberation
Liberation or ''
moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
'' in
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
philosophy is not something that can be acquired. '' Ātman'' (Self) and Self-knowledge, along with the loss of egotistic ignorance, the goal of ''moksha'', is something that is always present as the essence of the self, and must be realized by each person by one's own effort. While the
Upanishads
The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...
largely uphold such a monistic viewpoint of liberation, the Bhagavad Gita also accommodates the dualistic and theistic aspects of ''moksha''. The Gita, while including impersonal ''Nirguna Brahman'' as the goal, mainly revolves around the relationship between the Self and a personal God or '' Saguna Brahman''. A synthesis of knowledge, devotion, and desireless action is offered by Krishna as a spectrum of choices to Arjuna; the same combination is suggested to the reader as a way to moksha. Christopher Chapple---a scholar focusing on Indian religions---in Winthrop Sargeant's translation of the Gita, states that "In the model presented by the Bhagavad Gita, every aspect of life is in fact a way of salvation."
Pancaratra Agama
According to Dennis Hudson, there is an overlap between Vedic and Tantric rituals within the teachings found in the Bhagavad Gita. He places the ''Pancaratra Agama'' in the last three or four centuries of 1st-millennium BCE, and proposes that both the tantric and vedic, the Agama and the Gita share the same Vāsudeva-Krishna roots. Some of the ideas in the Bhagavad Gita connect it to the ''Shatapatha Brahmana'' of ''
Yajurveda
The ''Yajurveda'' ( sa, यजुर्वेद, ', from ' meaning "worship", and ''veda'' meaning "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell C ...
''. The ''Shatapatha Brahmana'', for example, mentions the absolute Purusha who dwells in every human being. According to Hudson, a story in this Vedic text highlights the meaning of the name Vāsudeva as the 'shining one (deva) who dwells (vasu) in all things and in whom all things dwell', and the meaning of Vishnu to be the 'pervading actor'. In Bhagavad Gita, similarly, '
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...
identified himself both with
Vāsudeva
Vāsudeva ( sa, वासुदेव, ), later incorporated as Vāsudeva-Krishna (, "Krishna, son of Vasudeva"),"While the earliest piece of evidence do not yet use the name Krsna...." in Krishna-Vāsudeva or simply Krishna, was the son of V ...
, Vishnu and their meanings'. The ideas at the center of Vedic rituals in ''Shatapatha Brahmana'' and the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita revolve around this absolute Person, the primordial genderless absolute, which is the same as the goal of Pancaratra Agama and Tantra.
Translations
The first English translation of the Bhagavad Gita was published by Charles Wilkins in 1785. The Wilkins translation had an introduction to the Gita by
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-Genera ...
. Soon the work was translated into other European languages such as French (1787), German, and Russian. In 1849, the Weleyan Mission Press, Bangalore published ''The Bhagavat-Geeta, Or, Dialogues of Krishna and Arjoon in Eighteen Lectures'', with Sanskrit, Canarese and English in parallel columns, edited by Rev. John Garrett, with the effort being supported by Sir. Mark Cubbon.
In 1981, Larson stated that "a complete listing of Gita translations and a related secondary bibliography would be nearly endless". According to Larson, there is "a massive translational tradition in English, pioneered by the British, solidly grounded philologically by the French and Germans, provided with its indigenous roots by a rich heritage of modern Indian comment and reflection, 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 specifically Indian spirituality and as one of the great religious "classics" of all time."
According to Sargeant, the Gita is "said to have been translated at least 200 times, in both poetic and prose forms". Richard Davis cites a count by Callewaert & Hemraj in 1982 of 1,891 translations of the Bhagavad Gita in 75 languages, including 273 in English. These translations vary, and are in part an interpretative reconstruction of the original Sanskrit text that differ in their "friendliness to the reader", and in the amount of "violence to the original Gita text".
The translations and interpretations of the Gita have been so diverse that these have been used to support apparently contradictory political and philosophical values. For example, Galvin Flood and Charles Martin note that interpretations of the Gita have been used to support "pacifism to aggressive nationalism" in politics, from "monism to theism" in philosophy. According to William Johnson, the synthesis of ideas in the Gita is such that it can bear almost any shade of interpretation. A translation "can never fully reproduce an original and no translation is transparent", states Richard Davis, but in the case of the Gita the linguistic and cultural distance for many translators is large and steep which adds to the challenge and affects the translation. For some native translators, their personal beliefs, motivations, and subjectivity affect their understanding, their choice of words and interpretation. Some translations by Indians, with or without Western co-translators, have "orientalist", "apologetic", "Neo-Vedantic" or "guru phenomenon" biases.
According to the
exegesis
Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (logic), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern usage, ...
scholar Robert Minor, the Gita is "probably the most translated of any Asian text", but many modern versions heavily reflect the views of the organization or person who does the translating and distribution. In Minor's view, the Harvard scholar Franklin Edgerton's English translation and Richard Garbe's German translation are closer to the text than many others. According to Larson, the Edgerton translation is remarkably faithful, but it is "harsh, stilted, and syntactically awkward" with an "orientalist" bias and lacks "appreciation of the text's contemporary religious significance".
