Bhagavad Gita

For other uses, see Bhagavad Gita (disambiguation).“Gita” redirects here. For other uses, see Gita (disam-biguation).

The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit: श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, Śrīmadb-

Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, c. 1830 painting

hagavadgītā, pronounced [ˈbʱəɡəʋəd̪ ɡiːˈta̪ː] ( )), liter-ally meaning The Song of the Bhagavan, often referred toas simply the Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that ispart of the Hindu epic Mahabharata.The Gita is set in a narrative framework of a dialoguebetween Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide and char-ioteer Krishna. Facing the duty as a warrior to fight theDharma Yudhha or righteous war between Pandavas andKauravas, Arjuna is counselled by Krishna to “fulfill hisKshatriya (warrior) duty as a warrior and establishingDharma.”[1] Inserted[1] in this appeal to kshatriya dharma(chivalry)[2] is “a dialogue [...] between diverging atti-tudes concerning and methods toward the attainment ofliberation (moksha)".[3]

The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis[4][5] of the Brah-manical concept of Dharma,[4][5][6] theistic bhakti,[7][6]

the yogic ideals[5] of moksha[5] through jnana, bhakti,karma, and Raja Yoga (spoken of in the 6th chapter). [7]

and Samkhya philosophy.[web 1][note 1]

Numerous commentaries have been written on the Bha-gavad Gita with widely differing views on the essen-tials. Vedanta commentators read varying relations be-tween Self and Brahman in the text: Advaita Vedantasees the non-dualism of Atman (soul) and Brahman as itsessence,[8] whereas Bhedabheda and Vishishtadvaita seeAtman and Brahman as both different and non-different,and Dvaita sees them as different. The setting of the Gitain a battlefield has been interpreted as an allegory for theethical and moral struggles of the human life.The BhagavadGita ' s call for selfless action inspired manyleaders of the Indian independence movement includingBal Gangadhar Tilak & Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.Gandhi referred to theGita as his “spiritual dictionary”.[9]

1 Composition and significance

Bronze chariot, depicting discourse of Krishna and Arjuna inKurukshetra

1.1 Authorship

The epic Mahabharata is traditionally ascribed to theSage Ved Vyasa; the Bhagavad Gita, being a part of theMahabharata, is also ascribed to him.[10]

1.2 Date of composition

Theories on the date of composition of the Gita varyconsiderably. Scholars accept dates from fifth centuryto second century BCE as the probable range. Profes-sor Jeaneane Fowler, in her commentary on the Gita,

1

2 1 COMPOSITION AND SIGNIFICANCE

considers second century BCE to be the likely date ofcomposition.[11] Kashi Nath Upadhyaya, a Gita scholar,on the basis of the estimated dates of Mahabharata,Brahma sutras, and other independent sources, concludesthat the Bhagavad Gita was composed between fifth andfourth centuries BCE.[12]

It is generally agreed that, “Unlike the Vedas, whichhave to be preserved letter-perfect, the Gita was a pop-ular work whose reciters would inevitably conform tochanges in language and style”, so the earliest “surviv-ing” components of this dynamic text are believed to beno older than the earliest “external” references we haveto the Mahabharata epic, which may include an allusionin Panini’s fourth century BCE grammar. It is estimatedthat the Sanskrit text probably reached something of a “fi-nal form” by the early Gupta period (about the 4th centuryCE). The actual dates of composition of the Gita remainunresolved.[10]

1.3 Hindu synthesis and smriti

See also: Smarta Tradition

Due to its presence in the Mahabharata, the BhagavadGita is classified as a Smriti text or “that which isremembered”.[note 2] The smriti texts of the period be-tween 200 BCE-100 CE belong to the emerging “Hindusynthesis”, proclaiming the authority of the Vedas whileintegrating various Indian traditions and religions.[13] Ac-ceptance of the Vedas became a central criterion fordefining Hinduism over and against the heterodoxies,which rejected the Vedas.[13]

The so-called “Hindu synthesis” emerged duringthe early Classical period (200 BCE-300 CE) ofHinduism.[13][5][14] According to Hiltebeitel, a periodof consolidation in the development of Hinduism tookplace between the time of the late Vedic Upanishad(ca. 500 BCE) and the period of the rise of the Guptas(ca. 320–467 CE) which he calls the “Hindu synthesis”,“Brahmanic synthesis”, or “orthodox synthesis”.[13] Itdeveloped in interaction with other religions and peoples:

The emerging self-definitions of Hinduismwere forged in the context of continuous in-teraction with heterodox religions (Buddhists,Jains, Ajivikas) throughout this whole period,and with foreign people (Yavanas, or Greeks;Sakas, or Scythians; Pahlavas, or Parthians;and Kusanas, or Kushans) from the third phaseon [between the Mauryan empire and the riseof the Guptas].[13]

The Bhagavad Gita is the sealing achievement ofthis Hindu synthesis,[13] incorporating various reli-gious traditions.[13][7][5][web 1][6] According to Hiltebeitel,bhakti forms an essential ingredient of this synthesis,[13]

which incorporates bhakti into the Brahmanical fold.[13]

According to Deutsch and Dalvi, the Bhagavad Gita at-tempts “to forge a harmony”[15] between different strandsof Indian thought: jnana, dharma and bhakti.[7] Deutschand Dalvi note that the authors of the Bhagavad Gita“must have seen the appeal of the soteriologies both ofthe “heterodox” traditions of Buddhism and Jainism andof the more “orthodox” ones of Samkhya and Yoga”,[4]

while the Brahmanic tradition emphasised “the signif-icance of dharma as the instrument of goodness”.[4]

Scheepers mentions the Bhagavat Gita as a Brahmani-cal text which uses the shramanic and Yogic terminologyto spread the Brahmanic idea of living according to one’sduty or dharma, in contrast to the yogic ideal of liberationfrom the workings of karma.[5] According to Basham,

The Bhagavadgita combines many differ-ent elements from Samkhya and Vedanta phi-losophy. In matters of religion, its impor-tant contribution was the new emphasis placedon devotion, which has since remained a cen-tral path in Hinduism. In addition, the pop-ular theism expressed elsewhere in the Ma-habharata and the transcendentalism of theUpanishads converge, and a God of personalcharacteristics is identified with the brahmanof the Vedic tradition. The Bhagavadgitathus gives a typology of the three dominanttrends of Indian religion: dharma-based house-holder life, enlightenment-based renunciation,and devotion-based theism.[web 1]

Raju too sees the Bhagavad Gita as a synthesis:

The Bhagavadgitamay be treated as a greatsynthesis of the ideas of the impersonal spiri-tual monism with personalistic monotheism, ofthe yoga of action with the yoga of transcen-dence of action, and these again with yogas ofdevotion and knowledge.[6]

The influence of the Bhagavad Gita was such, that itssynthesis was adapted to and incorporated into specificIndian traditions. Nicholson mentions the Shiva Gita asan adaptation of the Vishnu-oriented Bhagavat Gita intoShiva-oriented terminology,[16] and the Isvara Gita asborrowing entire verses from the Krishna-oriented Bha-gavad Gita and placing them into a new Shiva-orientedcontext.[17]

