Bhagavad Gita: The Essence

Essence Book Series – 1

For Free Distribution (Private Circulation)

Bhagavad Gita: The Essence1

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Prepared on the basis of comprehensive notes taken from The Holy Gita: Commentary by Swami
Chinmayananda, Published by Central Chinmaya Trust, Bombay. The original notes were compiled during
 This is an offering of love at the Lotus Feet of
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

CHAPTER 1: Arjuna's Grief

The context is the Mahabharata war, between the Kauravas and Pandavas. It
is in the midst of the battlefield Sri Krishna teaches Bhagavad-Gita to
Arjuna.

Arjuna, observing that there are fathers, uncles, cousins, etc., on both sides,
turns to Krishna, the ‘charioteer’, says: “How can we be happy, killing our
own people? The other side may not see `sin’, but we see it. We must turn
away. If the other side kills me, it is better for me.”

CHAPTER 2: Yoga of Knowledge

Lord Krishna explains as follows. Bodies go. Self, the Pure Awareness is
Eternal, Indestructible. It cannot be slain. Unborn, Eternal, Changeless, Self
does not kill. Birth and Death are inevitable. No need to grieve for the body
because the indweller is permanent. Be established in the self. To him who
knows Self, No use for Vedas/Rituals. Flood does not need water.

Karmanyeva adhikarasthe Ma Phaleshu Kadanchana,

Ma Karmaphala hethurbhurmathe Sangostva Karmani.

The right is to work only, but never to its fruits; Let not the fruit-of-action be
the motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction.

1986-88. A re-visit and summarizations leading to this essence happened during October-November 2021
and May 2023. In late 1980s, the author sent a small amount as ‘Guru Dakshina’ to Swamiji. HE wrote a
letter acknowledging the tiny gift. HE also stated that the author should, from then on, read only his
summary.
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Perform action…abandoning attachment, being balanced in success and
failure. Evenness of mind is called YOGA.

When a man thinks of objects, `attachment’ for them arises. From

attachment, `desire’ is born; from desire arises `anger’… From anger comes
`delusion’; from delusion `loss of memory’; from loss of memory the
`destruction of discrimination’; from destruction of discrimination, he
`perishes’.

The self-controlled man, moving among objects, with his senses under
restraint and free from both attraction and repulsion attains peace.

CHAPTER 3: Yoga of Action

For the man who rejoices only in the self, who is satisfied with the self, who
is content in the self alone, for him, there is nothing more to be done.
Therefore, always perform actions which should be done, without
attachment. Performing actions without attachment, one attains the
Supreme.

CHAPTER 4: Ending Action in Knowledge

Through the practice of Karma Yoga, when one learns to renounce

attachments to the fruits-of-action and carries on working in perfect
detachment, when every doubt regarding the Goal-of-life is completely
removed in own inner experiences of the nobler and diviner, the ego comes
to rediscover itself to be nothing other than the Atma. Then the individual
ego comes to live `POISED IN THE SELF AS THE SELF’. When such an
individual works, his actions can never bind him.

CHAPTER 5: True Renunciation

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He who is devoted to the Path-of-action, whose mind is pure, who has
subdued his senses, who realized his Self as the Self in all beings, though
acting, is not tainted.

After conquering desire and anger, the Yogi is absolutely free even when he
is very busy working for the welfare of the world. Shutting out external
contacts, fixing the gaze (as though) between the eyebrows, feeling the
outgoing and incoming breath moving within the nostrils, with senses, mind,
and intellect controlled, having liberation as his Supreme Goal, free from
desire, fear, and anger - the sage is liberated forever.

CHAPTER 6: Meditation

No one verily becomes a YOGI who has not renounced thoughts (Sankalp).
He who is of the same mind to the good-hearted, friends, enemies, the
indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, relatives, the righteous and unrighteous,
he excels.

When once the YOGI feels that Infinite-Bliss grasped by the pure intellect,
which transcends the senses, he never moves from the Reality. He then
thinks there is no other gain superior to it; wherein established, he is not
moved even by heavy sorrow.

In the experience of quietude, flow of thought ceases, the mind ends. Then
the only experience is that of Supreme Bliss. A Seer of Self-realization
instinctively becomes a compassionate man. Love is his very breath,
kindness his very sustenance.

Undoubtedly, the mind is difficult to control and is restless, but, by practice

(ABHYASA) and by dispassion (VIRAGYA), it is restrained by giving up all
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clinging attachments to the objects of the world and the lingering
expectations for the fruits-of-action.

CHAPTER 7: Knowledge and Wisdom

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, egoism - These are My Eight-
Fold Nature (Prakriti): the five sense organs + the subtle body, which has
mind, intellect, and ego. This is the “lower” PRAKRITHI; different from it,
there is My ‘HIGHER’ PRAKRITI, the very Life-element, by which this
world is upheld. The lower and higher prakriti are the womb of all beings.

