Bhagavadgita, (Sanskrit: “Song of God”) is an episode recorded in the great Sanskrit poem of

the Hindus, the Mahabharata. It occupies chapters 23 to 40 of Book VI of the Mahabharata and
is composed in the form of a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Krishna,
an avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu. Composed perhaps in the 1st or 2nd century CE, it is
commonly known as the Gita.

On the brink of a great battle between warring branches of the same family, Arjuna is suddenly
overwhelmed with misgivings about the justice of killing so many people, some of whom are his
friends and relatives, and expresses his qualms to Krishna, his charioteer—a combination
bodyguard and court historian. Krishna’s reply expresses the central themes of the Gita. He
persuades Arjuna to do his duty as a man born into the class of warriors, which is to fight, and
the battle takes place. Krishna’s argument incorporates many of the basic teachings of
the Upanishads, speculative texts compiled between 1000 and 600 BCE, as well as of the
philosophy of Samkhya Yoga, which stresses a dualism between soul and matter (see mind-body
dualism). He argues that one can kill only the body; the soul is immortal and transmigrates into
another body at death or, for those who have understood the true teachings, achieves release
(moksha) or extinction (nirvana), freedom from the wheel of rebirth. Krishna also resolves the
tension between the Vedic injunction to sacrifice and to amass a record of good actions (karma)
and the late Upanishadic injunction to meditate and amass knowledge (jnana). The solution he
provides is the path of devotion (bhakti). With right understanding, one need not renounce
actions but merely the desire (kama) for the fruits of actions, acting without desire (nishkama
karma).

The moral impasse is not so much resolved as destroyed when Krishna assumes his doomsday
form—a fiery, gaping mouth, swallowing up all creatures in the universe at the end of the eon—
after Arjuna asks Krishna to reveal his true cosmic nature. In the middle of this
terrifying epiphany, Arjuna apologizes to Krishna for the many times when he had rashly and
casually called out to him as a friend. He begs Krishna to return to his previous form, which the
god consents to do, resuming his role as intimate human companion of the warrior Arjuna.

The Gita has always been cherished by many Hindus for its spiritual guidance, but it achieved
new prominence in the 19th century, when the British in India lauded it as the Hindu equivalent
of the New Testament and when American philosophers—particularly the New England
Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau—considered it to be the
pivotal Hindu text. It was also an important text for Mohandas K. Gandhi, who wrote a
commentary on it.

The Bhagavad Gita (“Song of God” or “Song of the Lord”) is among the most important
religious texts of Hinduism and easily the best known. It has been quoted by writers, poets,
scientists, theologians, and philosophers – among others – for centuries and is often the
introductory text to Hinduism for a Western audience.

It is commonly referred to as the Gita and was originally part of the great Indian
epic Mahabharata. Its date of composition, therefore, is closely associated with that of the epic
– c. 5th-3rd century BCE – but not all scholars agree that the work was originally included in
the Mahabharata text and so date it later to c. 2nd century BCE.
The Gita is a dialogue between the warrior-prince Arjuna and the god Krishna who is serving
as his charioteer at the Battle of Kurukshetra fought between Arjuna's family and allies
(the Pandavas) and those of the prince Duryodhana and his family (the Kauravas) and their
allies. This dialogue is recited by the Kauravan counselor Sanjaya to his blind king Dhritarashtra
(both far from the battleground) as Krishna has given Sanjaya mystical sight so he will be able to
see and report the battle to the king.

The Kauravas and Pandavas are related and there are mutual friends and family members
fighting on both sides for supremacy of rule. Accordingly, when Arjuna sees all his former
friends and comrades on the opposing side, he loses heart and refuses to take part in a battle
which will result in their deaths as well as many others. The rest of the text is the dialogue
between the prince and the god on what constitutes right action, proper understanding and,
ultimately, the meaning of life and nature of the Divine.

The Gita combines the concepts expressed in the central texts of Hinduism –
the Vedas and Upanishads – which are here synthesized into a single, coherent vision of belief
in one God and the underlying unity of all existence. The text instructs on how one must elevate
the mind and soul to look beyond appearances – which fool one into believing in duality and
multiplicity – and recognize these are illusions; all humans and aspects of existence are a unified
extension of the Divine which one will recognize once the trappings of illusion have been
discarded.

The Gita inspired the Bhakti (“devotion”) Movement which then influenced the development
of Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Krishna explains the path of selfless devotion as one of the
paths toward self-actualization, recognition of the truth of existence, and liberation from the
cycle of rebirth and death; the other two being jnana (“knowledge”) and karma (“action”). The
Hare Krishna Movement of the present day is an expression of Bhakti, and the Gita remains their
principal text.