The Gita Quotes & Sayings

I have made the Bhagwad Gita as the main source of my inspiration and guide for the purpose of scientific investigations and formation of my theories. — Albert Einstein

It [the Quit India Resolution] was very far from being the Gita, but like Gita it suffered from flood of explanations, commentaries, and interpretations. — R.P. Noronha

A world created by observation evokes insight, hence affection, for we see the hunger and fear of all beings. Life becomes a performance on a stage (ranga-bhoomi) aimed to nourish and comfort the other, while deriving nourishment and comfort from their delight. Krishna's performance (leela) leads to him being worshipped as Ranga-natha, lord of the stage. He never judges, so he sees no one as a victim. This is how he begins The Gita: — Devdutt Pattanaik

People have been fighting and dying over religion for thousands of years. I could understand that fear. It creeps up on you a bit more when you're alone in a foreign land. You certainly worry about it more when you walk the same streets as violent people that harbor a clear hatred of your beliefs and values. The reality is some Muslims in the world would kill me for being Christian, just as some Christians in the world would kill Maya, Gita, Farid and Ridwan for being Muslim. Nowadays news outlets and social media have reified that fear. It keeps some people focused and aware. It paralyzes others. It blinds some of us. That's what happened to me. It's why I felt the whole world shake. Twice. — Tucker Elliot

Krishna says in the Gita, The worst crime in the world is indecision. — Jaggi Vasudev

The man who sees me in everything
and everything within me
will not be lost to me, nor
will I ever be lost to him.
He who is rooted in oneness
realizes that I am
in every being; wherever
he goes, he remains in me.
When he sees all being as equal
in suffering or in joy
because they are like himself,
that man has grown perfect in yoga. — Anonymous

The secret of karma yoga which is to perform actions without any fruitive desires is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita. — Swami Vivekananda

I have from my experience come to the conclusion that Gita has been composed to teach this one truth which I have explained. We can follow truth only in the measure that we shed our attachment to the ego. — Mahatma Gandhi

Blessed are the ones who offer coffee to writers, for they will get all the rewards mentioned in the Bible, the Quran, the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. — Robin Sacredfire

It came to my mind that in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, in Indian spiritual literature, and in the Bhagavad Gita, and when I started reading about outstanding yogis and people of exceeding spiritual power such as Ramana Maharshi, or Yogananda, they all had the ability to do what we would call - I don't know what you would even call it - psychic phenomenon, magic, transform objects, be able to perceive the future, the past and the present simultaneously. — Fred Alan Wolf

Potent Quotes "Whatever you do, or eat, or give, or offer in adoration, let it be an offering to me; and whatever you suffer, suffer it for me. Thus you shall be free from the bonds of Karma which yield fruits that are evil and good; and with your soul one in renunciation you shall be free and come to me." - Bhagavad Gita — Ram Dass

The Gita has become for me the key to the scriptures of the world. — Mahatma Gandhi

Perhaps terror and peace became the same thing when life's mysteries were unveiled. In the Bhagavad Gita, when Krishna reveals his divine form at Arjuna's request, Arjuna is terrified at seeing what no mortal can stand to see. But the end to human doubt surely must also bring with it a definite, final peace. — Padma Viswanathan

Who everywhere is free from all ties, who neither rejoices nor sorrows if fortune is good or ill, his is a serene wisdom.
Intro to Part 3, Chapter 1. Credit was given to The Bhagavad Gita. — Deborah Moggach

The Gita is not an aphoristic work, it is a great religious poem. — Mahatma Gandhi

the Gita is not a book of commandments but a book of choices. — Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

My regard for jurisprudence increased, I discovered in it religion. I understood the Gita teaching of non-possession to mean that those who desired salvation should act like the trustee who, though having control over great possessions, regards not an iota of them as his own. — Mahatma Gandhi

We need more explorers in consciousness and less followers of beliefs, isms, and credos.

Religions and spiritual leaders influence millions by pushing their beliefs. They believe in the Bible, the Koran, and the Gita, but do not personally 'know' the essence within them.

