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

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

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

Article

Gita 11.52-55: The Rare Sight of the Lord, Undivided Devotion and the Hard Questions, a Close Reading

The sight of the Lord's form is rare even for the gods (11.52), and none of the four great means, Veda study, austerity, charity or sacrifice, can claim it as a price (11.53).

Deeper English 16 min By Devotion Alone

Article

Gita 18.72-78 Verse by Verse: Delusion Destroyed and Arjuna's Resolve

The Lord asks whether the teaching was heard with a steady mind and whether the delusion is gone (18.72).

In Depth English 10 min Delusion Gone: I Will Act

Article

Gita 18.72-78: A Close Reading of the Question, the Answer and the Narrator's Verdict

The Lord's question lets the student say the answer himself; Arjuna's four statements run from the end of delusion to action (18.72, 18.73).

Deeper English 14 min Delusion Gone: I Will Act

Quick summary

How to Read the Gita: Quick Summary

Begin with one question and one verse.

English 9 min How to Read the Gita

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

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 Eighteen Chapters at a Glance: Quick Summary

The 18 chapters and 701 verses of the Gita move in the order of Arjuna's questions: from sitting down in despair to decision.

English 13 min The Eighteen Chapters at a Glance

Quick summary

What Is the Gita?: Quick Summary

The Gita is one conversation between Arjuna and Lord Krishna on a battlefield, in 18 chapters.

English 8 min What Is the Gita?

Quick summary

What We Worship, We Become: Quick Summary

The Lord steadies the faith of one who worships another god with faith, and the arranging of the fruit is His (7.21, 7.22).

English 10 min What We Worship, We Become

Quick summary

Work as Sacrifice: Quick Summary

Action done in the spirit of sacrifice frees; all other action binds in this world (3.9).

English 12 min Work as Sacrifice

Article

Gita 3.9 to 3.16: Why Work Done Without Giving Back Binds

Work done for any purpose other than sacrifice binds; work done as an offering and free of attachment frees (3.9).

Deeper English 19 min Work as Sacrifice

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

The Gita on Work Pressure: Three Layers, Three Handles, and a Workday Practice (Gita 2.14, 2.47-51, 3.30, 5.12)

Work pressure has three layers: the demand of the work, the fear of the outcome and the wave of panic inside.

In Depth English 12 min Working Under Pressure

Article

Work Pressure in the Gita, Read Closely: The Right to Act, the Fruit and the Fever (Gita 2.14, 2.47-51, 3.30, 5.12)

The right is to the action, and the action includes effort, planning and answerability for one's own part; what is given up is the clutch on a result that has many causes (2.47, 18.14-15).

Deeper English 14 min Working Under Pressure

Article

Does Surrender Take Away My Choice? The Gita's Last Counsel, 18.57 to 18.66

The Lord asks Arjuna to give his actions to Him in the mind, to keep a steady intellect and to fix his mind on Him (18.57).

Deeper English 16 min The Final Counsel: Surrender, Think, Choose

Article

Does the Gita Turn Away from Hearing? A Close Reading of Gita 2.39–46 and 2.52–53

The passage teaches one thing from two ends. The mind needs one resolve, and the resolve takes root only when the mind rests in the Self (2.41, 2.53).

Deeper English 16 min Buddhi Yoga: The Resolute Intellect

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

The Self That Stays: Gita 2.11–30 Read in Order

The Lord's first teaching says that the one who lives in the body is the one who stays the same through every change, cannot be cut, burnt or ended (2.13, 2.20, 2.23).

In Depth English 12 min The Imperishable Self

Article

Why Does the Gita Say “Do Not Grieve” in So Many Ways? A Close Reading of 2.11–30

The twenty verses give different reasons for not grieving, for different listeners, and they agree in outcome. One is the lasting self (2.16–25), one is the unavoidable cycle (2.26–28), and one is the self in every being (2.29–30).

