The Bhagavad Gita, "the song of the Lord", is probably the most widely read text on yoga. In 700 verses and 18 chapters, part of the epic Mahabharata, Krishna answers the despair of the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. His answer is a teaching on how to live: how to act, how to know, how to love and how to meditate. Each of these he calls a yoga.
Why yoga students read the Gita
The Yoga Sutras describe a path of meditation that can seem far from daily life. The Gita brings yoga into the middle of life: into work, duty, relationships and difficulty. Its definition of yoga is practical: "Yoga is skill in action" (2.50), and "evenness of mind is called yoga" (2.48).
The four paths in the Gita
Karma yoga: the yoga of action
Krishna's best-known teaching is to act without clinging to the result: "You have a right to your action, but never to its fruits" (2.47). Work done as duty, with care and without anxiety over reward, becomes a practice that frees the mind. Chapter 3 develops this teaching.
Jnana yoga: the yoga of knowledge
Chapter 2 and later chapters teach discrimination between the unchanging Self and the changing body and mind. Knowing yourself as the witness, not the roles you play, ends much fear and grief.
Bhakti yoga: the yoga of devotion
Chapter 12 describes the way of love: offering every action to the divine, with faith and steadiness. For many readers in India this is the heart of the Gita.
Dhyana yoga: the yoga of meditation
Chapter 6 gives practical instructions for meditation: a clean, quiet place, a steady seat, body, head and neck held straight, and the gaze withdrawn. It adds that yoga is not for one who eats or sleeps too much or too little, but for one who is moderate in food, rest, work and recreation (6.17). How is the restless mind controlled? By practice and non-attachment (6.35), the same answer the Yoga Sutras give.
Verses to know by heart
- 2.47 You have a right to your action, but never to its fruits.
- 2.48 Evenness of mind is called yoga.
- 2.50 Yoga is skill in action.
- 6.17 Yoga is for one who is moderate in food, sleep, work and play.
- 6.35 The mind is restless, but it is controlled by practice and non-attachment.
How the Gita relates to Hatha yoga
The Gita says little about postures. What it gives the physical practice is its attitude: practise fully without straining for results, accept what the body can do today, and keep the mind even. Our guide to yoga philosophy shows how the Gita sits beside Samkhya and the Yoga Sutras, and our article on the types of yoga places its four paths among the modern styles.
How to start reading it
Choose a translation with commentary, and read one short passage a day rather than the whole text at once. Chapters 2, 3, 6 and 12 are a good first selection. Read slowly, and come back to it: the Gita reads differently at different times of life.
Studying the Gita with us
The Bhagavad Gita is part of the philosophy module on our 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, studied alongside the Yoga Sutras and Samkhya, with evening satsang for discussion. It is read in more depth on the 500 Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training.