Too many believe in beliefs and are not who they profess to be, nor any closer to the truth than the totally unaware. — Robert S. Cosmar

In the Bhagavad-Gita, a book that I revere and respect, it's indicated that even women, along with animals, are capable of attaining enlightenment. — Frederick Lenz

Renounce and enjoy." Those who are compulsively attached to the results of action cannot really enjoy what they do; they get downcast when things do not work out and cling more desperately when they do. So the Gita classifies the karma of attachment as pleasant at first, but "bitter as poison in the end" (18:38), because of the painful bondage of conditioning. Again, — Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

Self-realization is the object of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures. — Mahatma Gandhi

Guna means strand, and in the Gita the gunas are described as the very fabric of existence, the veil that hides unity in a covering of diversity. Tamas is maya's power of concealment, the darkness or ignorance that hides unitive reality; rajas distracts and scatters awareness, turning it away from reality toward the diversity of the outside world. Thus the gunas are essentially born of the mind. When the mind's activity is stilled, we see life as it is. — Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

If god is the root cause for our degradation destroy that god. If it is religion destroy it. If it is Manu Darma, Gita, or any other Mythology (Purana), burn them to ashes. If it is temple, tank, or festival, boycott them. Finally if it is our politics, come forward to declare it openly. — Periyar E.V. Ramasamy

I find a solace a in the Bhagavadgita and Upanishads that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. — Mahatma Gandhi

The Gita distinguishes between the powers of light and darkness and demonstrates their incompatibility. — Mahatma Gandhi

The Gita is not for those who have no faith. — Mahatma Gandhi

The Bhagavad-Gita is an empire of thought and in its philosophical teachings Krishna has all the attributes of the full-fledged montheistic deity and at the same time the attributes of the Upanisadic absolute. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yam hi na vyathayanthy,
ete purusan purursarsabha,
Sama-dhuka-sugam dhirm
so mrtavaya kalpate - Bhagavt Gita

"The person who is not disturbed by happiness or distress and steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation — Bhagavatam

See the flower, how generously it distributes perfume and honey. When it's work is done, it falls away quietly. Try to be like the flower, unassuming despite all it's qualities. — A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

The Bhagavad Gita
that ancient Indian Yogic text
says that it is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection. — Elizabeth Gilbert

The most practical teaching of the Gita, and one for which it is of abiding interest and value to the men of the world with whom life is a series of struggles, is not to give way to any morbid sentimentality when duty demands sternness and the boldness to face terrible things. — Bal Gangadhar Tilak

In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the oldest and most beautiful spiritual teachings in existence, nonattachment to the fruit of your action is called Karma Yoga. It is described as the path of consecrated action. — Eckhart Tolle

Devotion required by the Gita is no soft-hearted effusiveness. — Mahatma Gandhi

Although some popular religious texts such as the New Testament, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, or Tibetan Book of the Dead contain interesting insights and stories, it is the Jewish religious texts such as the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) that contain valuable information on acquiring wealth. — H.W. Charles

I've been practicing Ayurvedic medicine, and I've read the 'Bhagavad Gita' and Rumi, and these are very important. — Andie MacDowell

I chose to take the oath of office with my personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita because its teachings have inspired me to be a servant-leader, dedicating my life in the service of others and to my country. — Tulsi Gabbard

The sanyasa of the Gita will not tolerate complete cessation of activity. — Mahatma Gandhi

Be strong , my young friends; that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to Heaven through football than through the study of the Gita. These are bold words; but I have to say them, for I love you. I know where the shoe pinches. — Swami Vivekananda

Beneath the surface level of conditioned thinking in every one of us there is a single living spirit. The still small voice whispering to me in the depths of my consciousness is saying exactly the same thing as the voice whispering to you in your consciousness. 'I want an earth that is healthy, a world at peace, and a heart filled with love.' It doesn't matter if your skin is brown or white or black, or whether you speak English, Japanese, or Malayalam - the voice, says the Gita, is the same in every creature, and it comes from your true self. — Eknath Easwaran

A devotee of Rama may be said to be the same as the steadfast one (sthitaprajnya) of the Gita. — Mahatma Gandhi

Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. (quoting the Bhagavad-Gita after witnessing the first Nuclear explosion.) — J. Robert Oppenheimer

