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The Bhagavad Gita

c. 200 BCE–200 CE · Epic Period · Indian subcontinent

Chapter I — The Sorrow of Arjuna

1Dhritarashtra said:
2Tell me, O Sanjaya! gathered on the plain of Kuru,
3That sacred plain, both these my hosts arrayed,
4What did they? Ready for the battle there?
5Then Arjuna, the Prince, looked on his kinsmen drawn in battle line,
6Father against father, friend set against friend,
7Teacher with pupil, father-in-law with son-in-law —
8And his heart failed, and his knees grew weak,
9And his bow fell from his hands.
10He said: "O Lord! I see my kinsmen here
11Thirsting to fight. My limbs grow weak!
12My mouth is parched! A shuddering runs through me!
13My bow falls from my hand! My hair stands up!
14I cannot stand! I sink! My mind begins to wander!"

Chapter II — The Book of Doctrines

15And Krishna, the glorious Lord, spoke:
16"This grief is not meet for thee, O Arjuna!
17Whence hath it come, in this the crisis-hour,
18This weakness? It befits not valiant men!
19Win not dishonour, Arjuna! Cast away
20Thy faint-heart! Arise!"
21Arjuna said: "How can I, in the battle, shoot
22With shafts on Bhishma, or on Drona — men
23Worthy of worship, glorious, great?"
24Then Krishna answered: "Never the spirit was born;
25The spirit shall cease to be never;
26Never was time it was not;
27End and Beginning are dreams!
28Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever;
29Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!
30"As when one layeth his worn-out robes away,
31And taking new ones, sayeth, 'These will I wear today!'
32So putteth by the spirit lightly its garb of flesh,
33And passeth to inherit a residence afresh.
34"Be not deceived! The thing of worth
35Which none may take or give,
36Quench not! The Brahman! True!
37Whose meat is light, whose drink is truth."

Chapter III — The Book of Virtue in Work

38Then Arjuna, the Prince, asked:
39"What is right action? What is right abstention?
40Tell me, O Krishna!"
41And Krishna said: "He who doeth right deeds
42Let him not covet largess from the right;
43Do thine allotted task! Work is more excellent
44Than idleness; the body's life proceeds not,
45Lacking work. There is a task of holiness
46To do. Abstaining from attachments to the fruits."
47"Let right deeds be thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them.
48And live in action! Labour! Act!
49But lay not on thyself the fruit of action,
50Nor make the fruit of action thy motive."

Chapter XI — The Vision of the Universal Form

51Then Arjuna beheld the whole universe, in its many groupings,
52Standing in one, in the body of the God of Gods.
53Then the Pandav, o'ercome with wonder,
54His hair on end, his palms together laid,
55Bowing his head before the Dread Sublime,
56Spake to his Lord.
57"Ah! I behold Thy mighty form, O Lord!
58With multitudinous arms, stomachs, mouths, and eyes,
59Illumined everywhere, infinite on each side,
60No end, no middle, and no source!
61"Into Thee, as rivers run into the sea,
62These heroes pass — I see them! Blazing bright,
63The foe destroyers rush. Full are Thy mouths
64With teeth of terror; Thy lips glow!
65"O Vishnu! looking on Thy vast Form,
66Reaching the sky, burning with many colours,
67Opened mouths, glowing eyes,
68My soul is troubled and I find no rest."
69Krishna answered: "I am Time, the destroyer of all;
70I have come to destroy all people.
71Even without you, all the warriors
72Standing arrayed in opposing armies shall cease to exist.
73"Therefore arise, and win glory!
74Conquer your enemies and enjoy a flourishing kingdom.
75By me these enemies have already been slain;
76Be thou merely the instrument on my part.
77Drona, Bhishma, Jayadratha, Karna —
78Slay! Fight! Thou shalt conquer thine enemies in battle!"

Chapter XVIII — The Book of Release by Renunciation

79"Do thine allotted task," speaks Krishna at the last.
80"Do thy duty, even if it be humble,
81Rather than another's, even if it be great.
82To die in one's duty is life; to live in another's is death.
83"Set heart on me alone! Give me thy mind!
84Adore me! Fall down before me! So shalt thou
85Come to me! I promise thee in truth,
86For thou art sweet to me!
87"And this is the most secret truth:
88Abandon all other paths, take refuge in me alone;
89I will free thee from all sins; do not grieve."
90So ended the Song Celestial.

notes

The Bhagavad Gita ("Song of God") is a 700-verse Sanskrit dialogue embedded within the great epic Mahabharata (Book 6, chapters 23–40). It takes place on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, where the warrior Arjuna falters before fighting his kinsmen. His charioteer Krishna — revealed as an avatar of the supreme deity Vishnu — delivers an extended philosophical teaching spanning ethics, metaphysics, devotional practice, and the nature of the self. The Gita synthesises three paths to liberation (moksha): jnana (knowledge), bhakti (devotion), and karma yoga (right action without attachment to results). Its most famous teaching is the command to act rightly without concern for outcomes — a radical ethics of duty without ego-attachment that has influenced Hinduism, modern philosophy, and the independence movement of Gandhi. It is the most widely read religious text originating from India. Translation after Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885). Public domain.

currently held: Manuscript tradition

ReincarnationVedicFateDharma

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