The Bhagavad Gita ("Song of God"), composed between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE as part of the epic Mahabharata, is a 700-verse dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Facing the moral crisis of killing his own kinsmen, Arjuna receives Krishna's teaching on dharma (duty), karma yoga (selfless action), jnana yoga (knowledge), and bhakti yoga (devotion). The Gita synthesizes multiple strands of Indian philosophy and remains one of the most widely read spiritual texts in the world. It influenced Thoreau, Gandhi, Oppenheimer, and T.S. Eliot.
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