Hinduism · Mahabharata, Bhishma Parva
The Bhagavad Gita
On a battlefield at dawn, a warrior lowers his bow. What his charioteer tells him in 700 verses has been read, sung and argued over for two thousand years.
Awaiting review by a scholar of this tradition. Original texts are public domain; the plain meanings and notes are written by IndiaDigital and are being checked. We describe what each tradition teaches, in its own terms, and never rank faiths. Report a correction
18 chapters
Each chapter has its own mandala, drawn from its verses. A tick appears on chapters you mark as read.
The night sky of verses
All 700 verses as stars, chapter 1 at the centre and chapter 18 at the rim. Choose a theme to draw its constellation through the Gita.
Famous verses
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।
The opening verse of the Gita, and the only words spoken by Dhritarashtra. It names Kurukshetra a 'field of dharma', setting a moral question inside a battle.
1.47एवमुक्त्वार्जुनः संख्ये रथोपस्थ उपाविशत् ।
The closing image of Arjuna sitting down with his bow cast aside. It is the moment of crisis that the rest of the Gita answers.
2.20न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।
A classic statement of the Gita's teaching that the Self is unborn and undying, often recited at times of loss.
2.22वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
The well-known image of changing clothes, used to explain rebirth in simple, everyday terms.
2.47कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
Probably the most quoted verse of the Gita: do your work, but do not make its results your motive.
2.62ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।
With 2.63 it traces a chain from dwelling on things to ruin, one of the Gita's best-known pieces of psychology.
3.19तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर ।
A short summary of karma yoga: keep doing what must be done, but without clinging, and this itself leads to the highest.
3.21यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः ।
Often quoted about leadership and role models: people imitate those they look up to.
3.35श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
The well-known teaching on svadharma: one's own duty, even done imperfectly, is better than another's done well.
4.7यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
One of the best-known verses in Hindu tradition, understood as Krishna's promise to appear whenever dharma is in decline.
4.8परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
Completes 4.7 by giving the purpose of the divine descent: to protect the good and re-establish dharma, age after age.
4.38न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते ।
A key statement of the chapter's high view of knowledge as the greatest purifier, found within through yoga.
5.10ब्रह्मण्याधाय कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा करोति यः ।
The lotus leaf that sits in water yet stays dry is one of the Gita's best-loved images of living in the world without being stained by it.
5.18विद्याविनयसंपन्ने ब्राह्मणे गवि हस्तिनि ।
A famous statement of equal vision: the wise see the same reality in every creature, from a learned person to an animal.
6.5उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् ।
A widely quoted call to self-reliance: no one else can lift you up, and your own mind is either your friend or your enemy.
6.19यथा दीपो निवातस्थो नेङ्गते सोपमा स्मृता ।
The image of a steady lamp flame in a windless place has become a classic picture of the meditating mind.
6.35असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् ।
Krishna's honest answer to a very human problem: the mind is restless, yet practice and detachment can train it.
7.7मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किंचिदस्ति धनंजय ।
The image of the world strung on the divine like pearls on a thread is one of the Gita's most quoted pictures of how everything is connected.
7.19बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते ।
"Vasudeva is everything" sums up the chapter's vision, and the verse is often quoted to show how rare and precious such insight is.
7.14दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया ।
This verse names maya, the divine power of illusion made of the gunas, and gives the Gita's answer for crossing it: refuge in the divine.
8.5अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम् ।
This verse is the heart of the chapter's teaching on death, and it is often recited to explain why remembering the divine at the end is valued in Hindu tradition.
8.7तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च ।
"Remember me and fight" joins inner devotion with outer duty in one short line, and is one of the Gita's best-known calls to action.
8.14अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः ।
This verse is loved for its gentle promise: for one who remembers constantly, the divine is "easy to reach".
9.22अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते ।
Known for the phrase "yoga-kshema", this verse is a promise of care: the divine carries the needs of the one who depends on it fully.
9.26पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति ।
Perhaps the Gita's most loved verse on simple worship: a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, offered with love, is enough.
9.27यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत् ।
This verse turns everyday life into worship: working, eating and giving all become offerings when done for the divine.
10.8अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्तः सर्वं प्रवर्तते ।
Often called the seed of the chapter, this verse links knowing the divine as the source of all with loving worship.
10.20अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः ।
Before listing his outer glories, Krishna names the innermost one: he is the self in every heart. Many readers see this as the key to the whole list.
10.41यद्यद्विभूतिमत्सत्त्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेव वा ।
This verse gives a simple way to see the sacred in daily life: every excellence points back to a spark of the divine.
11.12दिवि सूर्यसहस्रस्य भवेद्युगपदुत्थिता ।
The image of a thousand suns rising at once is the Gita's best-known attempt to describe a splendour beyond words.
11.32कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो
Krishna's answer "I am Time" is one of the most quoted lines of the Gita, showing the divine as the power behind change and ending.