1.4 Status

The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Prasthanatrayi, whichalso includes the Upanishads and Brahma sutras. Theseare the key texts for the Vedanta,[18][19][20] which in-terprets these texts to give a unified meaning. AdvaitaVedanta sees the non-dualism of Atman and Brahman as

2.2 Characters 3

its essence,[8] whereas Bhedabheda and Vishishtadvaitasee Atman and Brahman as both different and non-different, and Dvaita sees them as different. In recenttimes the Advaita interpretation has gained worldwidepopularity, due to the Neo-Vedanta of Vivekananda andRadhakrishnan, while the Achintya Bheda Abheda inter-pretation has gained worldwide popularity via the HareKrishnas, a branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.[21]

Although early Vedanta gives an interpretation of the srutitexts of the Upanishads, and its main commentary theBrahman Sutras, the popularity of the Bhagavad Gitawassuch that it could not be neglected.[3] It is referred to in theBrahman Sutras, and Shankara, Bhaskara and Ramanujaall three wrote commentaries on it.[3] The Bhagavad Gitais different from the Upanishads in format and content,and accessible to all, in contrast to the sruti, which areonly to be read and heard by the higher castes.[3]

Some branches of Hinduism give it the status of anUpanishad, and consider it to be a Śruti or “revealedtext”.[22][23] According to Pandit, who gives a modern-orthodox interpretation of Hinduism, “since the Bha-gavad Gita represents a summary of the Upanishadicteachings, it is sometimes called 'the Upanishad of theUpanishads’.”[24]

2 Content

A manuscript illustration of the battle of Kurukshetra, fought be-tween the Kauravas and the Pandavas, recorded in the Mahab-harata.

2.1 Narrative

In the epic Mahabharata, after Sanjaya—counsellor ofthe Kuru king Dhritarashtra—returns from the battle-field to announce the death of Bhisma, he begins recount-ing the details of the Mahabharata war. Bhagavad Gitaforms the content of this recollection.[25] The Gita beginsbefore the start of the climactic Kurukshetra War, wherethe Pandava prince Arjuna is filled with doubt on the bat-tlefield. Realizing that his enemies are his own relatives,

beloved friends, and revered teachers, he turns to his char-ioteer and guide, Krishna, for advice. Responding to Ar-juna’s confusion and moral dilemma, Krishna explains toArjuna his duties as a warrior and prince, elaborating ona variety of philosophical concepts.[26]

2.2 Characters

• Arjuna, one of the Pandavas

• Krishna, Arjuna’s charioteer and guru

• Sanjaya, counsellor of the Kuru king Dhritarashtra

• Dhritarashtra, Kuru king.

2.3 Overview of chapters

Bhagavad Gita comprises 18 chapters (section 25 to42)[27][web 2] in the Bhishma Parva of the epic Mahab-harata and consists of 700 verses.[28] Because of differ-ences in recensions, the verses of the Gita may be num-bered in the full text of the Mahabharata as chapters6.25–42 or as chapters 6.23–40.[web 3] According to therecension of the Gita commented on by Adi Shankara, aprominent philosopher of the Vedanta school, the num-ber of verses is 700, but there is evidence to show that oldmanuscripts had 745 verses.[29] The verses themselves,composed with similes and metaphors, are poetic in na-ture. The verses mostly employ the range and style ofthe Sanskrit Anustubh meter (chhandas), and in a fewexpressive verses the Tristubh meter is used.[30]

The Sanskrit editions of the Gita name each chapter as aparticular form of yoga. However, these chapter titles donot appear in the Sanskrit text of the Mahabharata.[web 3]

Swami Chidbhavananda explains that each of the eigh-teen chapters is designated as a separate yoga becauseeach chapter, like yoga, “trains the body and the mind”.He labels the first chapter “Arjuna Vishada Yogam” orthe “Yoga of Arjuna’s Dejection”.[31] Sir Edwin Arnoldtranslates this chapter as “The Distress of Arjuna”[32]

Gita Dhyanam: (contains 9verses) The Gita Dhyanam is nota part of the main Bhagavad Gita,but it is commonly published withthe Gītā as a prefix. The versesof the Gita Dhyanam (also calledGītā Dhyāna or Dhyāna Ślokas)offer salutations to a variety ofsacred scriptures, figures, and en-tities, characterise the relationshipof the Gītā to the Upanishads,and affirm the power of divineassistance.[33] It is a commonpractice to recite these beforereading the Gita.[web 4][34]

4 2 CONTENT

Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (Universal Form) to Arjuna onthe battlefield of Kurukshetra (chapter 11).

1. Arjuna–Visada yoga (The Distress of Arjuna[32]

contains 46 verses): Arjuna has requested Krishnato move his chariot between the two armies. Hisgrowing dejection is described as he fears losingfriends and relatives as a consequence of war.[web 5]

2. Sankhya yoga (The Book of Doctrines[32] contains72 verses): After asking Krishna for help, Arjunais instructed into various subjects such as, Karmayoga, Gyaana yoga, Sankhya yoga, Buddhi yoga andthe immortal nature of the soul. This chapter is of-ten considered the summary of the entire BhagavadGita.[web 6]

3. Karma yoga (Virtue in Work[32] contains 43verses): Krishna explains how Karma yoga, i.e. per-formance of prescribed duties, but without attach-ment to results, is the appropriate course of actionfor Arjuna.[web 7]

4. Gyaana–Karma-Sanyasa yoga (The Religion ofKnowledge[32] contains 42 verses): Krishna revealsthat he has lived through many births, always teach-ing yoga for the protection of the pious and the de-struction of the impious and stresses the importanceof accepting a guru.[web 8]

5. Karma–Sanyasa yoga (Religion by RenouncingFruits of Works[32] contains 29 verses): Arjuna asksKrishna if it is better to forgo action or to act (“re-nunciation or discipline of action”).[35] Krishna an-swers that both are ways to the same goal,[web 9] butthat acting in Karma yoga is superior.

6. Dhyan yoga or Atmasanyam yoga (Religion bySelf-Restraint[32] contains 47 verses): Krishna de-scribes the Ashtanga yoga. He further elucidates thedifficulties of the mind and the techniques by whichmastery of the mind might be gained.[web 10]

7. Gyaana–ViGyaana yoga (Religion by Discern-ment[32] contains 30 verses): Krishna describes theabsolute reality and its illusory energy Maya.[web 11]

8. Aksara–Brahma yoga (Religion by Devotion tothe One Supreme God[32] contains 28 verses): Thischapter contains eschatology of the Bhagavad Gita.Importance of the last thought before death, dif-ferences between material and spiritual worlds, andlight and dark paths that a soul takes after death aredescribed.[web 12]

9. Raja–Vidya–Raja–Guhya yoga (Religion by theKingly Knowledge and the Kingly Mystery[32] con-tains 34 verses): Krishna explains how His eter-nal energy pervades, creates, preserves, and destroysthe entire universe.[web 13] According to theologianChristopher Southgate, verses of this chapter of theGita are panentheistic,[36] while German physicistand philosopher Max Bernhard Weinstein deems thework pandeistic.[37]

10. Vibhuti–Vistara–yoga (Religion by the HeavenlyPerfections[32] contains 42 verses): Krishna is de-scribed as the ultimate cause of all material andspiritual existence. Arjuna accepts Krishna as theSupreme Being, quoting great sages who have alsodone so.[web 14]

11. Visvarupa–Darsana yoga (The Manifesting of theOne and Manifold[32] contains 55 verses): On Ar-juna’s request, Krishna displays his “universal form”(Viśvarūpa),[web 15] a theophany of a being facingevery way and emitting the radiance of a thousandsuns, containing all other beings and material in ex-istence.

