The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita — 18 chapters, 180 questions. Mahabharata — Bhishma Parva.

The Bhagavad Gita is a conversation inside a report. Just before the war at Kurukshetra, Krishna and Arjuna speak between the two armies; the blind king Dhritarashtra, far from the field, has asked his counsellor Sanjaya to tell him what is happening, and the whole exchange reaches the reader through Sanjaya. This retelling follows the 700-verse text fixed by Shankara's commentary and used in the critical edition of the Mahabharata; where Chapter 13's verse numbering differs between editions, that is flagged in its note. The Gita has been read in very different ways — Shankara (Advaita), Ramanuja (Vishishtadvaita), Madhva (Dvaita), Tilak (karma-yoga), Gandhi (non-attachment) — and this retelling records those readings without choosing one. The tension between non-violence and battlefield duty is left where the text leaves it: unresolved, and reconciled differently by each tradition. English sentences given in quotation marks in the story are natural, flowing renderings of the sense of the underlying Sanskrit, not word-for-word translations, unless stated otherwise. Where a verse's precise wording matters, it is given separately, with the Sanskrit, in the note or the quiz.

Arjuna's Despair — Before the First Arrow
The Way of Knowledge — Two Answers to Grief
The Way of Action — Why Action Cannot Be Escaped
Knowledge and the Renunciation of Action — An Ancient Teaching Returns
The Renunciation of Action — The Lotus Leaf
The Way of Meditation — The Restless Mind
Knowledge and Realization — The Thread and the Veil
The Imperishable — The Last Thought
The Royal Secret — The Royal Secret
The Divine Glories — Signs of the Divine
The Universal Form — A Vision Arjuna Cannot Bear
The Way of Devotion — The Devotee Krishna Loves
The Field and Its Knower — What Counts as Knowledge
The Three Gunas — Beyond the Three Gunas
The Supreme Person — The Upside-Down Tree
The Divine and the Demonic — Divine and Demonic Traits
The Threefold Faith — Faith Takes Three Forms
Liberation and Renunciation — The Final Synthesis

Questions about The Bhagavad Gita

How is The Bhagavad Gita divided here?

This retelling of The Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters: Arjuna's Despair, The Way of Knowledge, The Way of Action, Knowledge and the Renunciation of Action, The Renunciation of Action, The Way of Meditation, Knowledge and Realization, The Imperishable, The Royal Secret, The Divine Glories, The Universal Form, The Way of Devotion, The Field and Its Knower, The Three Gunas, The Supreme Person, The Divine and the Demonic, The Threefold Faith, Liberation and Renunciation.

What is The Bhagavad Gita about?

One talk on a halted chariot, which eighteen centuries have read eighteen ways.

What is the source of this retelling?

Mahabharata — Bhishma Parva.

Is there a quiz on The Bhagavad Gita?

Yes. Each chapter ends with 10 questions, and behind every right answer there is a short story that explains it. In all, 180 questions.