This summary is about Arjuna's questions, which run through the whole Gita. On Arjuna's journey this is the fifth stop.
The question here is: what does Arjuna ask, and what do his questions tell us about his mind?
The answer in one sentence
The Gita exists because Arjuna asked, and went on asking. His questions change with the state of his mind. First there is confusion: what should I do? Then comes the difficulty of practice. Then the wish to know awakens: what is this? Then the wish to see: show me. And after that come the questions of life again.
The Lord begins each answer from the place where Arjuna stands at that hour. And at the end the doubt is gone.
Before this comes Arjuna's Despondency, which shows the state from which the questions come. And in Duty, Honour and Fear is the early teaching.
The prayer before the questions
Before he asks the first question, Arjuna states his condition plainly (Gita 2.7). His nature is overcome by weakness, his mind is bewildered about dharma, and he says: I am Your disciple. Then he asks: tell me what is surely good.
This request for "surely" returns again and again. In the third chapter he says, "Tell me one path with certainty" (Gita 3.2), and in the fifth, "Tell me for certain" (Gita 5.1). Arjuna wants not a list of options but a clear answer. And the Lord listens each time.
The first round: "What should I do?", five questions in chapters 2 to 5
The first question is about the ideal person. Arjuna asks how a person of steady wisdom speaks, sits and walks (Gita 2.54). This is not the question of someone confused. It is the question of a student who wants to recognise a high goal. Its answer is spread through the rest of the chapter.
The second question is at the start of the third chapter. Arjuna asks: if knowledge is greater, why do You engage me in this war (Gita 3.1–2)? It is a direct challenge. He feels that mixed words are bewildering his mind, so he asks for one path. The Lord does not get angry. He speaks of two paths of devotion (Gita 3.3) and says that nobody stays without action even for a moment (Gita 3.5). The full answer is in "Is it possible to give up action?"
The third question is why wrong happens. Arjuna asks why a person does wrong even without wishing to, as if driven by force (Gita 3.36). The answer is: desire, which turns into anger. That is the great enemy (Gita 3.37). The full answer is in The Enemy Called Desire.
The fourth question is in the fourth chapter. Arjuna asks how the Lord taught this to the sun-god (Gita 4.4). It is a question not about the teaching but about the teacher. The answer is that many births of mine and yours have passed, I know them all and you do not (Gita 4.5). So the matter is one of memory, not of time.
The fifth question is in the fifth chapter: renunciation or karma yoga? (Gita 5.1) The doubt of the third chapter has come back, even after the talk of knowledge and yoga at the end of the fourth (Gita 4.42). Saying it once does not remove a doubt. The Lord chooses plainly: both give the good, but karma yoga is better (Gita 5.2). The full answer is in Renunciation or Karma Yoga?.
The second round: "Practice is hard", two questions in chapter 6
In the sixth chapter the first question is about the mind. Arjuna says the mind is restless, troubling, strong and stubborn, and that holding it is like holding the wind (Gita 6.33–34). The Lord does not brush this aside. He first grants that the mind is indeed restless, and then says that it is held by practice and dispassion (Gita 6.35).
The second question is one of fear. There is faith, but the effort was not complete, and the seeker slipped midway. Does he perish like a scattered cloud (Gita 6.37–39)? Arjuna says: there is no one but You to remove this doubt (Gita 6.39). The Lord's answer is gentle: there is no ruin for him in this world or the next. One who does good never comes to a bad end (Gita 6.40).
In these two questions there is no argument but honest admission: I cannot manage it, and I fear it will all go in vain. The Gita does not count this as weakness.
The third round: "The wish to know", chapters 8, 10, 13 and 14
Now the questions change from "what should I do" to "what is this".
In the eighth chapter Arjuna asks what Brahman, the self and action are, what the three terms adhibhuta, adhidaiva and adhiyajna mean, and how the disciplined know the Lord at the time of death (Gita 8.1–2). The answer begins: the supreme imperishable is Brahman (Gita 8.3).
In the tenth chapter he says: tell me fully Your divine glories (Gita 10.16). The answer is honest: I will tell the chief ones, for there is no end to my expanse (Gita 10.19).
In the thirteenth chapter he asks about nature and the person, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and the object of knowledge (Gita 13.1). The first word of the answer is that the body is the field, and one who knows it is the knower of the field (Gita 13.2).
In the fourteenth chapter Arjuna asks how to recognise one beyond the qualities, how he acts, and how he crosses over (Gita 14.21). The answer runs through several verses. One who stays the same in honour and dishonour is beyond the qualities (Gita 14.22–25).
In these questions the voice has changed. It is no longer "why do You engage me" but "I want to know". Reverence has entered the forms of address too: the Supreme Person (Gita 8.1), Lord, Master of yoga (Gita 11.4).
The fourth round: "Show me", chapter 11
In the eleventh chapter nothing is asked. Something is asked to be shown. Arjuna says that it is just as You have said, and I wish to see Your sovereign form (Gita 11.3). Then he says: if You think I am able to see it (Gita 11.4). In this humility the judgment of his fitness is left to the Lord.
The answer does not come in words. The Lord says that you cannot see with these eyes, so I give you the divine eye (Gita 11.8). Some things are understood not by asking but by being shown.
The fifth round: back to life, chapters 17 and 18
In the seventeenth chapter Arjuna asks about those who leave the scriptural rule yet worship with faith: what is their state, is it sattvic, rajasic or tamasic (Gita 17.1)? The answer is that faith arises from the nature of every embodied being and is of three kinds (Gita 17.2).
In the eighteenth chapter he asks for the true nature of renunciation and of relinquishment, each separately (Gita 18.1). In the fifth chapter the question was which of the two is better. Here it is what the two really are. The answer is that giving up actions prompted by desire is renunciation, and giving up attachment to the fruit of all actions is relinquishment (Gita 18.2). This is taken up in Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action.
