Knowra Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita A 700-verse dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Krishna, set on the eve of battle and included in the Mahabharata. It explores duty, action, knowledge, devotion, and liberation.
Arjuna : A Pandava prince and warrior in the Mahabharata, who serves as Krishna’s student in the Bhagavad Gita. His refusal to fight begins the dialogue and gives its teachings their urgent setting.
Karma yoga : A path of spiritual discipline through action performed without attachment to its results. Krishna uses this discipline to answer whether Arjuna can act without being bound by action.
Vyasa : A legendary sage credited with composing and arranging the Mahabharata and other Hindu texts. Tradition attributes the Mahabharata, including the Gita, to this sage.
Adi Shankara : An eighth-century Indian philosopher who systematized Advaita Vedanta, a nondual school of Hindu philosophy. His influential commentary reads the Gita through the lens of nondual knowledge.
Nishkama Karma : Action performed without desire for, or attachment to, its fruits. This principle captures the Gita’s distinctive answer to the conflict between action and renunciation.
Krishna : A major Hindu deity, revered as an incarnation of Vishnu and a central figure in the Mahabharata. He answers Arjuna’s doubts as charioteer, teacher, and divine speaker.
Jnana yoga : A path to liberation through knowledge and discernment of the self and ultimate reality. The Gita presents insight into the self as another route beyond ignorance and bondage.
Bhishma Parva : The sixth book of the Mahabharata, which contains the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita appears within this book’s account of the war’s opening.
Ramanuja : An eleventh-century Indian philosopher who developed Vishishtadvaita, a qualified nondual school of Vedanta. His commentary emphasizes devotion and the relationship between the soul and God.
Ahimsa : The ethical principle of nonviolence toward living beings, prominent in Indian religious traditions. Arjuna’s duty to fight creates a tension with nonviolence that later interpreters address differently.
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