The Bhagavad Gita,
read closely

Arjuna looks at the two armies, sees his teachers and cousins, and puts down his bow. All 47 verses with Sanskrit, IAST and notes.

Krishna's first answer: the atman that does not die (2.20), 2.47 on action and its fruit, the slide from dwelling on something to ruin (2.62–63), and the person of steady wisdom (2.55–72).

Why no one can stop acting (3.5), how work becomes an offering (yajña), the example you set for others (lokasaṅgraha), your own dharma over another's (3.35), and desire as the enemy (3.37).

Yada yada hi dharmasya (4.7–8), knowledge as the highest offering (4.33) and as a fire that burns karma to ash (4.37), and how to learn from a teacher (4.34).

The lotus leaf that water doesn't wet (5.10), the sage who looks on a scholar, a cow, an elephant and a dog alike (5.18), where lasting happiness is found (5.21), and 5.29, where Krishna calls himself the friend of all beings.

Meditation in practice: lift yourself by yourself (6.5), the lamp in a windless place (6.19), Arjuna's objection that the mind is like the wind (6.34), and Krishna's answer, practice and letting go.

Pearls strung on a thread (7.7), Krishna as the taste of water (7.8), the four kinds of people who turn to him (7.16), and the rare one who sees that Vāsudeva is everything (7.19).

What the mind has practised shapes the end: whatever you remember at death is what you become (8.6). Also Brahma's day and night, and the path of no return.

Krishna calls this the royal knowledge and says it is easy to practise (9.2). Offer a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water (9.26), offer whatever you do (9.27), and the promise of 9.31: my devotee never perishes.

Where to look for Krishna: in whatever shines (10.41). The Self in the heart of every being (10.20), the long list of ‘among these, I am that’, and the last verse: the universe rests on one fragment of him (10.42).

Arjuna asks to see Krishna's universal form and is shown it: a thousand suns (11.12), mouths like fire, I am Time, the destroyer of worlds (11.32). The chapter ends on devotion as the way to see it (11.54).

One of the two shortest chapters, 20 verses. A four-step ladder for when meditation is too hard (12.8–11), and the devotee Krishna calls dear (12.13–20).

The field and the knower of the field: your body, moods and reactions, and the awareness that watches them (13.1–2).

Why some days are clear, some restless and some heavy: sattva, rajas and tamas, and the person who goes beyond all three (14.22–26).

An upside-down tree (15.1), the weapon of detachment that cuts it (15.3), a part of Krishna in every being (15.7), the fire that digests food (15.14), and the name Purushottama (15.18).

The qualities that free you and the ones that bind (16.5), and the three gates to ruin: kāma, krodha, lobha, desire, anger and greed (16.21).

Faith comes in three kinds, and a person is made of what they trust (17.3). Food, austerity and giving in three kinds each, and Om Tat Sat (17.23).

The last chapter, 78 verses. Five causes of any action (18.14), your own duty over someone else's (18.47), and 18.66: abandon every duty, take refuge in me alone.

Easwaran or Prabhupada? Gita Press or Penguin? Every translation is also an interpretation. A reader-by-reader guide to the major Gitas, with every criticism cited to its source.

The “Geeta Saar” forwarded on WhatsApp isn't in the Gita. Here is one core verse from each of the 18 chapters instead, in Sanskrit, Hindi and English.

Lord Krishna quotes from the Bhagavad Gita, grouped by what you are going through. Each one has its Sanskrit line and verse number, ready to copy or send.

Lines from the Gita grouped by what you are going through. Each one has its Sanskrit and verse number, ready to copy or save as an image.

What Krishna tells Arjuna about trust and surrender, in his own words. Each line has its Sanskrit and verse number.

Lines from the Gita for exam weeks, hard days at work and starting over after a loss. Each one has its Sanskrit and verse number.

Arjuna sat down in his chariot and could not go on. These are the lines Krishna gave him, each with its Sanskrit and verse number.

Short Sanskrit lines that fit an Instagram bio, each with its meaning and source so you know what you are posting.

Twenty well-known Sanskrit shlokas, from Vakratunda Mahakaya to Asato Ma Sadgamaya to Karmanye Vadhikaraste, each in Devanagari and IAST with English and Hindi meaning.

Rig Veda 3.62.10, word by word: bhur, bhuvah, svah, savitur, vareṇyam, bhargo, dhīmahi. Its request is in the last line, that our minds be inspired, and here is how to chant it.

A sixteen-word mantra that George Harrison put on the UK charts in 1969. Chaitanya spread it in 16th-century Bengal; Prabhupada carried it to New York in 1965. What the words mean, and what nama-kirtan is for.

Thirty well-known Gita verses with the Sanskrit put back: karma, atman, bhakti, paramatman, shanti and shoka, each in Devanagari, IAST, English and Hindi.

In early 2023, a Google engineer launched GitaGPT as a weekend project. Five clones followed in 60 days. Several told users it was fine to kill if it was their dharma. What those bots got wrong, and what a Gita assistant would need to get right.

Krishna describes three ways in: action, knowledge and devotion, suited to different people. The verses for each, with parallels from Tulsidas.

Ashtavakra, Avadhuta, Ram, Hans, Shakti, Shambhu and Vishnu: seven lesser-known texts called Gita, and what each says about peace of mind.

In Chapter 1 Arjuna is shaking and his mouth is dry. What Chapters 2 and 5 say about where anxiety starts and where to step in.

In the Gita, karma means action, not cosmic payback. What Krishna says about it in Chapters 2 to 4, and why it asks more of you than the popular idea.

How the 18 chapters fit together, from Arjuna sitting down in Chapter 1 to his answer in 18.73.

700 verses, 18 chapters. Where to start, which translation to pick, and what the Gita is about, for anyone reading it for the first time.

Four instructions in 32 syllables, and most people quote only the first two. The full Sanskrit, word by word, and what the other two ask.

Arjuna asks what a person of steady wisdom looks like, and Krishna answers over 18 verses (2.55–72): the tortoise drawing in its limbs, the slide from desire to ruin, the ocean that rivers fill without moving it.

Action without attachment to the result. The same verse, 2.47, rules out inaction, so this is no excuse to stop working. What it means, and why it is hard.

Arjuna's hands shake and his bow slips (1.29–30). The verses where Krishna answers fear and worry, the slide from craving to collapse (2.62–63), and where to interrupt it.

Weapons do not cut it, fire does not burn it, water does not wet it, wind does not dry it (2.23). What the Gita says survives death, verse by verse.

Dharma rarely means only "duty" in the Gita. Svadharma, sanatana dharma, dharma-kshetra, and the last instruction to set all dharmas aside (18.66): how they fit together.

Why some mornings are clear, some restless and some heavy. Sattva, rajas and tamas in Chapter 14, how to recognise each in yourself, and the state beyond all three.

Arjuna froze before the biggest test of his life. Nine lessons for students from the Gita: exam nerves, effort without attachment, self-control, and what to do after failing.

Ahankara means ‘I-maker’: the part of the mind that labels experience as mine. Where the Gita uses the word (Chapters 3, 13, 16 and 18), and why it treats it as a mistake about who you are.

In the Gita, maya is the power that makes the real look like something else. It is made of the three gunas (7.14), and Krishna says it is crossed by turning to him.

Many English translations render ātman as “soul”, and the two words carry different assumptions. What the Gita says, verse by verse, with the Bible's account of the soul for contrast.

Marcus Aurelius and Krishna never met, yet they say similar things about action, equanimity, duty and the self. Nine parallels, and where the two disagree.