The fourteen questions at a glance
Read the fourteen questions together with the state of mind behind each.
Verse 2.54 asks for the marks of steady wisdom. Here a picture of the goal is wanted.
Verses 3.1 and 3.2 ask why war if knowledge is greater. Here there is confusion from mixed words.
Verse 3.36 asks why wrong is done against one's wish. Here he recognises his own weakness.
Verse 4.4 asks about teaching the sun-god. Here there is doubt about the teacher.
Verse 5.1 asks renunciation or karma yoga. Here the old doubt has returned.
Verses 6.33 and 6.34 speak of not managing a restless mind. Here is the honest difficulty of practice.
Verses 6.37 to 6.39 ask where the seeker who slipped goes. Here is the fear that all is lost.
Verses 8.1 and 8.2 ask what Brahman, the self and action are. Here is hunger to understand.
Verse 10.16 asks for the glories to be told fully. Here is the wish to know His greatness.
Verses 11.3 and 11.4 ask to be shown the form. Here ardent longing and humility are together.
Verse 13.1 asks about nature and the person, the field and its knower. Here is the wish to understand the world and oneself.
Verse 14.21 asks what one beyond the qualities is like. Here is the wish to recognise the ideal.
Verse 17.1 asks about faith without scriptural rule. Here is a question about everyday worship.
Verse 18.1 asks what renunciation and relinquishment are. Here is the wish for fine distinctions.
Three things come out of this. First, the questions move from refusal to request: "why do You engage me", then "tell me", then "I want to know", then "show me". Second, the early questions are about Arjuna's own work, and the later ones are about the nature of things. Third, no question is sent back. Sometimes the answer is full, sometimes it is "it cannot be told in full", and sometimes it is not words but sight.
How the Lord answers
The Lord answers in four ways.
The first way is that He first accepts the honest fact. He grants that the mind is restless and then gives the remedy (Gita 6.35). A remedy that denies the difficulty is of no use.
The second way is that where a choice is asked for, He chooses, but does not drop the other. Both are good, and karma yoga is better (Gita 5.2).
The third way is that He sets the size of the question right. Not all the glories, but the chief ones (Gita 10.19). And for the form, not words but the divine eye (Gita 11.8).
The fourth way is that He changes the ground of the matter. In place of time, the matter of memory (Gita 4.5).
And sometimes He speaks without being asked. He says: you are dear to Me, so for your good I shall speak again (Gita 10.1, Gita 18.64). The Lord's care does not wait to be asked.
Three common misunderstandings
The first misunderstanding is that asking questions shows a lack of faith. The question of the sixth chapter comes from trust (Gita 6.39), and that of the eleventh from belief (Gita 11.3). Faith and questions go together.
The second is that these fourteen are the only questions. They are the main ones, not the full list. For example, in verse 11.31 Arjuna asks who the fierce-formed One is (Gita 11.31), and in verse 12.1 he asks which is better versed in yoga, the devotee of the form or the worshipper of the formless (Gita 12.1). That second matter is taken up in Devotion or the Unmanifest.
The third is that one verse completes the answer. Often it does not. It is the start of the answer, and the whole teaching goes on further.
Habits of asking, learned from Arjuna
Five things can be learned from the way Arjuna asks. First, state your condition plainly (Gita 2.7), because a question without a condition floats in the air. Second, ask for one clear answer, not for "everything" (Gita 3.2). Third, say the hard part honestly (Gita 6.34). Fourth, tell your fear too (Gita 6.37–38). And fifth, say whom you are asking and why, that is, join the question to trust (Gita 6.39).
Questions people ask
Why does Arjuna ask the same question in the third and the fifth chapters? In the fourth chapter both knowledge and yoga were spoken of (Gita 4.42), and the doubt rose again. Verse 5.2 gives the clear answer.
Does the Lord give a complete answer to every question? An answer comes to every question, but not always in the same form. Sometimes "only the chief ones" (Gita 10.19), and sometimes the divine sight (Gita 11.8). Sometimes the answer is not words but experience.
Does Arjuna ask every question out of doubt? No. Verse 3.2 is asked out of confusion. Verses 6.39 and 11.4 are asked out of trust and longing.
If I am in a dilemma about work, which question do I read first? Verses 3.1 and 3.2, and then verse 5.1 (Gita 3.1–2, Gita 5.1).
Does Arjuna ever say that his doubt is gone? Yes, right at the end (Gita 18.73).
From the questions to the end of doubt
After answering, the Lord says: I have told you the most secret knowledge, now having reflected on it fully, do as you wish (Gita 18.63). The giving of answers and the freedom to choose go side by side.
Arjuna's last words are that his delusion is gone, memory is regained, he stands free of doubt, and he will act as the Lord says (Gita 18.73). These are the words of the same Arjuna who put down his bow in the first chapter.
Arjuna's questions are a map of his mind: where there is confusion, where fear, where hunger. The Gita neither puts them off nor presses them down. Each question becomes a stage. One who asks goes on walking.
Explain it in thirty seconds
The Gita is made of Arjuna's questions. First comes confusion, "what should I do", in chapters 2 to 5. Then the difficulty of practice and fear, in chapter 6. Then the wish to know, in chapters 8, 10, 13 and 14. Then the wish to see, in chapter 11. And at the end the questions of life, in chapters 17 and 18. The Lord begins each answer where Arjuna stands. First He accepts his difficulty, then shows the way, and at the end says, "Having reflected fully, do as you wish" (Gita 18.63). Then Arjuna says, "My doubt is gone" (Gita 18.73). So questions are not a lack of faith. They are the stages of the journey.