Short and Simple Summary of Bhagavad Gita Book in English! (1)

Bhagavad gita book english

Short and Simple Summary of Bhagavad Gita in English (1)

When it comes to Hinduism, you must have heard about Lord Krishna and his Gita. According to the texts and scriptures, Lord Krishna is the supreme self of this world. From him, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva come out and create this universe. 

In this post, I’m going to give you the summary of Bhagavad Gita in English.

The Srimad Bhagavad Gita is the most sacred and popular book of Hindus. According to the scriptures, the Gita is the supreme book in all the books. The bhagavad gita book contains 700-verses which comes in the Mahabharata (the Indian epic).

 Gita means the song in Sanskrit and Srimad Bhagavad means the supreme lord. So the Srimad Bhagavad Gita means  ‘the song of the god’. When Arjuna was afraid of the war and was thinking to give up the war, Lord Krishna gave him his divine teachings.

These divine teachings were compiled into a script by Rishi Ved Vyasa and came to be known as Gita. The Gita contains a treasure of knowledge that keeps the potential to transform a simple, natural, foolish being into an extraordinary and divine being.

 As Lord Krishna is the supreme, his orders are supreme, and we should follow it. Written thousands of years ago, this book contains knowledge that is true in today’s life as well.

This book contains knowledge on every subject, from science to getting success, from math to solving life problems, etc. 

The Bhagavad Gita gives us the whole details on how we can live a perfect life with peace, harmony, and happiness. It also says that it’s wrong to say that the only way of getting peace is becoming a monk.

It says that if you have full devotion towards God and if you worship him without any wishes or desires, you’ll get peace and harmony in your life.

This book mainly revolves around the war of Pandavas. The author of this book is Rishi Ved Vyasa. He was a great saint and is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

He was a great philosopher and writer. Now here are the summaries of all the chapters.


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 1

The scene is about the starting of the war. Dhritarashtra asked Sanjay that in the war, what the Two Armies had done. Then Sanjay tells him about the armies. Duryodhana as expected was in his ego and was overconfident that he would win. Arjuna was afraid of this war and now he is showing his fear. 

He is giving excuses for what will be the benefit of killing all his brothers, gurus, and friends standing in front of him. He is telling Lord Krishna that it’s better to live like a saint rather than killing his family members. 

The Lord knows everything. He knew that Arjuna was just making excuses, as in reality, he was afraid of fighting in the war. 

Now the supreme lord tells him that he is on the side of truth. He does not need to be afraid of the war, as fearing from fighting for our justice doesn’t make any sense. Now the god scolds Arjuna for not taking his responsibilities and not fulfilling his duty. 

He was from a warrior clan and fighting was his duty and if the point comes to non-violence, fighting for justice and truth is correct, not wrong. 


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 2

Arjun’s determination was weakened when he saw his family members standing against him in the war. He was very much confused about whether he should fight the war or not. In this type of situation, he submitted himself to the supreme god Krishna. 

He declared Krishna as his Guru and sought advice from him. Now as god became the guru of Arjuna, now he starts talking seriously to Arjuna like a teacher talks to his student. In this chapter, he gives the whole summary of this book. Also, he gives a detailed explanation of the soul. 


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 3

This chapter is about the ‘Law Of Karma’. In this chapter, the Lord explains about Karma. An important verse of this chapter is, “ Just do the work and don’t think about the results”. 

 Lord Krishna says that we should submit everything to him. Every bite of food, every drop of water, every action which we do; should be submitted to him. 

Like this, we will not engage in this materialistic world, and we will be devoted to him. The reason is simple as the work we do, the result we get. So if we focus on the work, we will get more results. 

He says that becoming an ascetic is not the only way of getting liberation. If a man devotes himself fully to Lord Krishna, he can attain moksha. 

He says that for people who are engaged in this world, devoting to the Lord is better.

 He says that we should do any work as if it’s our duty, and we should not expect anything in return for it. Like this, we will surely go to heaven. He also explains that one should focus on the work and not on the results. This is the only way to achieve success in any task.


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 4

In this chapter, he tells about the importance, history, and significance of Gita. He tells about the succession of this knowledge. First, he gave this knowledge to the Sun God. Then the Sun God gives this knowledge to his son Manu. Manu gives this knowledge to his son King Ikshvaku.

Like this, the knowledge is given to Arjuna by The Supreme God himself. He says that Birth and death are normal phenomena. One who has taken birth will die someday, so what is the matter of grief?? Lord Krishna tells that death is fixed. 

So what is the logic behind to worry about a thing which is already fixed??

 Wise people know this and never worry, while less-intelligent people always worry about it. 

Whenever evil spreads all over the world, god comes to this world and eradicates evil. Shri Krishna also explains the importance of the right knowledge.

