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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.

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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).

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Space

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

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

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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.

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Observer

Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

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

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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.

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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.