The Gita in other languages
The Gita has also been translated into European languages other than English. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, multiple Persian translations of the Gita were completed. In 1808, passages from the Gita were part of the first direct translation of Sanskrit into German, appearing in a book through which Friedrich Schlegel became known as the founder of Indian philology in Germany. The most significant French translation of the Gita, according to J. A. B. van Buitenen, was published by
Émile Senart
Émile Charles Marie Senart (26 March 1847 – 21 February 1928) was a French Indologist.Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). "Senard, Emile", in: Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN ...
in 1922. More recently, a new French translation was produced by the Indologist Alain Porte in 2004. Swami Rambhadracharya released the first
Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
version of the scripture, with the original Sanskrit text and a Hindi commentary, on 30 November 2007.
The Gita Press has published the Gita in multiple Indian languages.
R. Raghava Iyengar
The Bhasha Kavisekhara Mahavidwan R. Raghava Iyengar (1870–1946) was known for critical scholarship and creative interpretation of literature.
Life
Mahavidwan R. Raghava Iyengar was born on 20 September 1870 in the village called Thennavar ...
translated the Gita into Tamil in the sandam metre poetic form. The
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktive ...
associated with ISKCON has re-translated and published A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's 1972 English translation of the Gita in 56 non-Indian languages.
Vinoba Bhave
Vinayak Narahari, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Sanskrit teacher), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He is cons ...
has written the Geeta in
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
as Geetai (or "Mother Geeta") in a similar shloka form.
Paramahansa Yogananda's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita called '' God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita'' has been translated into Spanish, German, Thai and Hindi so far. The book is significant in that unlike other commentaries of the Bhagavad Gita, which focus on
karma yoga
Karma yoga ( sa, कर्म योग), also called Karma marga, is one of the four classical spiritual paths in Hinduism, one based on the "yoga of action", the others being Jnana yoga (path of knowledge), Rāja yoga (path of meditatio ...
,
jnana yoga
Jnana yoga (), also known as the jnana ''marga'' (), is one of the three classical paths ('' margas'') for moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, which emphasizes the "path of knowledge", also known as the "path of self-realization". The other two ...
, and
bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga ( sa, भक्ति योग), also called Bhakti marga (, literally the path of ''Bhakti''), is a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on loving devotion towards any personal deity.Karen Pechelis (2014), ...
in relation to the Gita, Yogananda's work stresses the training of one's mind, or
raja yoga
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in history of South Asia, South Asia and History of ...
.
Bhashya (commentaries)
Bhagavad Gita integrates various schools of thought, notably Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga, and other theistic ideas. It remains a popular text for commentators belonging to various philosophical schools. However, its composite nature also leads to varying interpretations of the text and historic scholars have written '' bhashya'' (commentaries) on it.SGS Sadhale ( 1935) The Bhagavad Gita with Eleven Commentaries Volume 1 & 2, pages 1–7 According to
Mysore Hiriyanna
Mysore Hiriyanna (1871–1950) was an eminent Indian philosopher, Sanskrit scholar and authority on Indian aesthetics. He was a Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Mysore and a contemporary of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. His classes on Indi ...
, the Gita is "one of the hardest books to interpret, which accounts for the numerous commentaries on it—each differing from the rest in one essential point or the other".
According to Richard Davis, the Gita has attracted much scholarly interest in Indian history and some 227 commentaries have survived in the Sanskrit language alone. It has also attracted commentaries in regional vernacular languages for centuries, such as the one by Sant Dnyaneshwar in Marathi (13th century).
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 Common Era, CE) was a Indian philosophy, philosopher, Mysticism, mystic and Aesthetics, aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential Music of India, musician, Indian poetry, poet, Theatre in ...
of the Shaivism tradition,
Ramanuja
Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
and
Madhvacharya
Madhvacharya (; ; CE 1199-1278 or CE 1238–1317), sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised as Madhva Acharya, and also known as Purna Prajna () and Ānanda Tīrtha, was an Indian philosopher, theologian and the chief proponent of the ''Dvaita'' ...
, wrote commentaries on it. Many of these commentators state that the Gita is "meant to be a ''moksa-shastra'' (''moksasatra''), and not a ''dharmasastra'', an ''arthasastra'' or a ''kamasastra''".
Śaṅkara (c. 800 CE)
The oldest and most influential surviving commentary was published by
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara ("first Shankara," to distinguish him from other Shankaras)(8th cent. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya ( sa, आदि शङ्कर, आदि शङ्कराचार्य, Ādi Śaṅkarācāryaḥ, lit=First Shanka ...
(Śaṅkarācārya). Shankara interprets the Gita in a monist, nondualistic tradition (
Advaita Vedanta
''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...
). Shankara prefaces his comments by stating that the Gita is popular among the laity, that the text has been studied and commented upon by earlier scholars (these texts have not survived), but that "I have found that to the laity it appears to teach diverse and quite contradictory doctrines". He calls the Gita "an epitome of the essentials of the whole Vedic teaching". To Shankara, the teaching of the Gita is to shift an individual's focus from the outer, impermanent, fleeting objects of desire and senses to the inner, permanent, eternal atman-Brahman-Vasudeva that is identical, in everything and in every being.
Abhinavagupta (c. 1000 CE)
Abhinavagupta was a theologian and philosopher of the Kashmir Shaivism (
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
) tradition. He wrote a commentary on the Gita as ''Gitartha-Samgraha'', which has survived into the modern era. The Gita text he commented on is a slightly different recension than the one of Adi Shankara. He interprets its teachings in the Shaiva Advaita (monism) tradition quite similar to Adi Shankara, but with the difference that he considers both Self and matter to be metaphysically real and eternal. Their respective interpretations of ''jnana yoga'' are also somewhat different, and Abhinavagupta uses Atman, Brahman, Shiva, and Krishna interchangeably. Abhinavagupta's commentary is notable for its citations of more ancient scholars, in a style similar to Adi Shankara. However, the texts he quotes have not survived into the modern era.
