A reader’s map|पाठक का मानचित्र
The eighteen chapters.
Each chapter carries the word “yoga” in its name, because each is a way of joining what we know to how we live.
What are the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita?
Eighteen, and every one of them carries the word yoga in its own name — Arjuna Vishada Yoga, Sankhya Yoga, Karma Yoga, and so on to Moksha Sannyasa Yoga — because each is a way of joining what a person knows to how they live. They run from Arjuna’s collapse on the field, where he lets go of bow and arrows (1.47), to his saying his confusion is gone and he will act (18.73) — and Sanjaya’s last word for him is धनुर्धर, the wielder of the bow (18.78). This page gives each chapter its name, its verse count and what it is for.
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust · counted from the Bhagavad Gita
The eighteen chapters
अर्जुनविषादयोग
Arjuna’s despairArjuna-viṣāda-yoga
The armies are drawn up; Arjuna sees his own people on both sides and puts down his bow.
Read all 47 verses →
साङ्ख्ययोग
Knowledge of the SelfSāṅkhya-yoga
The essence of the whole Gita: the Self is never born and never dies; act without craving the fruit; the marks of a steady mind.
Read all 72 verses →
कर्मयोग
The yoga of actionKarma-yoga
No one can remain without acting. Work done as offering, for the holding-together of the world.
Read all 43 verses →
ज्ञानकर्मसंन्यासयोग
Knowledge and the renunciation of actionJñāna-karma-sannyāsa-yoga
The teaching handed down through a lineage; action that does not bind; knowledge as the fire that purifies.
Read all 42 verses →
कर्मसंन्यासयोग
The yoga of renunciationKarma-sannyāsa-yoga
Renouncing action and acting selflessly lead to the same place; the second is the easier road.
Read all 29 verses →
ध्यानयोग
The yoga of meditationDhyāna-yoga
Seat, posture, moderation in food and sleep; the restless mind mastered by practice and dispassion.
Read all 47 verses →
ज्ञानविज्ञानयोग
Knowledge and realisationJñāna-vijñāna-yoga
The Divine as the thread on which all this is strung; the four kinds of people who turn to God.
Read all 30 verses →
अक्षरब्रह्मयोग
The imperishable AbsoluteAkṣara-brahma-yoga
What endures when everything else passes; remembrance at the last hour.
Read all 28 verses →
राजविद्याराजगुह्ययोग
The royal knowledge, the royal secretRāja-vidyā-rāja-guhya-yoga
Devotion is open to everyone, whatever their birth. A leaf, a flower, a fruit, water — offered with love, that is enough.
Read all 34 verses →
विभूतियोग
The divine gloriesVibhūti-yoga
Wherever there is excellence, splendour or strength, know it to be a spark of the Divine.
Read all 42 verses →
विश्वरूपदर्शनयोग
The vision of the cosmic formViśvarūpa-darśana-yoga
Arjuna is given sight to see the whole universe in one form, and asks for the gentle face to return.
Read all 55 verses →
भक्तियोग
The yoga of devotionBhakti-yoga
The joint-shortest chapter, with the fifteenth, and the portrait of the devotee: without hatred, friendly, compassionate, free of ego.
Read all 20 verses →
क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञविभागयोग
The field and its knowerKṣetra-kṣetrajña-vibhāga-yoga
The body as a field, and the one who knows it; humility and non-violence named as knowledge itself.
Read all 34 verses →
गुणत्रयविभागयोग
The three gunasGuṇa-traya-vibhāga-yoga
Sattva, rajas and tamas — how each binds, and what it looks like to rise beyond them.
Read all 27 verses →
पुरुषोत्तमयोग
The supreme PersonPuruṣottama-yoga
The world as an inverted tree, cut with the axe of non-attachment; the supreme Person beyond the perishable.
Read all 20 verses →
दैवासुरसम्पद्विभागयोग
Divine and demonic naturesDaivāsura-sampad-vibhāga-yoga
Two sets of qualities and where each leads; desire, anger and greed named as the three gates.
Read all 24 verses →
श्रद्धात्रयविभागयोग
The three kinds of faithŚraddhā-traya-vibhāga-yoga
A person is made of their faith. Food, sacrifice, austerity and giving, each in three grades.
Read all 28 verses →
मोक्षसंन्यासयोग
Liberation through renunciationMokṣa-sannyāsa-yoga
The longest chapter gathers everything up. Arjuna says his delusion is gone, and that he will do as Krishna says.
Read all 78 verses →
Begin reading
Where a first reader should start.
Begin with Chapter 2 — it holds the essence of the whole. Then read Chapters 3, 6, 9 and 12 for action, meditation, devotion and the character of a devotee. Only then go back and read all eighteen in order.
Read a little each day rather than a great deal at once. Keep an edition with the Sanskrit, a transliteration and a faithful translation side by side. And listen to a discourse when you can: the Gita was spoken before it was written, and it opens differently when heard.