Gītā-Sāra: The Essence of the Bhagavad Gītā

The Bhagavad Gītā is the teaching that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa gave to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra. The Gītā-Sāra (sāra means “essence”) is a short summary of that teaching. In the Agni Purāṇa (Chapter 381), Agni-deva, the deva of fire, gives this summary. He covers the undying nature of the ātman (the true self), how a person slides down into saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death), karma-yoga (acting without attachment), the fire of knowledge that burns away all karma, the signs of a person of steady wisdom, and the yoga of seeing all beings equally.

It ends with one clear message. The sādhaka (spiritual seeker) who sees this whole universe as the form of Viṣṇu, and offers upāsanā to Viṣṇu through his own proper work, reaches siddhi (perfection). The Garuḍa Purāṇa also has two summaries of its own, the Gītāsāra and the Brahmagītāsāra, which are described further below.

Why the Gītā Is the Highest

Agni-deva begins by calling the Bhagavad Gītā the uttamottama, the very best of all gītās (sacred songs of teaching). Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa taught it to Arjuna. It gives both bhukti (a good life in this world) and mukti (liberation) to everyone who takes it in. It is the voice of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa himself, and in it the whole teaching about the ātman, karma and mokṣa (liberation) is brought together.

The Ātman

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s first teaching is about the ātman. The jīva (the individual soul) is janma-rahita, without birth, so one should not grieve for the dead or for the living. The ātman does not grow old (jarā-rahita) and does not die (maraṇa-rahita). It cannot be cut (abhedya), cannot be burned and cannot be dried. Since the ātman is like this, grieving over the body is a mistake. One must let go of this śoka (grief).

How a Person Falls into Saṃsāra

The Gītā-Sāra lays out, step by step, how a person slides downward:

Thinking about sense-objects (viṣaya-cintana) creates attachment (saṅga) to them.
Attachment gives rise to kāma (desire).
Desire gives rise to krodha (anger).
Anger gives rise to sammoha (confusion).
Confusion causes smṛti-bhraṃśa (loss of memory).
Loss of memory causes buddhi-nāśa (loss of the power to judge rightly).
Loss of judgement leads to the ruin (naśyati) of the person.

On the other hand, sat-saṅga (the company of good people) undoes the harm of duḥsaṅga (bad company). One who wants mokṣa must remove all other desires. Having given up desire, one becomes ātma-niṣṭha, settled in the self, and is then called a sthitaprajña, a person of steady wisdom.

Karma-Yoga

Agni sums up Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s teaching on karma-yoga with the picture of a lotus leaf. Water does not stick to a lotus leaf. In the same way, pāpa (wrongdoing and its effects) does not stick to the jñānī (the wise person). He acts without attachment, with brahma-arpaṇa-buddhi, the attitude of offering everything to Brahman, so pāpa cannot cling to him. The jñānāgni, the fire of knowledge, burns all karma to ash:

Arjuna! The fire of knowledge destroys all karma.

The yogī who is joined in yoga sees all beings equally. He sees all beings in himself and himself in all beings.

The Person of Steady Wisdom

The Gītā-Sāra describes the sthitaprajña, the person of steady wisdom:

What is night for all beings, in that the yogī is awake; what all beings are awake in, that is night for the muni.

The ātma-santuṣṭa, one who is content in the self, has nothing more to do. Whether he acts or not, he gains nothing and loses nothing. One who understands the tattva (true nature) of how the guṇas (the three qualities of nature) and karma bear fruit knows that “the guṇas act among the guṇas”, and so does not become attached. Jñāna (knowledge) is like a nāvā (raft) on which one crosses over all pāpa. The yogī who sees equally, who has no mamakāra (sense of “mine”), and who sees Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa in all beings and all beings in Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, reaches the highest goal.

One Who Falls from Yoga

Here is an encouraging teaching. One who falls away from yoga (a yoga-bhraṣṭa) is born again in a pure and prosperous home (pavitreṣu śrīmantānāṃ gṛhe janma). No good deed is ever lost. One who has done kalyāṇa-kārya (good works) never comes to a bad end (durgati).

The Imperishable Brahman and Bhakti

The Gītā-Sāra then turns to parā-bhakti (the highest devotion) and upāsanā. Four kinds of sādhakas turn to Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa:

The ārta, one who is in distress
The jijñāsu, one who wants to know
The arthārthin, one who seeks some benefit
The jñānī, the wise one who sees that all is one

It also explains a set of terms:

The akṣara (imperishable) Brahman is the highest of all.
Svabhāva (one’s own nature) is called ādhyātma.
The yajña (sacred offering) that brings beings into existence is called karma.
The kṣara (perishable) is called ādhibhūta.
The puruṣa is called ādhidaivata.
In this body, Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa himself is the ādhiyajña.