Rāmānuja (c. 1100 CE)
Ramanuja
Ramanuja (Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmanuja; 1017 CE – 1137 CE; ; ), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and a social reformer. He is noted to be one of the most important exponents o ...
was a Hindu theologian, philosopher, and an exponent of the Sri Vaishnavism (
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...
) tradition in 11th and early 12th century. Like his Vedanta peers, Ramanuja wrote a '' bhashya'' (commentary) on the Gita. Ramanuja's commentary disagreed with Adi Shankara's interpretation of the Gita as a text on nondualism (Self and Brahman are identical), and instead interpreted it as a form of dualistic and qualified monism (
Vishishtadvaita
Vishishtadvaita (IAST '; sa, विशिष्टाद्वैत) is one of the most popular schools of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. Vedanta literally means the in depth meaning ''of the Vedas.'' ''Vishisht Advaita'' (literall ...
).
Madhva (c. 1250 CE)
Madhva, a commentator of the Dvaita (modern taxonomy) Tatvavada (actually quoted by Madhva) Vedanta school, wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, which exemplifies the thinking of the Tatvavada school (
Dvaita Vedanta
Dvaita Vedanta (); (originally known as Tattvavada; IAST:Tattvavāda), is a sub-school in the Vedanta tradition of Hindu philosophy. The term Tattvavada literally means "arguments from a realist viewpoint". The Tattvavada (Dvaita) Vedanta sub ...
). According to Christopher Chapelle, in Madhva's school there is "an eternal and complete distinction between the Supreme, the many Selfs, and matter and its divisions". His commentary on the Gita is called . Madhva's commentary has attracted secondary works by pontiffs of the
Dvaita Vedanta
Dvaita Vedanta (); (originally known as Tattvavada; IAST:Tattvavāda), is a sub-school in the Vedanta tradition of Hindu philosophy. The term Tattvavada literally means "arguments from a realist viewpoint". The Tattvavada (Dvaita) Vedanta sub ...
Raghavendra Tirtha
Raghavendra Tirtha () (1595 – 1671) was a Hindu scholar, theologian and saint. He was also known as Sudha Parimalacharya (). His diverse oeuvre include commentaries on the works of Madhva, Jayatirtha and Vyasatirtha, interpretation of the ...
.
Keśava Kāśmīri (c. 1479 CE)
Keśava Kāśmīri Bhaṭṭa, a commentator of Dvaitādvaita Vedanta school, wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita named . The text states that ''Dasasloki''—possibly authored by Nimbarka—teaches the essence of the Gita; the ''Gita tattva prakashika'' interprets the Gita also in a hybrid monist-dualist manner.SGS Sadhale ( 1936) The Bhagavad Gita with Eleven Commentaries Volume 2 of 3
Vallabha (1481–1533 CE)
Vallabha
Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu (1479–1531 CE), also known as Vallabha, Mahaprabhuji and Vishnuswami, or Vallabha Acharya, is a Hindu Indian saint and philosopher who founded the Krishna-centered PushtiMarg sect of Vaishnavism in the Braj(Vraj) ...
, the proponent of "Suddhadvaita" or pure non-dualism, wrote a commentary on the Gita, the ''Sattvadipika''. According to him, the true Self is the Supreme Brahman.
Bhakti
''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...
is the most important means of attaining liberation.
Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Commentaries
*
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (; born Vishvambhar Mishra) was a 15th-century Indian saint who is considered to be the combined avatar of Radha and Krishna by his disciples and various scriptures. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna ...
(b. 1486 CE). Commentaries on various parts of the Gita are in the
Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meanin ...
Other classical commentators include
* Bhāskara () disagreed with Adi Shankara, wrote his own commentary on both Bhagavad Gita and ''Brahma Sutras'' in the tradition. According to Bhaskara, the Gita is essentially Advaita, but not quite exactly, suggesting that "the ''Atman'' (Self) of all beings are like waves in the ocean that is Brahman". Bhaskara also disagreed with Shankara's formulation of the ''Maya'' doctrine, stating that prakriti, atman and Brahman are all metaphysically real.
*
Yamunacharya
Yamunacharya (IAST: Yamunāchārya), also known as Alavandar and Yamunaithuraivan, was a Vishistadvaita philosopher based in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, India. He is best-known for being a preceptor of Ramanuja, one of the leaders of the Sri Vai ...
, Ramanuja's teacher, summarised the teachings of the Gita in his ''Gitartha sangraham''.
* Nimbarka (1162 CE) followed Bhaskara, but it is unclear if he ever wrote a commentary. The commentary ''Gita tattva prakashika'' is generally attributed to a student named Kesava Bhatta in his tradition, written in a hybrid monist-dualist manner, which states that ''Dasasloki''—possibly authored by Nimbarka—teaches the essence of the Gita.
* Dnyaneshwar's (1290 CE) commentary ''
Dnyaneshwari
The ''Dnyaneshwari'' ( mr, ज्ञानेश्वरी) (IAST: Jñānēśvarī), also referred to as ''Jnanesvari'', ''Jnaneshwari'' or ''Bhavartha Deepika'' is a commentary on the ''Bhagavad Gita'' written by the Marathi saint and poet Sa ...
