The Bhagavad Gita, a Song on Action and Duty

A song inserted into an epic

The Bhagavad Gita, "the Song of the Blessed One" in Sanskrit, was not originally a standalone text: it forms an episode of roughly 700 verses inserted into the sixth book, the Bhishma Parva, of the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic that runs to tens of thousands of verses. It presents itself as an 18-chapter dialogue between the prince Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna, who turns out to be a manifestation of the god Vishnu. The dating of the Gita remains debated among specialists: some link it to the early composition of the Mahabharata, as far back as the fifth or fourth century BCE, while others place its current form between the second century BCE and the second century CE. No precise date commands agreement, and it is better to say so than to settle the matter arbitrarily.

Krishna and Arjuna, a dialogue on a battlefield

The narrative setting is a battlefield, Kurukshetra, at the moment when two branches of the same family are about to clash. Arjuna, overwhelmed at the thought of fighting his own relatives, lays down his bow and refuses to act. Krishna answers him over 18 chapters, blending philosophical argument, cosmology and practical instruction. This dialogue was separated from its original epic very early on and read as an independent text, with its own commentaries. Several currents of Indian philosophy, notably Vedanta, took it up and produced at times opposing readings, some seeing in it a call to act in the world, others a path toward inner renunciation. In the twentieth century, the text inspired very different readings, from Gandhi's commentary centered on selfless action to the more devotional interpretations put forward by other currents of Vaishnavism.

What sets the Gita apart from other Indian texts

Unlike the Dhammapada, the Gita addresses a warrior at the precise moment of a decision, not a general audience. Unlike the Upanishads, which explore the nature of the Self through analysis and image, it builds its reflection around a concrete choice: to act or to flee. It brings together several paths already present in Indian thought, knowledge, devotion and selfless action, without setting them against one another. Traditional commentators often distinguish three blocks of six chapters, devoted respectively to action, devotion and knowledge, though this division remains only one possible reading among others. It is the first of these paths, action carried out without attachment to its result, that dominates the text and returns most often in the thoughts gathered on this site.

Themes that recur in these thoughts

The central idea running through these thoughts is detachment within action, not inaction itself.

You have a right to action, never to its fruits. Act without attachment to the outcome.Bhagavad Gita, II

Next comes the question of the soul, presented as distinct from the body and not subject to death.

The soul is not born, does not die; it is without beginning, eternal, ancient.Bhagavad Gita, II

The text also returns more than once to the inner obstacles that lead astray anyone trying to act rightly.

Three gates lead to the ruin of the soul: desire, anger, and greed. Turn away from these three.Bhagavad Gita, XVI

Other thoughts in the collection speak of the gradual mastery of the mind, compared to a flame sheltered from the wind, and of faith, presented as what shapes a person's nature.

Reading the Gita today

The Gita does not require belief in Krishna as a deity to be read usefully. Its message about action, doing what must be done without clinging to the outcome, can be understood apart from the warrior setting that surrounds it. You can read a whole chapter to follow Krishna's argument, or a single isolated thought before a decision in your own day. The text alternates between concrete passages on mastering the mind and more abstract developments on the nature of the soul; you do not need to follow all of it to remember one phrase and hold onto it when facing a demanding situation.

The 60 thoughts in this collection

The number is the day of the year on which each thought appears on the home page.

