Welcome Everyone
With reverence and gratitude, I warmly welcome each one of you to this auspicious beginning. Today, we commence not merely a reading of the Bhagavad Gītā, but a systematic research study into one of humanity’s most profound spiritual and philosophical treasures. The Gītā stands as a timeless dialogue in which Śrī Kṛṣṇa unfolds the highest insights into life, action, duty, devotion, and the true nature of the Ātman. Our intention here is to approach this sacred text with both śraddhā (deep respect) and viveka (right understanding)—allowing devotion and enquiry to walk together.
This study is designed as a disciplined and systematic enquiry, not as a superficial overview. Each chapter and verse will be examined with care, drawing upon the lenses of Yoga Śāstra, Dharma Śāstra, Sāṅkhya Philosophy, Vedānta Philosophy, and many such related philosophical texts. In this way, the teachings of the Gītā are unfolded in their full philosophical depth, inner harmony, and lived applicability. The aim is not to be hasty, but to attain clarity; not the accumulation of knowledge, but its inward transformation into wisdom.
The sessions will be conducted every week on Saturdays, and Sundays, allowing for a steady and contemplative pace. This structure allows each teaching to be reflected upon, inwardly assimilated, and integrated, rather than remaining mere theoretical knowledge.
Participants are encouraged to set aside a dedicated time on those days to be fully present with the study, so that the teachings may be received with clarity and without distraction. At the same time, recognizing the varied demands of daily life, recordings of each session will be shared in the WhatsApp group and updated on the website after completion, so that all may continue their learning without interruption. The recordings will be systematically organized chapter-wise and verse-wise, allowing for precise tracking of progress, easy return to specific teachings, and sustained engagement with the text as a coherent and carefully structured research study.
May this research study of the Bhagavad Gītā become more than an intellectual pursuit. May it serve as a living enquiry—quietly refining our vision, grounding our actions in dharma, and steadily turning the mind towards the unchanging Truth that the Gītā reveals at the heart of all experience.
The Structure and Method of This Gītā Study
In this research study, the Bhagavad Gītā is not approached as a text to be completed, summarized, or merely explained, but as a living Śāstra (Philosophy or that which teaches and guides realization)—one that must be entered with care, dwelt within, contemplated repeatedly, and ultimately realized. The Gītā does not yield its full meaning through a single reading, nor even through a single year of study. Like all great Śāstras (Philosophies), it reveals itself progressively, in accordance with the seeker’s preparedness, maturity, and inward clarity.
Recognizing this profound, multi-layered nature of the Gītā, this research study is intentionally structured into three comprehensive Levels, each spanning one full year. This design is not accidental; it mirrors the traditional Śāstric (Philosophical) understanding that wisdom unfolds in stages—Śravaṇa (Receptive Listening to Teaching), Manana (Reflective Inquiry to Remove Doubt), and Nidi-dhyāsana (Steady Abidance in Known Truth).
Across each Level, the entire Bhagavad Gītā, comprising eighteen chapters and seven hundred verses, will be studied in full. Upon completing the final verse at the end of a level does not bring the study to a close. Instead, it returns once more to Chapter One, Verse One, and the entire Gītā is re-entered afresh. This same sacred cycle is followed again in Level Two and once more in Level Three.
This circular and recursive method embodies a fundamental Śāstric (philosophical) principle: while the text itself remains unchanged, the vision of the student is gradually transformed. The battlefield of Kurukṣetra is the same; Arjuna’s confusion is the same; Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s words are eternally the same. Yet the listener is no longer the same. With each return, the words are heard with greater subtlety, questioned with deeper wisdom, contemplated with increased steadiness, and lived with fuller sincerity. The meaning does not alter; rather, it discloses itself more fully as the seeker’s capacity to receive it matures.
Terminology and Methodological Clarity
In this research-oriented study of the Bhagavad Gītā in English, we will consciously refrain from using terms such as self, soul, God, Lord, Supreme Lord, Heaven, or Hell. These words largely arise from theological frameworks that do not belong to Sanātana Dharma or the Gītā’s own conceptual system; they carry assumptions that do not correspond to the philosophical language of the Gītā when studied with precision.