'' ( ''Jnaneshwari'' or ''Bhavarthadipika'') is the oldest surviving literary work in the
Marathi language
Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...
, one of the foundations of the Varkari tradition (the
Bhakti movement
The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6th centur ...
,
Eknath
Eknath (IAST: Eka-nātha, Marathi language, Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, knath (1533–1599), commonly known as Sant (religion), Sant Eknath was an Indian Hindu saint, philosopher and poet. He was a devotee of the Hindu deity ...
,
Tukaram
Sant Tukaram Maharaj (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ukaːɾam was a 17th-century Marathi poet, Hindu ''sant'' (saint), popularly known as Tuka, Tukobaraya, Tukoba in Maharashtra. He was a Sant of Varkari sampradaya (Marathi-Vaishnav tradition) - ...
) in Maharashtra . The commentary interprets the Gita in the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Dnyaneshwar belonged to the
Nath
Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions in India.Vallabha
Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu (1479–1531 CE), also known as Vallabha, Mahaprabhuji and Vishnuswami, or Vallabha Acharya, is a Hindu Indian saint and philosopher who founded the Krishna-centered PushtiMarg sect of Vaishnavism in the Braj(Vraj) ...
(1479 CE), wrote the commentary ''Tattvadeepika'' in the Suddha-Advaita tradition.
* Madhusudana Saraswati's commentary ''Gudhartha Deepika'' is in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
* Hanumat's commentary ''Paishacha-bhasya'' is in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
* Anandagiri's commentary ''Bhashya-vyakhyanam'' is in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
* Nilkantha's commentary ''Bhava-pradeeps'' is in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
* Shreedhara's (1400 CE) commentary ''Avi gita'' is in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
* Dhupakara Shastri's commentary ''Subodhini'' is in the Advaita Vedanta tradition.
* Raghuttama Tirtha's (1548-1596), commentary ''Prameyadīpikā Bhavabodha'' is in the
Dvaita Vedanta
Dvaita Vedanta (); (originally known as Tattvavada; IAST:Tattvavāda), is a sub-school in the Vedanta tradition of Hindu philosophy. The term Tattvavada literally means "arguments from a realist viewpoint". The Tattvavada (Dvaita) Vedanta sub ...
tradition.
* Raghavendra Tirtha's (1595-1671) commentary ''Artha samgraha'' is in the
Dvaita Vedanta
Dvaita Vedanta (); (originally known as Tattvavada; IAST:Tattvavāda), is a sub-school in the Vedanta tradition of Hindu philosophy. The term Tattvavada literally means "arguments from a realist viewpoint". The Tattvavada (Dvaita) Vedanta sub ...
tradition.
* Vanamali Mishra's (1650-1720) commentary ''Gitagudharthacandrika'' is quite similar to Madhvacharya's commentary and is in the Dvaita Vedanta tradition.
* Purushottama (1668–1781 CE), Vallabha's follower, wrote a commentary.
Modern-era commentaries
* Among notable modern commentators of the Bhagavad Gita are
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
,
Vinoba Bhave
Vinayak Narahari, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Sanskrit teacher), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He is cons ...
,
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
(who called its philosophy Anasakti Yoga),
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...
B. N. K. Sharma
Bhavani Narayanrao Krishnamurti Sharma (9 June 1909 – 2 July 2005), commonly known as B. N. K. Sharma or B. N. Krishnamurti Sharma, was an Indian writer, scholar, professor, and Indologist. Sharma was a professor and Head of the Department of ...
,
Osho
Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was viewed as a controv ...
, and Chinmayananda. Chinmayananda took a syncretistic approach to interpret the text of the Gita.
* Tilak wrote his commentary ''Shrimadh Bhagavad Gita Rahasya'' while in jail during the period 1910–1911 serving a six-year sentence imposed by the colonial government in India for
sedition
Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...
. While noting that the Gita teaches possible paths to liberation, his commentary places most emphasis on Karma yoga.
* No book was more central to Gandhi's life and thought than the Bhagavad Gita, which he referred to as his "spiritual dictionary".Jordens, J.T.F., "Gandhi and the Bhagavadgita", in: During his stay in Yeravada jail in 1929, Gandhi wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita in
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...
. 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 1946.
* The version by
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a repr ...
, entitled ''
Bhagavad-Gita as It Is
The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (cha ...
,'' is "by far the most widely distributed of all English Gīta translations" due to the efforts of ISKCON. Its publisher, the , estimates sales at twenty-three million copies, a figure which includes the original English edition and secondary translations into fifty-six other languages. The Prabhupada commentary interprets the Gita in the
Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Gaudiya Vaishnavism (), also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meanin ...
tradition of Chaitanya, quite similar to Madhvacharya's Dvaita Vēdanta ideology. It presents Krishna as the Supreme, a means of saving mankind from the anxiety of material existence through loving devotion. Unlike in Bengal and nearby regions of India where the ''
Bhagavata Purana
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in Sa ...
'' is the primary text for this tradition, the devotees of Prabhupada's ISKCON tradition have found better reception for their ideas by those curious in the West through the Gita, according to Richard Davis.
* In 1966, Mahārishi Mahesh Yogi published a partial translation.
* An abridged version with 42 verses and commentary was published by Ramana Maharishi.
