भगवद्गीताbhagavad-gītā · the song of the Lord
The Bhagavad Gita, the song of the Lord
4 min read · Updated October 17, 2026 · sources checked October 17, 2026
In short
The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue of 700 Sanskrit verses in 18 chapters, set in the Mahābhārata just before a great battle: Kṛṣṇa answers the despair of the warrior Arjuna. It teaches yoga as evenness of mind (2.48), skill in action (2.50), knowledge, devotion and meditation. Scholars generally date it to the second or first century BCE.
Where the Gita sits
The Mahābhārata tells the war between two branches of one royal family: the five Pāṇḍava brothers and their cousins the Kauravas. On the plain of Kurukṣetra the armies face each other. Arjuna, the finest archer of the Pāṇḍavas, asks his charioteer Kṛṣṇa to drive between the lines. He sees teachers, grandfathers and cousins on the other side, lets his bow fall and refuses to fight. The Gita is Kṛṣṇa's answer.
In the Pune critical edition the Gita is chapters 23 to 40 of the sixth book, the Bhīṣma-parvan. It is framed as a report: the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks a single question (1.1), and his minister Sañjaya, who has been given distant sight, tells him what was said. That is why the Gita opens on the "field of dharma" and closes with Sañjaya's verse (18.78).
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः । मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय ॥
dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ | māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva kim akurvata saṃjaya ||
On the field of dharma, on the field of the Kurus, gathered and eager to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu do, Sañjaya?
How long? 700 verses, mostly in the eight-syllable śloka metre, with longer triṣṭubh stanzas at intense moments. Kṛṣṇa speaks 574 of them, by our count in the critical edition. When? Scholars generally date it to the second or first century BCE; some argue for the first century CE. Tradition attributes the whole epic to the sage Vyāsa.
The eighteen chapters in one table
The chapter titles below are the traditional ones printed in the vulgate text; they vary slightly between editions (chapter 6 is often called dhyāna-yoga). Verse counts follow the critical edition.
| Ch. | Traditional title | Verses | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | arjuna-viṣāda-yoga, Arjuna's despair | 47 | The armies, the conch shells, Arjuna sees his kin and lays down his bow |
| 2 | sāṅkhya-yoga, discernment | 72 | The self is not killed; duty; yoga of the understanding; the person of steady wisdom. See chapter 2 |
| 3 | karma-yoga, action | 43 | No one can stop acting; act as an offering; desire is the enemy |
| 4 | jñāna-karma-saṃnyāsa-yoga, knowledge and renunciation of action | 42 | The teaching's lineage, Kṛṣṇa's descents (4.7-8), action in inaction, knowledge as fire |
| 5 | saṃnyāsa-yoga, renunciation | 29 | Renouncing and acting lead to the same goal; equal vision (5.18) |
| 6 | ātma-saṃyama-yoga, self-restraint | 47 | The meditation chapter: seat, posture, gaze, moderation, the lamp in a windless place |
| 7 | jñāna-vijñāna-yoga, knowledge and realisation | 30 | Kṛṣṇa's lower and higher nature; four kinds of devotees (7.16) |
| 8 | akṣara-brahma-yoga, the imperishable | 28 | What one remembers at death; Om as the one-syllable brahman (8.13) |
| 9 | rāja-vidyā-rāja-guhya-yoga, the royal secret | 34 | Everything rests in Kṛṣṇa; a leaf, a flower, a fruit, water (9.26) |
| 10 | vibhūti-yoga, manifestations | 42 | "Among words I am the single syllable" (10.25) |
| 11 | viśva-rūpa-darśana-yoga, the cosmic form | 55 | Arjuna sees the universal form; "I am Time" (11.32) |
| 12 | bhakti-yoga, devotion | 20 | Devotion to the personal and the unmanifest; the devotee dear to Kṛṣṇa (12.13-20) |
| 13 | kṣetra-kṣetrajña-vibhāga-yoga, the field and its knower | 34 | Body and knower, nature (prakṛti) and spirit (puruṣa) |
| 14 | guṇa-traya-vibhāga-yoga, the three qualities | 27 | Sattva, rajas, tamas, and going beyond them |
| 15 | puruṣottama-yoga, the supreme person | 20 | The fig tree with roots above (15.1) |
| 16 | daivāsura-saṃpad-vibhāga-yoga, divine and demonic traits | 24 | Desire, anger and greed, the three gates to ruin (16.21) |
| 17 | śraddhā-traya-vibhāga-yoga, three kinds of faith | 28 | Faith, food, sacrifice, austerity and gifts in three kinds; oṃ tat sat (17.23) |
| 18 | mokṣa-saṃnyāsa-yoga, liberation and renunciation | 78 | Renunciation versus letting go of fruits, one's own duty, final surrender (18.66), Arjuna rises (18.73) |
Count: 47 + 72 + 43 + 42 + 29 + 47 + 30 + 28 + 34 + 42 + 55 + 20 + 34 + 27 + 20 + 24 + 28 + 78 = 700. Some printings open chapter 13 with an extra question from Arjuna ("prakṛti and puruṣa, the field and its knower: this I wish to know"); they count 701 verses and their chapter 13 numbers run one ahead.
Six verses every yogi should know
Your right is to the action (2.47). The most quoted line of the Gita, and the heart of karma yoga.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदा चन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadā cana | mā karmaphalahetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi ||
Your right is to action alone, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruit of action be your motive, and do not cling to inaction either.
Evenness is yoga (2.48). One of the oldest definitions of the word.
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनंजय । सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥
yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanaṃjaya | siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||
Established in yoga, do your work, Dhanaṃjaya, letting go of attachment, the same in success and failure. Evenness is called yoga.
