"The universe is a puppet-show; Brahman is sole producer, Brahman is scenery and players, Brahman is sole spectator. The universe is Brahman, sportively self-deluded, taking delight in itself. The means of production is the power of delusion, or māyā; scenery and puppets are Brahman, self-stamped with 'name and form', its 'lower nature'—prakṛiti; as spectator it is puruṣa, retaining its proper nature."

“Fools scorn me when I dwell in human form: my higher being they know not as Great Lord of beings.”

“Kṛiṣṇa says that the man of knowledge affirms that Vāsudeva is All. This is the central doctrine of the Bhagavadgītā. Kṛiṣṇa Vāsudeva is one with Brahman, the ultimate unity that lies behind this manifold universe, the changeless truth behind impermanent appearance.”

“Guarded by Bhīṣma, this our force is all too weak; and all too strong that force of theirs, by Bhīma guarded.”

“If Dhṛtarāṣṭra's men, with weapons in their hands, should slay me in the fight, unresisting and unarmed, that were happier for me!”

“To Vivasvat I expounded this immutable doctrine of control; to Manu did Vivasvat declare it; Manu told it to Ikṣvāku.”

“The Bhagavadgītā presents the doctrine that Kṛiṣṇa Vāsudeva, who helped the Pāṇḍava princes at the battle of Kurukṣetra as Arjuna's charioteer, was Supreme God, a descent of the Absolute into the world of men. Kṛiṣṇa is called Bhagavat, and the poem is a product of the Bhāgavata or Vāsudeva sect, which at the time of its composition was beginning to identify Kṛiṣṇa with Viṣṇu.”