12. Bhakti yoga (The Religion of Faith[32] contains 20verses): In this chapter Krishna glorifies the path ofdevotion to God. Krishna describes the process ofdevotional service (Bhakti yoga). He also explainsdifferent forms of spiritual disciplines.[web 16]

13. Ksetra–Ksetrajna Vibhaga yoga (Religion by Sep-aration of Matter and Spirit[32] contains 35 verses):The difference between transient perishable phys-ical body and the immutable eternal soul is de-scribed. The difference between individual con-

5

Krishna displays his Vishvarupa (Universal Form) to Arjuna onthe battlefield of Kurukshetra, described in Visvarupa–Darsanayoga, chapter 11

sciousness and universal consciousness is also madeclear.[web 17]

14. Gunatraya–Vibhaga yoga (Religion by Separationfrom the Qualities[32] contains 27 verses): Krishnaexplains the three modes (gunas) of material na-ture pertaining to goodness, passion, and nescience.Their causes, characteristics, and influence on a liv-ing entity are also described.[web 18]

15. Purusottama yoga (Religion by Attaining theSupreme[32] contains 20 verses): Krishna iden-tifies the transcendental characteristics ofGod such as, omnipotence, omniscience, andomnipresence.[web 19] Krishna also describes asymbolic tree (representing material existence),which has its roots in the heavens and its foliageon earth. Krishna explains that this tree should befelled with the “axe of detachment”, after whichone can go beyond to his supreme abode.

16. Daivasura–Sampad–Vibhaga yoga (The Sepa-rateness of the Divine and Undivine[32] contains 24verses): Krishna identifies the human traits of thedivine and the demonic natures. He counsels that toattain the supreme destination one must give up lust,anger, greed, and discern between right and wrongaction by discernment through Buddhi and evidencefrom the scriptures.[web 20]

17. Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga yoga (Religion by theThreefold Kinds of Faith[32] contains 28 verses): Kr-ishna qualifies the three divisions of faith, thoughts,deeds, and even eating habits corresponding to thethree modes (gunas).[web 21]

18. Moksha–Sanyasa yoga (Religion by Deliveranceand Renunciation[32] contains 78 verses): In thischapter, the conclusions of previous seventeen chap-ters are summed up. Krishna asks Arjuna to aban-

don all forms of dharma and simply surrender untohim and describes this as the ultimate perfection oflife.[web 22]

3 Themes

Bhagavad Gita, a 19th-century manuscript

3.1 Dharma

Main article: Dharma

The term dharma has a number of meanings.[38] Funda-mentally, it means “what is right”.[38] Early in the text, re-sponding to Arjuna’s despondency, Krishna asks him tofollow his swadharma,[39][note 3] “the dharma that belongsto a particular man (Arjuna) as a member of a particularvarna, (i.e., the ksatriya).”[39]

According to Vivekananda:

If one reads this one Shloka, one gets allthe merits of reading the entire Gita; for in thisone Shloka lies imbedded the whole Messageof the Gita.”[40]

6 3 THEMES

क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थनैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते । क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यंत्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परंतप॥

Do not yield to unmanliness, O son ofPrithâ. It does not become you. Shake off thisbase faint-heartedness and arise, O scorcher ofenemies! (2.3)

3.1.1 Dharma and heroism

The Bhagavad Gita is set in the narrative frame of theMahabharata, which values heroism, “energy, dedicationand self-sacrifice”,[1] as the dharma, “holy duty”[41] ofthe Ksatriya (warrior).[41][1][42] Axel Michaels in his bookHinduism: Past and Present writes that in the BhagavadGita, Arjuna is “exhorted by his charioteer, Kṛṣṇa, amongothers, to stop hesitating and fulfill his Kṣatriya (warrior)duty as a warrior and kill.”[1]

According to Malinar, a central point in the dispute be-tween the two parties in the Mahabharata is the ques-tion how to define “the law of heroism”.[43][note 4] Malinargives a description of the dharma of a Ksatriya (warrior)based on theUdyogaparvan, the fifth book of theMahab-harata:

This duty consists first of all in standingone’s ground and fighting for status. The mainduty of a warrior is never to submit to any-body. A warrior must resist any impulse toself-preservation that would make him avoida fight. In brief, he ought to be a man (pu-ruso bhava; cf. 5.157.6; 13;15). Some of themost vigorous formulations of what called the“heart” or the “essence” of heroism (ksatrahr-daya) come from the ladies of the family. Theybare shown most unforgiving with regard tothe humiliations they have gone through, theloss of their status and honour, not to speak ofthe shame of having a weak man in the house,whether husband, son or brother.[2][note 5]

Michaels defines heroism as “power assimilated with in-terest in salvation”.[44] According to Michaels:

Even though the frame story of theMahab-harata is rather simple, the epic has an out-standing significance for Hindu heroism. Theheroism of the Pandavas, the ideals of honorand courage in battle, are constant sources oftreatises in which it is not sacrifice, renunci-ation of the world, or erudition that is val-ued, but energy, dedication and self-sacrifice.The Bhagavad Gita, inserted in the sixth book(Bhismaparvan), and probably completed inthe second century A.D., is such a text, that is,a philosophical and theistic treatise, with which

the Pandava is exhorted by his charioteer, Kr-ishna, among others, to stop hesitating and ful-fill his Kṣatriya (warrior) duty as a warrior andkill.[1]

According to Malinar, “Arjuna’s crisis and some of thearguments put forward to call him to action are connectedto the debates on war and peace in the UdP [UdyogaParva]".[45] According to Malinar, the UdP emphasizesthat one must put up with fate and, the BhG personalisesthe surrender one’s personal interests to the power of des-tiny by “propagating the view that accepting and enactingthe fatal course of events is an act of devotion to this god[Krsna] and his cause.”[45]

3.1.2 Modern interpretations of dharma

Svadharma and svabhava The eighteenth chapter ofthe Gita examines the relationship between svadharmaand svabhava.[note 6][46] This chapter uses the gunas ofShankya philosophy to present a series of typologies, anduses the same term to characterise the specific activitiesof the four varnas, which are distinguished by the "gunasproceeding from their nature.”[46]

Aurobindo modernizes the concept of dharma and svab-hava by internalizing it, away from the social order andits duties toward one’s personal capacities, which leadsto a radical individualism,[47] “finding the fulfillment ofthe purpose of existence in the individual alone.”[47] Hededuced from the Gita the doctrine that “the functionsof a man ought to be determined by his natural turn,gift, and capacities”,[47] that the individual should “de-velop freely”[47] and thereby would be best able to servesociety.[47]

Gandhi’s view differed from Aurobindo’s view.[48] Herecognized in the concept of swadharma his idea ofswadeshi, the idea that “man owes his service above all tothose who are nearest to him by birth and situation.”[48]

To him, swadeshi was "swadharma applied to one’s im-mediate environment.”[49]

The Field of Dharma The first reference to dharma inthe Bhagavad Gita occurs in its first verse, where Dhri-tarashtra refers to the Kurukshetra, the location of thebattlefield, as the Field of Dharma, “The Field of Righ-teousness or Truth”.[38] According to Fowler, dharmain this verse may refer to the sanatana dharma, “whatHindus understand as their religion, for it is a termthat encompasses wide aspects of religious and tradi-tional thought and is more readily used for ""religion”.[38]

Therefore, 'Field of action' implies the field of righteous-ness, where truth will eventually triumph.[38]

“The Field of Dharma” is also called the “Field of action”by Sri Aurobindo, a freedom fighter and philosopher.[38]

Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher and the secondpresident of India, saw the “The Field of Dharma” as

3.1 Dharma 7

the world (Bhavsagar), which is a “battleground for moralstruggle”.[50]

Illustration of the battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna (far right), withKrishna as the charioteer, is battling the Kauravas as the godslook down.

