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Every verse in Sanskrit, with Hindi and English translations and what it can mean today.
Gitas
- Bhagavad Gita श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna loses heart at the thought of fighting his own kin. Krishna, his charioteer, answers his despair with a teaching on duty, the self that does not die, action without attachment to results, knowledge and devotion. Part of the Mahabharata (Bhishma Parva); 700 verses in 18 chapters, narrated by Sanjaya to the blind king Dhritarashtra. 700 verses
- Uddhava Gita उद्धव गीता Before leaving the world, Krishna gives his friend and devotee Uddhava a last, long teaching: detachment, the twenty-four teachers an Avadhuta found in nature, the three gunas, meditation, the yamas and niyamas, and devotion as the surest path. Chapters 6 to 29 of the eleventh book of the Bhagavata Purana. 1079 verses
- Ashtavakra Gita अष्टावक्र गीता King Janaka asks the sage Ashtavakra how to gain knowledge, detachment and freedom. Ashtavakra answers that the self is already free, pure awareness that only witnesses, and Janaka describes his own awakening. A short, radical text of non-dual teaching in 20 chapters. 298 verses
Upanishads
- Isha Upanishad ईशोपनिषद् Eighteen mantras that begin "all this is pervaded by the Lord": live by letting go and do not covet; act and live a full life; see all beings in the self and the self in all. One of the shortest and most loved Upanishads. 18 verses
- Kena Upanishad केनोपनिषद् "By whom is the mind sent forth?" The Kena Upanishad points to what lies behind the mind, speech and sight, that which cannot be known as an object, and tells the story of a mysterious being that humbles the gods Agni, Vayu and Indra. Four short sections. 35 verses
- Katha Upanishad कठोपनिषद् The boy Nachiketa, sent to Death by his angry father, waits three days at Yama's door and is granted three wishes. For the third he asks what happens after death, and Yama teaches him the difference between the good and the pleasant, the self that is never born and never dies, and the image of the chariot. Six vallis in two parts. 119 verses
- Prashna Upanishad प्रश्नोपनिषद् Six seekers come to the sage Pippalada, each with one question: where living beings come from, which powers sustain the body, where life-breath comes from, what sleeps and wakes in us, what meditation on Om brings, and the person of sixteen parts. Six chapters, one for each question. 67 verses
- Mundaka Upanishad मुण्डकोपनिषद् The sage Angiras tells the householder Shaunaka of two kinds of knowledge: the lower, of rituals and learning, and the higher, by which the imperishable is known. Rituals are frail boats; seek a teacher; Om is the bow and the self the arrow. It holds the two birds on one tree and "truth alone triumphs". Three mundakas of two sections each. 64 verses
- Mandukya Upanishad माण्डूक्योपनिषद् Twelve prose mantras on Om and the self in four states: waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and the fourth, turiya, the awareness in which all three appear. The shortest of the principal Upanishads. 12 verses
- Taittiriya Upanishad तैत्तिरीयोपनिषद् Three sections: the first on learning and conduct, ending with a teacher's farewell to his students ("speak the truth, practise dharma, do not neglect study… let your mother, father, teacher and guest be as gods to you"); the second on Brahman as truth, knowledge and the infinite, the five sheaths of the person, and the measure of bliss; the third, where the young Bhrigu discovers through his own reflection, guided by his father Varuna, that Brahman is bliss. 51 verses
- Chandogya Upanishad छान्दोग्योपनिषद् Chapters 6 to 8 of one of the oldest and largest Upanishads. Uddalaka teaches his proud son Shvetaketu with clay, salt dissolved in water and a banyan seed that the subtle essence of all is the self, "you are that" (tat tvam asi). Narada, learned in every science yet full of sorrow, is led by Sanatkumara step by step to the infinite, which alone is joy. And Indra and the demon Virochana go to Prajapati to learn the self: Virochana settles for the body, Indra returns until he understands the deathless self. 180 verses
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad बृहदारण्यकोपनिषद् Selected sections of the largest of the old Upanishads. The sage Yajnavalkya, leaving home, teaches his wife Maitreyi that husband, wife, children and wealth are dear for the sake of the self, and that the self is known as "not this, not this". At King Janaka's court he answers the challenges of the learned, among them Gargi and Uddalaka, and teaches Janaka about the light within, dreams, desire and death. It also holds "lead me from the unreal to the real", "I am Brahman", "that is full, this is full" and the thunder's "da da da": be restrained, give, be compassionate. 240 verses