Four kinds of virtuous men worship Me: the dissatisfied, the seeker of
knowledge, the seeker of wealth, and the wise. I am exceedingly dear to the
wise and he is dear to Me. I am not manifest to all (in My Real Nature)
veiled by Divine `MAYA’. This deluded world knows not Me.

CHAPTER 8: Imperishable Brahman

IMPERISHABLE IS THE SUPREME Brahman, the changeless and

imperishable subjective essence behind the phenomenal world. It becomes
the Self, the Conscious Principle which illumines the body, mind, and
intellect, in the various lives. An individual who is ever conscious of the
play of the Self at all levels of his personality - physical, mental, and
intellectual - such an individual, naturally, comes to experience himself as a
Divine Witness. I am easily attainable by that ever-steadfast ‘YOGI’ who
constantly remembers Me daily, not thinking of anything else.

CHAPTER 9: The Royal Secret

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Ananyāśh chintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate;

teṣhāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣhemaṁ vahāmyaham

To those who worship Me alone, thinking of no other, to those ever self-

controlled, I secure for them that which is not already possessed (YOGA) by
them, and preserve for them what they already possess (KSHEMA).

Whatever you do, eat, offer in sacrifice, give, practice as austerity, do it as

an offering to Me. Fix your mind on Me; be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me,
bow down to Me; having thus united your (whole) Self with Me, taking Me
as the Supreme Goal, you shall come to Me.

(In Sum: Be in Constant Awareness of the Divine. We are what we are

because of our Thoughts. If the Thoughts are noble and divine, we become
noble and divine.)

CHAPTER 10: The Divine Glories

“I” (Pure Consciousness) am the source of all the DEVAS and the RISHIS.
(The seven Rishis together represent the intellectual and mental life of man -
the efficient and material causes for all creation. ‘Devas’ refers to the
illumining entities – the Sense Organs.)

Intellect, wisdom, non-illusion, forgiveness, truth, self-restraint, calmness,

happiness, birth or death, fear and also fearlessness, non-injury, equanimity,
contentment, austerity, beneficence, fame, infamy - all these arise from Me
alone.

To the ever-steadfast, worshipping Me with love, I give the Buddhi-Yoga

(Right Knowledge gained through meditation upon the Infinite Nature of the

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Self) by which they come to Me. I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all
beings. There is no being, moving or unmoving, that can exist without Me.

CHAPTER 11: The Cosmic Form Divine

With numerous mouths and eyes, with numerous wonderful sights, with
numerous divine ornaments, with numerous divine weapons uplifted (such a
form He showed). In the body of the God of gods, Arjuna saw the whole
Universe, will all its infinite parts: all Gods, hosts of other beings, with
manifold arms, mouths, stomachs, and eyes with neither the end, middle nor
beginning. (The Lord of the Universe, showed HIS Cosmic form.)

CHAPTER 12: Path of Devotion

Those who worship Me, renouncing all actions in Me, regarding Me as the
Supreme Goal, meditating on Me with single minded devotion, for them,
verily I become the Savior out of the Ocean of finite experiences, the
SAMSARA.

Fix your mind on Me only, place your intellect in Me; thereafter you shall,
no doubt, live in Me alone. If you are unable to fix your mind steadily upon
Me, then by the YOGA-of-constant practice, seek to reach Me. If you are
unable even to practice ABHYASA-YOGA, be intent on performing actions
for My sake; you shall attain perfection. If you are unable to do even this,
then taking refuge in Me, self-controlled, renounce the fruits of all actions.

Qualities of a True Devotee: Hates none. Compassion to all. Free from

attachment and egoism. Balanced in pleasure and pain. Forgiving. Ever
Content. Steady in Meditation. Self-controlled. Possessed of Firm
Conviction. Mind and intellect dedicated to Me. Not causing agitation to the
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world; not agitated by the world. Free from joy, envy, fear, anxiety, and
wants. Pure, Clean. Alert, Aware. Unconcerned. Untroubled. Renouncing all
“Beings”. Not rejoicing, not hating (quarreling), not grieving, and not
desiring. Renouncing good and evil. Fully Devoted. Same to foe and friend;
same in honor and dishonor; in cold, heat, pleasure, pain. Equal in blame and
praise. Silent. Content with what is obtained. Homeless. Steady-Minded.

CHAPTER 13: The Field and Its Knower

This body is called the Field (Kshetra), and he who knows it is called the
knower-of-the-field (Kshetrajna). Know Me as the “Knower-of-the-Field” in
all “Fields”.