Whoever remembers Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa at the moment of death reaches Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, without doubt. Whatever a person thinks of when leaving the body, that is what he reaches. By placing the prāṇa (life-breath) between the eyebrows at the time of death and reaching the Paramātman (the Supreme Self), one gains liberation. One who says the single syllable (ekākṣara) “Oṃ” while leaving the body reaches Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa.

The Field and the Knower of the Field

The body is the kṣetra (field). The one who knows the field is the kṣetrajña (knower of the field). Knowing both the field and its knower is Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa’s own jñāna.

The field includes:

The mahābhūtas (the great elements), ahaṃkāra (the sense of “I”), buddhi (intellect) and avyakta (unmanifest nature)
The eleven indriyas (senses and organs) and the five objects of the senses
Icchā (desire), dveṣa (dislike), sukha (pleasure) and duḥkha (pain)
The physical body, cetanā (awareness) and dhṛti (steadiness)

What is called jñāna (true knowledge) includes:

Freedom from abhimāna (pride) and from dambha (showing off)
Ahiṃsā (not harming), kṣamā (forgiveness) and ārjava (straightforwardness)
Ācāryopāsana (serving the teacher), śauca (purity) and dhairya (patience)
Ātma-nigraha (self-control) and vairāgya (dispassion) towards sense-objects
Freedom from ahaṃkāra (ego)
Seeing the faults in birth, death, old age and illness
Non-attachment, and no sense of “mine” towards children, wife and home
Staying even-minded in pleasure and pain
Unshakeable bhakti fixed on Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa
Liking quiet, solitary places and not being drawn to crowds
Steadiness in knowledge of the self (adhyātma-jñāna)
Seeing the truth as it is (tattva-jñāna-darśana)

Whatever goes against these is ajñāna (ignorance).

How the Three Paths Come Together

The Gītā-Sāra shows the three paths of jñāna (knowledge), karma (action) and bhakti (devotion) meeting in one place: seeing Viṣṇu as the one who fills and moves all things. It ends:

He who, always, in every state and at every time, through mind, speech and bodily action, sees this universe, from Brahmā down to a blade of grass, as the form of Viṣṇu, and honours Bhagavān Viṣṇu through his own proper work, will surely attain siddhi.

This is the essence of the Bhagavad Gītā as Agni-deva gives it.

The Gītāsāra of the Garuḍa Purāṇa (Chapters 237–238)

The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa has its own Gītāsāra, which Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa teaches to Nārada. The Agni Purāṇa version above covers the full range of the Gītā’s teaching. The Garuḍa version focuses on aṣṭāṅga-yoga (the eight-limbed path of yoga) and on the moral heart of the Gītā.

Aṣṭāṅga-Yoga as the Backbone of the Gītā

The Garuḍa Gītāsāra uses the eight limbs as the frame for the Gītā’s path: yama (restraints), niyama (observances), āsana (posture), prāṇāyāma (breath control), pratyāhāra (drawing the senses inward), dhyāna (meditation), dhāraṇā (concentration) and samādhi (absorption). Rather than summing up the Gītā chapter by chapter, it presents the Gītā’s teaching as one complete path of yoga:

The eight-limbed path that begins with yama and niyama leads to the Paramātman.

Ahiṃsā Comes First

The Garuḍa Gītāsāra begins its moral teaching by declaring that ahiṃsā (not harming) is the highest dharma, the first of all good principles, from which all the others follow. This matches the Gītā’s placing of non-harming at the base of spiritual life.

The Rule for Speaking Truth

The Gītā’s teaching on satya (truth) is summed up in a well-known line:

Satyaṃ brūyāt priyaṃ brūyān na brūyāt satyam apriyam Speak the truth; speak what is pleasant; do not speak the truth when it is unpleasant.

This three-part rule guards against both lying and cruelty. Truth should be offered, but a truth that hurts for no purpose should be held back.

The Inner Light and Meditation on Brahman

The Garuḍa Gītāsāra describes the inner jyoti (light) that becomes visible at the bhrū-madhya, the space between the eyebrows, through long, steady meditation with the eyes closed. This inner light is said to be the teja-maṇḍala, the circle of radiance, of Viṣṇu as Brahman. The practitioner who reaches this light through the eight-limbed path has truly come into the presence of the Paramātman.

