Sankara starts his commentary on Gita by prostrating to Narayana. He glorifies Narayana as the Ultimate Reality of Brahman by saying Narayana as higher than Unmanifest. Sankara also explains the creation process in short in his invocation sloka. Brahman with the power of Maya had created the world. Initially, before creation there was only unmanifest in the form of Maya. From Maya came the cosmic egg, which is termed as Hiranyagarbha. From Hiranyagarbha the Virat was born after the grossification process. After creating the world, for the purpose of sustenance Lord created Prajapatis in the form of Marichi and others and made then to follow the dharma which was propounded by the Vedas. Then Lord created people like Sanaka, Sanandana etc., to propound the Dharma characterized by Knowledge and Renunciation to others.

Dharma is of two types, one is that which is characterized by action (Pravritti margam) and second is that which is characterized by renunciation (Nivritti Margam). Realizing ones own nature of Self is the Ultimate Goal of every human being in the world. It may not be possible for everyone to renounce at once and therefore people can perform action not to satisfy their selfish motives, but as an offering to the Lord. By doing thus, the minds of such people get elevated and thus gets the purification of mind which will then help in apprehending the reality. Once there is firm conviction about the Ultimate Reality of Brahman, then the person renounces everything and constantly contemplates on the Brahman and always revels in Brahman. Thus being Brahman is the real dharma and not mere action.

By nature, the mind of the human is extroverted. When the mind sees the objects of the world as something different from oneself he desires to achieve that. When the desire becomes very strong the person will dare to do anything to satisfy his desire and thus adharma creeps in into the world. Since adharma had creeped in into the world the Lord, out of compassion to save the person from further destruction, comes down to help. In this way, the Lord took birth in the form of Krishna as a son to Vasudeva and Devaki. He took birth in the world to protect the Brahminhood, for Brahmins are those who always revel in Brahman. Only such a person can protect the world by propagating the vedic dharma based on the levels of the people.

Krishna is none other than Ultimate Reality of Brahman. It is he who through the illusory power Maya created this world which is also illusion in Brahman. Self is ever present, it was only there before the creation of the world, it is there now also as the substratum of the world and it alone will be there after pralayam. Thus Krishna’s very nature of Self is birthless, changeless, Eternal, Conscious and ever free, but through the power of Maya it seems as though Krishna takes birth in the world to Vasudeva and Devaki. Krishna knows his very nature of Self and to such a person all qualities are always present and he can use them at will.

A Jnani is one who have attained the goal to be attained, that is realizing ones own nature of Self. When that is sorted out, then there will be no other desires in the mind of such Jnani. