2 h 19 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How do you act when every choice seems to cost something dear?
Two armies stand ready, and Arjuna will not fight. The Pandava archer asks his charioteer, Krishna, to drive between them so he can see whom he must face. Here, within the Mahabharata, a battlefield becomes the setting for a poem about duty, doubt, and the courage to act.
In The Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gîtâ, Edwin Arnold presents this spiritual dialogue in flowing verse. Krishna, whom Hindu tradition honors as a form of God, teaches Arjuna about action, devotion, and an eternal self. Across eighteen chapters, their conversation explores how to act well without clinging to results.
What you’ll discover
- A warrior at the crossroads Stand beside Arjuna as the sight of those he must fight brings him to a halt.
- The way of action Explore karma yoga through Krishna's teaching on doing your duty and letting go of results.
- A self beyond death Consider the poem's teaching that the true self has neither birth nor death.
- Devotion and divine vision Follow the dialogue from discipline toward love as Krishna reveals his divine form.
- The qualities of nature Encounter the three gunas, which Krishna describes as qualities that bind all beings.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy spiritual classics, questions about duty and meaning, meditation and yoga, or Indian thought, and if you like a teaching set inside a vivid scene with a friend asking honest questions.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A warrior freezes between two armies
- The self is deathless and cannot be killed
- Do your duty without clinging to results
- Train the mind through steady self-restraint
- God is the source and the whole of existence
- Devotion and the three qualities shape a life
- Give up the fruits and trust the guide
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Canto celestial; o Bhagavad-Gita
On a battlefield, Arjuna lowers his bow, and his charioteer Krishna begins to speak of the deathless soul.
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In short
What do you do when every choice seems to hurt someone you love? On the plain of Kurukshetra, the warrior Arjuna lets his bow fall and refuses to fight his own kin.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A warrior freezes between two armies
The Gita opens on the plain of Kurukshetra, where two armies from one family stand ready to fight. King Dhritirashtra asks his minister Sanjaya what is happening, and Sanjaya tells the story. Tradition places the poem inside the great epic called the Mahabharata and names the sage Vyasa as its author.
Prince Arjuna asks his charioteer, Krishna, to drive between the lines. There he sees grandfathers, teachers, uncles, cousins and friends on both sides. His limbs shake, his mouth goes dry, and the bow called Gandiv slips from his hand. He argues that killing kin brings ruin to families and their rites, and he sinks down on the chariot seat.
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What is the Bhagavad-Gita about?
It records a talk between the warrior Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna before a great battle. Arjuna doubts whether to fight his own kin, and Krishna teaches him about the deathless self, selfless action, meditation and devotion.
Who are Krishna and Arjuna?
Arjuna is a prince and archer of the Pandava family. Krishna is his friend and charioteer, who is shown in the poem as God present in human form and as the guide of all living things.
What does the word Yoga mean in the Gita?
Yoga means union or discipline.
The author
Edwin Arnold
1832–1904 · English poet and journalist
Sir Edwin Arnold (1832–1904) was an English poet and journalist. He was born in Gravesend and died in London. He lived in England, India and Japan, and worked for the Daily Telegraph. He published The Light of Asia in 1879 and The Song Celestial, a translation of the Bhagavad Gita, in 1885.
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