The Bhagavad Gītā, literally “Blessed Lord’s Song,” often referred to as merely the Gītā, is a Hindu scripture rendered in Sanskrit. Considered the most pleasing and profound religious writing in India, it is consulted more than any other Hindu text as a source of spiritual truth and wisdom.
The Bhagavad Gītā is a compilation of 700 verses (divided into eighteen sections) presented as a discourse rendered by the divine charioteer Kṛṣṇa, an incarnation of Viṣṇu, one of the central deities of Hinduism, to the warrior Arjuna at the onset of the legendary battle of Kurukshetra between Arjuna and his brothers on one side and their cousins on the other. The Arjuna has abruptly been overwhelmed by questions about the mass killing that the battle will occasion. Kṛṣṇa answers that Arjuna must abide by his proper social role or dharma as a member of the warrior caste, without considering the outcome.
The Bhagavad Gītā stresses the importance of doing one’s duty and faith in God. Like the great scriptures of the other religions, the Gītā discusses various beliefs, values, and disciplines central to the conduct of a good and meaningful life: devotion, attachment, conflict of motives, ethical actions and consequences, sense of duty, and misgivings from right actions.
Scholars believe that the poem was composed sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, and part of Book VI of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Popular translations and commentaries include the writings of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya (Bhagavadgītābhāṣya,) Rāmānuja, Madhvācārya, Eknath Easwaran, Annie Besant, Sri Aurobindo and Prabhūpada. Sir Edwin Arnold’s renowned Victorian rendering, The Song Celestial (1885,) introduced Mahatma Gandhi to the Bhagavad Gita.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by The Bhagavad Gita
Recommended Reading
- ‘The Bhagavad Gita‘ by Eknath Easwaran
- ‘Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation‘ by Stephen Mitchell
- ‘Bhagavad-Gita As It Is‘ by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
- ‘God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita‘ by Paramahansa Yogananda
- ‘Mahabharata‘ by C. Rajagopalachari
Inspirational Quotes from the Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)
He who has faith has wisdom;
Who lives in self-harmony,
Whose faith is his life;
And he who finds wisdom,
Soon finds the peace Supreme.
—The Bhagavad Gita
As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Because the fool wants to become God, He never finds him. The master is already God, Without ever wishing to be.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps, and whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Greatness
Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Meditation, Knowledge
I look upon all creatures equally; none are less dear to me and none more dear. But those who worship me with love live in me, and I come to life in them.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Nature
Those who are interested in self-realization, in terms of mind and sense control, offer the functions of all the senses, as well as the vital force (breath), as oblations into the fire of the controlled mind.
—The Bhagavad Gita
The soul who meditates on the Self is content to serve the Self and rests satisfied within the Self; there remains nothing more for him to accomplish.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Accomplishment
What is work and what is not work are questions that perplex the wisest of men.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Work
The state of severance of union with sorrow is known by the name of yoga.
—The Bhagavad Gita
If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Courage, Forgiveness
Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life. Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind.
—The Bhagavad Gita
The sage awakes to light in the night of all creatures. That which the world calls day is the night of ignorance to the wise.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Ignorance
When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a lamp in a windless place.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: The Mind
He is not elevated by good fortune or depressed by bad. His mind is established in God, and he is free from delusion.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: The Mind, Mind
An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with material senses. Such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them.
—The Bhagavad Gita
No one attains perfection by merely giving up work.
—The Bhagavad Gita
If due to ego you think: I shall not fight; this resolve of yours is vain. Your own nature will compel you.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Ego
The self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal Peace.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Action is the product of the qualities inherent in nature.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Action
It is both near and far, both within and without every creature; it moves and is unmoving. In its subtlety it is beyond comprehension. It is invisible, yet appears divided in separate creatures. Know it to be the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer. Dwelling in every heart, it is beyond darkness. It is called the light of the lights, the object and goal of knowledge, and knowledge itself.
—The Bhagavad Gita
For those who wish to climb the mountain of spiritual awareness, the path is selfless work. For those who have attained the summit of union with the Lord, the path is stillness and peace.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Awareness, Serenity
There are two ways of passing from this world – one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back; but when one passes in darkness, he returns.
—The Bhagavad Gita
The egoistic man thinks, “I am the doer”. In reality Prakriti does everything. A Jnani who remains as a silent witness and who knows the essence of the division of the quality and functions is not bound.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Governing sense, mind and intellect, intent on liberation, free from desire, fear and anger, the sage is forever free.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Government, Freedom
That one I love who is incapable of ill will, and returns love for hatred. Living beyond the reach of I and mind, and of pain and pleasure, full of mercy, contented, self-controlled, with all his heart and all his mind given to Me—with such a one I am in love.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Hatred, Hate
Whatever the state of being that a man may focus upon at the end, when he leaves his body, to that state of being he will go.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Still your mind in me, still yourself in me, and without a doubt you shall be united with me, Lord of Love, dwelling in your heart.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Meditation
If the radiance of a thousand suns
Were to burst at once into the sky
That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one—
I am become Death,
The shatterer of Worlds.
—The Bhagavad Gita
Topics: Death
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