Allegory of war Unlike any other religious scripture,the Bhagavad Gita broadcasts its message in the centre ofthe battlefield.[51] The choice of such an unholy ambiencefor the delivery of a philosophical discourse has been anenigma to many commentators.[web 25] Several modern In-dian writers have interpreted the battlefield setting as anallegory of “the war within”.[52]

Eknath Easwaran writes that the Gita ' s subject is “thewar within, the struggle for self-mastery that every hu-man being must wage if he or she is to emerge from lifevictorious”,[53] and that “The language of battle is oftenfound in the scriptures, for it conveys the strenuous, long,drawn-out campaign we must wage to free ourselves fromthe tyranny of the ego, the cause of all our suffering andsorrow.”[54]

Swami Nikhilananda, takes Arjuna as an allegory of Āt-man, Krishna as an allegory of Brahman, Arjuna’s char-iot as the body, and Dhritarashtra as the ignorance filled

mind.[note 7]

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, in his commentary onthe Gita,[55] interprets the battle as “an allegory in whichthe battlefield is the soul and Arjuna, man’s higher im-pulses struggling against evil”.[56]

Swami Vivekananda also emphasised that the first dis-course in the Gita related to the war could be takenallegorically.[57] Vivekananda further remarked,

This Kurukshetra War is only an allegory.When we sum up its esoteric significance, itmeans the war which is constantly going onwithin man between the tendencies of good andevil.[58]

In Aurobindo's view, Krishna was a historical figure, buthis significance in the Gita is as a “symbol of the di-vine dealings with humanity”,[59] while Arjuna typifiesa “struggling human soul”.[60] However, Aurobindo re-jected the interpretation that the Gita, and the Mahab-harata by extension, is “an allegory of the inner life,and has nothing to do with our outward human life andactions":[60]

...That is a view which the general charac-ter and the actual language of the epic doesnot justify and, if pressed, would turn thestraightforward philosophical language of theGita into a constant, laborious and somewhatpuerile mystification....the Gita is written inplain terms and professes to solve the great eth-ical and spiritual difficulties which the life ofman raises, and it will not do to go behind thisplain language and thought and wrest them tothe service of our fancy. But there is this muchof truth in the view, that the setting of the doc-trine though not symbolical, is certainly typi-cal...

Swami Krishnananda regards the characters and the cir-cumstances depicted in the Bhagavad Gita as symbolic ofvarious moods, vicissitudes, and facets of human life.[61]

He highlights the universal applicability of theGita to hu-man life by saying:

It is not the story of some people that livedsometime ago but a characterisation of all peo-ple that may live at any time in the history ofthe world.[62]

Swami Chinmayananda writes:

Here in the Bhagavad Gita, we find a prac-tical handbook of instruction on how best wecan re-organise our inner ways of thinking,feeling, and acting in our everyday life and

8 3 THEMES

draw from ourselves a larger gush of productiv-ity to enrich the life around us, and to emblazonthe subjective life within us.[63]

3.2 Moksha: Liberation

Main article: Moksha

Liberation ormoksha in Vedanta philosophy is not some-thing that can be acquired or reached. Ātman (Soul), thegoal of moksha, is something that is always present as theessence of the self, and can be revealed by deep intuitiveknowledge. While the Upanishads largely uphold such amonistic viewpoint of liberation, the Bhagavad Gita alsoaccommodates the dualistic and theistic aspects of mok-sha. The Gita, while occasionally hinting at impersonalBrahman as the goal, revolves around the relationship be-tween the Self and a personal God or Saguna Brahman.A synthesis of knowledge, devotion, and desireless actionis given as a prescription for Arjuna’s despondence; thesame combination is suggested as a way to moksha.[64]

Winthrop Sargeant further explains, “In the model pre-sented by the Bhagavad Gītā, every aspect of life is infact a way of salvation.”[65]

3.3 Yoga

Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita refers to the skill of unionwith the ultimate reality or the Absolute.[66] In his com-mentary, Zaehner says that the root meaning of yoga is“yoking” or “preparation"; he proposes the basic meaning“spiritual exercise”, which conveys the various nuances inthe best way.[67]

Sivananda’s commentary regards the eighteen chaptersof the Bhagavad Gita as having a progressive order, bywhich Krishna leads “Arjuna up the ladder of Yoga fromone rung to another.”[68] The influential commentatorMadhusudana Sarasvati divided theGita ' s eighteen chap-ters into three sections of six chapters each. SwamiGambhirananda characterises Madhusudana Sarasvati’ssystem as a successive approach in which Karma yogaleads to Bhakti yoga, which in turn leads to Gyaanayoga:[69][70]

• Chapters 1–6 = Karma yoga, the means to the finalgoal

• Chapters 7–12 = Bhakti yoga or devotion

• Chapters 13–18 = Gyaana yoga or knowledge, thegoal itself

3.3.1 Karma yoga

Main article: Karma yoga

As noted by various commentators, the Bhagavad Gitaoffers a practical approach to liberation in the form ofKarma yoga. The path of Karma yoga upholds the neces-sity of action. However, this action is to be undertakenwithout any attachment to the work or desire for results.Bhagavad Gita terms this “inaction in action and actionin inaction (4.18)". The concept of such detached ac-tion is also called Nishkam Karma, a term not used in theGita.[71] Lord Krishna, in the following verses, elaborateson the role actions, performed without desire and attach-ment, play in attaining freedom from material bondageand transmigration:

To action alone hast thou a right and neverat all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action bethy motive; neither let there be in thee any at-tachment to inaction

Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner ofwealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, withan even mind in success and failure, for even-ness of mind is called yoga. (2.47-8)[72]

With the body, with the mind, with the in-tellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogisperform action toward self-purification, havingabandoned attachment. He who is disciplinedin Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action,attains steady peace. (5.11)[web 26]

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi writes, “The object ofthe Gita appears to me to be that of showing the mostexcellent way to attain self-realization”, and this can beachieved by selfless action, “By desireless action; byrenouncing fruits of action; by dedicating all activitiesto God, i.e., by surrendering oneself to Him body andsoul.” Gandhi called the Gita “The Gospel of SelflessAction”.[73] To achieve true liberation, it is important tocontrol all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sensepleasures. The following verses illustrate this:[74]

When a man dwells in his mind on the ob-ject of sense, attachment to them is produced.From attachment springs desire and from de-sire comes anger.