The Brahmagītāsāra of the Garuḍa Purāṇa (Chapters 239–240)

The Brahmagītāsāra is taught by Brahmā to Nārada. It is the Garuḍa Purāṇa’s final and crowning teaching, forming the last chapters of the whole Ācāra Khaṇḍa. It explains the realisation of Brahman contained in the mahāvākya (great saying) “Aham Brahmāsmi”, “I am Brahman”. It does this carefully, by separating the vācyārtha (literal meaning) from the lakṣyārtha (intended meaning).

The Two Meanings of “Aham Brahmāsmi”

Vācyārtha, the direct, literal meaning: here “I” means the prāṇa-piṇḍātmaka jīva, the individual made of breath and body. At this level the statement seems impossible, because the limited cannot equal the limitless.
Lakṣyārtha, the intended meaning: here “I” means advayānanda-caitanya, the undivided, blissful, pure consciousness that is one’s true nature. At this level the great saying removes every difference between the jīva and Brahman.

How the Five Elements Unfold

Brahmā teaches how the world unfolds from the Paramātman through the pañcabhūtas (five elements):

Paramātman → Ākāśa (space) → Vāyu (air) → Agni (fire) → Jala (water) → Pṛthvī (earth) → Dhātrī (the supporting earth)

This is the usual Sāṃkhya and Vedānta order, from consciousness down to matter. It shows that all creation is nothing but a change of form of the one Brahman.

The Seventeen Tattvas

The inner make-up of the jīva has seventeen tattvas (elements):

Five karmendriyas (organs of action): vāk (speech), pāda (feet, for moving), hasta (hands), pāyu (the organ of excretion) and upastha (the organ of reproduction)
Five jñānendriyas (organs of knowing): śrotra (hearing), tvak (touch), cakṣus (sight), rasanā (taste) and ghrāṇa (smell)
Five prāṇas (life-breaths): prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, udāna and samāna
Manas (the mind that takes in and sorts) and buddhi (the power to judge)

Hiraṇyagarbha, the universal jīvātman who is the principle of buddhi, lives within this make-up.

The Three Bodies and the Three States

The three śarīras (bodies) are the sthūla (physical), sūkṣma (subtle) and kāraṇa (causal) bodies. The three avasthās (states of consciousness) are jāgrat (waking), svapna (dreaming) and suṣupti (deep sleep). These are explained as the three ways in which māyā shows itself. Beyond all three lies the kaivalyāvasthā, the state of complete oneness, which is liberation.

The Space Inside a Pot

To explain how the individual ātman relates to the universal Brahman, Brahmā uses the example of the ghaṭākāśa, the space inside a pot. The space inside the pot is no different from the endless space outside (mahākāśa). Only the pot’s walls make it look separate. When the pot breaks, the seeming division disappears and the space is seen to have always been one. In the same way, the sense of being a separate self fades away in jñāna, and the one undivided Brahman is seen.

Oṃ: With Qualities and Beyond Them

The praṇava (sacred syllable) Oṃ is explained as made of a + u + m. These three sounds stand for sattva + rajas + tamas, the three guṇas that make up all of visible creation. The final ardha-mātrā, the humming sound after the “m”, stands for nirguṇa Brahman, beyond all qualities, features and forms.

“Tat Tvam Asi”

The Brahmagītāsāra ends by explaining the great saying “Tat tvam asi”, “You are That”:

Tat (That) means cidānanda-rūpam, consciousness and bliss
Tvam (You) means the same reality, as the inner truth of the individual
Their oneness is Satyam jñānam anantam: Truth, Knowledge, Infinity

The Final Verse: Vyāsa’s Tree

The Brahmagītāsāra, and with it the whole Ācāra Khaṇḍa, ends with Veda Vyāsa praising Bhagavān Viṣṇu as a great tree. It is one of the most beautiful closing verses in the Purāṇa:

Dharma-dṛḍha-baddha-mūlo veda-skandhaḥ purāṇa-śākhāḍhyaḥ / kratu-kusumo mokṣa-phalo madhusūdana-pādapo jayati Victory to the tree of Madhusūdana, whose roots are firmly set in dharma, whose trunk is the Veda, whose branches are full of Purāṇas, whose flowers are the yajñas, and whose fruit is mokṣa.

This verse holds the whole outlook of the Purāṇas. All creation and all sacred knowledge are the body of Viṣṇu, and liberation is the highest fruit that the tree of Bhagavān Viṣṇu always bears.

Sources

Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 381
Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 237–238 (Gītāsāra)
Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 239–240 (Brahmagītāsāra)