Questions and solutions
236 questions across the eighteen cantos — apparent contradictions, grammatical irregularities and philosophical tensions, each resolved through reasoned analysis. Click any question to read the answer on its verse page. For spoken explorations, watch the Discussions on the BG playlist.
Canto 1 — The Yoga Triggered by Arjuna's Depression
1.10What is the meaning of aparyāptam? What does it signify?1.38–1.44How do the varṇa-saṅkara and the ensuing disasters resonate with today?1.46Did Arjuna give up?Canto 2 — The Concise, Well-Defined Yoga
2.69What is this contradiction — day in night, night in day?2.70The simile of the ocean and the rivers seems unclear.2.59Rasa-varjam — what of the lingering taste?2.50Loss of sandhi in the second quarter — a grammatical note.2.49“Take refuge in the intellect.”2.46The dam and the Veda.2.45The threefold Vedas.2.44Bhoga and Aiśvarya.2.31Svadharma and Kṣatriya.2.27Birth and death are pre-ordained.2.28Unmanifest, manifest?2.29The Amazement.2.16The existent and the non-existent.2.12Never non-existent.2.37The win-win situation.Canto 3 — The Yoga Attained by Action
3.2The confusing words of Kṛṣṇa.3.4Renunciation and inertia.3.10Prasaviṣyadhvam — an irregular verbal form.3.11Prajāpati, devas, humans.3.12The thief.3.15Brahman and brahman.3.16One who does not turn this wheel lives in vain.3.20Janaka.3.21“And yet I remain in action.”3.25The wise and the fool; tathā-asakta (3.29).3.27The ego — the “I-doer.”3.28The three-fold envelope.3.32The fear of criticism.3.33“What can forceful restraint do?”3.35Svadharma and Paradharma.3.37This one is Lust and Anger.3.40A playground for Desire.3.42The inquiry into the Self, beyond the intellect.Canto 4 — The Yoga by Knowledge
4.1Who is Vivasvān? What does it mean? What is this paramparā?4.5How does Kṛṣṇa have previous lives?4.9How is Kṛṣṇa identifying himself with God?4.13Varṇa?4.18Non-doer and doer — inaction in action.4.24Is Brahman everything?4.25Yajña by yajña.4.26–4.33The kinds of yajña.4.40The clouded doubter.Canto 5 — The Yoga by Renouncing Action
5.1The dilemma of the paths still persists.5.4Why is the new term “Sāṅkhya and Yoga” brought in now — and what is the contrast?5.7The ātman, the aatman, and the Aatman.5.11Is ātma-śuddhi not itself a desire?5.8, 5.9, 5.13, 5.14, 5.15The Avadhūta — “I do nothing at all.”5.16Knowledge and absolute absorption.5.18The Paṇḍita — not the scholar.5.20, 5.21Inward joy, to the exclusion of the outer.5.20, 5.24“Becoming Brahman,” the knower of Brahman, and Nirvāṇa.5.27The regulation of prāṇa and apāna — a yogic technique?5.28How is Kṛṣṇa the “enjoyer of all yajñas” when at 5.15 he takes on no one****'****s sin?Canto 6 — The Yoga by Meditation on the Self
6.2Yogin and Sannyāsin?6.3Karma and Śama.6.4A new entity — the Yogārūḍha.6.5Who is this ātman that must be upheld and not demeaned?6.8Jñāna and Vijñāna (also 3.41; and again in Canto 7).6.8Kūṭastha and Udāsīna.6.11“Caila, ajina, kuśa — the layered seat.”6.13The tip of the nose, or its base?6.14“Mat-para” — why “intent on Me”?6.16The mean between extremes.6.19The lamp in a windless place; and the family of yoga-words.6.20Seeing the Self by the self.6.24All desires — only saṅkalpa-born? What of survival desires like hunger? (cf. 4.20, 3.8)6.27One who has become Brahman.6.28Easily attaining boundless happiness.6.29The Self in one is the Self in all.6.30Whence the equating of the Self with “Me”?6.32Samatvam — the highest yogi.6.39A loss of sandhi?6.44Śabda-Brahman?6.45Through many lives (cf. 4.5, 7.19).6.46The Karmin.6.47The greatest of yogis.Canto 7 — The Yoga by Knowledge and Experience
