CHAPTER WISE SUMMARY OF

BHAGAVAD-GITA AS IT IS
Chapter 1: Observing the Armies on the
Battlefield of Kurukshetra
Two armies, those of the Pandavas and the
Kauravas, face each other on the Battlefield
of Kurukshetra. Many signs indicate victory
for the Pandavas. Dhrtarashtra, the Pandavas’
uncle and the Kauravas’ father, doubts the
possibility of his sons’ victory and asks
Sanjaya, his secretary, to describe the scene
on the battlefield.
Arjuna, one of five Pandava brothers,
undergoes a crisis just before the fight. He is
overwhelmed by compassion for his family
members and teachers, whom he is supposed
to kill. After submitting before Krishna many
noble and moral reasons why he wishes not
to fight, Arjuna casts aside his weapons,
overwhelmed with grief. Arjuna’s reluctance
to fight indicates his kind heart; such a
person is fit to receive transcendental
knowledge.
Chapter 2: Contents of the Gita
Summarized
Krishna does not sympathize with Arjuna’s
arguments. Rather, He reminds Arjuna that
his duty is to fight and orders him to
overcome his weakness of heart. Arjuna is
torn between his aversion to killing his
relatives and Krishna’s desire that he should
fight. Aggrieved and confused, Arjuna asks
Krishna for guidance and becomes his
disciple.
Krishna takes up the role of Arjuna’s Spiritual
Master and teaches him that the soul is
eternal and cannot be killed. Dying in battle
promotes a fighter to the heavenly planets, so
Arjuna should rejoice that those persons he is
about to kill will achieve superior births. A
person is eternally an individual. Only his
body perishes. Thus, there is nothing to
lament.
Arjuna’s decision not to fight is based on his
desire to enjoy life with his relatives, even at
the cost of wisdom and duty. Such a
mentality keeps one bound to the material
world. Krishna advises Arjuna to engage in
buddhi-yoga, work without attachment to the
results. By fighting in this way, Arjuna will free
himself from the cycle of birth and death and
become eligible to enter the kingdom of God.
Chapter 3: Karma – Yoga
Arjuna is still confused. He thinks that
buddhi-yoga means that one should retire
from active life and practice penance and
austerities. But Krishna says, “no. Fight! But
do it in a spirit of renunciation and offer all
the results to the Supreme. This is the best
purification. By working without attachment,
one attains the Supreme.”
Performing sacrifices for the pleasure of the
Lord guarantees material prosperity and
freedom from sinful reactions. Even a self-
realized person never gives up his duty. He
acts for the sake of educating others.
Arjuna then asks the Lord what it is that
causes one to engage in sinful acts. Krishna
answers that it is lust which induces one to
sin. This lust bewilders one and entangles
one in the material world. Lust presents itself
in the senses, mind, and intelligence, but it
can be counteracted by self – control.
Chapter 4: Transcendental Knowledge
The science of Bhagavad – gita was first
spoken by Krishna to Vivasvan, the sun-god.
Vivasvan taught the science to his
descendents, who taught it to humanity. This
system of transmitting knowledge is called
disciplic succession.
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in
religion and a rise of irreligion, Krishna
appears in His Original Transcendental Form,
untouched by material nature. One who
understands the transcendental nature of the
Lord attains the Lord’s eternal abode at the
time of death.
Everyone surrenders to Krishna, directly or
indirectly, and Krishna reciprocates according
to one’s surrender.
Krishna created a system called varnasrama,
with divisions of social and spiritual life, to
engage people according to their
psychophysical natures. By sacrificing the
results of work to the Supreme, people
gradually rise to the platform of
transcendental knowledge. Ignorant and
faithless people who doubt the revealed
knowledge of the scriptures can never be
happy, nor attain God Consciousness.

Chapter 5: Karma – yoga – Action in Krishna

Consciousness
Arjuna is still confused about what is better:
renunciation of work or work in devotion.
Krishna explains that devotional service is
better. Since everything belongs to Krishna,
nothing is one’s own to renounce. Thus
whatever one possesses one should use in
Krishna’s service. A person working in such
consciousness is renounced. This process,
called karma yoga, helps one escape the
result of fruitive action—entanglement in
rebirth.
One, who works in devotion with his mind and
senses controlled, is in divine consciousness.
Although his senses are engaged with sense
objects, he is aloof, situated in peace and
happiness.