From anger arises bewilderment, from be-wilderment loss of memory; and from loss ofmemory, the destruction of intelligence andfrom the destruction of intelligence he per-ishes. (2.62-3)[74]

3.3.2 Bhakti yoga

Main article: Bhakti yoga

The introduction to chapter seven of the Bhagavad Gitaexplains bhakti as a mode of worship which consistsof unceasing and loving remembrance of God. Faith

9

(Śraddhā) and total surrender to a chosen God (Ishta-deva) are considered to be important aspects of bhakti.[75]

Theologian Catherine Cornille writes, “The text [of theGita] offers a survey of the different possible disciplinesfor attaining liberation through knowledge (Gyaana), ac-tion (karma), and loving devotion to God (bhakti), focus-ing on the latter as both the easiest and the highest pathto salvation.”[76] M. R. Sampatkumaran, a Bhagavad Gitascholar, explains in his overview of Ramanuja’s commen-tary on theGita, “The point is that mere knowledge of thescriptures cannot lead to final release. Devotion, med-itation, and worship are essential.”[77] Ramakrishna be-lieved that the essential message of the Gita could be ob-tained by repeating the wordGita several times,[78] "'Gita,Gita, Gita', you begin, but then find yourself saying 'ta-Gi, ta-Gi, ta-Gi'. Tagi means one who has renounced ev-erything for God.” In the following verses, Krishna eluci-dates the importance of bhakti:

And of all yogins, he who full of faith wor-ships Me, with his inner self abiding in Me,him, I hold to be the most attuned (to me inYoga). (6.47)[79]

... those who, renouncing all actions inMe, and regarding Me as the Supreme, wor-ship Me... For those whose thoughts have en-tered into Me, I am soon the deliverer fromthe ocean of death and transmigration, Arjuna.Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellecton Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter.(12.6)[web 27]

Radhakrishnan writes that the verse 11.55 is “the essenceof bhakti” and the “substance of the whole teaching ofthe Gita":[80]

Those who make me the supreme goal ofall their work and act without selfish attach-ment, who devote themselves to me completelyand are free from ill will for any creature, enterinto me.(11.55)[81]

3.3.3 Jnana yoga

Main article: Jnana yogaJnana yoga is the path of wisdom, knowledge, and directexperience of Brahman as the ultimate reality. The pathrenounces both desires and actions, and is therefore de-picted as being steep and very difficult in the BhagavadGita. This path is often associated with the non-dualisticVedantic belief of the identity of the Ātman with theBrahman. For the followers of this path, the realisationof the identity of Ātman and Brahman is held as the keyto liberation.[82]

When a sensible man ceases to see differ-ent identities due to different material bodies

Adi Shankara with Disciples, by Raja Ravi Varma (1904), pro-pounding knowledge of absolute as of primary importance

and he sees how beings are expanded every-where, he attains to the Brahman conception.(13.31)[web 28]

Those who see with eyes of knowledge thedifference between the body and the knower ofthe body, and can also understand the processof liberation from bondage in material nature,attain to the supreme goal. (13.35)[web 29]

4 Commentaries and translations

Bhagavad Gita integrates various schools of thought, no-tably Vedanta, Samkhya and Yoga, and other theisticideas. It remains a popular text for commentators be-longing to various philosophical schools. However, itscomposite nature also leads to varying interpretations ofthe text. In the words of Mysore Hiriyanna,

[TheGita] is one of the hardest books to in-terpret, which accounts for the numerous com-mentaries on it–each differing from the rest inone essential point or the other.[83]

Different translators and commentators have widely dif-fering views on what multi-layered Sanskrit words andpassages signify, and their presentation in English de-pending on the sampradaya they are affiliated to.

10 4 COMMENTARIES AND TRANSLATIONS

Richard H. Davis cites Callewaert & Hemraj’s 1982 countof 1891 BG translations in 75 languages, including 273 inEnglish.[84]

4.1 Classical commentaries

The oldest and most influential medieval commentary wasthat of Adi Shankara (788–820 A. D.),[85] also knownas Shankaracharya (Sanskrit: Śaṅkarācārya).[86][87]

Shankara’s commentary was based on a recension of theGita containing 700 verses, and that recension has beenwidely adopted by others.[88]

Ramanujacharya’s commentary chiefly seeks to show thatthe discipline of devotion to God (Bhakti yoga) is the wayof salvation.[89]

Madhva, a commentator of the Vedanta school,[90] whosedates are given either as (1199–1276 CE)[91] or as (1238–1317 CE),[65] also known as Madhvacharya (Sanskrit:Madhvācārya), wrote a commentary on the BhagavadGita, which exemplifies the thinking of the “dualist”school.[86] Winthrop Sargeant quotes a dualistic asser-tion of the Madhva’s school that there is “an eternaland complete distinction between the Supreme, the manysouls, and matter and its divisions”.[65] His commentaryon the Gita is called Gita Bhāshya. It has been annotatedon by many ancient pontiffs of Dvaita Vedanta schoollike Padmanabha Tirtha, Jayatirtha, and RaghavendraTirtha.[92]

In the Shaiva tradition,[93] the renowned philosopherAbhinavagupta (10–11th century CE) has written a com-mentary on a slightly variant recension called Gitartha-Samgraha. Other classical commentators includeNimbarka (1162 CE), Vidyadhiraja Tirtha, Vallabha(1479 CE)., Madhusudana Saraswati, RaghavendraTirtha, Vanamali Mishra, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486CE),[94] while Dnyaneshwar (1275–1296 CE) translatedand commented on the Gita in Marathi, in his bookDnyaneshwari.[95]

4.2 Independence movement

At a time when Indian nationalists were seeking an in-digenous basis for social and political action, BhagavadGita provided them with a rationale for their activismand fight against injustice.[96] Among nationalists, notablecommentaries were written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak andMahatma Gandhi, who used the text to help inspire theIndian independence movement.[97][98] Tilak wrote hiscommentary Shrimadh Bhagvad Gita Rahasya while injail during the period 1910–1911 serving a six-year sen-tence imposed by the British colonial government in Indiafor sedition.[99] While noting that the Gita teaches possi-ble paths to liberation, his commentary places most em-phasis on Karma yoga.[100] No book was more central toGandhi’s life and thought than the Bhagavad Gita, which

he referred to as his “spiritual dictionary”.[101] During hisstay in Yeravda jail in 1929,[101] Gandhi wrote a com-mentary on the Bhagavad Gita in Gujarati. The Gujaratimanuscript was translated into English by Mahadev De-sai, who provided an additional introduction and com-mentary. It was published with a foreword by Gandhi in1946.[102][103] Mahatma Gandhi expressed his love for theGita in these words:

I find a solace in the Bhagavadgītā that Imiss even in the Sermon on the Mount. Whendisappointment stares me in the face and allalone I see not one ray of light, I go back tothe Bhagavadgītā. I find a verse here and averse there and I immediately begin to smilein the midst of overwhelming tragedies – andmy life has been full of external tragedies –and if they have left no visible, no indeliblescar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bha-gavadgītā.[104][105]

4.3 Hindu revivalism and Neo-Hindumovements

Three translations: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, a Gujarati translationby Gita Press, and another English one published by Barnes &Noble.