Deeper English 14 min The Imperishable Self

Article

The Hardest Verses on War in the Gita, Read in Place

The book's own lists of excellence put non-violence and compassion first (16.2, 12.13, 10.5).

Deeper English 8 min Arjuna's Despondency

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

Gita 10.7-11: Knowing the Lord's Glory, Loving Worship and the Wisdom He Gives, a Close Reading

The first knowing is a sight of the Lord's glory that turns the devotee (10.7-8); the last is the wisdom of discernment that carries him to the Lord, and the Lord gives it (10.10-11). So the movement is one path that deepens, not a circle.

Deeper English 17 min Knowing His Glory Leads to Devotion

Article

How the Gita Is Built: The Frame, Arjuna's Questions, the Verse Counts and the Chapter Names

The Gita presents itself as one dialogue inside a frame: Dhritarashtra asks what happened, and Sanjaya tells it from start to finish.

Deeper English 12 min The Eighteen Chapters at a Glance

Article

How to Read the Gita: Order, Translation, Commentary and a Question of Your Own

Four choices decide how you read the Gita: the order, the translation, the commentary and a question of your own.

In Depth English 10 min How to Read the Gita

Article

The Eighteen Chapters of the Gita in Order: What Each Chapter Does and Why It Comes Next

Each of the eighteen chapters has one clear job, and Arjuna's questions are what move the talk from one chapter to the next.

In Depth English 14 min The Eighteen Chapters at a Glance

Article

Who Speaks in the Gita, and Why Does the Teaching Begin in a War?

Four voices carry the Gita. Dhritarashtra asks, Sanjaya reports, Arjuna questions and Lord Krishna teaches.

In Depth English 11 min What Is the Gita?

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 12.13-20: The Devotee Dear to the Lord, a Close Reading

The eight closing verses of chapter 12 draw one person: the centre is mind and intellect offered to the Lord (12.14), and the marks are what that centre looks like in dealing with beings, feelings, events and work (12.13-19).

Deeper English 18 min The Devotee Dear to the Lord

Article

Gita Chapter 12, Read Closely: Four Places Where It Seems to Pull Two Ways

Chapter 12 does not defeat any path: it says which road is easier for a person in a body, gives four steps by capacity, and makes conduct the proof of devotion (12.1-20).

Deeper English 14 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

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

Gita 12.1-5, a Deeper Reading: Both Roads Reach the Lord, So Why Is the Devotee Called Most United?

Arjuna asks who knows yoga best. The Lord answers in terms of being joined to Him, not of knowing: the one who fixes the mind on Him, stays steady and has supreme faith is the most united (12.2).

Deeper English 12 min Devotion or the Unmanifest

Article

Gita 7.16-19 Explained: The Four Devotees and the Wise One Closest to the Lord

The Lord calls all four kinds of devotee good and noble; every one is welcome, and the difference lies in nearness (7.16, 7.18).

Deeper English 13 min Four Kinds of Devotees

Article

Gita 7.20-23 and 9.20-25: Worship of Other Deities and What It Brings, a Close Reading

The Lord steadies the faith of anyone who worships a deity, and says that what the worshipper receives is his own arrangement (7.21, 7.22).

Deeper English 13 min What We Worship, We Become

Article

Gita 9.26-29, a Close Reading: Why Does the Lord Accept a Leaf?

What reaches the Lord is not the thing offered but the devotion carried in it, so a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water is enough (9.26).

Deeper English 18 min A Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, Water

Article

Worshipping Other Deities and Reaching the Lord: Gita 7.20-23 and 9.20-25 Verse by Verse

The Lord steadies the faith of anyone who worships a deity with faith; the Gita does not scold them (7.20, 7.21).

In Depth English 10 min What We Worship, We Become

Article

The Gita: A Holistic Spiritual Vision Beyond Dualistic and Non-Dualistic Perspectives

The Gita contains statements pointing both to distinction and to unity, so it resists a single philosophical label.

In Depth English 16 min