In order to approach a creation as sublime as the Bhagavad-Gita with full understanding it is necessary to attune our soul to it. — Rudolf Steiner

The most revealing books are the Holy Koran and the Holy Bible. The Bhagavad Gita is a great book as well, and the works of Buddha. These are the major influences on the world. — RZA

The doctrine that God can be incarnated in human form is found in most of the principal historic expositions of the Perennial Philosophy - in Hinduism, in Mahayana Buddhism, in Christianity and in the Mohammedanism of the Sufis, by whom the Prophet was equated with the eternal Logos. When goodness grows weak, When evil increases, I make myself a body. In every age I come back To deliver the holy, To destroy the sin of the sinner, To establish righteousness. He who knows the nature Of my task and my holy birth Is not reborn When he leaves this body; He comes to Me. Flying from fear, From lust and anger, He hides in Me, His refuge and safety. Burnt clean in the blaze of my being, In Me many find home. Bhagavad Gita — Aldous Huxley

Comma in 'Beginning with a Comma' is the hiccup, not only a pause. One can never imagine where a breath pauses, where adolescence can get acquainted with adulthood, its shadow lines, blurred realities that make the appearance and likeliness a mere binary to each other! Comma is a mental conflict, therefore, I call it a hiccup, an 'uncomfortable' pause- one that either continues till you gulp down something else or vanishes forever, miraculous!
Gita, Crusades, Khalsa or Jihad- War has never been alien to world religions. But it is not the physical combat these wars symbolise, but the inner conflicts. In Gita, while Arjuna symbolizes a person who seeks salvation, Krishna is the God himself and it is the mental conflict which is Kurukshetra.

Epilogue, Beginning with a Comma — Amrit Sinha

In the Gita, the author has cleverly made use of the event to teach great truths. — Mahatma Gandhi

The sanyasa of the Gita is all work and yet no work. — Mahatma Gandhi

These bodies are perishable, but the Dweller in these bodies is eternal. - BHAGAVAD-GITA — Mark Nepo

Pitiful are those who, acting, are attached to their action's fruits. The wise man lets go of all results, whether good or bad, and is focused on the action alone. ~ Bhagavad Gita, c. 400 BCE ~ 2:49-50 — Larry Chang

An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them. — Anonymous

I realised that even a man's reforming zeal ought not to make him exceed his limits. I also saw that in thus lending trust-money I had disobeyed the cardinal teaching of the Gita, viz., the duty of a man of equipoise to act without desire for the fruit. The error became for me a beacon-light of warning. — Mahatma Gandhi

This is what Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita - Karma Yoga. If you can't avoid action, you might as well act. — Frederick Lenz

We live in a world of careers. Work, as Sri Krishna points out in the Bhagavad Gita, is a necessary path for everyone attaining enlightenment. It is something that we all do. Some people work very hard at not working. — Frederick Lenz

When I approached God at that time, I hardly had a living faith in Him. The agnostic was in me, the atheist was in me, the sceptic was in me and I was not absolutely sure that there was a God at all. I did not feel His presence. Yet something drew me to the truth of the Vedas, the truth of the Gita, the truth of the Hindu religion. — Sri Aurobindo

This belief in incarnation is a testimony of man's lofty spiritual ambition. Man is not at peace with himself till he has become like unto God. The endeavour to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realization. This self-realization is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures. But its author surely did not write it to establish that doctrine. The object of the Gita appears to me to be that of showing the most excellent way to attain self-realization. — Mahatma Gandhi

The Bible is as much a book of religion with me as the Gita and the Koran. — Mahatma Gandhi

The common belief is that religion is always opposed to material good. 'One cannot act religiously in mercantile and such other matters. There is no place for religion in such pursuits; religion is only for attainment of salvation,' we hear many worldly-wise people say. In my opinion the author of the Gita has dispelled this delusion. He has drawn no line of demarcation between salvation and worldly pursuits. On the contrary he has shown that religion must rule even our worldly pursuits. I have felt that the Gita teaches us that what cannot be followed in day-today practice cannot be called religion. Thus, according to the Gita, all acts that are incapable of being performed without attachment are taboo. This golden rule saves mankind from many a pitfall. According to this interpretation murder, lying, dissoluteness and the like must be regarded as sinful and therefore taboo. Man's life then becomes simple, and from that simpleness springs peace. — Mahatma Gandhi