Although Vivekananda did not write any commentarieson the Bhagavad Gita, his works contained numerous ref-erences to the Gita, such as his lectures on the four yo-gas – Bhakti, Gyaana, Karma, and Raja.[106] Throughthe message of the Gita, Vivekananda sought to ener-gise the people of India to claim their own dormantbut strong identity.[107] Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaythought that the answer to the problems that beset Hindusociety was a revival of Hinduism in its purity, whichlay in the reinterpretation of Bhagavad Gita for a newIndia.[108] Aurobindo saw Bhagavad Gita as a “scriptureof the future religion” and suggested that Hinduism hadacquired a much wider relevance through the Gita.[109]

Sivananda called Bhagavad Gita “the most precious jewelof Hindu literature” and suggested its introduction intothe curriculum of Indian schools and colleges.[110] In thelectures Chinmayananda gave, on tours undertaken torevive of moral and spiritual values of the Hindus, he

11

borrowed the concept of Gyaana yajna, or the worshipto invoke divine wisdom, from the Gita.[111] He viewedthe Gita as a universal scripture to turn a person froma state of agitation and confusion to a state of completevision, inner contentment, and dynamic action. Teach-ings of International Society for Krishna Consciousness(ISKCON), a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organisationwhich spread rapidly in North America in the 1970sand 1980s, are based on a translation of the Gita calledBhagavad-Gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhak-tivedanta Swami Prabhupada.[112]

4.4 Other modern commentaries

Among notable modern commentators of the BhagavadGita are Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vinoba Bhave, MohandasKaramchand Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo , Sarvepalli Rad-hakrishnan, Chinmayananda, etc. Chinmayananda tooka syncretistic approach to interpret the text of theGita.[113][114]

Paramahansa Yogananda's two volume commentary onthe Bhagavad Gita, called God Talks With Arjuna: TheBhagavad Gita, was released 1995.[115]

Eknath Easwaran has also written a commentary on theBhagavad Gita. It examines the applicability of the prin-ciples of Gita to the problems of modern life.[116]

Other notable commentators include Jeaneane Fowler,Ithamar Theodor, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and SadlyVasvani.[117][118][119]

4.5 Scholarly translations

Ramanandacharya delivering a discourse. He has deliveredmany discourses on Gita and released the first Braille versionof the scripture.

The first English translation of the Bhagavad Gita wasdone by Charles Wilkins in 1785.[120][121] In 1981, Lar-son listed more than 40 English translations of theGita, stating that “A complete listing of Gita translationsand a related secondary bibliography would be nearlyendless”.[122]:514 He stated that “Overall... there is a mas-sive translational tradition in English, pioneered by the

British, solidly grounded philologically by the French andGermans, provided with its indigenous roots by a rich her-itage of modern Indian comment and reflection, extendedinto various disciplinary areas by Americans, and hav-ing generated in our time a broadly based cross-culturalawareness of the importance of the Bhagavad Gita bothas an expression of a specifically Indian spirituality andas one of the great religious “classics” of all time.”[122]:518

Sanskrit scholar Barbara Stoler Miller produced a trans-lation in 1986 intended to emphasise the poem’s influ-ence and current context within English Literature, espe-cially the works of T.S. Eliot, Henry David Thoreau andRalph Waldo Emerson.[123] The translation was praisedby scholars as well as literary critics[124] and became oneof most continually popular translations to date.[125]

The Gita has also been translated into other Europeanlanguages. In 1808, passages from the Gita were partof the first direct translation of Sanskrit into German,appearing in a book through which Friedrich Schlegelbecame known as the founder of Indian philology inGermany.[126] Swami Rambhadracharya released the firstBraille version of the scripture, with the original San-skrit text and a Hindi commentary, on 30 Novem-ber 2007.[web 30] The former Turkish Scholar-Politician,Bulent Ecevit translated several Sanskrit scriptures in-cluding the Gita into Turkish language. Mahavidwan R.Raghava Iyengar translated the Gita in Tamil in sandammetre poetic form.[127]

5 Contemporary popularity

With the translation and study of the Bhagavad Gita byWestern scholars beginning in the early 18th century,the Bhagavad Gita gained a growing appreciation andpopularity.[web 1] According to the well-known Indian his-torian and writer Khushwant Singh, Rudyard Kipling's fa-mous poem "If—" is “the essence of the message of TheGita in English.”[128]

5.1 Appraisal

Main article: Influence of Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita has been highly praised, not onlyby prominent Indians including Mohandas KaramchandGandhi and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,[129] but also byAldous Huxley, Henry David Thoreau, J. Robert Oppen-heimer,[130] Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, HermanHesse,[131][132]Bulent Ecevit[133] and others. The Gita ' semphasis on selfless service was a prime source of inspi-ration for Gandhi,[73] who said:

When doubts haunt me, when disappoint-ments stare me in the face, and I see not one rayof hope on the horizon, I turn toBhagavad-Gita

12 7 NOTES

and find a verse to comfort me; and I immedi-ately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelm-ing sorrow. My life has been full of externaltragedies and if they have not left any visibleor invisible effect on me, I owe it to the teach-ing of the Bhagavad Gita.[134]

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independentIndia, commented on the Gita:

The Bhagavad-Gita deals essentially withthe spiritual foundation of human existence.It is a call of action to meet the obligationsand duties of life; yet keeping in view thespiritual nature and grander purpose of theuniverse.[135]

J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and direc-tor of the Manhattan Project, learned Sanskrit in 1933and read the Bhagavad Gita in the original form, citing itlater as one of the most influential books to shape his phi-losophy of life. Upon witnessing the world’s first nucleartest in 1945, he later said he had thought of the quotation“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”, verse32 from chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita.[130][136]

5.2 Adaptations

1

Bhagvad-Gita Treatise of Self-help by BS Murthy[137]

Philip Glass retold the story of Gandhi’s early develop-ment as an activist in South Africa through the text of

the Gita in the opera Satyagraha (1979). The entire li-bretto of the opera consists of sayings from the Gita sungin the original Sanskrit.[web 31] In Douglas Cuomo’s Ar-juna’s dilemma, the philosophical dilemma faced by Ar-juna is dramatised in operatic form with a blend of In-dian and Western music styles.[web 32] The 1993 Sanskritfilm, Bhagavad Gita, directed by G. V. Iyer won the 1993National Film Award for Best Film.[web 33][web 34]

The 1995 novel and 2000 golf movie The Legend of Bag-ger Vance are roughly based on the Bhagavad Gita.[138]

6 See also• Ashtavakra Gita

• Avadhuta Gita

• The Ganesha Gita

• Puranas

• Self-consciousness (Vedanta)

• Uddhava Gita

• Vedas

• Vyadha Gita

7 Notes[1] The Bhagavad Gita also integrates theism and

transcendentalism[web 1] or spiritualmonism,[6] andidentifies a God of personal characteristics with theBrahman of the Vedic tradition.[web 1]

[2] Śruti texts, such as the Upanishads, are believed to berevelations of divine origin, whereas Smritis are authoredrecollections of tradition and are therefore fallible.

[3] Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: “Swadharma is that action which isin accordance with your nature. It is acting in accordancewith your skills and talents, your own nature (svabhava),and that which you are responsible for (karma).”[web 23]

[4] Malinar: "[W]hat law must a warrior follow, on what au-thority, and how does the definition of kṣatriyadharmaaffect the position of the king, who is supposed to protectand represent it?"[43]

[5] Compare Chivalric code of western knights, and Zen atWar for a Japanese fusion of Buddhism with warfare-ethics.

