Clear all
Work #1633 · Career-defining

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

Adi Śaṅkara
c. late 8th century · Sanskrit
Sanskrit philosophical commentary (bhāṣya) · Advaita Vedanta / classical Hindu commentary

Śaṅkara's 8th-century 'Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya' — the founding Advaita-Vedantic reading of the Gita

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya (Career-defining)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Emergent
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Deterministic
Time · Traversability Cyclical
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Bi-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Emergent
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Non-local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Emergent
Matter · Conservation Non-conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Non-local
Observer · Time Instance Multiple
Observer · Space Instance Multiple
Observer · Knowledge Extent Total
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Disembodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Singular
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Impersonal
Observer · Moral Authority Revelation
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Emergent
Energy · Conservation Non-conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Reversible
Information · Ontological Status Relational
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

c. late 8th century CE. Composed during Śaṅkara's brief but extraordinarily productive philosophical-religious career (traditional dates 788-820; modern scholarship places him earlier, c. 700-750).

Space

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

South India (Kerala / Karnataka) — Śaṅkara's geographical-cultural region.

Matter

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

Sanskrit commentary on the Gītā (~600 pages in standard bilingual editions). Form is verse-by-verse commentary: each Gītā verse quoted in Sanskrit, then Śaṅkara's prose commentary.

Observer

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

Mature Śaṅkara. The observer-philosopher-commentator is the central systematiser of Advaita Vedanta, the school's founding voice.

Energy

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

Classical-scholastic energies. The Gītā Bhāṣya combines Śaṅkara's philosophical-systematic Advaita with detailed engagement with the Gītā's specific verses and arguments.

Information

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

Verse-by-verse philosophical commentary on all 700 Gītā verses. The commentary on chapters 2 (Sāṅkhya-yoga), 6 (Dhyāna-yoga), and 13 (Kṣetra-kṣetrajña-vibhāga-yoga) is particularly important for Śaṅkara's philosophical reading.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

Foundational Advaita commentary on the Gītā; reference text for every subsequent Vedantic-philosophical Gītā reading. The Advaita reading would shape the subsequent Vedantic-commentarial tradition; the rival Vedantic schools (Rāmānuja, Madhva, Nimbārka, Vallabha) each wrote their own commentaries in conscious engagement with the Śaṅkara reading; the modern reception of the Gītā (Gandhi, Tilak, Aurobindo, Radhakrishnan) draws variously on the medieval commentarial tradition.