* ''Bhagavad Gita – The song of God'', is a commentary by
Swami Mukundananda
Swami Mukundananda (born December 19, 1960) is a spiritual leader, best selling author, Vedic scholar, and authority on mind management. He is the founder of JKYog (Jagadguru Kripaluji Yog) India, a non-profit organization based in Cuttack, O ...
.
* Paramahansa Yogananda's two-volume commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, called '' God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita'', was released in 1995 and is available in 4 languages and as an English e-book. The book is significant in that unlike other commentaries of the Bhagavad Gita, which focus on
karma yoga
Karma yoga ( sa, कर्म योग), also called Karma marga, is one of the four classical spiritual paths in Hinduism, one based on the "yoga of action", the others being Jnana yoga (path of knowledge), Rāja yoga (path of meditatio ...
,
jnana yoga
Jnana yoga (), also known as the jnana ''marga'' (), is one of the three classical paths ('' margas'') for moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, which emphasizes the "path of knowledge", also known as the "path of self-realization". The other two ...
, and
bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga ( sa, भक्ति योग), also called Bhakti marga (, literally the path of ''Bhakti''), is a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on loving devotion towards any personal deity.Karen Pechelis (2014), ...
in relation to the Gita, Yogananda's work stresses the training of one's mind, or
raja yoga
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in history of South Asia, South Asia and History of ...
. It is published by
Self-Realization Fellowship
Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) is a worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920 and legally incorporated as a non-profit religious organization in 1935, to serve as Yogananda's instrument for the preservation ...
Swami Parthasarathy
Avula Parthasarathy, popularly known as Swamiji (born 8 June 1927), is an Indian philosopher and exponent of Vedanta, one of the ancient philosophies of India. He translates the subtle philosophical themes into a practical technique of living. He ...
and Sādhu Vāsvāni have published their own commentaries.
* Academic commentaries include those by Jeaneane Fowler, Ithamar Theodor, and Robert Zaehner.
* A collection of Christian commentaries on the Gita has been edited by Catherine Cornille, comparing and contrasting a wide range of views on the text by theologians and religion scholars.
* The book ''The Teachings of Bhagavad Gita: Timeless Wisdom for the Modern Age'' by Richa Tilokani offers a woman's perspective on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita in a simplified and reader-friendly spiritual format.
*
Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Dayanand Saraswati () (born Mool Shankar Tiwari; 2 February 1824 – 30 October 1883) also known as Maharshi Dayanand is an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement. His Magnum Opus is the book ...
published a four-volume Bhagavad Gītā, Home Study Course in 1998 based on transcripts from his teaching and commentary of the Bhagavad Gītā in the classroom. This was later published in 2011 in a new edition and nine volume format.
*Galyna Kogut and Rahul Singh published ''An Atheist Gets the Gita'', a 21st-century interpretation of the 5,000-year-old text.
Reception
With its translation and study by Western scholars beginning in the early 18th century, the Bhagavad Gita gained a growing appreciation and popularity. According to the Indian historian and writer
Khushwant Singh
Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write ''Train to Pakistan'' in 1956 (made ...
,
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's famous poem " If—" is "the essence of the message of the Gita in English."
Praise and popularity
The Bhagavad Gita has been highly praised, not only by prominent Indians including
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
,
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
,
Herman Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual's ...
, and
Bülent Ecevit
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in ...
.
At a time when Indian nationalists were seeking an indigenous basis for social and political action against colonial rule, Bhagavad Gita provided them with a rationale for their activism and fight against injustice.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
and
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
used the text to help inspire the Indian independence movement. Mahatma Gandhi expressed his love for the Gita in these words:
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
, the first Prime Minister of independent India, commented on the Gita:
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...
, 11th President of India, despite being a Muslim, used to read Bhagavad Gita and recite its mantras.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and director of the
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
, learned Sanskrit in 1933 and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original form, citing it later as one of the most influential books to shape his philosophy of life. Oppenheimer later recalled that, while witnessing the explosion of the
Trinity nuclear test
Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. It was conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 a.m. on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project. The test was conducted in the Jornada del Muerto desert abo ...
, he thought of verses from the Bhagavad Gita (XI,12):
Years later he would explain that another verse had also entered his head at that time:
Ralph Waldo Emerson, remarked the following after his first study of the Gita, and thereafter frequently quoted the text in his journals and letters, particularly the "work with inner renunciation" idea in his writings on man's quest for spiritual energy:
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
, the 14th prime minister of India, called the Bhagavad Gita "India's biggest gift to the world". Modi gave a copy of it to the then President of the United States of America,
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
in 2014 during his U.S. visit.
The world's largest Bhagavad Gita is in the
ISKCON Temple Delhi
Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Mandir, generally known as the ISKCON Delhi temple, is a well known Vaishnav temple of Lord Krishna and goddess Radha in the form of ''Radha Parthasarathi''. The Temple was inaugurated on 5 April, 1998 by the then fo ...
, which is the world's largest sacred book of any religion. It weighs 800 kg and measures over 2.8 metres by 2.0 metres. It was unveiled by
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
, the Prime Minister of India on 26 February 2019. On 27 February 2021, the Bhagavad Gita, was launched into
outer space
Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
PSLV-C51
The PSLV-C51 is the 53rd mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) program. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C51 was launched at 04:54 (UTC) / 10:24 (IST) on 28 February 2021 with the main payload from Brazil, INPE's A ...
rocket launched by the
Indian Space Research Organisation
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...
