The Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God, is a conversation from the Mahabharata, comprising of 700 verses and 18 chapters. It is the essence of Vedic knowledge and one of the most important Upanisads, The Gitopanishad. Krishna, as the speaker of the Bhagavad Gita, is referred to within as Bhagavan, or The Supreme Personality of Godhead. The verses themselves are written in a poetic form that is traditionally chanted; hence the title, which translates as "the Song of God". The Bhagavad Gita is revered as sacred by followers of the Hindu traditions, and especially so by Vaishnavas (worshippers of Krishna or Vishnu). It is commonly referred to as The Gita.



The content of this scripture is a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna taking place on the battlefield of Kurukshetra just minutes before the start of the Kurukshetra war. To dispell Arjuna's confusion and responding to moral dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his occupational duties as a ksatriya, or warrior. It is generally said that the conversation lasted about 45 minutes. In Sanskrit editions of the Gita, the Sanskrit text includes a traditional chapter title naming each chapter as a particular form of yoga.

The scripture is divided into 18 chapters with bhakti or devotional service, as the goal of every chapter. At the end of chapter six Lord Krishna says: " And of all yogis, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me - he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion." So one who thinks of the Supreme Lord always is the greatest yogi, the supermost jnani, and the greatest devotee at the same time. The Lord further tells Arjuna that as a ksatriya he cannot give up his fighting, but if Arjuna fights remembering Krsna, then he will be able to remember Krsna at the time of death. But one must be completely surrendered in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.

BG 18.55: " One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God."

There are three classes of transcendentalists, namely the jnani, the yogi and the bhakta, or the impersonalist, the meditator and the devotee. These are great personalities who distribute the Vedic knowledge as it is accepted by all acharyas. Therefore Arjuna tells Krsna that he accepts whatever He says to be completely perfect. Sarvam etad rtam manye: "I accept everything You say to be true." Arjuna also says that the personality of the Lord is very difficult to understand and even the great demigods cannot know that He. This means that the Lord cannot even be known by personalities greater than human beings. So how can a human being understand Lord Krsna without becoming His devotee?Therefore Bhagavad-Gita should be taken up in a spirit of devotion.