[6] “Character”, “inherent nature”, “natural state orconstitution.”[web 24]

[7] Nikhilananda & Hocking 2006, p. 2 “Arjuna representsthe individual soul, and Sri Krishna the Supreme Souldwelling in every heart. Arjuna’s chariot is the body. Theblind king Dhritarashtra is the mind under the spell of ig-norance, and his hundred sons are man’s numerous evil

13

tendencies. The battle, a perennial one, is between thepower of good and the power of evil. The warrior wholistens to the advice of the Lord speaking from within willtriumph in this battle and attain the Highest Good.”

8 References[1] Michaels 2004, p. 59.

[2] Malinar 2007, p. 39.

[3] Deutsch 2004, p. 60.

[4] Deutsch 2004, p. 61.

[5] Scheepers 2000.

[6] Raju 1992, p. 211.

[7] Deutsch 2004, p. 61-62.

[8] Deutsch & Dalvi 2004, p. 97

[9] “Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi”. Encyclopedia Britan-nica.

[10] Fowler 2012, p. xxvi

[11] Fowler 2012, p. xxiv

[12] Upadhyaya 1998, p. 16

[13] Hiltebeitel 2002.

[14] Raju 1992, p. 211-212.

[15] Deutsch 2004, p. 62.

[16] Nicholson 2010.

[17] Nicholson 2014.

[18] Nicholson 2010, p. 7.

[19] Singh 2005, p. 37.

[20] Schouler 2009.

[21] “Hare Krishna in the Modern World” – Page 59, by Gra-ham Dwyer, Richard J. Cole

[22] Coburn, Thomas B. (1984), "'Scripture' in India: To-wards a Typology of the Word in Hindu Life”, Journalof the American Academy of Religion 52 (3): 435–459,doi:10.1093/jaarel/52.3.435, JSTOR 1464202

[23] Tapasyananda 1990, p. 1

[24] Pandit 2005, p. 27.

[25] Fowler 2012, p. xxii

[26] Deutsch 2004, p. 59-61.

[27] Bose 1986, p. 71

[28] Coburn 1991, p. 27

[29] Gambhiranda 1997, p. xvii

[30] Egenes 2003, p. 4

[31] Chidbhavananda 1997, p. 33

[32] translated by Sir Edwin Arnold (1993), Bhagavadgita(Unabridged ed.), New York, NY: Dover Publications,ISBN 0486277828

[33] Chinmayananda 1998, p. 3

[34] Ranganathananda 2000, pp. 15–25

[35] Miller 1986, p. 59

[36] Southgate 2005, p. 246

[37] Max Bernhard Weinsten, Welt- und Lebensanschauun-gen, Hervorgegangen aus Religion, Philosophie und Natur-erkenntnis (“World and Life Views, Emerging From Reli-gion, Philosophy and Nature”) (1910), page 213: “Wirwerden später sehen, daß die Indier auch den Pandeis-mus gelehrt haben. Der letzte Zustand besteht in dieserLehre im Eingehen in die betreffende Gottheit, Brahmaoder Wischnu. So sagt in der Bhagavad-Gîtâ Krishna-Wischnu, nach vielen Lehren über ein vollkommenes Da-sein.”

[38] Fowler 2012, p. 2.

[39] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 261.

[40] Vivekananda.

[41] Miller 2004, p. 3.

[42] Malinar 2007, p. 36–39.

[43] Malinar 2007, p. 38.

[44] Michaels 2004, p. 278.

[45] Malinar 2007, p. 36.

[46] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 264.

[47] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 266.

[48] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, p. 267.

[49] Hacker & Halbfass 1995, pp. 268

[50] Fowler 2012, p. 2

[51] Krishnananda 1980, pp. 12–13

[52] Easwaran 2007, p. 15.

[53] Easwaran 2007, p. 15

[54] Easwaran 2007, p. 24

[55] see Gandhi 2009

[56] Fischer 2010, pp. 15–16

[57] Vivekananda, Swami, “Sayings and Utterances”, TheComplete works of Swami Vivekananda 5

[58] Vivekananda, Swami, “Lectures and Discourses ~Thoughts on the Gita”, The Complete works of SwamiVivekananda 4

14 8 REFERENCES

[59] Aurobindo 2000, pp. 15–16

[60] Aurobindo 2000, pp. 20–21

[61] Krishnananda 1980, pp. 5–7

[62] Krishnananda 1980, p. 6

[63] Chinmayananda 2007, pp. 10–13

[64] Fowler 2012, p. xlv–vii

[65] Sargeant 2009, p. xix

[66] Krishnananda 1980, p. 10

[67] Zaehner 1969, p. 148

[68] Sivananda 1995, p. xvii

[69] Gambhiranda 1997, p. xx

[70] Gambhiranda 1998, p. 16

[71] Fowler 2012, p. xliii–iv

[72] Radhakrishnan 1993, p. 120

[73] Gandhi 2009, pp. xv–xxiv

[74] Radhakrishnan 1993, pp. 125–126

[75] Fowler 2012, p. xlii

[76] Cornille 2006, p. 2

[77] For quotation and summarizing bhakti as “a mode of wor-ship which consists of unceasing and loving remembranceof God” see: Sampatkumaran 1985, p. xxiii

[78] Isherwood 1965, p. 2

[79] Radhakrishnan 1993, p. 211, verse 6.47

[80] Radhakrishnan 1993, p. 289

[81] Easwaran, Eknath (2008). The Bhagavad Gita (Seconded.). Nilgiri. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-58638-019-9.

[82] Fowler 2012, p. xli

[83] Singh 2006, pp. 54–55

[84] Davis 2014.

[85] Dating for Shankara as 788–820 CE is from: Sargeant2009, p. xix

[86] Zaehner 1969, p. 3

[87] For Shankara’s commentary falling within the Vedantaschool of tradition, see: Flood 1996, p. 124

[88] Gambhiranda 1997, p. xviii

[89] Sampatkumaran 1985, p. xx

[90] For classification of Madhva’s commentary as within theVedanta school see: Flood 1996, p. 124

[91] Dating of 1199–1276 CE for Madhva is from:Gambhiranda 1997, p. xix

[92] Rao 2002, p. 86

[93] For classification of Abhinavagupta’s commentary on theGita as within the Shaiva tradition see: Flood 1996, p. 124

[94] Singh 2006, p. 55

[95] see Gyaānadeva & Pradhan 1987

[96] Robinson 2006, p. 70

[97] For B. G. Tilak and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi asnotable commentators see: Gambhiranda 1997, p. xix

[98] For notability of the commentaries by B. G. Tilak andGandhi and their use to inspire the independence move-ment see: Sargeant 2009, p. xix

[99] Stevenson, Robert W., “Tilak and the Bhagavadgita’sDoctrine of Karmayoga”, in: Minor 1986, p. 44

[100] Stevenson, Robert W., “Tilak and the Bhagavadgita’sDoctrine of Karmayoga”, in: Minor 1986, p. 49

[101] Jordens, J. T. F., “Gandhi and the Bhagavadgita”, in:Minor 1986, p. 88

[102] Gandhi 2009, First Edition 1946. Other editions: 1948,1951, 1956.

