Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya

Adi Śaṅkara's c. 8th-century commentary on the Bhagavad Gita — the major Advaita Vedantic reading of the Gita

Tradition: Advaita Vedanta / classical Hindu commentary

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

Composed c. late 8th century, Adi Śaṅkara's 'Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣya' (Commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā) is one of the three foundational commentaries of the Prasthāna-trayī (Three Foundations) — along with his Brahma Sūtra Bhāṣya and his Upaniṣad-bhāṣyas — that constitute the classical-Advaita-Vedantic textual canon. The Gītā Bhāṣya is Śaṅkara's verse-by-verse Sanskrit commentary on the 700 verses of the Gītā (the philosophical-religious dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna embedded in the Mahābhārata, in Book 6, immediately before the great Kurukṣetra battle). Śaṅkara's central interpretive thesis: the Gītā teaches that jñāna-yoga (the path of knowledge — the direct realisation of the non-dual identity of ātman and Brahman) is the supreme path to liberation (mokṣa); karma-yoga (selfless action) is preparatory rather than ultimately liberating; bhakti-yoga (devotion) is also ultimately subordinated to jñāna. Śaṅkara's reading is methodologically rigorous: he distinguishes the actions appropriate for each stage of spiritual development; he engages closely with rival commentarial traditions (especially the Mīmāṃsā tradition's reading of the Gītā as primarily about karma); he develops the philosophical framework of māyā (the world's status as neither real nor unreal, neither identical with nor different from Brahman) in close dialogue with specific Gītā verses. The commentary establishes the central Advaita reading of the Gītā that would shape the subsequent Vedantic-philosophical tradition; the rival Vedantic commentaries — Rāmānuja's (eleventh century, Viśiṣṭādvaita), Madhva's (thirteenth century, Dvaita), and many others — develop their distinct positions in conscious engagement with Śaṅkara's reading. The work is the foundational scholastic commentary on what has become the most-read Hindu philosophical-religious text.