Vedas Analysis in The Bhagavad Gita

The four oldest and often most authoritative Hindu scriptures, generally considered direct revelations from Brahma (the creator god) and dated to approximately 1,000 years before the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita.

Vedas Quotes in The Bhagavad Gita

The The Bhagavad Gita quotes below are all either spoken by Vedas or refer to Vedas. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

I am the father of the world —
its mother, its arranger
and its grandfather;
I am what is to be known;
the purifier;
the sound ‘Om’;
the Rig, the Sama
and the Yajur Veda.

Related Characters: Krishna (speaker), Arjuna

Page Number and Citation: 105

Explanation and Analysis:

The form of mine
which you have seen
is hard to discern.
Even the gods
are eternally
wanting to have
the sacred sight
of this form.

Neither through Veda,
nor heated discipline,
nor gift,
nor sacrifice,
is it possible
to see me
in the way
you have seen me.

Related Characters: Krishna (speaker), Arjuna

Page Number and Citation: 137-8

Explanation and Analysis:

The form of the ashvattha
is not to be discerned here,
neither its end,
nor beginning,
nor ongoing life.
When its fully grown roots
are cut by the strong axe
of non-clinging,

then that place must be sought
where, once they have gone,
they will not turn back again,
and they think,
‘I take refuge
in the first spirit
where activity flowed forth
in ancient times.’

Related Characters: Krishna (speaker), Arjuna

Related Symbols: Ashvattha Tree

Page Number and Citation: 163-4

Explanation and Analysis:

Vedas Term Timeline in The Bhagavad Gita

The timeline below shows where the term Vedas appears in The Bhagavad Gita. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

.../ with many branches.” Some naively declare that nothing exists beside the world of the Vedas; these people desire heaven and perform rituals for “power / and consumption,” but do not... (full context)

Krishna explains that Arjuna must free himself from the three gunas, to which the Vedas belong, as well as becoming “free from opposites” and fully “self-possessed.” A discerning brahmin (priest... (full context)

Krishna, the Absolute, and Human Knowledge Theme Icon

...sacrifice; the father, mother, and grandfather of the world; the purifier, the “Om,” and the Vedas; the way, the seer, home, “birth, death and sustenance,” and the “eternal seed;” heat and... (full context)

Krishna reminds Arjuna that wise, pure, and sacrificial people who follow the Vedas will reach heaven and its “divine pleasures.” But then, once they enjoy the warrior god... (full context)

...the highest being, an eternal, divine spirit, and notes that the sages who wrote the Vedas (including Vyasa) acknowledged him, too. He affirms that he believes all Krishna says and that... (full context)

...beings’ beginning, middle, and end. He is the Sama chant, the most important in the Vedas, as well as the great god Indra; he is the mind among the senses and... (full context)

...his highest form for the first time out of favor to Arjuna—not even the greatest Vedic sages or devotees were able to see him, so Arjuna should not fear. Krishna shows... (full context)

...tree, whose roots extend into the air and branches burrow underground; its leaves are the Vedas’ sacred knowledge. The branches grow through the gunas, creating sensory objects, and from the roots... (full context)

...and the “memory, wisdom and reason” in their hearts. He even created and knows the Vedas. There is a destructible spirit in the world—beings—but also the indestructible one that stands above... (full context)

...path to hell, and tamas must be cast off to ensure enlightenment. By rejecting the Vedic laws and following one’s own desires, one loses the opportunity to find fulfillment, happiness, and... (full context)

Arjuna asks Krishna what happens to those who abandon Vedic law but nevertheless perform sacrifices with a trust in the gods. Krishna says that trust... (full context)

Sattvic sacrifice follows Vedic law, and the giver thinks only of the sacrifice and not of any goal. Those... (full context)

.../ chastity and / absence of harm.” Truthful and beneficial speech, including study of the Vedas, is “the heated discipline / of the word.” And the “heated discipline / of the... (full context)

The Bhagavad Gita

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Vedas Term Analysis

Vedas Quotes in The Bhagavad Gita

Vedas Term Timeline in The Bhagavad Gita