About Dharma Path
Dharma Path is a free course for anyone who wants to understand Hinduism from the beginning. It pairs 110 short lessons with the texts themselves: the whole Bhagavad Gita verse by verse, the thirteen principal Upanishads, and six selections from the Vedas, from the Gayatri Mantra to the Nasadiya Sukta. There are no ads and no paywall.
Where the text comes from
- Translations and explanations
- The English translations, plain-language explanations and practical notes on the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishad and Vedic hymn pages are written for this site, apart from the open-data fallback described below. The Sanskrit and its transliteration aim to follow the standard texts, but in the longer Upanishads presented as selections some verses are condensed or paraphrased rather than quoted. The Maitri selections, many of which are Sanskrit paraphrases, say so on their pages.
- Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita
- On the most-read Gita verses, a commentary section summarizes how named teachers read the verse: Shankara, Ramanuja, Vishvanatha Chakravarti, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi. Each reading is attributed to its teacher rather than presented as the only view.
- Upanishad references
- Verse citations were checked against standard editions and references, including the translations of Max Müller and Robert Hume, GRETIL and wisdomlib. Most of the thirteen principal Upanishads are presented verse by verse, with some passages abridged; Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka, Kaushitaki and Maitri appear as selections. Maitri selections that paraphrase the text say so, and each shows the chapter and section of the passage it paraphrases, as located by a verse-by-verse audit.
- Open data
- If a verse's own text is missing, Gita chapter pages fall back to the open Vedic Scriptures API, which carries English translations by Shri Purohit Swami and Swami Sivananda and commentary by Swami Sivananda (English) and Swami Chinmayananda (Hindi). Their commentary is credited by name wherever it appears.
Who publishes it
Dharma Path is an independent, free project. Hosting and new content are paid for by readers who choose to give.
Contact
Spotted an error in a verse or a translation? Email support@freedom-terminal.com or use the feedback form on your profile page.