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Arjuna, Our Mirror: Quick Summary

Arjuna's road has seven steps, and any person in a crisis walks the same road.

English 3 min Arjuna, Our Mirror

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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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Devotion in Practice: Quick Summary

Daily devotion runs in four small moments: a morning offering, one task for the Lord, a pause in a hard meeting, and an evening review.

English 6 min Devotion in Practice

Article

Devotion in Your Day: Four Moments From Morning to Night

Daily devotion has four small moments: a small offering in the morning, one act done for the Lord, a pause in a hard meeting, and a review at night.

In Depth English 5 min Devotion in Practice

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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

Article

Does 'Be Merely an Instrument' Mean Arjuna Had No Free Choice?

What 'be merely an instrument' (11.33) fixes is what Time will do, not Arjuna's choice. The Lord says 'arise', which is said to one who can rise or not.

In Depth English 5 min Merely an Instrument

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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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The Imperishable Self: Quick Summary

Grief rests on the body and the life lived together, but the one who dwells in the body stays the same.

English 7 min The Imperishable Self

Article

When Everything Falls Apart: Arjuna Shows the Way

Arjuna's hands shook, his mouth went dry and he said he would not fight (1.28-29, 2.9). The Gita does not blame him.

Simple English 4 min Arjuna, Our Mirror

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You Do Everything Right and God Still Feels Far: What the Gita Says

Study, austerity, charity and sacrifice are not the price of the Lord's nearness; he is found by undivided devotion (11.53, 11.54).

Simple English 5 min By Devotion Alone

Article

Why Do I Keep Doing What I Know Is Wrong? The Gita's Answer

Arjuna asks why a person does wrong even against his will, as if pushed by force, and the Lord names desire and anger born of passion (3.36–37).

Simple English 6 min The Enemy Called Desire

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I Want to Stop Doing Everything: What the Gita Says About Quitting

No one can do nothing, even for a moment. Breathing, sleeping and thinking are all action (3.5, 3.8).

Simple English 6 min Can We Simply Stop Acting?

Article

Does the Gita Teach War and Violence? What the Verses Say

The Gita opens with the warrior refusing to fight (1.28-47). Everything that follows is an answer to that refusal.

In Depth English 4 min Arjuna's Despondency

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Prayer Feels Dry and No One to Talk To? What the Gita Says

Truly seeing the Lord's greatness turns devotion from habit into steady love (10.7-8).

Simple English 6 min Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion

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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

Do Not Carry Every Outcome Alone: 'Merely an Instrument' in Plain Words

'Merely an instrument' means doing your own work with your whole mind without carrying the burden of being the only cause of the outcome (11.33).

Simple English 6 min Merely an Instrument

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Is It All Right to Ask a Question? What Arjuna Teaches Us

The Gita runs on Arjuna's questions, and Lord Krishna turns none of them away (3.2, 3.3).

Simple English 5 min Arjuna's Questions

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Where to Start When the Mind Won't Stay on God: Gita Chapter 12

Chapter 12 gives a step for every state of mind: fix the mind on the Lord if it will stay, practise if it will not, work for him if that is hard, and give up the grip on the result if nothing else works.

Simple English 6 min Chapter 12: The Yoga of Devotion, an Overview

Article

Does a Small Offering Reach God? What the Gita Says About a Leaf and Water

The Lord accepts a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water offered with devotion. The gift need not be big (9.26).

Simple English 6 min A Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, Water

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Is It Wrong to Ask God for Things? What the Gita Says

The Lord steadies the faith of anyone who worships a deity with faith; the Gita does not scold the one who asks (7.21).

Simple English 4 min What We Worship, We Become

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Is It Wrong to Remember God Only in Trouble?

The Gita names four reasons that bring people to God, distress, a wish to know, a want and wisdom, and calls all four good and noble (7.16, 7.18).

Simple English 4 min Four Kinds of Devotees

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Why Do I Keep Falling into the Same Pattern? What the Gita Says

The pull that keeps confusing the mind is the Lord's own illusory energy, and crossing it on one's own strength alone is hard (7.14).

Simple English 4 min The Illusory Energy and Surrender