7.2Knowing this, nothing else remains to be known.7.5Aparā and Parā Prakṛti.7.6“I dissolve and create this universe.”7.7“There is nothing higher than Me.”7.8Where is he explicitly manifest?7.11The desire not opposed to Dharma.7.13Where delusion begins — Māyā.7.17The Jñānī is dearest.7.18“The Jñānī is verily Myself.”7.19Broken metre; and who is this Vāsudeva?7.20The “other deities.”7.21“I make firm the faith in whatever form is worshipped.”7.23Is he distinct from the devas?7.24Thinking of the Unmanifest as merely manifest.7.25Why does not everyone become enlightened?7.26“I know all; none knows Me.”7.27How do beings fall into folly and ignorance?7.29“They are verily Brahman, those who know That.”7.30“At the time of death also.”Canto 8 — The Yoga of the Immutable Brahman
8.2Defining the new terms.8.5The thought at death.8.8Which Puruṣa is meant here?8.10–8.13How to die.8.14Why practise beforehand?8.15No rebirth?8.17The cycle of time and the process of manifestation.8.21“My eternal abode — the Akṣara.”8.23The two paths after death.8.28Beyond all merit.Canto 9 — The Royal Wisdom and the Royal Secret
9.1The secret for the non-envious.9.4This royal secret revealed.9.5Contradicting his own words, and calling it his glory.9.7Creation.9.10Who actually creates?9.11“Fools despise Me, clothed in human form.”9.13Who is this that is worshipped?9.15Worshipping the One, or the Many.9.20Dictated by the triad — Indra, and heaven.9.22Reiterating the promise of 8.14.9.23The “other gods” when there is only One.9.25They get what they ask for.9.26Won by the humblest offering.9.29“They are in Me, and I in them.”9.32Of every birth and station.9.34Which self, in total surrender?Canto 10 — The Yoga of Divine Glories
10.3Knowing Me as Maheśvara, the Almighty.10.8“I am the origin of everything; from Me all proceeds.”10.9“Ramanti.”10.10“I give knowledge to those who worship Me with love.”10.11(Destroying the darkness with the lamp of knowledge.)10.12Arjuna’s admission; from intellectual to visible proof.10.17“How shall I contemplate You?”10.19“Infinite are My glories; yet some I shall name.”10.20“I am the Self; I am Brahman.”10.21–10.38The list.10.39“The original cause of all, I am.”10.41“Everything splendid is but a fraction of My splendour.”Canto 11 — The Vision of the Universal Form
11.3“I want the truth proved visually, after the verbal proof.”11.7“See the whole universe here, standing as One.”11.8Divine eyes.11.9Īśvara-Rūpa.11.15–11.31The Magnificent, the Magnanimous and the Mighty.11.31“Who are You?”11.32“I am Time” — not Kṛṣṇa.11.33“Kill these whom I have already killed.”11.36“Space liquefies.”11.37“Nameran.”11.41Guilty Arjuna.11.46“Return to that gentle form of Viṣṇu.”11.47What was it that Arjuna saw?11.48“Śakya” and “Aham”; the broken metre.11.48“By none but you.”11.49Consequences of seeing this Form.11.54A note on sandhi.11.55“He enters Me.”Canto 12 — The Yoga of Devotion
12.1Who is better — Your devotees (with form) or the worshippers of the Immutable?12.2A bias towards His devotees?12.5The trouble with “seekers of the Unmanifest.”12.6Unwavering Yoga.12.7Swift release.12.8“In Me, in Me, in Me…”12.9–12.12The ladder of Sādhana.12.13–12.20The characteristics of the Yogin — and hence of a Guru, an Avadhūta, and the pattern for a seeker.Canto 13 — The Field and the Knower of the Field
