The Bhagavad Gita: An Overview

Found in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, the Gita is the dialogue of Shri Krishna and Arjuna in 18 chapters and, traditionally, 700 verses.

The Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is part of the Mahabharata. It belongs to the Bhishma Parva and, in the commonly used numbering, spans chapters 25 to 42 of that parva. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, just before the fighting began, Arjuna saw his own relatives and teachers arrayed against him and was overcome by grief and confusion. It was then that Bhagavan Shri Krishna gave him this divine teaching. The whole dialogue is narrated by Sanjaya to the blind king Dhritarashtra, Sanjaya having been granted divine sight by the sage Vedavyasa.

The Gita has 18 chapters and, traditionally, 700 verses. Each chapter is called a "yoga", such as Arjuna Vishada Yoga, Sankhya Yoga and Karma Yoga, ending with Moksha Sannyasa Yoga. It is regarded as the essence of the Upanishads and forms one of the three foundational texts of Vedanta, the Prasthana Traya, together with the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras.

The Gita presents four great paths. Karma Yoga teaches us to do our duty without attachment to its fruits. Jnana Yoga explains the difference between the eternal self and the perishable body. Dhyana Yoga gives a method for steadying the mind. Bhakti Yoga presents loving surrender to the Lord as the simplest and highest path. These paths are not separate compartments; they support and complete one another.

The Gita is universal because it is not addressed to one age, place or class of people. A student, a householder, a merchant, a soldier or a renunciate can each find answers to the questions of life in it. Doubt, fear, anger and despair are the same in every age, so its message remains alive today. Great teachers such as Adi Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya and Madhvacharya wrote commentaries on it, and it has been translated into many of the world's languages.

Source

Mahabharata, Bhishma Parva

Chapters

18

Verses Traditional

700