The Bhagavad Gita and Yoga

In short: the Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse, 18-chapter Sanskrit dialogue set in the epic Mahabharata, in which the god Krishna counsels the warrior Arjuna on the eve of battle. For yoga, it matters because it describes several paths, especially karma yoga (action without attachment to results), bhakti yoga (devotion) and jnana yoga (knowledge), and gives two of yoga’s most quoted definitions: “evenness of mind” and “skill in action.”

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Ask a yoga teacher which text shaped them most and many will name the Bhagavad Gita. It is one of the most translated books in the world and one of the most important scriptures in Hindu traditions, yet it says almost nothing about the postures most people now call yoga. This guide explains where the Gita sits in the Mahabharata, what it teaches about yoga, a handful of key passages, how its readers have disagreed, and which translations are good places to start. It is part of our yoga philosophy section.

What is the Bhagavad Gita?

The title Bhagavad Gītā (भगवद्गीता) means “the song of the Lord”; the Monier-Williams dictionary renders it as “Kṛṣṇa’s song” and notes that it forms an episode of 18 chapters within the Mahabharata. The standard text has 700 verses, the number the 8th-century philosopher Śaṅkara gave in his commentary. It is written almost entirely as a conversation: Arjuna, a prince of the Pandava family, asks questions; Krishna, his charioteer and in the story an avatar of the god Vishnu, answers. The whole dialogue is reported to the blind king Dhritarashtra by his advisor Sanjaya.

Its setting in the Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of South Asia’s two great epics, a vast poem about a war between two branches of one royal family, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The Gita comes at the start of its sixth book, the Bhishma Parva (numbered as chapters 23 to 40 or 25 to 42 of that book, depending on the edition). The armies are drawn up on the field of Kurukshetra. Arjuna looks across and sees teachers, cousins and his great-uncle Bhishma, whom he loves, on the opposite side. He drops his bow and refuses to fight.

Everything that follows is Krishna’s response to that moral crisis. Philosopher Shyam Ranganathan, writing in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, describes the Gita as a dialogue on moral philosophy: Arjuna raises objections to fighting, and Krishna answers with a theory of right action that he calls yoga.

When was it written? Nobody knows exactly, and scholars disagree. Many date it to the last centuries BCE, often the 2nd or 1st century BCE; some argue for the 4th or 5th century BCE, and others for a final form in the early centuries CE. Edwin Bryant, in the same encyclopedia, places it around the 4th century BCE, while Ranganathan describes the epic as formulated at the start of the Common Era. Tradition attributes the epic, and so the Gita, to the sage Vyāsa. The honest summary: an ancient text whose date is still debated.

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What the Gita means by yoga

For the Gita, yoga is first of all a way of acting and a state of mind. Bryant points out that neither the Upanishads nor the Gita use āsana to mean stretching or bodily poses; the word means a seat for meditation. The Gita itself calls yoga ancient (4.3). Three paths run through the text, and later teachers organized them into a famous scheme.

Karma yoga: the path of action

Arjuna’s problem is whether to act at all. Krishna’s answer, developed in chapters 2 and 3, is that one should do one’s duty while giving up attachment to its results. Mahatma Gandhi took niṣkāma karma, “action without desire,” as a central concept of the Gita, as Ranganathan notes. Our guide to karma yoga explores the idea and its modern form as service, or seva.

Bhakti yoga: the path of devotion

Krishna also asks Arjuna to offer every act to him in love and trust. Devotion is praised throughout and is the subject of chapter 12. In the Gita, devotion is not an alternative to action but a way of doing it. See bhakti yoga for how this path is practiced today, for example through kirtan chanting.

Jnana yoga: the path of knowledge

Knowledge (jñāna) of the self, which the Gita teaches is not born and does not die, gives the framework for the other two. Ranganathan reads jnana yoga as the theoretical support for karma and bhakti yoga. Classical Vedanta commentators, especially Śaṅkara, gave knowledge the highest place.

Meditation in chapter 6

Chapter 6 turns to the practices of self-regulation that support a yogi: a steady seat in a clean, quiet place, a calm and focused mind, moderation in eating and sleeping. It is the closest the Gita comes to practical meditation instruction, and it pairs naturally with our step-by-step guide on how to meditate.

The “four yogas” that many modern books present (karma, bhakti, jnana and raja) owe a lot to Swami Vivekananda, whose lectures drew on the Gita and whose 1896 book Raja Yoga presented his interpretation of the Yoga Sutras. That neat four-part scheme is a modern way of organizing older teachings.