In common English usage, terms such as self or soul usually refer to the individual human being understood as a moral personality—closely identified with body, mind, and intellect. Similarly, concepts like Heaven and Hell are framed as post-mortem destinations allotted according to belief or moral conduct. This entire way of thinking operates at a level far below the depth of inquiry that the Bhagavad Gītā addresses. Continued reliance on such terms introduces fundamental conceptual distortions and makes deeper inquiry impossible.
To genuinely understand the Gītā and its philosophical vocabulary, we must first become familiar with its core terms, categories, and names, and the exact meanings they carry within the original conceptual framework of the text. For this reason, I humbly request all participants to attend Session 2, where we will carefully examine these foundational terms and establish a shared language for the study.
From this point onward, participants are requested to drop the habitual use of words such as self, soul, God, Lord, Supreme Lord, Heaven or Hell, within this research context. Retaining these terms will not only obstruct Level 1 of the study, but will make it impossible to meaningfully engage with the material in Level 2 and 3, where far greater conceptual rigor is required.
This discipline is not about belief or rejection, but about terminological accuracy, without which serious study cannot proceed.
If you are attending the Hindi or Tamil sessions, this concern does not arise, as the terminology in regional languages is naturally preserved and used with precision.
What will the three levels cover & their aim?
Level 1 — Becoming a Yogin in the World
(Learn the Rules of the Divine Līlā & Enjoy the Play)
Core Aim of Level 1 Study – The movement from Jīva-consciousness, to the recognition of the Ātman.
Level 1 approaches the Bhagavad Gītā as a practical and lived philosophy of embodied existence—a teaching meant to be entered, practiced, and assimilated before it is transcended. At this stage, the Gītā is studied through the integrated lenses of Yogaśāstra and Dharmaśāstra, establishing a stable foundation for ethical action, disciplined living, and inner steadiness within the world.
The guiding question of Level 1 is not yet “What is Brahman (Absolute)?” but rather: “How does one live rightly, clearly, and consciously within the movement of life itself?”
Here, the practitioner is trained to become a Yogin in the midst of life—one who does not withdraw from action, responsibility, or relationship, but engages fully while remaining inwardly aligned with Yoga and Dharma. Life is no longer treated as an obstacle to spiritual growth, but as the very field in which alignment, clarity, and self-control are cultivated. The Gītā is thus encountered as a manual for righteous living, inner purification, and the gradual loosening of identification with reactive patterns of thought and action.
Within the language of Līlā (Divine Play), Level 1 is the stage at which the practitioner learns the order of the play—the principles governing action, consequence, disposition, and responsibility—so that participation becomes conscious rather than compulsive. One learns not to escape the play, but to move within it with awareness.
The entire trajectory of Level 1 is anchored in the vision articulated in Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 43, where Yoga is revealed not as an achievement confined to a single lifetime, but as a progressive inner maturation sustained across embodiments through the continuity of saṁskāras. The practitioner is drawn back, again and again, into the current of Yoga by an already-formed inner disposition, until clarity becomes stable.
Here is the verse : “In that very birth, the Yogin effortlessly reawakens the inner union cultivated through Yoga in a former embodiment. Drawn by this spontaneous recognition, the Yogin once again turns inward and continues the ascent toward perfection.” (Bhagavad Gītā 6.43)
This verse establishes the identity of the practitioner at this stage: not a novice seeking belief, but a remembering Yogin—one reclaiming an already-familiar inner alignment. Level 1 therefore does not aim at metaphysical finality, but at irreversibility: a decisive shift in which the practitioner is no longer fully capable of mistaking reactive life for conscious living.
By the completion of Level 1, the practitioner stands grounded within the world—capable of right action, ethical clarity, and inward steadiness—having learned to participate in the Divine Līlā with awareness, discipline, and growing freedom.
