Collection
The verses where Krishna speaks about himself, and about those who turn to him.
Chapter 4Verse 7
Sanskrit
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत। अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Wherever goodness fades, the strength to restore it rises again.
A promise of renewal: balance that has faded doesn't stay lost. The conditions for its return keep arising, again and again.
Read more…Chapter 4Verse 8
Sanskrit
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्। धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
To protect what's good and restore balance. That renewal happens again and again.
This continues the idea from the previous verse: every era finds a way to protect what's good and restore what has gone off balance.
Read more…Chapter 18Verse 66
Sanskrit
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज। अहं त्वां सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Let go of what you're carrying alone. Surrender, and don't be afraid.
One of the Gita's most quoted lines: an offer of rest for anyone who's been carrying every responsibility alone. It's safe to let go and trust.
Read more…Chapter 7Verse 7
Sanskrit
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय। मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Everything that looks separate is strung on the same thread.
A simple image for something hard to picture: an underlying unity holding together everything that looks separate. Different pearls, one thread running through all of them.
Read more…Chapter 10Verse 20
Sanskrit
अहमात्मा गुडाकेश सर्वभूताशयस्थितः। अहमादिश्च मध्यं च भूतानामन्त एव च॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
What you're looking for out there is also already here, at the center of you.
Not a distant presence, but one described as already at the center of things, including you. Whatever you're looking for outward, this verse suggests it's also already here.
Read more…Chapter 15Verse 15
Sanskrit
सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च। वेदैश्च सर्वैरहमेव वेद्यो वेदान्तकृद्वेदविदेव चाहम्॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Everything you know, remember and forget begins in the heart.
The divine isn't far away. It lives in every heart and is the source of everything we remember, know and forget.
Read more…Chapter 9Verse 22
Sanskrit
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते। तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
What you truly need has a way of arriving when your focus is whole.
A verse about steady, wholehearted focus being met with support: the sense that what's genuinely needed tends to arrive.
Read more…Chapter 4Verse 11
Sanskrit
ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम्। मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Whatever road you take, however you arrive, you are met.
A generous verse about how many different roads can lead to the same place. It doesn't ask everyone to arrive the same way, only acknowledges that however they come, they're met.
Read more…Chapter 9Verse 26
Sanskrit
पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति। तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
A small gift given with a whole heart is never small.
It's the sincerity of an offering, not its size, that gives it worth. A small gesture given wholeheartedly outweighs a grand one given carelessly.
Read more…Chapter 10Verse 8
Sanskrit
अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्तः सर्वं प्रवर्तते। इति मत्वा भजन्ते मां बुधा भावसमन्विताः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Everything comes from one source. Seeing that turns knowledge into love.
Everything that exists has one source. Seeing that clearly turns, quite naturally, into love and reverence.
Read more…Chapter 18Verse 65
Sanskrit
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु। मामेवैष्यसि सत्यं ते प्रतिजाने प्रियोऽसि मे॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Whatever else is asked of you, know this first: you are cared for.
The reasoning offered here isn't obligation. It's affection. Whatever else this verse asks for, it's grounded first in being told, plainly, that you're cared for.
Read more…Chapter 11Verse 32
Sanskrit
कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः। ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः॥
Reflection · not a literal translation
Time ends everything. The only question is how you act while it runs.
Time ends everything, and it doesn't wait for anyone's permission. Arjuna's choice was never whether the outcome happens, only what part he plays in it.
Read more…Almost all of the Gita is Krishna speaking. Arjuna asks the questions, and Sanjaya narrates the scene for the blind king Dhritarashtra, but nearly every verse people quote is Krishna's answer.
This page gathers the verses where he talks about himself: why he takes birth again and again (4.7, 4.8), how everything is strung on him like pearls on a thread (7.7), how he sits in every heart (10.20, 15.15), and the promises he makes to anyone who turns to him, from carrying what they lack (9.22) to his last words on surrender (18.66).
2.47, on doing your work without claiming its fruits, is the most quoted. About himself, the best known are 4.7 and 4.8, on taking birth whenever righteousness declines, and 18.66, where he asks Arjuna to take refuge in him alone.
To Arjuna, his friend and cousin, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra just before the war. Arjuna had lost the will to fight, and the Gita is their conversation.
