---
type: Reference
bundle: upanishadic-core
id: bhagavad-gita
title: "Bhagavad Gītā"
description: "Krishna's teaching in the Mahabharata; synthesis of jnana, bhakti, and karma paths."
tradition: Vedānta (Prasthāna Trayī)
author: "Traditional; attributed to Vyāsa; Mahābhārata Book 6"
language: Sanskrit
approximate_date: "c. 200 BCE – 200 CE (compiled)"
key_concepts_in_bundle: [jivanmukti, brahmabhavana, nididhyasana, sakshin]
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Bhagavad Gītā — भगवद्गीता

"Song of the Lord." 18 chapters, 700 verses. Part of the Mahābhārata (Bhīṣmaparvan, chapters 23–40). One of the three texts of the Prasthāna Trayī (triple foundation of Vedānta). Śaṅkara's commentary (Bhāṣya) establishes the Advaita reading; Rāmānuja's commentary establishes the Viśiṣṭādvaita reading — the two interpretations diverge primarily on the nature of the devotee's relationship to Brahman and the role of Karma Yoga as path.

## Key Passages for Bundle Concepts

| Passage | Concept | Content |
|---------|---------|---------|
| BG 2.54–72 | Jīvanmukti | The Sthitaprajña portrait; the Jīvanmukta's characteristics |
| BG 3.17–19 | Brahmabhāvanā | Action without agency; "doing nothing" from the Ātman-standpoint |
| BG 4.37–38 | Brahmabhāvanā | Jñāna burns all Karma; fire-to-fuel simile |
| BG 13.1–35 | Sākṣin | Kṣetra / Kṣetrajña (field / knower of the field); Sākṣin as witness |
| BG 18.49–55 | Jivanmukti | Liberation through non-attachment; the Brahma-bhūta state |

## The Sthitaprajña (BG 2.54–72)

The Sthitaprajña ("one established in wisdom") section is the Bhagavad Gītā's closest approach to a portrait of the Jīvanmukta. Arjuna asks: what does a person of stable insight look like, how do they speak, how do they sit, how do they move? Kṛṣṇa's answer describes not an absence of perception or action but a radical shift in the relationship to perception and action — desire-drops fall off, the mind is not disturbed by sorrows or excited by pleasures, attachment and fear and anger are absent. This is not emotional flatness; it is the exhaustion of Viparīta-bhāvanā.

The jivanmukti.md file cites this passage as the Gītā's practical portrait of liberation-in-embodied-life. The key point for OKF purposes: the Sthitaprajña continues to engage with the world (Kṛṣṇa himself is the prime example) — this is not withdrawal.

## Karma and Jñāna (BG 4.37–38)

"As fire reduces all fuel to ashes, so the fire of knowledge burns all Karmas to ashes." (4.37) This is the Gītā's clearest statement of the three-Karma analysis: Jñāna destroys the accumulated Sañcita and (by removing agency) stops the generation of new Āgāmin, but Prārabdha (already burning) continues — which is why the Jīvanmukta still inhabits a body.

## Cross-School Notes

Advaita (Śaṅkara): The Gītā teaches Jñāna as the supreme path; Karma Yoga and Bhakti are preparatory (Citta-śuddhi — purification of mind). The Brahma-bhūta state (18.54) is identical with Brahman-realization.

Viśiṣṭādvaita (Rāmānuja): The Gītā teaches Bhakti as the supreme path; Jñāna is the form Bhakti takes at its highest intensity. The Brahma-bhūta state is qualified — the devotee realizes their own Brahman-nature while remaining distinct.

## Recommended Editions

- Śaṅkara's Bhāṣya: Gambhīrānanda translation (Advaita Ashrama)
- Rāmānuja's commentary: Adidevananda translation (Ramakrishna Math)
- Swami Nikhilananda (Ramakrishna Math — scholarly, neutral)
- W. Johnson translation (Oxford World's Classics — Penguin for general readers)