Areas of Clarification and Training : The study now turns toward developing operational clarity in four essential domains:
- Jīva and Saṁsāra :
The Jīva is examined as a consciousness conditioned by ignorance, karma, and embodiment. Attention is given to the mechanisms by which identification arises and the forces that sustain repeated experience, allowing the practitioner to discern bondage without moral judgment or blaming oneself. - Karma, Dharma, and Responsibility :
Action is studied in terms of its binding and liberating potential. Dharma is understood not as imposed morality, but as intelligible order, guiding right conduct within specific circumstances. The practitioner learns to act fully and responsibly, without egoic appropriation of results. - Guṇas and Prakṛti :
The functioning of sattva, rajas, and tamas is examined as the dynamic through which prakṛti expresses itself through body, mind, emotion, and intellect. By recognizing these movements as objective processes rather than personal identities, the practitioner gains the capacity to respond with awareness rather than compulsion. - Integrated Yoga :
Karma-yoga, bhakti, and rāja-yoga are approached not as independent paths, but as interdependent dimensions of a single life of Yoga. Action, devotion, and inward discipline are understood as mutually supportive expressions of alignment, rather than sequential stages.
Transformative Aim of Level 1 :
As enquiry matures, spiritual life shifts from aspiration to inner clarity. Through sustained enquiry, contemplative reflection, and disciplined understanding, the teachings begin to reorganize perception itself. What was previously grasped as a concept, gradually becomes lived understanding.
Through this maturation, the practitioner develops :
- Deliberate action and inner discipline, where conduct is guided by clarity rather than reaction.
- Ethical steadiness grounded in understanding, allowing right action to arise naturally, without reliance on external pressure or rigid moralism.
- Stability of mind, as thoughts and emotions are increasingly recognized as movements within experience rather than unquestioned identities.
- Clear recognition of the Ātman (Puruṣa) as the witnessing presence—distinct from body, mind, and circumstance, yet continuously present throughout them.
Completion of Level 1 :
By the conclusion of Level 1, the practitioner becomes inwardly anchored. Although complete metaphysical dissolution is not yet the aim, a decisive shift has occurred: identity no longer rests instinctively in psychological movement or reactive engagement, but begins to abide in awareness itself.
The true success of Level 1 is therefore not liberation, but irreversibility. The practitioner may still participate fully in the play of life, but can no longer wholly mistake the transient for the Ātman.
Conclusion of Level 1 : Inner Awareness (Ātman–Anubhava) is established.
Grounded as a Yogin—capable of clear action, ethical intelligence, and sustained inward alignment—the practitioner is now prepared to enter the deeper contemplative and philosophical unfoldment that takes place in Level 2.
Level 2 — Expansion into Universal Vision
(See the One Player in All Roles of the Divine Līlā)
Core Aim of Level 2 Study – The transition from Ātman to Paramātman.
In level 2, we return to the Bhagavad Gītā through the revelatory and contemplative vision of the Vedas and Upaniṣads, marking a decisive deepening of understanding. Where Level 1 was primarily concerned with stabilizing conduct—establishing ethical clarity, yogic discipline, and recognition of the Ātman as the witnessing presence—Level 2 moves beyond the sphere of action into the domain of knowledge (jñāna), and beyond personal inwardness into universal recognition.
Here, enquiry no longer centers on how the Ātman stands apart from experience, but on what the Ātman truly is. The central movement of Level 2 is an expansion of identity: from the witnessing Ātman to Paramātman (which is the Ātman of all beings), from the standpoint of “I am the knower” to the clear seeing that there is only Knowing itself—undivided, self-luminous, and universal.
Foundational Vision of Level 2 :
The contemplative axis of Level 2 is grounded in a single revelatory insight articulated in the Īśa Upaniṣad:
“For the one who sees all beings as the Ātman alone, and the Ātman in all beings, what delusion could arise, what sorrow could remain, when oneness alone is directly known?” (Īśa Upaniṣad 7)
This verse defines the experiential horizon of Level 2. The Ātman is no longer apprehended merely as an inner witness or personal presence, but is directly recognized as Paramātman—the very being of all that appears. Distinctions such as inner and outer, mine and other, no longer function as ultimate categories, but are understood as provisional perspectives arising within a single, indivisible Reality.
Central Emphasis of Level 2 :
At this stage, the Bhagavad Gītā is approached explicitly as a Vedāntic text of knowledge. It is no longer studied primarily as a guide to right living, but as a systematic unveiling of Reality itself.
Accordingly, the emphasis undergoes a decisive refinement:
- from action to deeper enquiry.
- from discipline to clear understanding.
- from ethical alignment to metaphysical clarity.
The practitioner is now prepared to inquire not merely how one ought to live, but what alone truly is—that which remains unchanged across all experience.