Chapter 6: Dhyana – yoga
The process of mystic yoga entails cessation
of material activities. Yet the true mystic is
not he who performs no duty. A real yogi
works according to duty, without attachment
to results or a desire for sense gratification.
Real yoga entails meeting the Supreme Soul
within the heart and following His dictation.
This is achieved with the help of a controlled
mind. Through knowledge and realization,
one becomes unaffected by the dualities of
material existence (heat and cold, honor and
dishonor, etc.). By regulation of eating,
sleeping, work, and recreation, the yogi gains
control over his body, mind and activities and
becomes steady in his meditation on the
transcendent self. Ultimately, he achieves
Samadhi, characterized by the ability to relish
transcendental pleasure through
transcendental sense. The highest yogi is he
who always thinks of Krishna, the Supreme
Soul
Chapter 7: Knowledge of the Absolute
Krishna reveals Himself as the origin of all
material and spiritual energies. Although His
energy manifests material nature, with three
states of being (goodness, passion, and
ignorance), Krishna is not under material
control. But everyone else is, except those
who have surrendered unto Him.
Krishna is the essence of everything; the
taste of water, the heat in fire, the sound in
ether, the light of the sun and the moon, the
ability in man, the original fragrance of the
earth, the intelligence of the intelligent, and
the life of all that lives.
Four types of men surrender to Krishna, and
four types don’t. Those who do not surrender
remain covered by Krishna’s temporary,
illusory potency and can never know Him, but
pious people become eligible for surrender to
devotional service. Among them, those who
understand that Krishna is the cause of all
causes engage in devotional service with
great determination and become dear to
Krishna. These rare souls are sure to attain
Him.
Chapter 8: Attaining the Supreme
Arjuna asks Krishna seven questions: What is
Brahman? What is self? What are fruitive
activities? What is material manifestation?
Who are demigods? Who is the Lord of
sacrifice? And how can those engaged in
devotional service know Krishna at the time
of death?
Krishna replies “brahman” refers to the
indestructible living entity (jiva): the “self”
refers to the soul’s intrinsic nature of service;
and “fruitive activities” means actions that
develop material bodies. The material
manifestation is the ever -changing physical
nature; the demigods and their planets are
part of the universal form of the Supreme
Lord; and the Lord of sacrifice is Krishna
Himself as the Super soul.
As for knowing Krishna at the time of death, it
depends on one’s consciousness. The
principle is this: “Whatever state of being one
remembers when he quits his body, that state
he will attain without fail.”
Krishna says, “whoever, at the end of life,
quits his body remembering Me alone at once
attains My nature without a doubt. Therefore,
My dear Arjuna, you should always think of
Me in the form of Krishna and at the same
time carry out your prescribed duty of
fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me
and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me,
you will attain Me without doubt.”
During each day of Brahma, all living entities
become manifest, and during his night they
merge into the unmanifested nature. Although
there are auspicious and inauspicious times
for leaving one’s body, devotees of Krishna
do not care about them, for by engaging in
pure devotional service to Krishna they
automatically attain all the results derived
from studying the Vedas or engaging in
sacrifice, charity, philosophical speculation,
and so on. Such pure devotees reach the
Lord’s Supreme Eternal Abode.
Chapter 9: The Most Confidential
Knowledge
According to Lord Krishna, the most
confidential knowledge, knowledge of
devotional service, is the purest knowledge
and the topmost education. It gives direct
perception of the self by realization, and it is
the perfection of religion. It is everlasting and
joyfully performed.
Krishna’s unmanifested form pervades
everything, but Krishna Himself remains
detached from matter. Material nature,
working under His direction, produces all
moving and non-moving beings.
Krishna’s unmanifested form pervades
everything, but Krishna Himself remains
detached from matter. Material nature,
working under His direction, produces all
moving and non-moving beings.
Different worshipers reach different goals.
Men who want to attain the heavenly planets
worship the demigods and then take birth
among them to enjoy godly delights; but such
men, after exhausting their pious credits,
return to earth. Men, who worship ancestors,
go to the planets of the ancestors, and those
who worship ghosts become ghosts. But one
who worships Krishna with exclusive devotion
goes to Him forever.
Whatever Krishna’s devotee does, eats,
offers, or gives away in charity, he does as an
offering unto the Lord. Krishna reciprocates
by carrying what His devotee lacks and
preserving what he has. By taking shelter of
Krishna, even lowborn people can attain the
Supreme destination.
Chapter 10: the Opulence of the Absolute
Devotees know Krishna as the unborn, the
beginning less, the Supreme Lord of all
worlds, the creator of the patriarchs from
whom all living being descend, the origin of
everything.
