About the Bhagavad Gita

Who speaks to whom

The Bhagavad Gita ("the Song of the Lord") is a conversation between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, just before the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas begins. It is part of the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata and has 700 verses in 18 chapters by the traditional count (701 in the common numbering). The conversation is reported to the blind king Dhritarashtra by his minister Sanjaya, who was given divine sight.

The three paths

Readers often divide the teaching into three paths: karma yoga (the path of action, chapters 1 to 6), bhakti yoga (the path of devotion, chapters 7 to 12) and jnana yoga (the path of knowledge, chapters 13 to 18). This division is a convenience of readers, not of the text itself, and the chapters mix all three ideas.

The Sanskrit text on this site

The Sanskrit is the standard text, as published on Sanskrit Wikisource. The Sanskrit of a classical text composed over two thousand years ago is in the public domain. The Roman letters are made by our own program from the Devanagari using the IAST system. The English meanings, the chapter notes and the explanations are our own writing. We did not copy any published translation or commentary.

How to read it the first time

Start with chapter 2, where the central teaching begins, then read chapter 3 on action and chapter 12 on devotion. Read slowly, a few verses a day. Read the Sanskrit aloud if you can: the verses are in a metre of two lines of sixteen syllables that is easy to chant. Come back to chapter 1 after you have read the rest; it is easier to feel Arjuna's despair once you know where Krishna takes him.

Chapter by chapter

See the list of chapters, or begin with the five most read verses: 2.47, 2.20, 4.7, 6.5 and 18.66.

Meanings and explanations are our own wording, not an authorised translation. Readers of the Gita follow different traditions and teachers; please ask yours about what you read here.