Primary Areas of Enquiry :
Level 2 brings to explicit articulation the deeper metaphysical vision implicit throughout the Gītā.
Ātman and Paramātman :
The enquiry moves from recognition of the Ātman as witnessing presence to clarity that the Ātman is Paramātman—one, indivisible Consciousness, present equally in all beings. The distinction between individual and universal dissolves, not through abstraction, but through direct seeing.
The non-dual substratum beneath multiplicity :
A sustained examination reveals how names, forms, actions, and worlds arise upon Brahman, the unchanging Reality. Multiplicity is understood not as an independent fact, but as appearance—inseparable from the non-dual substratum that supports it.
The Mahāvākya vision of Vedānta :
The essential Upaniṣadic declarations—Tat Tvam Asi, Aham Brahmāsmi, Sarvaṁ Khalvidaṁ Brahma—are shown to permeate the Gītā’s teaching. They are not treated as doctrinal assertions, but as pointers toward direct recognition of identity between Ātman and Brahman.
Avidyā and its dissolution through jñāna :
Ignorance is no longer understood as moral failure or lack of discipline, but as fundamental misidentification—the superimposition of the non-Ātman upon the Ātman. Its dissolution occurs not through effort or refinement of conduct, but through clear seeing born of knowledge.
Transformative Aim of Level 2 :
As the study deepens, knowledge matures beyond conceptual understanding and unfolds as vision (darśana)—direct seeing rather than analytical conclusion. Through sustained Vedāntic enquiry and contemplative reflection, understanding itself undergoes a decisive shift.
Through this maturation, the practitioner gains:
- Clear recognition of Paramātman as equally present in all beings, without gradation or exclusion.
- Dissolution of felt separateness, as difference is no longer mistaken for division.
- Natural integration of devotion, knowledge, and contemplation into a single, undivided clarity.
- Non-dual understanding of Brahman as the substratum of the universe—unchanging amidst all change.
Here, devotion is no longer directed toward an external other, and knowledge is no longer held by an individual knower. Both resolve naturally into clarity itself, where seeing and being are no longer two.
Conclusion of Level 2 — Cosmic Awareness (Paramātman–Darśana)
By the completion of Level 2, the practitioner stands established in universal vision. The world is no longer experienced as fragmented, nor is identity confined to a particular body, mind, or standpoint. Reality is recognized as a single, indivisible presence, appearing as many without division.
Although subtle traces of identification may persist at the level of perception, the foundational error of separateness has been decisively seen through. The sense of being a distinct center opposed to the world no longer holds authority. Seeing has shifted from the personal to the universal.
At this stage, the practitioner abides in cosmic awareness—the recognition of Paramātman as the Ātman of all beings. Yet even this luminous vision is understood to be a standpoint, however vast. The ground is now fully prepared for the final movement, in which even universal vision is relinquished, and Brahman alone remains, free of all perspectives and all identification.
Level 3 — Dissolution of All Standpoints
(See That There Was Never a Separate Player at All)
Core Aim of Level 3 Study – The transition from Paramātman to Brahman.
In Level 3, the Bhagavad Gītā is approached in its highest philosophical resolution, through the non-dual and logically uncompromising vision of the Brahma Sūtras. This stage completes the threefold enquiry, not by further clarification, expansion, or even universal vision, but by final resolution.
At this level, the Gītā is no longer engaged as a guide for practice, discipline, or contemplation. It is encountered as pure indication—language that sublates language, instruction that quietly undoes all instruction. The text no longer directs anyone toward realization; it functions instead to dissolve the very framework within which seeking and realization arise.
This consummation finds uncompromising expression in the Avadhūta Gītā, which speaks from the standpoint where even sacred language is relinquished:
“There is no mind, no intellect, no ego, and no world.
There is no Brahman (as it is beyond language) and no liberation.
This is the supreme Truth.” (Avadhūta Gītā 2.31)
This negation is not born of denial, skepticism, or philosophical refusal. It is born of fullness. Concepts are not abandoned because they are false, but because Truth cannot be contained within them. Here, even the word Brahman is relinquished—not denied, but outgrown—leaving only that which has never depended on naming.