[103] A shorter edition, omitting the bulk of Desai’s additionalcommentary, has been published as: Anasaktiyoga: TheGospel of Selfless Action. Jim Rankin, editor. The authoris listed as M.K. Gandhi; Mahadev Desai, translator. (DryBones Press, San Francisco, 1998) ISBN 1-883938-47-3.

[104] Quotation from M. K. Gandhi. Young India. (1925), pp.1078–1079, is cited from Radhakrishnan 1993 Front mat-ter.

[105] Sahadeo 2011, p. 129

[106] Minor 1986, p. 131

[107] Minor 1986, p. 144

[108] Minor 1986, p. 36

[109] Robinson 2006, p. 69

[110] Robinson 2006, p. 102

[111] Patchen 1994, pp. 185–189

[112] Jones & Ryan 2007, p. 199

[113] For Aurobindo, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and Chin-mayananda as notable commentators see: Sargeant 2009,p. xix

[114] For Aurobindo as notable commentators, see:Gambhiranda 1997, p. xix

[115] Yogananda 1993

[116] Easwaran 1993

[117] see Fowler 2012 and Theodor 2010

[118] Mahesh Yogi 1990

9.1 Printed sources 15

[119] Tilak 1924

[120] Clarke 1997, pp. 58–59

[121] Winternitz 1972, p. 11

[122] Gerald James Larson (1981), “The Song Celestial: Twocenturies of the Bhagavad Gita in English”, Philoso-phy East and West: A Quarterly of Comparative Phi-losophy (University of Hawai'i Press) 31 (4): 513–540,doi:10.2307/1398797, JSTOR 1398797.

[123] Miller 1986, pp. 14–17

[124] Bloom 1995, p. 531

[125] Doniger, Wendy (August 1993), “Obituary: BarbaraStoler Miller”, Journal of Asian Studies 52 (3): 813–815,doi:10.1017/S002191180003789X, JSTOR 2058944

[126] What had previously been known of Indian litera-ture in Germany had been translated from the English.Winternitz 1972, p. 15

[127] Bhagavadgita, Chennai, India: Bharati Publications, 1997

[128] Khushwant Singh, Review of The Book of Prayer byRenuka Narayanan , 2001

[129] Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita, byRobert Neil Minor, year = 1986, Page 161

[130] Hijiya, James A. The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer” Pro-ceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 144, no.2 (PDF). Retrieved 23 December 2013.

[131] Pandit 2005, p. 27

[132] Hume 1959, p. 29

[133] “The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion”. telegraphin-dia.com.

[134] Sharma 2008, p. 42

[135] Londhe 2008, p. 191

[136] See Robert Oppenheimer#Trinity for other refs

[137] BS Murthy (July 10, 2013). Bhagvad-Gita : Treatise ofself-help (3 ed.). Self Imprint.

[138] https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=3988

9 Sources

9.1 Printed sources

• Adgadanandji, Swami (1983), Yatharth Geeta, ShriParamhans Ashram

• Aurobindo, Sri (2000), Essays on the Gita, SriAu-robindoAshram Publication Dept, ISBN 978-81-7058-612-8

• Bansal, J. L. (2013), Srimad Bhagavadgita (TheVedanta Text)|, JPH, Jaipur, India, ISBN 978-14-9230-465-4

• Bloom, Harold (1995), The Western canon : thebooks and school of the ages (1st Riverhead ed.),New York: Riverhead Books, ISBN 978-1-57322-514-4

• Bose, Buddhadeva (1986), The Book of Yudhisthir:A Study of the Mahabharat of Vyas, Orient Black-swan, ISBN 978-0-86131-460-7

• Chidbhavananda, Swami (1997), The BhagavadGita, Tirupparaitturai: Sri Ramakrishna Tapo-vanam, ISBN 978-8-180-85147-6

• Chinmayananda, Swami (1998), Shreemad Bha-gawad Geeta chapter I & II: original Sanskrit textwith Roman transliteration, word-for-word mean-ing, translation and commentary (revised ed.),Mumbai, India: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust,ISBN 81-7597-084-7

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9.2 Online sources[1] “Hinduism”. Encyclopedia Britannica.

[2] “Gita Introduction”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 – 2009U.S.A. Retrieved 2 October 2011.

[3] see “The Mahabharata (Electronic text)". BhandarkarOriental Research Institute, Pune. 1999.

[4] “Gita Dhyana Slokas”. SDL, IIT Madras. Retrieved 10April 2012.

[5] “Chapter 1, Visada Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 –2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[6] “Chapter 2, Sankhya Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998–2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[7] “Chapter 3, Karma Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 –2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[8] “Chapter 4, Gyaana Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 –2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[9] “Chapter 5, Karma Vairagya Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[10] “Chapter 6, Abhyasa Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 –2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[11] “Chapter 7, Paramahamsa ViGyaana yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

18 11 EXTERNAL LINKS

[12] “Chapter 8, Aksara-Parabrahman yoga”. Bhagavad-GitaTrust 1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[13] “Chapter 9, Raja-Vidya-Guhya Yoga”. Bhagavad-GitaTrust 1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[14] “Chapter 10, Vibhuti-Vistara Yoga”. Bhagavad-GitaTrust 1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

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[16] “Chapter 12, Bhakti Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 –2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

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[19] “Chapter 15, Purusottama Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[20] “Chapter 16, Daivasura-Sampad-Vibhaga Yoga”.Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17July 2012.

[21] “Chapter 17, Sraddhatraya-Vibhaga Yoga”. Bhagavad-Gita Trust 1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[22] “Chapter 18, Moksha-Opdesa Yoga”. Bhagavad-GitaTrust 1998 – 2009 U.S.A. Retrieved 17 July 2012.

[23] “What Is Swadharma?". artofliving.org.

[24] Klaus Glashoff. “Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken San-skrit”. spokensanskrit.de.

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[27] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. “Bhagavad-gitaAs It Is, Verse 12.6”. Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network(ISKCON). Archived from the original on 7 December2007. Retrieved 14 January 2008.

[28] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. “Bhagavad-gitaAs It Is, Verse 13.31”. Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network(ISKCON). Retrieved 14 January 2008.

[29] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. “Bhagavad-gitaAs It Is, Verse 13.35”. Bhaktivedanta VedaBase Network(ISKCON). Retrieved 14 January 2008.

[30] “Bhagavad Gita in Braille Language”. Zee News. 3 De-cember 2007. Retrieved 24 April 2011.

[31] Tommasini, Anthony (14 April 2008). “Fanciful Visionson the Mahatma’s Road to Truth and Simplicity”. TheNew York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2009.

[32] Tommasini, Anthony (7 November 2008). “WarriorPrince From India Wrestles With Destiny”. The NewYork Times. Retrieved 16 October 2009.

[33] “40th National Film Awards”. India International FilmFestival. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

[34] “40th National Film Awards (PDF)". Directorate of FilmFestivals. Retrieved 2 March 2012.

10 Further reading• Davis, Richard H. (2014), The “Bhagavad Gita": ABiography, Princeton University Press

11 External links• Sanskrit Wikisource has original text related to

this article: भगवद्गीता

• Works related to The Bhagavad Gita (Arnoldtranslation) at Wikisource

• Bhagavad Gita at DMOZ

19

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20 12 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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