Gita Verse by Verse

Gita 02.07 Seek first to understand the question to best understand the answer

Gita 02.06 The decision that seems a no-brainer turns out to be a brain-exhauster

Gita 02.05 Deliberation is desirable, but depth of deliberation is decisive

Gita 02.03 Identify behavior that is out of character with our character

Gita 02.02 Fight against lower emotions by fighting for higher emotions

Gita 02.01 The intensity of Arjuna’s emotion conveys the potency of Krishna’s solacing wisdom

Gita 01.46 The significance of our actions depends not just on the actions but also on the situations in which we do those actions

Gita 01.45 The war was not to gain a kingdom but to protect the rule of law

Gita 01.44 When our emotion rules our reason, we rationalize a one-sided view of reality

Gita 01.43 Hearing is important, but from whom we are hearing is even more important

Gita 01.42 Disruption of dharma leads to overpopulation of disruptive souls, causing total breakdown of dharma

Gita 01.41 When the family is disrupted, the faith of the children is also devastated

Gita 01.40 Dharma prevents human society from being ruled by the law of the jungle

Gita 01.39 Our sense of honor coming from our lineage can raise us but can also stop us from rising to the highest

Gita 01.38 To restrain a violent madman, their restrainers may have to fight like the madman

Gita 01.37 Consciousness that is contaminated becomes conquered and covered

Gita 01.36 The ethical tension between kula-dharma and kshatriya-dharma leads to emotional over-reaction and physical inaction

Gita 01.35 Our pleasure-pain calculation determines our decisions and is determined by our worldview

Gita 01.34 To retaliate and cause death requires courage, but to not retaliate at the cost of one’s own death requires greater courage

Gita 01.33 When various purposes pull us in different directions, we need to prioritize our purposes

Gita 01.32 Don’t let the means to an end become an end that diverts us from the actual ends

Gita 01.31 What we think of as long-term may not be long-term enough

Gita 01.30 When we face challenges bigger than ourselves, we look for omens to sense the intentions of forces bigger than ourselves

Gita 01.29 Know which emotion is mental and which spiritual not just by content, but also by context and consequence

Gita 01.28 Our thought-train’s journey from intentions to actions is diverted by our emotions

Gita 01.27 The sequence of perception determines the consequence on our emotion

Gita 01.26 When we can’t fight the circumstances that make us fight against our loved ones, we have to fight against our loved ones

Gita 01.25 What catches ouar attention is determined by what is prominent in our external situation and in our internal disposition

Gita 01.24 The position of maximum visibility is also the position of maxiumum vulnerability

Gita 01.23 Virtue doesn’t count when determining the military count in a fight

Gita 01.22 Asking to see something that is already known points to a dynamic that is not known

Gita 01.21 The non-partisan position of the Gita’s revelation points to its universality

Gita 01.20 Life is so unpredictable that it can unbalance the unflappably balanced

Gita 01.19 The Pandavas win the mental battle before the physical battle

Gita 01.18 The Pandavas lost Pandu but gained Drupada as a father figure

Gita 01.17 Don’t let minor grammatical disputes overshadow major narrational and philosophical thrust

Gita 01.16 Yudhishthira doesn’t come first in the list of warriors but is still their undisputed leader

Gita 01.15 The devoted see God before they see the world, the undevoted see only the world

Gita 01.14 The Gita’s audio-visual camera starts with the character of the questioner’s interest, but shifts now to the central characters

Gita 01.13 Actions that throw caution to the winds are preceded by caution

Gita 01.12 Just because we get others to do what we want them to do doesn’t mean we have won them over to our side

Gita 01.11 The protector too needs to be protected

Gita 01.10 Symmetry of structure stresses contrast in content

Gita 01.09 Duryodhana’s slip of tongue leads to his speaking the truth unintentionally

Gita 01.08 We need to be calm-headed, not cold-blooded

Gita 01.07 Be aware of how what we say to one person may be heard by others

Gita 01.06 Duryodhana diplomatically continues to incite Drona against the Pandava army

Gita 01.05 Our mode of description reflects our intention

Gita 01.04 Duryodhana tries to change Drona’s emotion for the opposite side from affection to anger