Sriharikota
Sriharikota is a Barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast located in the Shar Project settlement of Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh, India. It houses the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, one of the two satellite launch centres in India (the o ...
Ahimsa
Ahimsa (, IAST: ''ahiṃsā'', ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in most Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.Bajpai, Shiva (2011). The History of India ...
'' (non-violence) teachings in Hindu scriptures, the Gita has been criticized as violating the ''Ahimsa'' value, or alternatively, as supporting political violence. The justification of political violence when peaceful protests and all else fails, states Varma, has been a "fairly common feature of modern Indian political thought" along with the "mighty antithesis of Gandhian thought on non-violence". During the independence movement in India, Hindus considered the active "burning and drowning of British goods". While technically illegal under colonial legislation, these acts were viewed as a moral and just war for the sake of liberty and righteous values of the type that the Gita discusses. According to Paul Schaffel the influential Hindu nationalist
V.D. Savarkar
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer.
Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalis ...
"often turned to Hindu scripture such as the Bhagavad Gita, arguing that the text justified violence against those who would harm Mother India."
V. R. Narla, in his book length critique of the text titled ''The Truth About the Gita,'' criticizes the ethical teachings of the Gita. He argues that the ethics of the Gita are so ambiguous, that one can use it to justify any ethical position. Narla argues that the Gita is mainly a theological argument in favor of the warrior ethos. Narla argues that the fact that the Gita tries constantly to make Arjuna kill his kin in order to gain a petty kingdom shows it is not a pacifist work. Narla compares the Krishna of the Gita with a modern day
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
, who uses theology to excuse violence. Narla also cites
D.D. Kosambi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (31 July 1907 – 29 June 1966) was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the ''Kosambi map function''. In statist ...
who argued that the apparent moral of the Gita is "kill your brother if duty calls, without passion; as long as you have faith in Me, all sins are forgiven...".
In his ''Myth and Reality'', the Indian historian
D.D. Kosambi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (31 July 1907 – 29 June 1966) was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the ''Kosambi map function''. In statist ...
argued that the Gita was written as a religious text that could provide support for the actions of the upper castes, including the warrior caste. These sort of exhortations to battle would not have been uncommon in ancient India as it was the job of Indian bards. Kosambi writes that in the Gita, "the high god repeatedly emphasizes the great virtue of non-killing (''ahimsa''), yet the entire discourse is an incentive to war."
D.D. Kosambi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (31 July 1907 – 29 June 1966) was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the ''Kosambi map function''. In statist ...
(1962) '' Myth and Reality: Studies in the Formation of Indian Culture'' p. 21. (Popular Prakashail, Bombay). He also cites the Gita, which states: "if slain, you gain heaven; if victorious, the earth; so up, son of Kunti, and concentrate on fighting." Kosambi argues that the injunctions and excuses for killing found in the Gita are unethical.
The Indian jurist and politician
B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...
also saw the Gita's defense of violence based on the eternity of the soul (atman) as unethical. Ambedkar wrote that "to say that killing is no killing because what is killed is the body and not the soul is an unheard of defense of murder...If Krishna were to appear as a lawyer acting for a client who is being tried for murder and pleaded the defense set out by him in the Bhagvat Gita there is not the slightest doubt that he would be sent to the lunatic asylum."
In his introduction to his translation of the Gita, Purushottama Lal argues that while Arjuna appears as a pacifist, concerned with
ahimsa
Ahimsa (, IAST: ''ahiṃsā'', ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in most Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.Bajpai, Shiva (2011). The History of India ...
, Krishna "is the militarist" who convinces him to kill.P. Lal (2019). The Bhagavadgita '' Introduction''.'' Orient Paperbacks According to Lal, Krishna makes use of a "startling" argument to convince Arjuna to kill, which Lal outlines as "the atman is eternal; only the body dies; so go ahead and kill - you will kill only the body, the atman will remain unaffected :19-21" Lal states that "there could hardly be a better example of forked-tongue speciousness." Lal further argues that: "the truth of the matter surely is that no rational refutation is possible of the essential humanist position that killing is wrong...many of the answers given by Krishna appear to be evasive and occasionally sophistic. When logic fails, Krishna apparently resorts to divine magic." According to Lal, in the Gita, Krishna "stuns Arjuna with a glorious 'revelation' of psychedelic intensity." This "confidence trick" is problematic for Lal, who sees Arjuna's plight as a "painful and honest problem that Krishna should have faced on its own terms, painfully and honestly, and did not."
Mahatma Gandhi credited his commitment for ''ahimsa'' to the Gita. For Gandhi, the Gita is teaching that people should fight for justice and righteous values, that they should never meekly suffer injustice to avoid a war. According to the Indologist Ananya Vajpeyi, the Gita does not elaborate on the means or stages of war, nor on ''ahimsa'', except for stating that "''ahimsa'' is virtuous and characterizes an awakened, steadfast, ethical man" in verses such as 13.7–10 and 16.1–5. For Gandhi, states Vajpeyi, ''ahimsa'' is the "relationship between self and other" as he and his fellow Indians battled against colonial rule. Gandhian ahimsa is in fact "the essence of the entire Gita", according to Vajpeyi. The teachings of the Gita on ''ahimsa'' are ambiguous, states Arvind Sharma, and this is best exemplified by the fact that Nathuram Godse stated the Gita as his inspiration to do his dharma after he assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and giv ...
