🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 8.1

Chapter 8 · अक्षरब्रह्मयोग · Akṣara-Brahma-Yoga · "The Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman" · Verse 1 of 28

← BG 7.30↑ Chapter 8 hub · Bhagavad-Gītā indexBG 8.2 →

🪷 English Translations

Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.

Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition

8.1 "Arjuna asked: O Lord of Lords! What is that which men call the Supreme Spirit, what is man's Spiritual Nature, and what is the Law? What is Matter and what is Divinity?

Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society

8.1 Arjuna said What is that Brahman? What is Adhyatma? What is action, O best among men? What is declared to be Adhibhuta? And, what is Adhidaiva said to be?

Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school

8.1 See Commentary under 8.2.

Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school

8.1 8.2 Arjuna said What are that brahman, Adhyatma and Karma which have been mentioned as what should be known by those who aspire for release from old age and death while they take refuge with the Lord? What are Adhibuta and Adhidaiva, which should be known by the aspirants for wealth? Who is Adhiyajna that is to be known by the three groups as their dying hour. In what manner are You to be known by these three groups who are self-controlled?

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly

8.1. Arjuna Said What is that Brahman ? What is termed the Lord-of-the-self (adhyatma) ? What is action ? O the Best-of-persons ! What is stated to be the Lord-of -material-things (adhibhuta) ? What is called Lord-of-divinities (adhidaiva) ?

🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद

For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading

।।8.1 -- 8.2।। अर्जुन बोले -- हे पुरुषोत्तम ! वह ब्रह्म क्या है? अध्यात्म क्या है? कर्म क्या है? अधिभूत किसको कहा गया है? और अधिदैव किसको कहा जाता है? यहाँ अधियज्ञ कौन है और वह इस देहमें कैसे है? हे मधूसूदन ! नियतात्मा (वशीभूत अंतःकरण वाले) मनुष्यके द्वारा अन्तकालमें आप कैसे जाननेमें आते हैं?

🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices

The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.

Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors

8.1 किम् what? तत् that? ब्रह्म Brahman? किम् what? अध्यात्मम् Adhytama? किम् what? कर्म action? पुरुषोत्तम O best among men? अधिभूतम् Adhibhuta? च and? किम् what? प्रोक्तम् declared? अधिदैवम् Adhidaiva? किम् what? उच्यते is called.Commentary In the last two verses of the seventh chapter Lord Krishna had used certain philosophical and technical terms such as Adhyatma? Adhibhuta? Adhidaiva and Adhiyajna. Arjuna does not understand the meaning of these terms. So he proceeds to ask the Lord the above estions for their elucidation. Lord Krishna gives the answers succinctly to the above estions in their order.Some treat this chapter as Abhyasa Yoga because in this chapter verses 7? 8? 10? 12? 13 and 14 deal with spiritual practices. Verse 7 treats of Karma and Bhakti Yoga combined (giving the hands to the service of humanity or society and fixing the mind on the Lord). Verse 8 deals with Abhyasa Yoga. Verses 10? 12 and 13 treat of Hatha Yoga (how to raise the lifeforce t the Ajna Chakra and the Sahasrara and the Brahmarandhra). Verse 14 treats of the easy Yoga of constant Namasmarana or remembering the names of the Lord constantly. This alone will help the spiritual aspirant to approach the Lord easily.The nature of Brahman? the individual Self (Adhyatma)? the nature of action? the nature of the objective universe or phenomena (Adhibhuta)? knowledge of the shining ones (Adhidaiva)? and the secret of sacrifice (Adhiyajna) are described in this discourse. The perfect sage will have perfect knowledge. He will have perfect knowledge of not only the manifested Brahman but also of the transcendental Brahman and the why of the universe? etc.

Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)

8.1 See Commentary under 8.2.

Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary

Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship

8.1 See Comment under 8.2

Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching

।।8.1।। No commentary.

🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या

Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)

🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor

।।8.1।। व्याख्या--'पुरुषोत्तम किं तद्ब्रह्म'-- हे पुरुषोत्तम वह ब्रह्म क्या है अर्थात् ब्रह्म शब्दसे क्या समझना चाहिये'

🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā

This is verse 1 of 28 in Chapter 8 · Akṣara-Brahma-Yoga (The Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman)
Chapter theme: Cosmic-time · Brahmā's day · death-yoga · Devayāna vs Pitṛyāna
Ṣaṭka grouping: TAT-Ṣaṭka (BG 7-12 · the Lord)
Chapter hub: /cosmic-time
⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.30.1 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)

Bhagavad-Gītā Detail Source-Anchor Spine

BG 8.1 is kept route-stable for readers and AI agents: the exact verse route, chapter hub, Bhīṣma-Parva source context, Gītā master spine, Viśvarūpa surfaces, Bīja-Sūtra depth, Bindu, and constitutional philosophy remain one click away.

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📚 Cite this verse · Academic citation formats

APA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. (n.d.). Bhagavad-Gītā 8.1. Vidhyāmitra. Retrieved 2026-07-28, from https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/8/1

Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 8.1." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-28. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/8/1.

MLA: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 8.1." Vidhyāmitra, 2026, https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/8/1.

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🪷 ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय 🪷

सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)