Dissolution of All Standpoints :
Level 3 is dedicated to the complete dissolution of all philosophical and experiential standpoints. Even the most refined recognitions attained earlier—such as awareness of Ātman or vision of Paramātman—are now examined with uncompromising clarity and quietly laid aside.
The enquiry moves beyond even the subtlest dualities, including:
- knower and known.
- seeker and sought.
- individual and universal.
- liberation and bondage.
All such distinctions, indispensable at earlier stages, are now recognized as conceptual vantage points—useful within ignorance, but incapable of standing in the Absolute. They arise only so long as a standpoint is assumed; when all standpoints are relinquished, they fall away without residue.
What remains is not a higher state, vision, or attainment, but Brahman alone—ever-present, non-dual, without subject or object, without inside or outside, without even the standpoint of non-duality itself.
Primary Resolution of Level 3 :
Guided by the analytical precision of the Brahma Sūtras and the uncompromising clarity of the highest Advaitic utterances, Level 3 brings the enquiry to its final resolution—not through attainment, but through the systematic sublation of every standpoint from which attainment could be imagined.
- All conceptual frameworks—ethical, yogic, devotional, and metaphysical—are recognized as provisional instruments. Having served their purpose, they are neither opposed nor dismissed, but quietly relinquished.
- Paramātman, luminous and universal though it may appear, is no longer retained as an object of understanding. It is seen as a subtle conceptual appearance within thought, not the Absolute itself.
- Brahman is not attained, realized, or known as an experience. It is not revealed to a subject, nor entered as a state in time. Brahman alone remains when all misidentification ceases—intrinsic, ever-revealed, requiring no confirmation.
At this level, the Bhagavad Gītā is no longer approached as doctrine, philosophy, or method. It functions as pure indication—a final undoing of ignorance through the release of all conceptual superimpositions. Words no longer instruct; they release.
Transformative Resolution of Level 3 :
Level 3 does not confer a new understanding, nor refine an existing one. It brings about the cessation of understanding as a standpoint altogether. Enquiry no longer clarifies or expands; it undoes the very position from which clarification or expansion could be claimed.
Here occurs:
- the collapse of the subject–object division.
- the dissolution of seeker, seeking, and goal.
- the end of all philosophical positioning, including non-duality itself.
- abidance as Reality as it is—prior to thought, language, experience, or affirmation.
There is no progression here. No attainment. And No arrival.
What remains is what has always been.
Conclusion of Level 3 — All Standpoints Dissolved.
With the completion of Level 3, the movement of study comes to rest—not because something new has been achieved, but because nothing further remains to be relinquished. All that could be added has already been seen as unnecessary; all that could be removed has been removed.
The Bhagavad Gītā now stands revealed in its final truth:
not as a path leading toward Reality,
not as a doctrine explaining Reality,
but as the dissolution of everything that was never Real.
What remains is That—
evident yet unobjectifiable,
ungraspable yet undeniable,
ever-free, without inside or outside,
without beginning, process, or end.
Nothing is concluded.
Nothing is established.
Nothing is required.
Who Can Join These Sessions, & Frequently Asked Questions :
1) Who is eligible to join these sessions?
All are welcome—exactly as they are.
There are no prerequisites of background, belief, nationality, language, age, or prior study. These sessions are open to all sincere seekers—students and scholars, householders and contemplatives, thinkers and devotees—anyone who feels an inner call to reflect deeply on life, consciousness, duty, and truth. This enquiry is not limited by identity, profession, or familiarity with spiritual texts. It welcomes both those encountering these questions for the first time and those who have lived with them for many years. What matters here is not qualification, but sincerity.
Within the vast and ordered unfolding of creation as per Sanātana Dharma, all forms of life—immobile and mobile, manifest and subtle—arise from a single, luminous source. Existence expresses itself through different modes of embodiment, whether through a gross body (sthūla-śarīra) perceptible to the senses, or through a subtle body (sūkṣma-śarīra) operating beyond ordinary physical perception.
Realms (Loka) seen and unseen are inhabited by countless modes of embodiment: such as, humans and animals, birds and creatures of the waters; celestial devatās and Pitṛ (spirits of departed ancestors); gandharvas (celestial musicians) and apsarās (celestial nymphs); yakṣas (nature spirits) and rākṣasas (fierce beings); siddhas (accomplished beings endowed with extraordinary capacities) and cāraṇas (celestial bards); and even those who wander in obscured or shadowed states, known as bhūtas (ghostly beings lingering in subtle states), pretas (restless spirits lingering in subtle states), and piśācas (beings dwelling in subtle states of extreme obscuration).