• “You have a right to action, never to its fruits. Act without attachment to the outcome.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “The mind is the friend of one who has mastered it, the enemy of one who has not.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “Better to perform your own duty imperfectly than another's perfectly.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “The wise see with an equal eye joy and sorrow, gold and clay.”
  Bhagavad Gita
• “What is night for all beings is waking for the wise.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “The soul is not born, does not die; it is without beginning, eternal, ancient.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “As one sheds worn-out clothes for new ones, the soul sheds worn-out bodies.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “From anger comes confusion; from confusion, the loss of memory; from that loss, the ruin of discernment.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “Insatiable desire and anger are the true enemies on the path.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “One who remains equal toward friend and enemy, in honor and contempt, is close to peace.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XII
• “A flame sheltered from the wind does not flicker: such is the settled mind of the wise.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “Let a man lift himself by himself; let him not bring himself down.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “Little by little, with patience, let the mind settle into stillness.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “Wherever the mind wanders, gently bring it back under your watch.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “Yoga is neither for one who eats too much nor for one who fasts to excess: it is balance.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “Offer your act as an offering, and the act will bind you no more.”
  Bhagavad Gita
• “A leaf, a flower, a fruit, a little water: offered with love, it is enough.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IX
• “Contentment is the treasure of one who expects nothing.”
  Bhagavad Gita
• “Act for the good of the world, as the sun shines, asking nothing in return.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “A man is made of his faith: as his faith is, so is he.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XVII
• “Doubt destroys the one who doubts everything; trust builds.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “Neither rites, nor austerity, nor gifts: nothing equals right vision.”
  Bhagavad Gita
• “Freed from pride and illusion, victorious over attachment, the wise reach the unchanging abode.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XV
• “Pleasure born of the senses' contact has a beginning and an end: the wise do not place their joy in it.”
  Bhagavad Gita, V
• “Happy is the one who finds joy, light, and peace within.”
  Bhagavad Gita, V
• “Peace comes to one who receives desires as the ocean receives rivers: without overflowing.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “Give up the fruit of action, and you will find peace at once.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XII
• “In this world there is no purifier equal to knowledge.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “One who has faith and perseverance gains knowledge; having gained it, he attains peace.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “For the wise, a well adds nothing where water abounds on every side.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “Evenness of mind in success and failure: this is what is called yoga.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “Action performed without personal desire is higher than inaction.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “No one remains a single instant without acting: choose, then, right action.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “The body is a field; the one who knows it is its watcher.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XIII
• “The light of lights, beyond the darkness: it dwells in the heart of all.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XIII
• “Three gates lead to the ruin of the soul: desire, anger, and greed. Turn away from these three.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XVI
• “Speech that does not wound, truthful, pleasant, and useful: such is the austerity of speech.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XVII
• “Serenity, gentleness, silence, self-mastery: such is the austerity of the mind.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XVII
• “A gift given at the right time, in the right place, expecting nothing in return, is the pure gift.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XVII
• “From food beings are born; from rain, food: all things hold together in one circle.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “Better than blind practice, knowledge; better than knowledge, meditation; better still, giving up the fruits of action.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XII
• “One who troubles no one, and whom no one troubles, is close to peace.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XII
• “Be equal in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, honor and disgrace.”
  Bhagavad Gita
• “The senses are powerful; higher than the senses is the mind; higher than the mind, the intellect; higher still, the Self.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “Knowing what is higher than the intellect, steady yourself by yourself.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “Illusion falls away when all beings are seen within the Self.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “Whoever walks toward the light, by whatever path, the light comes to meet them.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “The wise do not trouble the minds of those still seeking: they lead by example, acting with faith.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “What the best do, others do; the standard they set, the world follows.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “Freed from fear, desire, and anger, the wise are free forever.”
  Bhagavad Gita, V
• “Self-mastery is the beginning of every victory.”
  Bhagavad Gita
• “Whoever sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is wise among men.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “The fire of knowledge reduces all chains to ashes.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “As fire is veiled by smoke, knowledge is veiled by desire.”
  Bhagavad Gita, III
• “Cut with the sword of knowledge the doubt born of ignorance, and rise.”
  Bhagavad Gita, IV
• “For one measured in food and rest, in effort and sleep, the path becomes the destroyer of sorrow.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “The yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the scholar: be, then, a yogi.”
  Bhagavad Gita, VI
• “Even a little practice of this path delivers from great fear.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “No effort is lost on this path; no step is taken in vain.”
  Bhagavad Gita, II
• “Give up all outer support and take refuge in what is right: peace will follow.”
  Bhagavad Gita, XVIII