KSHETRA’s constituents are as follows. **The great five elements: space,

air, fire, water, and earth. Combinations of these make grosser elements.
**Egoism (Ahamkara): This is the individuality, the perceiver and enjoyer -
of joy and sorrows, likes, dislikes etc. **Intellect (Buddhi): the faculty
which judges good and bad in every experience of a living man.
**Unmanifested: This is the factor making up the vasanas – impressions left
over on the mental equipment as a result of conscious enjoyment of the
world-outside. They determine the direction and pattern of behavior. The
totality of Vasanas is called moola prakriti or maya. The one supreme
functioning through moola prakriti or maya is the creator of the total
Universe. **Ten Senses: Five organs of perception (ear, skin, eyes, tongue,
nose) and 5 organs of action (vocal cord, legs, hands, genitals, anus). These
are the vehicles by which each individual perceives the stimuli and responds
to them. **Five objects of the senses: Seeing forms, listening to sounds,
smelling the flavors, tasting the rasas, and perceiving the touches - these are

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the objects of senses of perception. **All thoughts and attitudes (desire,
hatred etc.) are also part of the Kshetra.

Qualities of the Pure Knower: Humility, Unpretentiousness, Non-injury,

Uprightness, Service to teacher, Purity (Patience), Steadfastness, Self-
control, Indifference to objects of senses, Absence of egoism, Perception of
(or reflection upon) the evils of birth, death, old age, sickness and pain, Non-
attachment, Non-identification of Self with son, home, wife and the rest,
Constant even mindedness on the attainment of desirable and the
undesirable, Unswerving devotion unto Me, Yoga of Non-separation,
Resorting to lonely places, Distaste from the society of men, Constancy in
self-knowledge, and Understanding the end of true knowledge.

(Getting rid of Ego means getting rid of the conditioning by the mind. For
this one invokes the superior intellect, Blessed by Gayathri. Thus one leads
the life of Jeevan Muktha.) They who, with their eye-of-wisdom come to
know the distinction between the “Field” and the Knower-of-the-Field, and
of the liberation from the “Prakriti of the being” go to the Supreme.

CHAPTER 14: The Three Moods

Sattva attaches to happiness, Rajas to action, while Tamas, shrouding

knowledge, attaches to heedlessness. When, through every gate (sense) in
this body, the light-of-intelligence shines, then it may be known that Sattva
is predominant. Greed, activity, restlessness, longing - these arise when
Rajas is predominant. Darkness, inertness, heedlessness, and delusion arise
when Tamas is predominant. The fruit of good action is Sattvic and pure; the
fruit of Rajas is pain, and the fruit of Tamas is ignorance. When one knows
that which is higher than the three gunas, he attains to the Supreme Being.
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Serving Me with unswerving devotion, and crossing beyond the three
Gunas, he is fit to be close to Me.

CHAPTER 15: The Supreme Spirit

Free from pride and delusion, victorious over the evil of attachment,
dwelling constantly in the Self, desires completely retired, freed from the
pairs-of-opposites such as pleasure and pain, one reaches that Goal Eternal.

An eternal portion of Myself, having become a living soul in the world of

life, and abiding in PRAKRITI, draws (to itself) the (five) senses and the
mind. The seekers striving (for Perfection) behold Him dwelling in the Self;
but the unrefined and the unintelligent, even though striving, see Him not.

That light which is residing in the Sun, and which illumines the whole
world, know that Light to be Mine. Permeating the earth, I support all beings
by (My) energy; and having become the liquid moon, I nourish all herbs.
Having become (the FIRE) Vaisvanara, I abide in the body of beings, and
associated with PRANA and APANA, digest the food. I am seated in the
hearts of all.

I am declared as the Purushottama (the Highest PURUSHA) in the world

and in the VEDAS. He who, undeluded, thus knows Me, the Supreme
PURUSHA, worships Me with his whole being.

CHAPTER 16: Divine and Devilish Estates

Fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in the YOGA-of-Knowledge,

almsgiving, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of the SASTRAS, tapas,
straightforwardness, harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation,
peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to beings, non-
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covetousness, modesty, absence of fickle mindedness, vigor, forgiveness,
fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of pride - these belong to the
one born for the Divine Estate.

Hypocrisy, arrogance and self-conceit, anger, and also harshness and

ignorance, belong to one who is born for a Demoniac Estate.

The divine nature is deemed for liberation, and the demonical for bondage.

The demonic knows not what to do and what to refrain from, neither purity,
nor right conduct, nor truth is found in them. Demonic says “the universe is
without truth, without (moral) basis, without a God etc.” Holding this view,
these ruined souls of small intellect, filled with insatiable desires, full of
hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance, holding evil ideas through delusion, they
work with impure resolves. Regarding gratification of lust as their highest
aim, feeling sure that that is all that matters, given to lust and anger, they do
strive to obtain, by unlawful means, hordes of wealth for sensual
enjoyments. (They declare) “I am the Lord”, “I am perfect, powerful and
happy”. I will give (alms, money) - I will rejoice” - Thus are they deluded by
‘ignorance’. Filled with pride and drunk with wealth, they perform sacrifices
in name (only) out of ostentation, contrary to scriptural ordinance. These
malicious people hate Me in their own bodies and in those of others. I hurl
these evil doers forever in the wombs of the demons only.