 When a person gains the right knowledge, he realizes the supreme. When he realizes the supreme, he is freed from all the engagements.

He scolds Arjuna that he should fulfill his duty, as his duty is dharma. Running into the Himalayas and announcing that this world is an illusion will not give him any moksha.  


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 5

Arjuna is still confused about what is better; Devotion of the lord or Asceticism. The Lord explains that the Devotion of God seems to be (difficult) than Asceticism.

 But the reality is that the Devotion of the lord is the easiest way to attain moksha. 

He gives details that for practicing asceticism, we would have to leave the materialistic possessions. Ex: relations, money, wealth, desires, and much more. 

It is not possible for those who are engaged in this world. Only people who have read the scriptures properly and obtained the right education from the right guru can attain asceticism. 

He says that for people who want to achieve god, but are not ready to leave this materialistic world, can practice devotion. 

In simple words, for asceticism, you would have to leave everything.

 But for devotion, you only need to surrender to the supreme. So the way of devotion is easier than asceticism.


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 6

Now the supreme god explains the importance of meditation. He explains the process of doing meditation. He says that he always does meditation in a place that is clean, dry, and cool.

Also, the object of meditation should be a god. You can meditate on any photo or idol of any god whom you love the most.

Meditation brings peace to your heart and cools down your mind. It’s just like a cooling agent that cools the engine of your brain. 

He further says that the perfect way of having peace in life is doing everything in balance.

Our lifestyle is the main factor of success. If your lifestyle is unbalanced, then you will surely get drowned in life’s ocean. 

Lord Krishna says that self-discipline is a golden key that can bring balance to your life and can bring peace to your mind.

Also, he emphasizes on food. Because the thoughts and emotions of our mind depend on the food we eat. 

If we eat pure, fresh, hygienic, and veg food; we will become pure by heart. If we eat pale, unhygienic, and non-veg food; we will become evil. 


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 7

Now the Supreme god begins to reveal himself. He says that he is everything. He is supreme and he resides in everyone. He explains Arjuna with examples.

He says that in flowers, he is a lotus; in sages, he is Bhrigu; in warriors, he is Ram; in Rudras, he is Shankar. He further tells him animals, he is a cow; in devotees, he is hanuman. 

Like this, he gives his details about his manifestations. He says that he seems to be just bound by a line, but he is infinite.

 Like you, see the blue atmosphere. It seems to be within the earth, but it is infinite and after one line it becomes the space which, we all know, has no boundaries. 

He also tells that he is a string and all the material things are beads that hang in him. Together this becomes the universe.

He tells that there are two selves of him. The first self is the lower self which constitutes the senses, ego, intellect. The second self is the upper self which constitutes the divine self of him.

There are four types of people according to Lord Krishna; the distressed, the inquisitive, the seeker of liberation, and the wise. Out of these, the wise is the dearest to the Lord as he just wants Krishna and nothing more.


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 8

This chapter is about death and the afterlife. This chapter is very different from the previous chapters. In this chapter, Arjuna asks the Lord about death and the afterlife. Now Shri Krishna explains to Arjuna about death and the afterlife. 

Lord Krishna says that for a living being, death is horrible, and he doesn’t want the end of his life. But when the living being dies, then he wakes up and realizes that he was just living in an illusion.

It’s just like when you see a good dream, you will want that dream to never end. But when you wake up, you get to know that you were just seeing a dream. 

He further says that the only freedom is not liberation but also the union with God. He tells Arjuna that the thought of your mind at the time of death decides your next birth.

If you want any wish to be fulfilled then you will get another life to fulfill that.

If you think about god, you will go to the abode of god. God advises us to keep remembering god because death can come anytime. Like this at the time of death also, you’ll be remembering about god. 

If you have done well, then you will go to heaven and if bad then you’ll go to hell.


BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER 9

Seeing the immortal faith of Arjuna, Lord Krishna now begins with telling him his most secret knowledge. Lord Krishna says that this is the most sacred knowledge which only my dearest people like Lord Shiva, his devotees, Goddess Lakshmi etc know. 

First, he explains that everything is in Isvara. He says that wise people know him and do his devotion without expecting any results. While foolish people worship demigods and achieve the best of the best boons and fulfill their desires.

Let’s understand with an example. You would have heard that if you offer a drop of water to a Shivling; but with your purest heart, then also god will be pleased with you. 

He tells that He just wants the pure devotion of his devotee; no matter what his devotee is offering him. 

The only way to get liberation from this world is by doing the worship of the Lord without expecting any results. This is the only way to fill your life with satisfaction and happiness.


To read the second part, visit our post: Bhagavad Gita Summary (2).

Scroll to Top