The Gita Dhyanam is a group of nine Sanskrit verses recited before reading the Bhagavad Gita. Dhyana means meditation, and these verses are a way to settle the mind and honour the Gita, its teller Krishna and its compiler Vyasa before the first chapter begins. They are printed at the start of many editions of the Gita and are said aloud at the start of group readings, including on Gita Jayanti.
The nine verses are not part of the Mahabharata and are not found in the critical edition of the epic. Their author is not known, and no date can be given with confidence. The tradition has used them for a long time, and old printed editions of the Gita already carry them. The verses are of different kinds: the first greets the Gita as a mother, the second and seventh praise Vyasa and the Mahabharata, the third to fifth and eighth honour Krishna, the sixth pictures the great battle as a river, and the ninth praises the divine whom the Vedas sing and no one fully knows.
The full text of the Gita is on this site, one chapter per page, starting at chapter 1 and described in the Bhagavad Gita hub.
The text, transliteration and meaning
The meanings give the sense in plain words. Verse numbers appear as labels above each verse.
Verse 1
पार्थाय प्रतिबोधितां भगवता नारायणेन स्वयं ।
व्यासेन ग्रथितां पुराणमुनिना मध्येमहाभारतम् ।
अद्वैतामृतवर्षिणीं भगवतीमष्टादशाध्यायिनीम् ।
अम्ब त्वामनुसन्दधामि भगवद्गीते भवद्वेषिणीम् ॥
Parthaya pratibodhitam bhagavata narayanena svayam
Vyasena grathitam puranamunina madhyemahabharatam
Advaitamritavarshinim bhagavatimashtadashadhyayinim
Amba tvamanusandadhami bhagavadgite bhavadveshinim
MeaningMother Gita, divine lady of eighteen chapters, who shower the nectar of non-duality and who are the enemy of the cycle of rebirth: you were taught to Arjuna by the Lord Narayana himself and set down in the middle of the Mahabharata by Vyasa, the sage of old. I hold you in my mind.
Verse 2
नमोऽस्तु ते व्यास विशालबुद्धे ।
फुल्लारविन्दायतपत्रनेत्र ।
येन त्वया भारततैलपूर्णः ।
प्रज्वालितो ज्ञानमयः प्रदीपः ॥
Namo'stu te vyasa vishalabuddhe
Phullaravindayatapatranetra
Yena tvaya bharatatailapurnah
Prajvalito jnanamayah pradipah
MeaningSalutation to you, Vyasa, of vast understanding, with eyes as wide as the petals of an opened lotus, by whom the lamp of knowledge, filled with the oil of the Mahabharata, was lit.
Verse 3
प्रपन्नपारिजाताय तोत्रवेत्रैकपाणये ।
ज्ञानमुद्राय कृष्णाय गीतामृतदुहे नमः ॥
Prapannaparijataya totravetraikapanaye
Jnanamudraya krishnaya gitamritaduhe namah
MeaningSalutation to Krishna, the wish-granting tree for those who take refuge, who holds the goad and the cane in one hand, who shows the gesture of knowledge, and who milks out the nectar of the Gita.
Verse 4
सर्वोपनिषदो गावो दोग्धा गोपालनन्दनः ।
पार्थो वत्सः सुधीर्भोक्ता दुग्धं गीतामृतं महत् ॥
Sarvopanishado gavo dogdha gopalanandanah
Partho vatsah sudhirbhokta dugdham gitamritam mahat
MeaningAll the Upanishads are the cows, the son of the cowherd is the milker, Arjuna is the calf, the wise are those who drink, and the great nectar of the Gita is the milk.
Verse 5
वसुदेवसुतं देवं कंसचाणूरमर्दनम् ।
देवकीपरमानन्दं कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्गुरुम् ॥
Vasudevasutam devam kamsachanuramardanam
Devakiparamanandam krishnam vande jagadgurum
MeaningI bow to Krishna, the divine son of Vasudeva, the crusher of Kamsa and Chanura, the supreme joy of Devaki, the teacher of the world.
