The Bhagavad Gita
The central scripture of Hindu philosophy and the most widely translated Indian religious text in the world.
“You have a right to your action alone, never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.”
Why It Matters
The central scripture of Hindu philosophy and the most widely translated Indian religious text in the world. Although technically a chapter in the Mahabharata, the Gita has been read as a stand-alone work for at least a thousand years and has functioned as a portable Hindu summa — a single text from which philosophers, devotional movements, reformers, and modern political leaders have drawn radically different programs. Charles Wilkins's 1785 English translation made the Gita the first major Sanskrit work to enter the European canon; Emerson, Thoreau, Schopenhauer, Eliot, Hesse, Huxley, and Oppenheimer all read it closely. In modern India, it became the foundational text of the independence movement: Tilak, Gandhi, and Aurobindo each wrote book-length commentaries on it, and Gandhi called it his 'spiritual dictionary' and 'eternal mother.'
Notable Quotes
“I am Time grown old, the destroyer of worlds, set in motion to annihilate the worlds.”
“Whenever dharma decays and adharma rises, then I send forth myself.”
“It is never born, and it never dies; nor does it become anything, having been or about to be. Unborn, eternal, ancient, and everlasting, it is not killed when the body is killed.”
“Better one's own duty, though imperfectly performed, than another's done well. Better death in one's own duty; another's duty brings danger.”
“Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in me alone. I will free you from all evils. Do not grieve.”