- Shvetashvatara Upanishad श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् Seekers ask what the cause of the world is. The answer is the one God, Rudra-Shiva, who is both the world's source and the self within, known through meditation and grace. It holds the two birds on one tree and teaches devotion to God and to the teacher. Six chapters. 113 verses
Mahabharata teachings
- Vidura Niti विदुर नीति On a sleepless night before the war, the troubled King Dhritarashtra asks his wise half-brother Vidura for counsel. Vidura answers with practical wisdom on the wise and the foolish, anger, greed, speech, friendship, wealth and right conduct. Part of the Mahabharata (Udyoga Parva); 8 chapters. 530 verses
- Sanatsujatiya सनत्सुजातीय On the same night, Dhritarashtra asks the eternal youth Sanatsujata whether there is death. Death, the sage says, is heedlessness, and heedfulness is the deathless; he speaks of anger and desire, true silence and discipline, and the one reality that the yogis see. Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva, chapters 42 to 45. 121 verses
- Yaksha Prashna यक्ष प्रश्न In the forest, the Pandava brothers drink from a lake guarded by a Yaksha and fall dead. Yudhishthira alone answers the Yaksha's questions, on what is heavier than the earth, what makes one happy, what one gives up to be loved, and many more, and his brothers are returned to life. Mahabharata, Aranyaka Parva 3.297 (critical edition). 74 verses
- Mokshadharma मोक्षधर्म Lying on his bed of arrows after the war, Bhishma answers Yudhishthira's questions on how to be free of grief and craving, mostly by telling old stories: a brahmin consoling a king who has lost his son, the courtesan Pingala's awakening, a son teaching his father that time is short, Manki's song on desire, a sage who lives like a python on what comes, a jackal teaching Kashyapa the worth of a human life, the merchant Tuladhara humbling a proud ascetic, and the swan's teaching on bearing harsh words. Selected chapters of the Mahabharata's Shanti Parva. 599 verses
Vedanta and devotion
- Vivekachudamani विवेकचूडामणि "The crest-jewel of discrimination": a teacher guides a disciple who longs for freedom, from the rarity of human birth and the qualities of a seeker, through the five sheaths and the difference between self and not-self, to the joy of one who is free while living. Traditionally attributed to Shankaracharya; 580 verses. 580 verses
- Upadeshasahasri उपदेशसाहस्री Shankaracharya's own teaching manual, "A Thousand Teachings": in 19 short chapters of verse he shows that the Self is pure awareness, the witness of body, mind and the sense of "I", untouched by what it sees, and that knowledge, not ritual action, ends sorrow. The last chapter is a dialogue between the Self and the mind. The metrical part, in Mayeda's critical edition. 671 verses
- Avadhuta Gita अवधूत गीता The song of the Avadhuta, the free one who has cast off everything, traditionally Dattatreya: ecstatic verses that the self is pure, partless awareness, like the sky, untouched by birth, action, bondage or liberation, with the refrain "I am the nectar of knowledge, the same everywhere, like the sky". Eight chapters. 271 verses
- Narada Bhakti Sutras नारद भक्ति सूत्र Eighty-four short aphorisms on bhakti, supreme love for God: what it is, how it is greater than action, knowledge and yoga, how it is cultivated through good company and the grace of great souls, and the marks of a true devotee, for whom caste, learning and wealth make no difference. Attributed to the sage Narada. 84 verses
Yoga
Niti and vairagya
- Chanakya Niti चाणक्य नीति Maxims on practical life traditionally attributed to Chanakya, the minister of Chandragupta Maurya: learning, money, friendship, enemies, speech and conduct. Some verses reflect the prejudices of their time and carry a caution. Chapters 1 to 15 of the popular recension. 300 verses
- Hitopadesha हितोपदेश Fables for princes: to teach the idle sons of King Sudarshana, the sage Vishnusharman tells stories of animals who advise each other in verse, on winning friends, how friendships are broken by flatterers, war and making peace. A pigeon king freed by a mouse, a crow, a tortoise and a deer who become friends, two jackals who set a lion against his friend the bull. Compiled by Narayana from the Panchatantra and other works; only the verses are given here, introduced by who says them in the story. 716 verses
- Niti Shataka नीतिशतक A century of verses on wise and worldly conduct by the poet Bhartrihari: the worth of learning and good company, the wise and the fool, courage and effort, fate, wealth and noble character. 105 verses
- Vairagya Shataka वैराग्यशतक Bhartrihari's century of verses on dispassion: the restlessness of desire, the passing of youth and the arrival of old age, the emptiness of chasing wealth, and the peace of a contented, turned-within life. 97 verses