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Arjuna's Questions: Quick Summary

The Gita moves by Arjuna's questions, and the Lord sends none of them back (3.1-2).

English 11 min Arjuna's Questions

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Can We Simply Stop Acting?: Quick Summary

Arjuna asks why action if knowledge is greater, and asks the Lord for one clear road (3.1-2).

English 7 min Can We Simply Stop Acting?

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Chapter 12: The Yoga of Devotion, an Overview: Quick Summary

In chapter 12 Arjuna asks whether the worshipper of the form or of the unmanifest is better; the Lord says that the one who fixes his mind on Him and worships with faith is best (12.1-5).

English 10 min Chapter 12: The Yoga of Devotion, an Overview

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Duty, Honour and Fear: Quick Summary

The Lord speaks to Arjuna in his own language: duty, name and what people will say (2.31-37).

English 7 min Duty, Honour and Fear

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Equanimity: Quick Summary

Cold and heat, pleasure and pain come from the meeting of senses and objects and pass, so learn to bear them (2.14).

English 11 min Equanimity

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From Thought to Ruin: Quick Summary

From dwelling on an object comes attachment, from attachment desire, from desire anger, from anger confusion, then loss of memory, loss of understanding and at last ruin (2.62-63).

English 8 min From Thought to Ruin

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The Devotee Dear to the Lord: Quick Summary

The devotee dear to the Lord is known not by rituals but by a way of living: no hatred, friendliness and compassion to all, evenness in pleasure and pain (12.13-14).

English 12 min The Devotee Dear to the Lord

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The Enemy Called Desire: Quick Summary

Arjuna asks why a person sins even against his wish, and the Lord names desire and anger born of passion as the cause (3.36-37).

English 8 min The Enemy Called Desire

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The Illusory Energy and Surrender: Quick Summary

Maya, made of the three qualities, is the Lord's own divine energy, and it is very hard to cross alone (7.14).

English 8 min The Illusory Energy and Surrender

Article

Evenness of Mind in the Gita: From Bearing Pleasure and Pain to Seeing All Alike (Gita 2.14-15, 2.38, 5.18-20, 6.7-9)

Evenness in the Gita has three fronts: what happens to me (2.14-15), how things turn out (2.38), and how I see people and things (5.18-20, 6.7-9).

In Depth English 12 min Equanimity

Article

What Is Svadharma? Your Own Duty, Your Own Nature, and Why Borrowing Another's Way Costs So Much (Gita 3.33-35, 18.41-48)

One's own duty is the duty that fits one's own nature and qualities; all beings act from their nature (3.33).

In Depth English 15 min One's Own Duty

Article

From Knowing to Deciding: Buddhi Yoga in Gita 2.39–46 and 2.52–53

After the teaching of the self (2.11–30), Lord Krishna shows how that knowing becomes living, through one resolved intellect, not through collecting more opinions (2.39–41).

In Depth English 11 min Buddhi Yoga: The Resolute Intellect

Article

Why Stopping Work Does Not Make Us Free: Gita 3.1 to 3.8 Explained

Arjuna thinks knowing and acting are two doors and asks which one to take. The Lord shows they were never separate (3.1 to 3.3).

In Depth English 12 min Can We Simply Stop Acting?

Article

Afraid of What People Will Say? What the Gita Says About Duty and Disgrace

The Lord speaks to Arjuna in the language of duty and name, because those are what Arjuna cares about (2.31-37).

Simple English 5 min Duty, Honour and Fear

Article

Arjuna's Questions in the Gita: Wording, Order and Replies, a Closer Reading

The questions shape the Gita: three threads run through them, the call for one decisive answer (2.7, 3.2, 5.1), the marks of the ideal person (2.54, 14.21), and which of two is better (5.1, 12.1).

Deeper English 15 min Arjuna's Questions

Article

Gita 2.31-37: What the Lord Says to Arjuna About Duty, Disgrace and Fear

The Lord speaks to Arjuna in his own language, of duty, name and what people will say; seven verses press one point each (2.31-37).

In Depth English 9 min Duty, Honour and Fear

Article

Gita Chapter 12 at a Glance: A Way to the Lord for Every Kind of Person

Chapter 12 opens with Arjuna asking whether the devotee of the Lord with form or the seeker of the unmanifest knows yoga best; the Lord names the one who fixes the mind on him with faith, and says the unmanifest path also reaches him but is harder for embodied beings (12.1-5).

In Depth English 12 min Chapter 12: The Yoga of Devotion, an Overview

Article

The Devotee Dear to the Lord: Gita 12.13-20, Verse by Verse

Chapter 12 closes with a person, not a rule: one who hates no being, is friendly and compassionate, and has offered mind and intellect to the Lord (12.13-14).

In Depth English 13 min The Devotee Dear to the Lord

Article

What Arjuna Asks in the Gita: The Fourteen Main Questions, One by One

Arjuna's questions change with his state of mind: first confusion (2.54, 3.1-2, 5.1), then the difficulty of practice (6.33-39), then the wish to know (8.1-2, 13.1, 14.21), then the wish to see (11.3-4).

In Depth English 14 min Arjuna's Questions

Article

How to Cross the Illusory Energy: Gita 7.14-15 Verse by Verse

The illusory energy, made of the three modes of nature, is the Lord's own divine power, and crossing it by one's own strength alone is very hard (7.14).

In Depth English 10 min The Illusory Energy and Surrender

Article

Maya and Refuge: A Close Reading of Gita 7.14-15

The illusory energy is the Lord's own power, made of the modes of nature, and the way across is refuge in him alone (7.14); refuge is where effort rests, not a replacement for it (3.30, 6.5-6).

Deeper English 14 min The Illusory Energy and Surrender