Find something to read

Quick summary

A Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, Water: Quick Summary

The Lord accepts a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water offered with devotion; it is the devotion that counts, not the worth of the gift (9.26).

English 8 min A Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, Water

Quick summary

Acting for the World: Quick Summary

For one who is content in the self there is no duty left to gain anything (3.17-18), yet he is told to act without attachment (3.19).

English 10 min Acting for the World

Quick summary

Action Without Claiming the Fruit: Quick Summary

The Lord says the right is to action alone, never to its fruit (2.47).

English 7 min Action Without Claiming the Fruit

Quick summary

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

Quick summary

By Devotion Alone: Quick Summary

The vision of the Lord is rare even for the gods, and no means, whether Vedas, austerity, giving or sacrifice, can pay its price (11.52-53).

English 10 min By Devotion Alone

Quick summary

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?

Quick summary

Devotion or the Unmanifest: Quick Summary

Arjuna asks which knows yoga best, the one who worships the Lord in form or the one who worships the imperishable unmanifest (12.1).

English 7 min Devotion or the Unmanifest

Quick summary

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

Quick summary

Even the Worst Offender: Quick Summary

A person of very bad conduct who worships with undivided devotion is to be regarded as righteous, because he has resolved rightly (9.30).

English 10 min Even the Worst Offender

Quick summary

Freedom Through Action: Quick Summary

The highest freedom from the bond of action comes not from leaving work but from giving up attachment of the intellect, the tangle of the mind and desire (18.49).

English 9 min Freedom Through Action

Quick summary

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

Article

Gita 11.52-55 Verse by Verse: How the Lord Is Reached and the Five Marks of the Devotee

The Lord's form is rare even for the gods (11.52), and none of the four great means, Vedas, austerity, charity or sacrifice, can pay for the sight (11.53).

In Depth English 13 min By Devotion Alone

Quick summary

Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound: Quick Summary

Three things are to be known: right action, wrong action and non-action, and even the wise are confused about them (4.16-17).

English 9 min Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound

Quick summary

Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion: Quick Summary

One who knows the Lord's glory in truth joins Him by unshakable devotion, and the wise who know Him as the source of all worship Him with love (10.7-8).

English 10 min Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion

Quick summary

Offering All Actions: Quick Summary

Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to hand over all actions to Him, with the mind turned to the self, free from expectation, from the sense of 'mine' and from the fever of worry (3.30).

English 11 min Offering All Actions

Quick summary

One's Own Duty: Quick Summary

One's own duty done imperfectly is better than another's duty done well (3.35, 18.47).

English 9 min One's Own Duty

Quick summary

Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action: Quick Summary

Arjuna asks to know renunciation and relinquishment separately (18.1).

English 10 min Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action

Quick summary

Renunciation or Karma Yoga?: Quick Summary

Arjuna asks which is the more beneficial, renunciation or karma yoga (5.1).

English 11 min Renunciation or Karma Yoga?

Quick summary

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

Quick summary

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

Quick summary

The Ladder of Devotion: Quick Summary

One who offers all actions to the Lord and holds Him as the goal is soon lifted out of the ocean of births by the Lord Himself (12.6-7).

English 10 min The Ladder of Devotion

Quick summary

The Paths: Action, Knowledge, Devotion: Quick Summary

Action, knowledge, meditation and devotion do not compete; they complete one another.

English 8 min The Paths: Action, Knowledge, Devotion

Article

Gita Chapter 3 at a Glance: Seven Questions the Chapter Answers

Arjuna asks why act at all if knowledge is higher (3.1-2); the chapter turns the question into how to act.

In Depth English 10 min Chapter 3: The Yoga of Selfless Action, an Overview

Article

Leave It All or Keep Going? Renunciation and Karma Yoga, Gita 5.1–7 and 6.1–4

Both renunciation and karma yoga lead to the highest good, but karma yoga is the better way for the one still on the road (5.2, 5.6).

In Depth English 14 min Renunciation or Karma Yoga?

Article

Life Feels Too Heavy: What to Give Up and What to Keep, According to the Gita

Give up the grip on results and the wants that drive you; do not give up your duties (18.2, 18.11).

Simple English 6 min Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action

Article

Must You Quit Your Work to Find Peace? What the Gita Says

Both leaving the world and carrying on can lead to the highest good, but carrying on with a loose grip is the better way for most of us (5.2).

Simple English 6 min Renunciation or Karma Yoga?

Article

What to Give Up and What Not To: Renunciation and Relinquishment, Gita 18.1–12

Renunciation is giving up actions driven by desire; relinquishment is giving up the fruit of every action (18.2).

In Depth English 13 min Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action

Article

Why the Content Still Work: Gita 3.17 to 3.26 Verse by Verse

The person who is content in the self has no duty to gain anything, yet the Gita tells even such a person to go on acting (3.17-20).

In Depth English 14 min Acting for the World

Article

Work as Sacrifice: Gita 3.9 to 3.16 Verse by Verse

Work done only for oneself binds; work done as an offering to something beyond oneself, free of attachment, frees (3.9).