Verse 6
भीष्मद्रोणतटा जयद्रथजला गान्धारनीलोपला ।
शल्यग्राहवती कृपेण वहनी कर्णेन वेलाकुला ।
अश्वत्थामविकर्णघोरमकरा दुर्योधनावर्तिनी ।
सोत्तीर्णा खलु पाण्डवै रणनदी कैवर्तकः केशवः ॥
Bhishmadronatata jayadrathajala gandharanilopala
Shalyagrahavati kripena vahani karnena velakula
Ashvatthamavikarnaghoramakara duryodhanavartini
Sottirna khalu pandavai rananadi kaivartakah keshavah
MeaningThe river of battle had Bhishma and Drona for its banks, Jayadratha for its water, the king of Gandhara for its blue stones (many recite a word that means blue lotuses), Shalya for its shark, Kripa for its current and Karna for its surging tide. Ashvatthama and Vikarna were its fearsome crocodiles and Duryodhana its whirlpool. The Pandavas crossed that river, with Keshava as their boatman.
Verse 7
पाराशर्यवचःसरोजममलं गीतार्थगन्धोत्कटं ।
नानाख्यानककेसरं हरिकथासम्बोधनाबोधितम् ।
लोके सज्जनषट्पदैरहरहः पेपीयमानं मुदा ।
भूयाद्भारतपङ्कजं कलिमलप्रध्वंसि नः श्रेयसे ॥
Parasharyavachahsarojamamalam gitarthagandhotkatam
Nanakhyanakakesaram harikathasambodhanabodhitam
Loke sajjanashatpadairaharahah pepiyamanam muda
Bhuyadbharatapankajam kalimalapradhvamsi nah shreyase
MeaningThe spotless lotus of the words of Vyasa, the son of Parashara, richly scented with the meaning of the Gita, with its many tales for stamens, opened by the dawn of the stories of Hari, drunk from joyfully day after day by good people as if they were bees: may this lotus of the Mahabharata, which washes away the stain of the Kali age, bring us well-being.
Verse 8
मूकं करोति वाचालं पङ्गुं लङ्घयते गिरिम् ।
यत्कृपा तमहं वन्दे परमानन्दमाधवम् ॥
Mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
Yatkripa tamaham vande paramanandamadhavam
MeaningI bow to Madhava, the supreme bliss, whose grace makes the dumb eloquent and lets the lame cross a mountain.
Verse 9
यं ब्रह्मावरुणेन्द्ररुद्रमरुतः स्तुन्वन्ति दिव्यैः स्तवैः ।
वेदैः साङ्गपदक्रमोपनिषदैर्गायन्ति यं सामगाः ।
ध्यानावस्थिततद्गतेन मनसा पश्यन्ति यं योगिनो ।
यस्यान्तं न विदुः सुरासुरगणा देवाय तस्मै नमः ॥
Yam brahmavarunendrarudramarutah stunvanti divyaih stavaih
Vedaih sangapadakramopanishadairgayanti yam samagah
Dhyanavasthitatadgatena manasa pashyanti yam yogino
Yasyantam na viduh surasuragana devaya tasmai namah
MeaningSalutation to that God whom Brahma, Varuna, Indra, Rudra and the Maruts praise with divine hymns, whom the singers of the Sama Veda sing with the Vedas, their limbs, the word-by-word and step-by-step recitations and the Upanishads, whom yogis see with minds absorbed in meditation, and whose end neither gods nor demons know.
Text: the Bhagavad Gita with the Shankarananda commentary (Nirnaya Sagar Press, 1934), the section headed Gitadhyanam, read from the page images; compared with the Gita with Eleven Commentaries (Shastri Gajanan Shambhu Sathe, 1935). Transliteration is simplified; meanings are our own.
Where the readings differ
The 1934 print and the 1935 print, both read from their page images, agree in seven of the nine verses and differ in two places. Some points to know:
- The 1934 print opens with the ritual of assigning the Gita’s verses to the fingers and limbs (nyasa) and gives the seer, the metre and the deity of the Gita, then the nine verses. The nyasa is a separate practice and is not part of the nine verses here.
- Verse 6 describes the Gandhara king by a word that the 1934 print gives as nilopala (“blue stones”). The 1935 print and many recitations have nilotpala (“blue lotuses”). We keep the 1934 reading, and the meaning shows both.
- Verse 9, third line: the 1934 print reads dhyanavasthitatadgatena manasa (“with a mind absorbed in that”), the usual recitation. The 1935 print has a different, harder to read second half (it looks like samsthitena), with much the same sense.