These distinctions of form, realm, and refinement do not divide existence into higher and lower truths; rather, they reveal the many ways in which one awareness takes shape within the vast field of becoming. Whether experience unfolds through a gross or subtle mode of embodiment, the capacity for enquiry remains intact wherever awareness is present.
The Bhagavad Gītā is addressed not to a particular species, living in a particular realm (Loka), or condition (gross or subtle), but to that awareness itself—unchanging amidst all change, present within every body yet untouched by any form. Wisdom is not constrained by the density of embodiment, nor is enquiry limited to what the senses can grasp. Wherever there is the quiet capacity to listen inwardly, to reflect, and to turn toward what is real and enduring, there this sacred dialogue becomes alive once more. To all seekers, wherever they stand within the great movement of existence, this invitation is extended.
All are welcome—exactly as they are (In a Gross or Subtle Form).
2) I follow a different belief system, religion, or sampradāya. Can I still join this study?
Yes—absolutely.
The Bhagavad Gītā is not a text meant for one belief system, one religion, one community, or one historical identity. It arises from Sanātana Dharma, which is not a “religion” in the modern institutional sense, but the articulation of timeless and universal principles—realized and transmitted from the beginning of time for the benefit of all beings in this creation.
Sanātana Dharma may be understood as the eternal duty of all beings, or the timeless law that governs the entire Universe (Brahmāṇḍa). It does not refer to a faith founded at a particular moment in history, nor to an exclusive system of belief. Rather, it points to truths that are ever-present—relevant wherever there is life, awareness, and a sincere search for meaning. For this reason, the wisdom of the Gītā does not belong to any single religion, culture, or nation. It belongs wherever consciousness seeks to understand itself.
The modern idea of “religion,” as commonly used today, is largely a historical and human-made institutional category. The language of the ancient śāstras operates very differently. These texts do not divide humanity by belief systems; they speak instead of ignorance and knowledge, bondage and freedom, confusion and clarity, and the means by which Truth may be directly known.
It is also important to understand this clearly:
Religious conversion and the compulsion to worship a particular god are not indicators of Truth. In Sanātana Dharma, there is no concept of conversion, because Truth never depends on blind belief, force, or emotional pressure. Truth does not need recruitment of people into a particular faith. It does not threaten, bargain, or demand allegiance.
Truth reveals itself as you are, and wherever you are—never by forcing you to become someone else. If someone claims that realization of Truth requires conversion to a specific religion, it only indicates that what is being offered is a belief-based ideology, not direct knowledge of Reality. Truth does not impose conditions for being known.
Within the vision of Sanātana Dharma, the Divine is one without a second, yet compassionately expressed through many names and forms as—Śrī Śiva, Mā Devī, Śrī Viṣṇu, Śrī Nārāyaṇa, Śrī Rāma, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and countless other sacred manifestations. These are not competing realities, but different doorways into the same Supreme Consciousness. Diversity of form exists for the sake of love and relationship—not because Truth itself is divided.
For this reason, when the Gītā speaks in the voice of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, you are free to receive those teachings through the living presence of your own Iṣṭa Devatā. If your heart is oriented toward another form of the Divine, you may inwardly listen as though these words are spoken by the One you already revere. The wisdom conveyed is not confined by name or form; it points to the same Reality toward which all authentic paths ultimately lead.
In essence, the Gītā does not ask whom you should worship.
It reveals how Reality is, and how one may live, act, love, and know Truth—through whatever sacred form the heart already holds dear.
As stated at the outset, this research study is not sponsored by any organization, institution, religion, ideology, or belief system. For this reason, Truth is approached here in its raw and uncompromised form—not through compulsion, emotional persuasion, or inherited assumptions, but through direct enquiry and clarity.
This openness is so fundamental that the invitation is not limited merely to embodied human identities. Even states of consciousness described in the śāstras as subtle or obscured—such as bhūtas, pretas, and piśācas—are symbolically included within this vision. Such states are often rejected or ignored by conventional religious frameworks, largely due to a limited understanding of consciousness and its gradations—an area that Sanātana Dharma articulates with clarity and precision. The intent is clear: before any transition into another mode of existence, Truth must be known, so that ignorance-born errors are not carried forward.