Intelligence, knowledge, truthfulness, mental
and sensory control, fearlessness, non-
violence, austerity, birth, death, fear, distress,
infamy–all qualities, good and bad, are
created by Krishna. Devotional service helps
one develop all good qualities.
The devotees who lovingly engage in
devotional service have full faith in Krishna’s
opulences, mystic power, and supremacy.
The thoughts of such devotees dwell in
Krishna. Their lives are devoted to His
service, and they derive great bliss and
satisfaction by enlightening one another and
conversing about Him.
Devotees engaged in pure devotional service,
even if lacking education or knowledge of the
Vedic principles, are helped from within by
Krishna, who personally destroys the
darkness born out of ignorance.
Arjuna has realized Krishna’s position as the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
ultimate abode and the Absolute Truth, the
purest, the transcendental and the original
person, the unborn, the greatest, the origin,
and the Lord of all. Now Arjuna wants to know
more. Lord Krishna tells more, and then
concludes: “All opulent, beautiful, and
glorious creations spring from but a spark of
My splendor.”
Chapter 11: The Universal Form
To protect innocent people from imposters,
Arjuna asks Krishna to prove His divinity by
exhibiting His universal form – a form that
anyone who claims to be God should be
prepared to show. Krishna gives Arjuna divine
vision by which to see the brilliant, glaring,
unlimited universal form, which reveals, in
one place, everything that ever was or now is
or will be.
Arjuna offers obeisances with folded hands
and glorifies the Lord. Krishna then reveals
that except for the five Pandavas, all the
soldiers assembled on the battlefield will be
killed. Therefore Krishna exhorts Arjuna to
fight as His instrument and guarantees him
victory and a flourishing kingdom.
Arjuna requests Krishna to withdraw His
fearful form and show His original form. The
Lord then exhibits His four-armed form and at
last His original two-armed form. Upon seeing
the Lord’s beautiful humanlike form, Arjuna
becomes pacified. One who is engaged in
pure devotional service can see such a form.
Chapter 12: Devotional Service
“Who is more perfect,” Arjuna asks, “the
devotee worshiping and servicing the Lord’s
personal form or the transcendentalist
meditating on the impersonal Brahman?”
Krishna replies, “the devotee who fixes his
mind on My personal form is most perfect.”
Because devotional service employs the mind
and senses, it is the easy, natural way for an
embodied soul to reach the supreme
destination. The impersonal path is unnatural
and fraught with difficulties. Krishna does not
recommend it.
In the topmost stage of devotional service,
one’s consciousness is totally fixed on
Krishna. A step lower is the practice of
regulative devotional service. Lower than that
is karma-yoga, renouncing the fruits of
action. Indirect processes for attaining the
Supreme include meditation and cultivating
knowledge.
A devotee who is pure, expert, tolerant, self-
controlled, equipoised, non-envious, free
from false ego, friendly to all living entities,
and equal to friends and enemies is dear to
the Lord.
Chapter 13: Nature, the Enjoyer and
Consciousness
Arjuna wants to know about prakriti (nature),
purusa (the enjoyer), ksetra (the field),
ksetra-jna (the knower of the field), jnana
(knowledge), and gnaya (the object of
knowledge).
Krishna explains that the ksetra is the
conditioned soul’s field of activity the body.
Within it reside both the living entity and the
Supreme Lord, who are called ksetra-jna, the
knowers of the field. Jnana, knowledge,
means understanding of the body and its
knowers. Knowledge involves qualities such
as humility, nonviolence, tolerance,
cleanliness, self-control, absence of false
ego, and even – mindedness amid pleasant
and unpleasant events.
Jnaya, the object of knowledge, is the Super
soul. Prakriti, nature, is the causes of all
material causes and effects. The two
purusas, or enjoyers, are the living entity and
the Super soul. A person who can see that
the individual soul and the Super soul remain
unchanged throughout various types of
material bodies they successfully inhabit and
is said to possess the vision of eternity. By
understanding the difference between the
body and the knower of the body, and by
understanding the process of liberation from
material bondage, one reaches the supreme
goal.
Chapter 14: The Three Modes of Material
Nature
The total material substance is the source of
the three modes of material nature:
goodness, passion and ignorance. These
modes compete in exerting their influence
upon the conditioned soul. By observing the
modes at work, we can understand that they
are active, not we, and that we are separate.
