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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

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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

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

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How to Read the Gita: Quick Summary

Begin with one question and one verse.

English 9 min How to Read the Gita

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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 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

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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?

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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

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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

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

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

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

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 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