Sacred Texts  Hinduism 

Gita Society Translation    SBE vol. 8 Translation    Sanskrit


The Bhagavad Gita

Translated by Edwin Arnold

[1885]


The Bhagavad Gita is technically part of Book 6 of the Mahabharata, although it is known to be a later accretion to the saga, which stands on its own merits. It is a dialog between the God Krishna and the hero Arjuna, taking place in a timeless moment on the battlefield before the climactic struggle between good and evil. The Gita (which can be found in hotel bedstands throughout India) is a classic summary of the core beliefs of Hinduism. It has had a significant influence far beyond Hinduism. Robert Oppenheimer apocryphically recited the verse (from Chapter 11) 'I [have become] Death, Destroyer of Worlds", just before the first test of the atom bomb, which ironically has a much different meaning in context.

This has now been cross-referenced with the Sanskrit text.


Chapter 1: Of the Distress of Arjuna
Chapter 2: Of Doctrines
Chapter 3: Virtue in Work.
Chapter 4: Of the Religion of Knowledge
Chapter 5: Of Religion by Renouncing Fruit of Works
Chapter 6: Of Religion of Self-Restraint
Chapter 7: Of Religion by Discernment
Chapter 8: Of Religion by Devotion to the One Supreme God
Chapter 9: Of Religion by the Kingly Knowledge and the Kingly Mystery
Chapter 10: Of Religion by the Heavenly Perfections
Chapter 11: Of the Manifesting of the One and Manifold
Chapter 12: Of the Religion of Faith
Chapter 13: Of Religion by Separation of Matter and Spirit
Chapter 14: Of Religion by Separation from the Qualities
Chapter 15: Of Religion by Attaining the Supreme
Chapter 16: Of the Separateness of the Divine and the Undivine
Chapter 17: Of Religion by the Threefold Kinds of Faith
Chapter 18: Of Religion by Deliverance and Renunciation