Skill in action (2.50).
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते । तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ॥
buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte | tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam ||
One whose understanding is yoked leaves behind, here and now, both good and evil deeds. So yoke yourself to yoga: yoga is skill in action.
Raise yourself by yourself (6.5). The Gita puts the practice in your hands.
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् । आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ॥
uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ nātmānam avasādayet | ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ ||
Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. You alone are your own friend, and you alone your own enemy.
Practice and detachment (6.35). Arjuna has just said the mind is as hard to hold as the wind. Kṛṣṇa agrees, then gives the same two means as Patañjali's Yoga Sutra 1.12.
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् । अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ॥
asaṃśayaṃ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṃ calam | abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate ||
No doubt, mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and hard to restrain. But by practice, son of Kuntī, and by detachment, it is held.
Take refuge in me alone (18.66). The last word of the teaching, read by many commentators as its summit.
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज । अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ॥
sarvadharmān parityajya mām ekaṃ śaraṇaṃ vraja | ahaṃ tvā sarvapāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ ||
Letting go of every duty, come to me alone for refuge. I will free you from every wrong. Do not grieve.
The critical edition reads ahaṃ tvā; many printed editions have ahaṃ tvāṃ. The meaning is the same. Twenty more verses, arranged by theme, are on Bhagavad Gita quotes.
What the Gita teaches a practitioner
- You can be a yogi without leaving your life. Arjuna is not sent to a cave. The Gita makes action itself the place of practice, if it is done without clinging to results.
- Several paths, one goal. Action, knowledge, devotion and meditation are presented side by side and constantly woven together: see the three yogas of the Gita.
- A meditation manual. Chapter 6 gives a clean place, a steady seat "neither too high nor too low" (6.11), the body, head and neck held straight (6.13), and moderation in food and sleep (6.17).
- A lineage with the Upanishads. Verse 2.20, on the self that is never born and never dies, shares its whole second half, word for word, with a verse of the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (2.18).
Good to know
Is the Gita a call to war? The question is as old as the commentaries. Traditional readers saw the battle as the setting of a teaching on duty; Gandhi read Kurukṣetra as the battle in the human heart. You do not need to settle it to practise what the Gita teaches about action, attention and devotion.
How to read it
- Begin with chapters 2, 3, 6 and 12: discernment, action, meditation, devotion. Then read the whole text in order.
- One chapter a day for eighteen days, a rhythm you can time to end on Gītā Jayantī, the Gita's day in November or December.
- Read aloud. The Gita is recited in temples and homes across India; a verse said aloud is a verse remembered.
- Compare a translation with the Sanskrit, using the free editions listed on Bhagavad Gita PDF.
- Keep a verse for the day, and notice when it applies: this is svādhyāya.
Our editions
The Bhagavad Gita for Yogis summarises all eighteen chapters and gives 80 key verses in Devanāgarī, transliteration and our own translation, each with a note for practice, the four yogas explained from the text, and a 30-day reading and practice plan. The Gita in 18 Days is its printable companion: one chapter a day, one verse to learn by heart, a ten-minute practice and eighteen verse cards. Both come together in the Gita in 18 Days pack.
The Gita, page by page
Questions people ask
What is the Bhagavad Gita, in simple words?
A conversation between Kṛṣṇa and the warrior Arjuna, who refuses to fight his own family. Kṛṣṇa's answer becomes a teaching on how to act without being bound by results, how to know the self, how to love God and how to meditate. It forms chapters 23 to 40 of the sixth book of the Mahābhārata.
What does Bhagavad Gita mean?
Bhagavat means the blessed one, the Lord, here Kṛṣṇa; gītā means sung. Together: the song of the Lord, or the song sung by the Lord.
How long is the Bhagavad Gita?
700 verses in 18 chapters in the critical edition and in the standard count. Chapter 18 is the longest (78 verses), followed by chapter 2 (72); chapters 12 and 15 are the shortest (20 each). Some printings add a question of Arjuna at the start of chapter 13 and reach 701.
How many types of yoga are there in the Bhagavad Gita?
The Gita names two paths outright, the yoga of knowledge and the yoga of action (3.3), and develops a third, devotion (chapters 9 and 12). Meditation (chapter 6) is often counted as a fourth. Each of the 18 chapters also carries a traditional title ending in yoga, so you may read that there are 18.
How do you pronounce Bhagavad Gita?
BHUH-guh-vud GEE-taa: the bh is an aspirated b, the three a's of bhagavad are short like the u in but, and the ī and final ā of gītā are long.
When is Gita Jayanti, the day of the Bhagavad Gita?
On the eleventh day of the bright half of the lunar month Mārgaśīrṣa, usually in late November or December. All India Radio reported it on 1 December 2025; the Drik Panchang almanac gives Sunday 20 December 2026 for New Delhi. The date changes every year with the lunar calendar.
Sources
- Bhagavadgītā, text of the critical edition of the Mahābhārata (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune), Bhīṣmaparvan 23-40, GRETIL checked October 17, 2026
- Bhagavadgītā, vulgate text with chapter titles, GRETIL checked October 17, 2026
- Bhagavad Gita, Wikipedia (dating, 700 verses confirmed by Śaṅkara, Wilkins 1785) checked October 17, 2026
- K. T. Telang, The Bhagavadgîtâ, Sacred Books of the East 8 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1882), Internet Archive checked October 17, 2026
- All India Radio News, Gita Jayanti being celebrated today, 1 December 2025 checked October 17, 2026
- Drik Panchang, Gita Jayanti 2026 for New Delhi (Sunday 20 December 2026) checked October 17, 2026