Key passages for yoga practitioners

Verse numbers follow the standard 700-verse text. The English quotations are from Sir Edwin Arnold’s verse translation The Song Celestial (1885), which is in the public domain; modern translations word these lines differently.

2.47, act without clinging to results. Arnold: “Let right deeds be thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them.” This is the seed of karma yoga.
2.48, yoga as evenness. The Sanskrit says samatvaṃ yoga ucyate, “evenness is called yoga.” Arnold: “equability is Yog.”
2.50, yoga as skill. Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam, “yoga is skill in action,” which Ranganathan reads as the Gita’s definition of yoga as a procedure for right action.
4.3, an ancient teaching. Krishna describes the yoga he is teaching as old, handed down and then lost.
Chapter 6, the meditator. Practical guidance on seat, posture, mind and moderation.
Chapter 12, devotion. The qualities of the devotee: free of ill will, friendly and compassionate, even-minded in pleasure and pain.

How the Gita has been interpreted

Because the text weaves several strands together, its readers have always disagreed about what it finally teaches. The three great Vedanta philosophers, Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva, each wrote a commentary and drew different conclusions about the relation between the self and God. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Indian leaders read it as a call to engaged action: Bal Gangadhar Tilak emphasized karma yoga, Sri Aurobindo wrote extensively on it, and Gandhi made its ideal of selfless action central to his thinking while insisting on non-violence. Many readers treat the battlefield as an allegory for the inner struggles of a life; other scholars argue that the text is also, quite literally, about the duty of a warrior. Holding both readings in mind is part of reading it well.

These are interpretations within living religious traditions. For many Hindus the Gita is scripture, and it is chanted, studied and memorized as an act of devotion; approach it with the respect you would give any sacred text.

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What the Gita can offer your practice today

Evenness on and off the mat. The idea that yoga is a balanced mind in success and failure is a useful lens for a pose you cannot do yet, or a class that did not go well.
Effort without attachment. Practice for its own sake, not for a perfect photo or a milestone. Our guide to building a consistent practice is about exactly that.
Ethics first. The Gita’s focus on right action pairs well with the yamas, the ethical restraints of the Yoga Sutras.
Study in community. Many ashrams and retreats hold Gita study or satsang. Our guides to staying at an ashram and to yoga in India explain what to expect.

Translations to read

Every translation is an interpretation. If you can, read two side by side. Here are well-regarded options, with their translators:

Translator	Edition	Good for
Barbara Stoler Miller	The Bhagavad-Gita (Columbia University Press, 1986; later Bantam editions)	A clear, readable version by a Sanskrit scholar
Laurie L. Patton	The Bhagavad Gita (Penguin Classics, 2008)	A close, scholarly translation with notes
Eknath Easwaran	The Bhagavad Gita (Nilgiri Press)	Plain English with introductions written for meditators
Graham M. Schweig	Bhagavad Gita (HarperSanFrancisco/HarperOne, 2007)	A reading from the devotional (bhakti) tradition
Sir Edwin Arnold	The Song Celestial (1885), free on Project Gutenberg	A Victorian verse rendering; beautiful, but loose and old-fashioned

The first English translation, by Charles Wilkins, appeared in 1785. For the philosophy behind the text, Ranganathan’s Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy article is a thorough free overview.

Related terms

Words you will meet in the Gita, explained in our yoga glossary: gunas (the three qualities of nature, central to chapter 14), Om, guru and sadhana. For the wider story of how the Gita fits into the development of yoga, read the history of yoga.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Bhagavad Gita about?

It is a dialogue in the Mahabharata epic between the prince Arjuna, who refuses to fight in a war against his own relatives, and Krishna, his charioteer and an avatar of the god Vishnu. Krishna teaches him how to act rightly: doing his duty without attachment to results, with devotion and with knowledge of the self.

How many chapters and verses does the Bhagavad Gita have?

The standard text has 18 chapters and 700 verses. It sits in the sixth book of the Mahabharata, the Bhishma Parva.

How does the Bhagavad Gita define yoga?

Two famous lines in chapter 2 call yoga evenness of mind (2.48) and skill in action (2.50). The text describes paths of action (karma yoga), devotion (bhakti yoga) and knowledge (jnana yoga), and chapter 6 describes meditation.

Which Bhagavad Gita translation should I read first?

Barbara Stoler Miller and Eknath Easwaran are readable starting points; Laurie L. Patton is closer and more scholarly; Graham M. Schweig reads it from the devotional tradition. Edwin Arnold's 1885 verse version is free but loose.

Is the Bhagavad Gita a yoga text or a religious text?

Both. It is scripture for many Hindus and is also one of the classic sources on yoga as a way of acting and meditating. It says very little about physical postures.