The Bhagavad Gita, often rendered as “Song of the Lord” or “Song of God,” is a 700-verse Hindu scripture embedded within the Mahabharata, specifically in the Bhishma Parva. It unfolds as a dialogue on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, just as a great war is about to begin. The central human figure is Prince Arjuna, who is torn by moral anguish at the prospect of fighting his own relatives, teachers, and friends. In this moment of crisis, the text becomes a profound exploration of dharma, or righteous duty, the nature of the self, and the path to spiritual liberation. Rather than a mere narrative episode, the Gita functions as a philosophical and spiritual discourse that has been revered as a concise synthesis of key Hindu teachings.

Krishna stands at the heart of this dialogue as Arjuna’s charioteer and spiritual guide, and his role gives the Gita its distinctive authority. Initially appearing as a trusted friend and counselor, Krishna responds to Arjuna’s despair with systematic instruction on right action, devotion, and knowledge. Over the course of the conversation, he reveals himself not just as a wise teacher but as an avatar, an incarnation of the supreme deity Vishnu, and ultimately as the Supreme Being who is the source and sustainer of the universe. This revelation reaches its apex when Krishna grants Arjuna a vision of his cosmic form, a universal manifestation that discloses the divine reality underlying all existence.

Within this framework, Krishna expounds several complementary spiritual paths, each addressing a different dimension of human life and aspiration. He teaches karma yoga, the path of selfless action performed as duty without attachment to results; bhakti yoga, the path of loving devotion to the Divine; and jnana yoga, the path of knowledge that discerns the true nature of the self (atman) and its relationship to ultimate reality (Brahman). These are not presented as mutually exclusive routes, but as harmonized in a life oriented toward surrender to the Divine embodied in Krishna. Thus, Krishna is simultaneously the speaker of the Gita, the divine protagonist within it, and the ultimate object of devotion to whom its teachings continually point.