, the Trappist monk and author of books on Zen Buddhism, concurs with Gandhi and states that the Gita is not teaching violence nor propounding a "make war" ideology. Instead, it is teaching peace and discussing one's duty to examine what is right and then act with pure intentions, when one faces difficult and repugnant choices.
Varna and svadharma
The Gita has been cited and criticized as a Hindu text that supports ''varna-dharma'' and the caste system.
B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...
, born in a
Dalit
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...
family and the principal architect of the Constitution of India, criticized the text for its stance on caste and for "defending certain dogmas of religion on philosophical grounds". According to Jimmy Klausen, Ambedkar in his essay ''Krishna and his Gita'' stated that the Gita was a "tool" of Brahmanical Hinduism and for its latter-day saints such as Mahatma Gandhi and
Lokmanya Tilak
Bal Gangadhar Tilak (; born Keshav Gangadhar Tilak (pronunciation: eʃəʋ ɡəŋɡaːd̪ʱəɾ ʈiɭək; 23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920), endeared as Lokmanya (IAST: ''Lokmānya''), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, and an independence a ...
. To Ambedkar, states Klausen, it is a text of "mostly barbaric, religious particularisms" offering "a defence of the ''kshatriya'' duty to make war and kill, the assertion that ''varna'' derives from birth rather than worth or aptitude, and the injunction to perform ''karma''" neither perfunctorily nor egotistically.
In his ''Myth and Reality'',
D.D. Kosambi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (31 July 1907 – 29 June 1966) was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the ''Kosambi map function''. In statist ...
argued that "practically anything can be read into the Gita by a determined person, without denying the validity of a class system."
D.D. Kosambi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (31 July 1907 – 29 June 1966) was an Indian polymath with interests in mathematics, statistics, philology, history, and genetics. He contributed to genetics by introducing the ''Kosambi map function''. In statist ...
(1962) '' Myth and Reality: Studies in the Formation of Indian Culture'' p. 19. (Popular Prakashail, Bombay) Kosambi argued that the Gita was a scripture that supported the superiority of the higher varnas while seeing all other varnas as "defiled by their very birth, though they may in after-life be freed by their faith in the god who degrades them so casually in this one." He quotes the Gita which states that Krishna says "The four-caste (class) division has been created by Me." Similarly, V. R. Narla also argues that the Gita states that God created the caste (varna) system.V. R. Narla (2010), ''The Truth About the Gita,'' pp. 154-159. Prometheus Books. Narla also critiques the Gita for stating that those who are not kshatriyas or brahmins are "born from sinful wombs".
The Gita presents its teaching in the context of a war where the warrior Arjuna is in inner crisis about whether he should renounce and abandon the battlefield, or fight and kill the enemy (which includes many relatives and friends of his). He is advised by Krishna to do his ''sva-dharma'', a term that has been variously interpreted. According to the Indologist Paul Hacker, the contextual meaning in the Gita is the "dharma of a particular
varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria
**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
*Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
". In this case, Arjuna is part of the warrior (''
kshatriya
Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...
'') varna (social class), so Krishna is telling Arjuna to do what warrior social class must do by virtue of his belonging to that class.
Neo-Hindus such as
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (also Chattopadhayay) CIE (26 or 27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was an Indian novelist, poet, Essayist and journalist.Staff writer"Bankim Chandra: The First Prominent Bengali Novelist" ''The Daily Star'', 30 June 2011 ...
, states Hacker, have preferred to not translate it in those terms, or "dharma" as religion, but leave ''Gita's'' message as "everyone must follow his ''sva-dharma''". According to Chatterjee, the Hindus already understand the meaning of that term. To render it in English for non-Hindus for its better understanding, one must ask ''what is the sva-dharma for the non-Hindus''? The Lord, states Chatterjee, created millions and millions of people, and he did not ordain ''dharma'' only for Indians
indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
and "make all the others dharma-less", for "are not the non-Hindus also his children"? According to Chatterjee, the Krishna's religion of Gita is "not so narrow-minded". This argument, states Hacker, is an attempt to "universalize Hinduism".
Nadkarni and Zelliot present the opposite view, citing early Bhakti saints of the Krishna-tradition such as the 13th-century saint Dnyaneshwar. According to Dnyaneshwar, the Gita starts off with the discussion of ''sva-dharma'' in Arjuna's context but ultimately shows that caste differences are not important. For Dnyaneshwar, people err when they see themselves distinct from each other and Krishna, and these distinctions vanish as soon as they accept, understand and enter with love unto Krishna.
According to
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...
, ''sva-dharma'' in the Gita does not mean "caste duty", rather it means the duty that comes with one's life situation (mother, father, husband, wife) or profession (soldier, judge, teacher, doctor). For Vivekananda, the Gita was an egalitarian scripture that rejected caste and other hierarchies because of its verses such as 13.27—28, which states "He who sees the Supreme Lord dwelling equally in all beings, the Imperishable in things that perish, he sees verily. For seeing the Lord as the same everywhere present, he does not destroy the Self by the Self, and thus he goes to the highest goal."
Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...
modernises the concept of ''dharma'' by internalising it, away from the social order and its duties towards one's personal capacities, which leads to a radical individualism, "finding the fulfilment of the purpose of existence in the individual alone." He deduced from the Gita the doctrine that "the functions of a man ought to be determined by his natural turn, gift, and capacities", that the individual should "develop freely" and thereby would be best able to serve society.
