A puzzling feature of the Bhagavad-gita is Krishna’s referring to himself sometimes in the third person. One way to make sense of such references is [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita, Krishna sometimes refers to himself in the third person. Why? To better understand, let’s consider a specific example. In the eighteenth chapter, [...]
Krishna mentions the modes throughout the Bhagavad-gita; devotes the entire fourteenth chapter to explaining what they are and how they function; and uses them to [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita’s eighth chapter, Krishna states that whatever we remember at the time of death, we will attain the corresponding state in our next [...]
The Bhagavad-gita’s eighth chapter is centered on the theme of one’s consciousness at the moment of death. In fact, Krishna has referred to that theme [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita’s eight chapter, Krishna explains how dedicated yogis train themselves to depart at auspicious times, thereby attaining liberation (08.24). Those who depart at [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita (13.08-12), Krishna characterizes knowledge in terms of twenty virtues that indicate the overall direction of one’s heart. Such characterization implies that the [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita’s thirteenth chapter, Krishna lists twenty characteristics of those in knowledge. And one characteristic is detachment, specifically detachment from children, wife, home and [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita’s seventeenth chapter, Krishna indicates that faith isn’t just about something we believe; it is integral to our very existence, it’s about how [...]
When Arjuna seeks a nuanced understanding of the divine-demonic categorization (17.01), Krishna answers by providing several subtle and sophisticated parameters (17.09-22). But first Krishna continues [...]
Arjuna’s question at the start of the seventeenth chapter is among the few of his questions whose link with the last verses of the previous [...]
Few concepts are as foundational to Krishna’s Gita teachings as the soul. Many religions use the word ‘soul’ primarily in a non-literal sense: as a [...]
In the Bhagavadgita sixteenth chapter, as Krishna concludes his description of the ungodly people’s destructive and self-destructive activities, his tone changes from neutral to angry. [...]
In the Bhagavad Gita, there’s only one section where Krishna speaks three successive chapters on his own without any prompting question from Arjuna: the section [...]
What Krishna’s analysis of divine and demonic natures means for Arjuna-Throughout the Bhagavad-gita, when Krishna makes any point, Arjuna thinks how that point applies to [...]
Krishna begins the Bhagavad-gita’s fifteenth chapter with the upside-down tree metaphor that conveys the topsy-turvy nature of material existence. The metaphor speaks to Arjuna’s personal [...]
Some people think that Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita just to get Arjuna to fight. If that were so, Krishna chose a laboriously long-cut method for [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita’s tenth chapter, Krishna lists his vibhutis (special manifestations) among various classes of beings. When he comes to the Pandavas as a class. [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita’s tenth chapter, Krishna equates himself with over fifty things in this world. Are these statements meant to be read literally? Let’s consider [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita’s tenth chapter, Arjuna asks to hear more about Krishna’s glories (10.16), for he never tires of hearing those glories (10.18). Though such [...]
In the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna speaks metaphysical points the most in the tenth chapter (10.12-18). His speech in the eleventh chapter on seeing the universal form [...]