In this way, the influence of material nature
gradually diminishes and we attain Krishna’s
spiritual nature.
The mode of goodness illuminates. It frees
one from all sinful reactions but conditions
one to a sense of happiness and knowledge.
One who dies in the mode of goodness
attains the higher planets.
A person influenced by the mode of passion
is plagued by unlimited desires for boundless
material enjoyment, especially sex pleasure.
To satisfy those desires, he is always forced
to engage in hard work that binds him to
sinful reactions, resulting in misery. A person
in the mode of passion is never satisfied with
the position he has already acquired. After
death, he again takes birth on earth among
persons engaged in fruitive activities.
The mode of ignorance means delusion. It
fosters madness, indolence, laziness, and
foolishness. If one dies in the mode of
ignorance, he has to take birth in the animal
kingdom or the hellish worlds.
A person who transcends the three modes is
steady in his behavior, aloof from the
temporary material body, and equally
disposed towards friends and enemies. Such
transcendental qualities can be achieved by
full engagement in devotional service.
Chapter 15: The Yoga of the Supreme
Person
The “tree” of this material world is but a
reflection of the real “tree”, the spiritual
world. Just as a tree’s reflection is situated on
water, the material reflection of the spiritual
world is situated on desire, and no one knows
where it begins or ends. This reflected tree is
nourished by the three modes of material
nature. Its leaves are the Vedic hymns, and its
twigs are the objects of the senses. One who
wants to disentangle himself from this tree
must cut it down with the weapon of
detachment and seek shelter of the Supreme
Lord.
Everyone in this world is fallible, but in the
spiritual world everyone is infallible. And
beyond all others is the Supreme Person,
Krishna.
Everyone in this world is fallible, but in the
spiritual world everyone is infallible. And
beyond all others is the Supreme Person,
Krishna.
Chapter 16: The Divine and Demoniac
Natures
Two classes of created beings, the divine and
the demoniac, are endowed with different
qualities. Godly men like Arjuna possess the
godly qualities: charity, self-control,
gentleness, modesty, forgiveness,
cleanliness, austerity, simplicity, non-
violence, truthfulness, tranquility,
fearlessness, freedom from anger, cultivation
of spiritual knowledge, aversion to fault-
finding, compassion for all living beings,
freedom from covetousness, and steady
determination.
Demoniac qualities such as pride, anger,
envy, harshness, arrogance, ignorance,
Impudence, uncleanliness, and improper
behavior bind people in a network of illusion
that makes them take birth again and again in
demoniac species of life. Unable to approach
Krishna, the demoniac gradually sink down to
hell.
Two kinds of action – regulated and
unregulated—yield different results. A person
who discards scriptural injunctions attains
neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the
supreme destination. People regulated by
scripture understand what duty is and what is
not. They gradually attain the supreme
destination by performing acts conducive to
self–realization.
Chapter 17: The Divisions of Faith
Arjuna asks. “what mode of nature governs
those who do not follow the principles of
scripture but worship according to their own
imagination?”
In reply, Krishna analyzes the different kinds
of faith, food, charity, austerity, sacrifice, and
penance that mark the different modes of
material nature.
The three words “om tat” sat are symbolic
representations of the Supreme Absolute
Truth. Om indicates the Supreme, tat is used
for getting free from material entanglement,
and sat indicates that the Absolute Truth is
the objective of devotional service. Any
sacrifice, charity, or penance performed
without faith in the Supreme is called asat,
impermanent.
Chapter 18: Conclusion: The Perfection of
Renunciation
Arjuna asks Krishna about the purpose of
tyaga (renunciation) and sannyasa (the
renounced order of life). Krishna explains
these and the five causes of action, the three
factors that motivate action, and the three
constituents of action. He also describes
action, understanding, determination,
happiness, and work according to each of the
three modes of material nature.
One attains perfection by doing one’s own
work, not another’s, as prescribed duties are
never affected by sinful reactions. Thus one
should work as a matter of duty, without
attachment or expectation of result. One
should never give up one’s duty.
The highest platform of self-realization is
pure devotional service to Krishna.
Accordingly, Krishna advises Arjuna to always
depend on Him, work under His protection,
and be conscious of Him. If Arjuna refuses to
fight for Krishna, he will still be dragged into
warfare as it is his nature as a ksatriya to
fight. Nonetheless, he is free to decide what
he wants to do.
By Krishna’s grace, Arjuna’s illusion and
doubt vanish, and he chooses to fight
according to Krishna’s directions.