Gandhi's view differed from Aurobindo's view. He recognised in the concept of ''sva-dharma'' his idea of ''svadeshi'' (sometimes spelled ''swadeshi''), the idea that "man owes his service above all to those who are nearest to him by birth and situation." To him, ''svadeshi'' was "''sva-dharma'' applied to one's immediate environment."
According to Jacqueline Hirst, the universalist neo-Hindu interpretations of ''dharma'' in the Gita are modernist readings, though any study of pre-modern distant foreign cultures is inherently subject to suspicions about "control of knowledge" and bias on the various sides. Hindus have their own understanding of ''dharma'' that goes much beyond the Gita or any particular Hindu text. Further, states Hirst, the Gita should be seen as a "unitary text" in its entirety rather than a particular verse analyzed separately or out of context. Krishna is presented as a teacher who "drives Arjuna and the reader beyond initial preconceptions". The Gita is a cohesively knit pedagogic text, not a list of norms.
Modern-Hinduism
Novel interpretations of the Gita, along with apologetics on it, have been a part of the modern era revisionism and renewal movements within Hinduism. Bankim Chandra Chatterji, the author of ''
Vande Mataram
''Vande Mataram'' (Sanskrit: वन्दे मातरम् IAST: , also spelt ''Bande Mataram''; বন্দে মাতরম্, ''Bônde Mātôrôm''; ) is a poem written in sanskritised Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the ...
'' – the national song of India, challenged orientalist literature on Hinduism and offered his interpretations of the Gita, states Ajit Ray. Bal Gangadhar Tilak interpreted the ''karma yoga'' teachings in Gita as a "doctrine of liberation" taught by Hinduism, while Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan stated that the Bhagavad Gita teaches a universalist religion and the "essence of Hinduism" along with the "essence of all religions", rather than a private religion.
Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introd ...
's works contained numerous references to the Gita, such as his lectures on the four yogas – Bhakti, Jnana, Karma, and Raja. Through the message of the Gita, Vivekananda sought to energise the people of India to reclaim their dormant but strong identity. Aurobindo saw Bhagavad Gita as a "scripture of the future religion" and suggested that Hinduism had acquired a much wider relevance through the Gita. Sivananda called Bhagavad Gita "the most precious jewel of Hindu literature" and suggested its introduction into the curriculum of Indian schools and colleges.
According to Ronald Neufeldt, it was the
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...
that dedicated much attention and energy to the allegorical interpretation of the Gita, along with religious texts from around the world, after 1885 and given H. P. Blavatsky, Subba Rao and Anne Besant writings. Their attempt was to present their "universalist religion". These late 19th-century theosophical writings called the Gita as a "path of true spirituality" and "teaching nothing more than the basis of every system of philosophy and scientific endeavor", triumphing over other "Samkhya paths" of Hinduism that "have degenerated into superstition and demoralized India by leading people away from practical action".
Adaptations
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
retold the story of Gandhi's early development as an activist in South Africa through the text of the Gita in the opera ''
Satyagraha
Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...
'' (1979). The entire libretto of the opera consists of sayings from the Gita sung in the original Sanskrit.
In Douglas Cuomo's ''Arjuna's dilemma'', the philosophical dilemma faced by Arjuna is dramatised in operatic form with a blend of Indian and Western music styles.
The 1993 Sanskrit film, ''
Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...
'', directed by
G. V. Iyer
Ganapathi Venkataramana Iyer (3 September 1917 – 21 December 2003) was a well-known Indian film director and actor. He was nicknamed "Kannada Bheeshma", and was the only person who made films in Sanskrit. His film ''Adi Shankaracharya'' (1983 ...
won the
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
National Film Award
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate ...
for
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
.
The 1995 novel by Steven Pressfield, and its adaptation as the 2000 golf movie ''
The Legend of Bagger Vance
''The Legend of Bagger Vance'' is a 2000 American sports film directed by Robert Redford, and starring Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. The screenplay by Jeremy Leven is based on Steven Pressfield's 1995 book '' The Legend of Bagger V ...
'' by
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
has parallels to the Bhagavad Gita, according to Steven J. Rosen. Steven Pressfield acknowledges that the Gita was his inspiration, the golfer character in his novel is Arjuna, the caddie is Krishna, states Rosen. The movie, however, uses the plot but glosses over the teachings unlike in the novel.Legend of Bagger Vance , Steven Rosen
Devi Gita
The Devi Gita ( sa, देवीगीता, lit=The Song by Goddess, translit=Devīgītā) is an ancient Hindu philosophical text from Devi-Bhagavata Purana, a major text of the Shakta devotees, in the form of dialogue between Mahadevi and king ...
*
Bhagavata Purana
The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in Sa ...
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
*
Self-consciousness (Vedanta)
Self-consciousness in the Upanishads is not the first-person indexical self-awareness or the self-awareness which is self-reference without identification, and also not the self-consciousness which as a kind of desire is satisfied by another self-c ...
Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
*
Prasthanatrayi
Prasthanatrayi ( sa, प्रस्थानत्रयी, IAST: ), literally, ''three sources (or axioms)'', refers to the three canonical texts of theology having epistemic authority, especially of the Vedanta schools. It consists of:
# The ...
*
Vyadha Gita
The Vyadha Gita (meaning, songs of a butcher) is a part of the epic Mahabharata and consists of the teachings imparted by a ''vyadha'' (butcher) to a sannyasin (monk). It occurs in the Vana Parva section of Mahabharata and is told to Yudhishthir ...
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...