11.55मत्कर्मकृन्मत्परमो मद्भक्तः सङ्गवर्जितः ।
The closing verse gathers the chapter into a simple way of life: work for the divine, devotion, freedom from attachment, and no hatred toward any being.
12.13अद्वेष्टा सर्वभूतानां मैत्रः करुण एव च ।
This verse opens the Gita's best-known portrait of the ideal devotee, beginning with kindness: no hatred, friendship and compassion toward all.
12.14संतुष्टः सततं योगी यतात्मा दृढनिश्चयः ।
It completes the thought of 12.13 with the refrain that echoes through the chapter: "that devotee of mine is dear to me."
12.15यस्मान्नोद्विजते लोको लोकान्नोद्विजते च यः ।
Its simple test of a good life, neither troubling the world nor being troubled by it, is widely quoted beyond religious settings.
13.2क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत ।
A key verse for Vedanta: Krishna says he is the knower present in every body, and defines true knowledge as knowing the field and its knower. Different schools read this identity in different ways.
13.27समं सर्वेषु भूतेषु तिष्ठन्तं परमेश्वरम् ।
A short, memorable statement of the Gita's vision of sameness: the one who sees the undying Lord equally in all beings is the one who truly sees.
14.5सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः ।
The verse that names the three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas, an idea used across Indian thought to describe nature, food, character and behaviour.
14.26मां च योऽव्यभिचारेण भक्तियोगेन सेवते ।
Krishna's answer to how one rises above the gunas: through unwavering devotion, which makes one fit to become one with Brahman.
15.1ऊर्ध्वमूलमधःशाखमश्वत्थं प्राहुरव्ययम् ।
The striking image of the upside-down ashvattha tree, an old symbol also found in the Katha Upanishad, used here for the tangle of worldly life.
15.7ममैवांशो जीवलोके जीवभूतः सनातनः ।
A central verse about the nature of the soul: Krishna calls each living soul an eternal part of himself. The schools of Vedanta read 'part' in quite different ways.
15.15सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि संनिविष्टो
Krishna says he dwells in every heart and is the source of memory, knowledge and forgetting, and the one to be known through all the Vedas.
16.1अभयं सत्त्वसंशुद्धिर्ज्ञानयोगव्यवस्थितिः ।
It opens the list of the 'divine wealth' with fearlessness, a list often quoted as a guide to good character.
16.21त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मनः ।
A widely quoted warning: desire, anger and greed are the three gates that lead a person to ruin.
17.3सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्धा भवति भारत ।
A short, powerful idea: a person is made of faith, and becomes whatever they have faith in.
17.15अनुद्वेगकरं वाक्यं सत्यं प्रियहितं च यत् ।
A practical rule for speech often quoted in schools and homes: speak what is true, pleasant and helpful, and does not upset others.
17.20दातव्यमिति यद्दानं दीयतेऽनुपकारिणे ।
The Gita's description of the best kind of giving: freely, to one who cannot repay, at the right time and place, to the right person.
18.47श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् ।
A key verse on svadharma, one's own duty: it is better to follow one's own path, even imperfectly, than to copy another's.
18.66सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।
Often called the final or crowning verse of the Gita. Traditions read it very differently: as a call to renounce all action for knowledge, as a call to complete surrender (prapatti) to the Lord, or as compatible with continued selfless action.
18.78यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः ।
The Gita's last verse, spoken by Sanjaya: where Krishna and Arjuna stand together, there fortune, victory and right conduct are found.
Questions people ask
What is the Bhagavad Gita?
The Bhagavad Gita ("Song of the Lord") is a 700-verse Sanskrit dialogue in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, the warrior Arjuna, torn about fighting his own relatives, is taught by Shri Krishna, his charioteer, about duty, the self, action without attachment, devotion and knowledge. Hindus regard it as one of their most important scriptures.
How many chapters and verses are in the Gita?
18 chapters and 700 verses in the most widely used text. A few editions count 701, adding a question of Arjuna at the start of chapter 13; we follow the 700-verse count.
Who speaks in the Gita?
Four voices: King Dhritarashtra asks the first question; Sanjaya, who sees the battle through divine sight, narrates; Arjuna asks; and Shri Krishna teaches, speaking most of the verses.
Whose translation is this?
The Sanskrit is the public-domain text from Sanskrit Wikisource. The plain meanings are written fresh by IndiaDigital in English, Hindi and Marathi, checked against public-domain translations (K. T. Telang 1882, Annie Besant and Bhagavan Das 1905), and are awaiting review by a Sanskrit scholar. We do not copy copyrighted translations.
Sources: Sanskrit text from Sanskrit Wikisource (भगवद्गीता) (public domain text; formatting CC BY-SA 4.0). Plain meanings: IndiaDigital, checked against K. T. Telang, Sacred Books of the East vol. 8 (1882) and Annie Besant and Bhagavan Das (1905), both public domain.
Corrections from members of every tradition are welcome at support@indiadigital.org. Last checked: .