In Depth English 14 min Work as Sacrifice

Article

Dreading Monday on Sunday Night: Three Weights of Work Pressure and How the Gita Lightens Each

Work pressure is three weights, not one: the work, the fear of the result and the wave of panic.

Simple English 6 min Working Under Pressure

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

Praise Lifts You, a Sharp Word Drops You: Keeping the Mind Level, as the Gita Teaches

Pleasure and pain, praise and blame come and go like weather; the Gita asks us to bear them (2.14).

Simple English 5 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

Worn Out From Copying Someone Else? What the Gita Says About Doing Your Own Work in Your Own Way

It is better to do your own duty imperfectly than another's duty well (3.35).

Simple English 6 min One's Own Duty

Article

Action, Knowledge, Meditation or Devotion: Where Should I Begin? The Gita's Own Answer

The Gita names four ways, action, knowledge, meditation and devotion, and says they lead to the same place (13.25, 5.5).

Simple English 7 min The Paths: Action, Knowledge, Devotion

Article

Busy All Day, Yet Free Inside: What the Gita Means by Doing Nothing in Action

In the Gita, doing nothing in action means that nothing binds, and it does not mean that nothing is done (4.18, 4.20).

Simple English 5 min Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound

Article

Do the Gita's Four Paths Compete or Complete Each Other? Reading Each Comparison

The Gita lists the ways to the goal three times, and each time the list grows and nothing is dropped (2.39, 3.3, 13.25).

In Depth English 11 min The Paths: Action, Knowledge, Devotion

Article

Do the Work, Let Go of the Result? Gita 2.47 to 2.51 Explained

The right is to the work and never to the fruits, and the fruit also depends on much more than the doer (2.47, 18.14).

In Depth English 10 min Action Without Claiming the Fruit

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

How Action Stops Binding: Gita 4.16 to 4.24 Explained

There are three things to understand, right action, wrong action and inaction, and the line between action and inaction is drawn at the claim and not at the body (4.16, 4.17).

In Depth English 9 min Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound

Article

How Do I Stop Worrying About the Result Without Giving Up on It?

The work is ours and the result is not, because the result depends on much more than us (2.47, 18.14).

Simple English 6 min Action Without Claiming the Fruit

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

Gita 10.7-11 Verse by Verse: How Knowing the Lord's Glory Becomes Devotion

One who knows the Lord's glory in truth is joined to Him by unwavering devotion (10.7), and the wise who know Him as the source of all worship Him with love (10.8).

In Depth English 12 min Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion

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

Can Saying "I Am Not the Doer" Excuse My Mistake? What the Gita Says

'I am not the doer' is meant to lessen pride and dread, not to avoid a mistake (3.27, 5.8).

Simple English 3 min Who Is the Doer?

Article

Four Steps Toward the Lord When the Mind Will Not Stay: Gita 12.6-12, Verse by Verse

One who offers all actions to the Lord and holds Him as the aim is lifted out of the ocean of worldly life by the Lord Himself, before long (12.6-7).

In Depth English 12 min The Ladder of Devotion

Article

How a Person of Very Bad Conduct Counts as Righteous: Gita 9.30-34 Verse by Verse

A person of very bad conduct who worships the Lord with undivided devotion is to be regarded as righteous, because he has resolved rightly (9.30).

In Depth English 10 min Even the Worst Offender

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

Why 'I Am Not the Doer' Does Not Excuse Us from Responsibility: Gita 3.27, 5.8-9 and 18.14-16

'I am not the doer' is a Gita sentence, but it belongs to someone fully at work whose pride and dread have loosened (5.8-9).

In Depth English 5 min Who Is the Doer?

Article

A Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, Water: Gita 9.26-29 Verse by Verse

The Lord accepts a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water offered with devotion; what counts is the devotion, not the cost of the gift (9.26).

In Depth English 14 min A Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, Water

Article

Devotion or the Unmanifest: Gita 12.1-5 Verse by Verse

The Lord calls the one who fixes the mind on Him, stays steady and has supreme faith the most perfect in yoga (12.2).

In Depth English 8 min Devotion or the Unmanifest

Article

How to Stop Worrying About the Result: Offer Your Work

The worry is not in the work but in clinging to the result. The Gita says to do the work and then hand it over to the Lord (3.30).

Simple English 5 min Offering All Actions

Article

Offering All Actions: Gita 3.30-32 and 5.10-12 Verse by Verse

Do the work with your whole self, then hand the work and your claim on its fruit to the Lord. This is what the Gita means by offering all actions (3.30).

In Depth English 12 min Offering All Actions

Article

Proud When It Works, Crushed When It Fails: Am I the Only One Behind It?

Your effort is real, but it is never the only cause of a result. Every action has five causes (18.14).

Simple English 6 min Who Is the Doer?

Article

Where Does Karma Yoga End? Gita 18.49–56, Verse by Verse

The result of karma yoga is not that work stops but that action no longer binds, and that freedom comes by letting go of the intellect's attachment, craving and the mind's restlessness (18.49).

In Depth English 13 min Freedom Through Action