The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life's wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion. — Herman Hesse

The Gita is a commentary on the Upanishads. The Upanishads are the Bible of India. — Swami Vivekananda

When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day. — Mahatma Gandhi

A literal interpretation of the Gita lands one in a sea of contradictions. — Mahatma Gandhi

My doctrine means that I must identify myself with life, with everything that lives, that I must share the majesty of life in the presence of God. The sum-total of this life is God.. Man is not at peace with himself until he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realisation. This self-realisation is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures ... to be a real devotee is to realise oneself. Self-realisation is not something apart. — Mahatma Gandhi

Being a word wielder is far better than being a sword wielder. Greatest thing is you can still change the world. — Chandan Sharma

The Gita is the greatest gospel of spiritual works ever yet given to the race. — Sri Aurobindo

The message of the Gita is to be found in the second chapter of the Gita where Lord Krishna speaks of the balanced state of mind, of mental equipoise. — Mahatma Gandhi

The essence of Bhagavad Gita is that we should always think of Krsna, become His devotee, worship him and offer homage unto him. — Radhanath Swami

understood more clearly in the light of the Gita teaching the implication of the word 'trustee'. — Mahatma Gandhi

Two forces pervade human life, the Gita says: the upward thrust of evolution and the downward pull of our evolutionary past. — Eknath Easwaran

Sometimes, you can see more than me, but you pretend to know less so that I don't feel intimidated by you. I do the same for you. We do not feel superior when the other is vulnerable; or inferior when we feel helpless. This is what sustains our relationship. — Devdutt Pattanaik

When there is no desire for fruit, there is no temptation for untruth or himsa (violence). Take any instance of untruth or violence, and it will be found that at its back was the desire to attain the cherished end. But it may be freely admitted that the Gita was not written to establish ahimsa. It was an accepted and primary duty even before the Gita age. The Gita had to deliver the message of renunciation of fruit. This is clearly brought out as early as the second chapter. 26. But if the Gita believed in ahimsa or it was included in desirelessness, why did the author take a warlike illustration? When the Gita was written, although people believed in ahimsa, wars were not only not taboo, but nobody observed the contradiction between them and ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

In the East, as in the West, newspapers are fast becoming people's Bible, Koran, Zend-Avesta and Gita all rolled into one. — Mahatma Gandhi

Krishna assures Arjuna that his basic nature is not subject to time and death; yet he reminds him that he cannot realize this truth if he cannot see beyond the dualities of life: pleasure and pain, success and failure, even heat and cold. The Gita does not teach a spirituality aimed at an enjoyable life in the hereafter, nor does it teach a way to enhance power in this life or the next. It teaches a basic detachment from pleasure and pain, as this chapter says more than once. Only in this way can an individual rise above the conditioning of life's dualities and identify with the Atman, the immortal Self. Also, — Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

The Bhagavad-Gita is a true scripture of the human race a living creation rather than a book, with a new message for every age and a new meaning for every civilization. — Sri Aurobindo

Gita and Ganga constitute the essence of Hinduism; one its theory and the other its practice. — Swami Vivekananda

Bondage is when the mind longs for something, grieves about something, rejects something, holds on to something, is pleased about something or displeased about something. — AshTavakra

In the Bhagavad-Gita Krishna says: Arjuna you cannot avoid action. Everyone is stuck in the world of action. The world of action is forever. — Frederick Lenz

I believe what it says in the scriptures and in the Bhagavad Gita: 'Never was there a time when you did not exist, and there never will be a time when you cease to exist.' — George Harrison

Percy (One) Our new dog, named for the beloved poet, ate a book which unfortunately we had left unguarded. Fortunately it was the Bhagavad Gita, of which many copies are available. Every day now, as Percy grows into the beauty of his life, we touch his wild, curly head and say, Oh, wisest of little dogs. — Mary Oliver

The Bhagavad-Gita tells us we have a right only to our labor, not to the fruits of our labor. All the warrior can give is his life; all the athlete can do is leave everything on the field. — Steven Pressfield