13.0The rare hidden question.13.1Definitions.13.4Brahma-Sūtra?13.12Brahman, the ultimate ‘to-be-known’; its qualities — Nirguṇa!13.19Prakṛti, the employer, supplier and task-master.13.20The dance of Puruṣa and Prakṛti.13.22This Puruṣa is Paramātman? How is that possible?13.24‘Seeing’: by meditation, by discrimination, by action, by devotion.13.27Echoing samatā.13.28“Do not injure yourself.”13.30When all distinction ceases.13.31Categorically: the Paramātman is formless.13.32The analogy of space (and of wind, water, sun).13.34Those who know That, attain That.Canto 14 — The Three Guṇas of Nature
14.2The great promise.14.3*Mahat*****: a new term. How does it relate to Prakṛti?14.5All three aspects bind.14.6–14.17, 14.10The three aspects, their signs, and their proportion.14.18What is the use of such classification? The effect of the aspects.14.21Can I overcome these aspects?14.24Again *****samatā*****: one cure for many diseases.14.26Getting ready for the plunge into Brahman-Bliss.Canto 15 — The Yoga of the Supreme Person
15.1Reference to the Śvetāśvatara (and Puruṣa-Sūkta, Praśna, Muṇḍaka).15.1Which “new species of Ficus” is this?15.4“I seek refuge in that Puruṣa, the great enlivener.”15.6“The sun illumines it not.”15.6Is Kṛṣṇa insecure? He keeps reasserting what he says of God and tying it to Himself.15.7The eternal Jīva?15.8What happens after death?15.10Only Jñānīs can sift out God in the jīva.15.11Unprepared minds, though striving, cannot see.15.12Sun, moon and fire: what is common among them?15.13“Gām”: cow or Earth?15.15“I sit in the heart; I am the source of memory and knowledge.”15.16Two enliveners?15.17A third enlivener? Īśvara!15.18Knowing this, how does one become omniscient?Canto 16 — The Divine and Demonic Endowments
16.1Is this not too utopian? Does the ideal even exist?16.1–16.3 and 16.4, 16.7–16.18The two demeanours defined.16.5What use is this classification?16.4Does it misfit the sequence?16.8Atheists and agnostics, beware? Is *****asatya***** = *****mithyā*****? Are they “godless”?16.9Terrorism.16.11–16.15“Nothing beyond… live now, enjoy now, amass…”16.14“I am the Almighty; I have occult powers.”16.17Thinking oneself superior; the drama of believers and infidels.16.19What becomes of such people?16.21The three gates of hell.16.23–16.24Transgressing the code of conduct.Canto 17 — The Three Kinds of Faith
17.1What of one who transgresses the rules yet worships with faith?17.2The three aspects of faith.17.3–17.13Faith, food and sacrifice classified.17.14–17.16The three domains of austerity.17.23The deeper meaning of “Om Tat Sat”.Canto 18 — The Yoga of Liberation by Renunciation
18.1The underlying principle of renunciation.18.2The many opinions.18.7The three aspects of renunciation.18.11One cannot give up all action; the body demands it.18.13Are the five causes of action significant?18.17The “supreme sinless killing”?18.20–18.22Threefold knowledge: oneness, distinction, irrationality.18.29–18.40Intellect, firmness and happiness, each threefold.18.41Varṇa by tendency and occupation.18.45*Svakarma-nirata*****: why “nirata”? Is it *****asakta*****?18.47*Svadharma***** reiterated: but should we merely surrender to our tendencies?18.49–18.57Can the whole ladder of Sādhana be summarised?18.59The falsity of “I will not fight.”18.61Īśvara returns.18.62(The turn.)18.63The facts laid bare; now *****you***** choose.18.65–18.66The two final promises.18.67–18.71Who is fit to receive this?18.72Kṛṣṇa asks, for a change; and Arjuna answers.18.74–18.78The narration ends; and the benediction.