Bhagavad Gītā 16.23–24
In doubt? Ask the śāstra.
What the Bhagavad Gita says about life's doubts
Krishna's own instruction for every doubt: don't decide on impulse. Let the scripture be your measure for what to do and what not to do. Here is what the Gita says about the doubts people bring to it most.
यः शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य वर्तते कामकारतः ।
न स सिद्धिमवाप्नोति न सुखं न परां गतिम् ॥yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ
na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṃ na parāṃ gatim
One who abandons the rules of scripture and acts on impulse does not attain perfection, happiness, or the highest goal.
तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ ।
ज्ञात्वा शास्त्रविधानोक्तं कर्म कर्तुमिहार्हसि ॥tasmāc chāstraṃ pramāṇaṃ te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau
jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktaṃ karma kartum ihārhasi
Therefore, let scripture be your authority in deciding what should be done and what should not be done. Knowing what is declared by the ordinances of scripture, you should perform action in this world.
Ten doubts the Gita answers
- What does the Gita say when you can't decide what to do?Arjuna froze before the hardest decision of his life. The Gita's way through, in four verses: name the doubt, take the śāstra as your measure, then act.
- What does the Gita say about eating non-veg?The Gita never names meat. It sorts food by what it does to you and counts non-violence among the divine qualities. The verses, and what they add up to.
- What does the Gita say about death?The Bhagavad Gita on death: what is never born and never dies, why dying is like changing clothes, and what decides where you go. Four verses, plainly.
- What does the Gita say about the death of a loved one?The Bhagavad Gita begins in grief: Arjuna weeping for people he loves. Krishna's answer, in four verses, for anyone mourning someone close to them.
- What does the Gita say about karma?In the Bhagavad Gita, karma means action before it means fate. What it says about doing your work, letting go of results, and why action beats inaction.
- What does the Gita say about love?The Bhagavad Gita's love leaves no one out: friendly to every being, feeling another's joy and pain as your own. Four verses on love and devotion.
- What does the Gita say about marriage?The Gita has no chapter on marriage, yet four of its verses speak straight to married life: desire within dharma, balance, forgiveness, love without clinging.
- What does the Gita say about anger?The Bhagavad Gita traces anger from where it starts to where it ends. Four verses on how anger is born, what it destroys, and who is truly happy.
- What does the Gita say about anxiety and worry?Most worry lives in results that haven't happened. The Bhagavad Gita's way through: do the work, let go of the outcome, steady the mind by practice.
- What is dharma according to the Gita?Dharma in the Bhagavad Gita: your own duty, done even imperfectly and without wavering, and the promise to restore it whenever it fails. Four verses.
Sanskrit from our library: GRETIL's text with Śaṅkara's commentary for chapters 1–17 and the BORI critical edition of the Mahābhārata for chapter 18, each verse checked against the critical edition. English: K. T. Telang's translation (1882), in modern English. Tap a verse number to read its whole chapter.