Truth excludes no one—whether in gross or subtle form.
Only ignorance creates barriers; Truth dissolves them.
You are welcome exactly as you are.
3) I feel unsure about my direction or purpose in life. Is this study meant for me?
Yes—very much so.
Uncertainty is not a sign that you are unprepared; it is often the beginning of genuine enquiry. This study is not meant only for those who feel clear or confident, but also for those who sense that familiar answers no longer suffice.
The Bhagavad Gītā itself begins in a moment of uncertainty. Arjuna approaches the teaching not from clarity, but from inner conflict—and the Gītā speaks directly to that condition. Clarity is not required before enquiry; it emerges through enquiry.
This study does not impose answers or prescribe a fixed purpose. It invites reflection on what truly matters and what endures beneath change. As understanding deepens, direction arises naturally—not as a rigid plan, but as inner alignment.
If you feel unsure, you are not behind.
You are already at the right place to begin.
4) I have lost faith in scriptures and spiritual philosophies. Teachings often feel distorted, and many who present themselves as Gurus appear driven by personal gain rather than truth. Is this study still relevant for someone like me?
Yes—perhaps especially for someone like you.
A loss of faith does not always arise from skepticism. Very often, it is born of honest disillusionment—from encountering distortion, misuse of scripture, or the painful realization that authority and truth are not the same. Such disillusionment, though difficult, is not a spiritual failure; it is frequently a necessary stage of maturation.
This insight is expressed with striking clarity in the Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Book 1, Chapter 18, Verse 48): “How can the pleasure of cooling shade be known unless one has first endured the heat of the sun? How can Vidyā (true knowledge) be realized unless Avidyā (ignorance) has first been experienced?”
Confusion, pain, wrong understanding, and disappointment are not meaningless detours. They are part of the preparation. When clarity comes without struggle, it is easily abandoned. But when understanding arises after deep questioning and suffering, it is not casually lost. In this sense, whatever you have experienced—however difficult—has not been in vain.
This research study of the Bhagavad Gītā is not affiliated with any institution, organization, lineage, or sampradāya. There is no expectation to accept a person as a Guru, no requirement to join a group, and no appeal to authority or belief. The enquiry is grounded solely in the text itself and in the pursuit of truth through clarity, reason, and contemplation. More importantly, the purpose of this study is not to bind you to an external Guru, authority, or personality. Its aim is to help you rediscover the inner source of clarity that has always been present, but perhaps overlooked. In Yoga, this inner guide is not created, assumed, or imposed—it is recognized when confusion subsides.
This principle is indicated with great subtlety in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, particularly in Yoga Sūtra 1.26, which speaks of the timeless Teacher—one not bound by form, time, lineage, or personality. This Guru is not an external figure to be followed, but the clarity that stands revealed when ignorance no longer obscures seeing.
If confidence in outer authority has been shaken, this study does not ask you to revive belief or suppress doubt. It asks only that you remain faithful to enquiry itself—honest, patient, and unforced. From such enquiry, a quiet intelligence naturally emerges—one that cannot be manipulated or misled, because it does not depend on borrowed authority or imposed conclusions.
Doubt has not taken you away from truth; it has brought you closer to it.
Clarity, when it comes, comes from within.
That is enough to begin.
5) Do I need to know Sanskrit or have prior scriptural knowledge to join?
No—prior knowledge of Sanskrit or philosophy is not required.
Although the Bhagavad Gītā was composed in Sanskrit, this study is designed to make its insight accessible to sincere practitioners from all backgrounds. Sanskrit verses, terms, and key concepts are introduced gradually and carefully, always in the service of understanding rather than academic mastery.
What matters most is not prior study, technical knowledge, or philosophical training, but openness, attentiveness, and sincerity of enquiry.
In Essence :
You do not need to be a scholar, a devotee, or a seasoned practitioner to begin.
You need only the willingness to look honestly and listen deeply.
Wherever you are starting from, this enquiry is prepared to meet you there.
You are welcome exactly as you are.
OṀ Tat Sat