Gita 01.03 Context can convert compliment into criticism

Gita 01.02 Sanjaya addresses not just the content of Dhritarashtra’s question but also its intent

Gita 01.01 The Gita’s first word dharma conveys its essential, universal theme

Gita 18.78 The Gita’s purpose is not just to proclaim God’s position but primarily to transform man’s disposition

Gita 18.77 Recollecting Krishnas universal form stimulates wonder in some and fear in others

Gita 18.76 The Gita’s conversation is memorable and relishable

Gita 18.75 Sanjaya appreciates the content, the source and the channel of the Gita’s wisdom

Gita 18.74 The Gita describes a mahatama and makes its hearer into a mahatma

Gita 18.73 Harmony with the divine infuses our fleeting insignificant lives with lasting significance

Gita 18.72 A philosophical conversation amidst emotional tribulation testifies to Arjuna’s sincerity and Krishna’s potency

Gita 18.71 Krishna compassionately offers connections at decreasing levels of commitment

Gita 18.70 See the sanctity of Gita study in terms of intent, content and result

Gita 18.69 See the superlative as an exhortation to devotional action

Gita 18.68 The bhakti cure cures more those who share the cure more

Gita 18.67 Though ultimately every heart longs for divine love, not every heart is presently ready for divine love

Gita 18.66 The call to rise above dharma is not a call to slip below dharma

Gita 18.65 Promises in a close relationship reflect and affect the closeness of the relationship

Gita 18.64 Krishna’s tone rises from informational analysis to impassioned advocacy

Gita 18.63 Knowledge guides our free will by showing us the consequences of our actions

Gita 18.62 The deepest peace comes by not an external serene situation but by an internal spiritual connection

Gita 18.61 Though we are controlled by material nature, we are still within the control of our Lord

Gita 18.60 How we act is determined by our material nature but for what purpose we act isnt

Gita 18.59 Ego means to think that we know better than God

Gita 18.58 The destructive voice can’t be tuned out unless we tune in to the divine voice

Gita 18.57 Take shelter of the intelligence to convince yourself of the need to take Krishna’s shelter

Gita 18.56 The bhakti university takes seekers from any level to the summit of spiritual perfection

Gita 18.55 Don’t divorce the literal reading of one word from the overall context of the text

Gita 18.54 Devotion doesn’t culminate in liberation, liberation culminates in devotion

Gita 18.53 Determined disconnection from the material paves the way to the spiritual

Gita 18.52 Take shelter of renunciation to cultivate inner absorption

Gita 18.51 Use intelligence to counter the mind’s centrifugal force

Gita 18.50 The Gita’s purpose is not to describe spiritual paths but to analyze them for making an informed choice

Gita 18.49 Our spiritual evolution goes through multiple levels of perfection from engagement through disengagement to devotion

Gita 18.48 See beyond the unpalatable to the essential to pursue the transcendental

Gita 18.47 Acknowledging our present diversity is essential for realizing our spiritual commanality

Gita 18.46 See work as an offering the divine’s gifts to the divine

Gita 18.45 Inclusive spirituality centers on rejection of work, but on its reconceptualization and redirection

Gita 18.44 Protecting cows protects the cow protectors from greed

Gita 18.43 Kshatriyas control in service of the supreme controller

Gita 18.42 Brahmanas cultivate material material regulation and spiritual redirection by intellectual conviction

Gita 18.41 Varnashrama provides customized spirituality for elevating people from where they are

Gita 18.40 To attain harmony with our spiritual nature, we need engagement that is in harmony with our psychophysical nature

Gita 18.39 Pleasure in ignorance begins in ignorance and ends in increased ignorance

Gita 18.38 The pleasure of titillation leads to the agony of tribulation

Gita 18.37 Spiritual knowledge gives us the purpose to persevere through the poison till the nectar

Gita 18.36 Some pleasures are the start of sorrow – and some the end of sorrow

Gita 18.35 To hold on to thought-patterns that hurt us is to abuse our determination

Gita 18.34 When one worldly desire trumps all other material desires, what results is determination in passion

Gita 18.33 What intelligence discerns, that determination sustains

Gita 18.32 Intelligence in ignorance mistakes the binding to be freeing

Gita 18.31 Confusing between long-term purposes and short-term pleasures characterizes intelligence in passion