CHAPTER 17: The Three-fold Faith

Three-fold is the faith of the embodied, which is inherent in their nature -

Sattvic (pure), Rajasic (passionate) and the Tamasic (dark). The Sattvic
worship the gods; the Rajasic worship Yakshas and Rakshasas; and the

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Tamasic worship ghosts and nature spirits. Senselessly torturing all elements
in the body, and Me also, who dwells within the body - these are of
‘demonical’ resolves.

The foods which increase life, purity, strength, health, joy, and cheerfulness
are dear to the Sattvic. The foods that are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot,
pungent, dry, and burning, are liked by the Rajasic. These produce pain,
grief, and disease. Stale, tasteless, putrid, and rotten, refuse and impure, is
the food liked by the ‘Tamasic’. Sacrifice offered without desire for fruit is
Sattvic. Sacrifice seeking gains is Rajasic. Tamasic sacrifice is contrary to
the ordinances, devoid of faith.

Worship of the gods, teachers and the ‘wise’; purity, straightforwardness,

celibacy, and non-injury; speech which causes no excitement, and is truthful,
pleasant, and beneficial; practice of the study of the VEDAS; and serenity of
mind, good-heartedness, silence, self-control, purity of nature - these
practiced by steadfast men, with utmost faith, DESIRING NO FRUIT is
called SATTVIC. Austerity practiced with the object of gaining good
reception, honor, and worship and with hypocrisy, is RAJASIC. Austerity
practiced with self-torture, out of some foolish notion, for the purpose of
destroying another, is TAMASIC.

A gift given as a duty in a fit time and place to a worthy person, with no
expectation in return is Sattvic. Giving with a view to receiving in return or
given reluctantly is Rajasic. Giving at a wrong place and time, to unworthy
persons is declared to be Tamasic.

CHAPTER 18: Liberation Through Renunciation

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Sages understand SANYASA to be “the renunciation of works with desire”;
the wise declare “the abandonment of the fruits of all actions” as TYAGA.
Renunciation of “obligatory actions” is not proper. Whatever “obligatory
action” is done, abandoning “attachment and also fruit”, that abandonment is
regarded as SATTVIC - pure.

That by which one sees the one indestructible Reality in all beings, that
knowledge is Sattvic. An “action” which is ordained, which is free from
attachment, which is done without love or hatred, by one who is not desirous
of fruit, that action is declared to be Sattvic. An “agent” who is free from
attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm and
unaffected by success or failure is called Sattvic.

There is the three-fold division of “understanding” and “fortitude” according

to the qualities. That which knows the paths of work and renunciation, what
ought to be done and what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness,
bondage, and liberation - that “understanding” is Sattvic. That by which one
wrongly understands Dharma and Adharma and what ought to be done and
what ought not to be done, that intellect is Rajasic. That which, enveloped in
darkness, sees Adharma as Dharma, and all things perverted, that intellect is
Tamasic.

The unwavering “Fortitude” by which, through Yoga, the functions of the

mind, the Prana and the senses are restrained, that “Fortitude” is Sattvic.

That which is like poison at first, but in the end like nectar, that “pleasure” is
declared to be Sattvic. That pleasure which arises from the contact of the
sense-organs with the objects, (which is) at first like nectar, (but is) in the
end like poison, that is declared to be Rajasic. The pleasure, which at first
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and in the sequel deludes the self, arising from sleep, indolence, and
heedlessness, is declared to be Tamasic. There is no being on earth, or
again in heaven among the “DEVAS”, who is totally liberated from the
three qualities – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas – born of Prakriti (matter).

Devoted, each to his own duty, man attains Perfection. From whom is the
evolution of all beings, by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him, with
one’s own duty, man attains Perfection. He who does the duty ordained by
his own nature incurs no sin.

The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, causing all beings, by His
illusive power, to resolve, as if mounted on a machine. Take refuge in HIM
with all your being. By His Grace you shall obtain Supreme Peace (and)
the Eternal Abode.

Sarva dharman parithyajya, mamekam saranam vraja;

Ahamtva sarva papebhyo, mokshaishyami maasucha

Abandoning all (non-essential) DHARMAS (of the body, mind, and

intellect), take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins.

He who, with supreme devotion to Me, teaches this to My devotees, shall

doubtless come to Me. Nor is there any who does dearer service to Me, nor
shall there be another on earth dearer to Me than that one. (This is the
glorification of the Geeta teacher by Sri Krishna).

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 This booklet is in memory of the
Summarizer’s Parents who continue to bless

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