The Krishna of the Gita is perfection and right knowledge personified, but the picture is imaginary. — Mahatma Gandhi

One way for attaining Bhakti is by repeating the name of God a number of times. Mantras have effect: the mere repetition of words ... To obtain Bhakti, seek the company of holy men who have Bhakti, and read books like the Gita and the Imitation of Christ; always think of the attributes of God. — Swami Vivekananda

Let it be granted, that according to the letter of the Gita it is possible to say that warfare is consistent with renunciation of fruit. But after forty years' unremitting endeavour fully to enforce the teaching of the Gita in my own life, I have in all humility felt that perfect renunciation is impossible without perfect observance of ahimsa in every shape and form. — Mahatma Gandhi

Thinking along these lines, I have felt that in trying to enforce in one's life the central teaching of the Gita, one is bound to follow Truth and ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Therefore the Gita is not for those who have no faith. The author makes Krishna say: 'Do not entrust this treasure to him who is without sacrifice, without devotion, without the desire for this teaching and who denies Me. On — Mahatma Gandhi

The Bhagavad Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The Bhagavad-Gita changes this. It takes the Warrior Ethos and elevates it to a loftier and nobler plane - the plane of the individual's inner life, to his struggle to align himself with his own higher nature. — Steven Pressfield

The Gita has sung the praises of Knowledge, but it is beyond the mere intellect; it is essentially addressed to the heart and capable of being understood by the heart. — Mahatma Gandhi

But Krishna is flexible when it comes to who a person worships," I say. "He said that whatever god a man or woman worships with love, it is the same as worshipping him. I think that line is one of the keys to the Gita. The worship is for the sake of the devotee, not for the sake of the god. — Christopher Pike

This is the unmistakable teaching of the Gita. He who gives up action falls. He who gives up only the reward rises. But renunciation of fruit in no way means indifference to the result. In regard to every action one must know the result that is expected to follow, the means thereto, and the capacity for it. He, who, being thus equipped, is without desire for the result and is yet wholly engrossed in the due fulfillment of the task before him is said to have renounced the fruits of his action. — Mahatma Gandhi

when there is an increase in the mode of ignorance.
O son of Kuru, darkness,inertia, madness are manifested. — A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

The Gita is a bouquet composed of the beautiful flowers of spiritual truths collected from the Vedas and the Upanishads. — Swami Vivekananda

Bhagavad-Gita tells us we have a right only to our labor, not to the fruits of our labor. — Steven Pressfield

Arjuna, fair or unfair, the results of any action depend on five things: the body, the mind, the instruments, the method and divine grace (luck? fate?). Only the ignorant think they alone are responsible for any outcome. - Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 18, verses 13 to 16 (paraphrased). — Devdutt Pattanaik

When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous — Albert Einstein

From a clear knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita all the goals of human existence become fulfilled. Bhagavad-gita is the manifest quintessence of all the teachings of the Vedic scriptures. — Adi Shankara

And answers are dangerous, they kill your wonder. They are dangerous because they give you the feeling that you know, although you know not. They give you this misconception about yourself that now questions have been solved. "I know what The Bible says, I know what the Koran says, I know what the Gita says. I have arrived." You will become a parrot; you will repeat things but you will not know anything. This is not the way to know - knowledge is not the way to know. Then what is the way to know? Wonder. Let your heart dance with wonder. Be full of wonder: throb with it, breathe it in, breathe it out. Why be in such a hurry for the answer? Can't you allow a mystery to remain a mystery? I know there is a great temptation not to allow it to remain a mystery, to reduce it to knowledge. — Osho

This is the central idea of the Gita- to be calm and steadfast in all circumstances, with one's body, mind, and soul centered at His hallowed feet! — Swami Vivekananda

The Bhagavad-Gita is the most systematic statement of spiritual evolution of endowing value to mankind. It is one of the most clear and comprehensive summaries of perennial philosophy ever revealed; hence its enduring value is subject not only to India but to all of humanity. — Aldous Huxley

In the characteristics of the perfected man of the Gita, I do not see any to correspond to physical warfare. — Mahatma Gandhi

What the Sermon describes in a graphic manner, the Bhagavadgita reduces to a scientific formula. — Mahatma Gandhi