The Bhagavad Gita is a scene recorded within the incredible Sanskrit epic of the Hindus, the Mahabharata. It comprises chapters 23 to 40 of Book VI of the Mahabharata and is composed as a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Krishna, an avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu. Composed perhaps in the 1st or 2nd century CE, it is commonly known as the Gita.

On the brink of a great battle between warring branches of the same family, Arjuna is suddenly overwhelmed with doubts about the justice of killing so many people, some of whom are his friends and relatives. He expresses his misgivings to Krishna, his charioteer—a combination of bodyguard and court historian. Krishna's reply conveys the central themes of the Gita. He persuades Arjuna to fulfill his duty as a man born into the warrior class, which is to fight, and the battle proceeds. Krishna’s argument incorporates many of the essential teachings of the Upanishads, philosophical texts compiled between 1000 and 600 BCE, as well as the philosophy of Samkhya Yoga, which emphasizes a dualism between soul and matter (see mind-body dualism). He argues that one can only kill the body; the soul is immortal and transmigrates into another body at death or, for those who have understood the true teachings, achieves liberation (moksha) or extinction (nirvana), freedom from the cycle of rebirth.

Krishna also resolves the tension between the Vedic command to sacrifice and accumulate a record of good actions (karma) and the later Upanishadic command to meditate and gather knowledge (jnana). The solution he provides is the path of devotion (bhakti). With the right understanding, one need not renounce actions but only the desire (kama) for the fruits of actions, acting without attachment to the results (nishkama karma).