- Families vary in small details of wording and in what they add before or after the nine verses, and the nine verses here are the usual set.
When and how it is traditionally recited
The Gita Dhyanam is recited before reading any chapter of the Gita, at the start of a full reading, and in many families before the daily reading of a few verses. Some people say it after bathing and lighting a lamp, with a copy of the Gita in front of them. It takes about three minutes to say. There is no fixed rule of day or count, and the Gita can be read without it.
The eighth verse, mukam karoti vacalam, is often said on its own as a short prayer to Madhava. The fourth verse, in which the Upanishads are cows and the Gita the milk, is also quoted in teaching. For another text on Krishna see the Krishnashtakam or the Madhurashtakam, and for the day of his birth the Janmashtami page.
What the verses say and what the tradition says they are for
The nine verses move in a clear order. The first greets the Gita itself, the second and seventh honour Vyasa, who gave the Gita its place in the Mahabharata, and the third, fourth, fifth and eighth turn to Krishna. The sixth recalls the setting, a battlefield compared to a river with its banks, whirlpools and crocodiles, which Krishna steers the Pandavas across. The last verse widens the view to the divine beyond all names, praised by every god, sung by every tradition and known fully by none.
The image in the fourth verse is the best known: the Upanishads are cows, Krishna milks them, Arjuna is the calf and the wise are the drinkers. It says that the Gita is the teaching of the Upanishads made drinkable. The verses make no promise of any result, and nothing in them replaces medical, legal or financial advice. Readers take them as a calm and respectful way to begin a reading.
Pronunciation notes
The verses are in simple, even metres, and most are in the anushtubh metre of four lines of eight syllables, as in the Gita itself. The sixth verse is in a longer, swinging metre, with long compounds that are best read slowly the first few times. The sh in keshava and shalya is the sh of “shoe”. The ri of krishna is said with a light rolled r. The letter jn in jnana is said as gya in most of India and jna in the south. Long vowels are held a little longer than short ones.
How the text on this page is sourced
The Devanagari follows an old printed edition: the Bhagavata Gita with Shankaranandi Vyakhya, Nirnaya Sagar Press, 1934 (archive.org item gwjg-bhagavata-gita-with-shankaranandi-vyakhya-1934-nir), the section titled Gitadhyanam, read from the page images on the scan (pages 34 and 35 of the file). As a second witness we used the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita with Eleven Commentaries, volume 1, edited by Shastri Gajanan Shambhu Sathe in 1935 (archive.org item wg014), read from its page image, which differs from the 1934 print in verse 6 and in the third line of verse 9. No typed Wikisource page for the Gita Dhyanam exists, so no modern edition was used. The author is unknown. The meanings are our own.
Related mantras and pages
- Bhagavad Gita: the eighteen chapters, verse by verse
- Gita Jayanti: the day the Gita is honoured
- Janmashtami: the birth of Krishna
- Krishnashtakam: eight verses to Krishna
- Madhurashtakam: the eight verses on the sweetness of Krishna
- Bhaja Govindam: a hymn on turning to Govinda
- Vishnu Sahasranama: the thousand names of Vishnu
- Upanishads: the texts the fourth verse calls the cows
- All mantras, stotras, chalisas and aartis
Frequently asked questions
↳ What is the Gita Dhyanam?
It is a set of nine Sanskrit verses of meditation and praise, traditionally recited before reading the Bhagavad Gita. They honour the Gita, Vyasa and Krishna.
↳ Who wrote the Gita Dhyanam?
The author is not known. The verses are not part of the Mahabharata. They have been printed with the Gita in old editions for a long time, but no dated source names a poet.
↳ Do I have to recite it before reading the Gita?
No. It is a custom and not a rule. Many people read it before the Gita, and others begin directly with the first chapter. Either is fine.
↳ What does the verse about cows and milk mean?
It is the fourth verse. The Upanishads are pictured as cows, Krishna as the milker, Arjuna as the calf, and the Gita as the milk that the wise drink. It says the Gita is the essence of the Upanishads, made easy to take in.
↳ How long does it take to recite?
About three minutes at an unhurried pace. Many families say it before the daily reading of a few verses of the Gita.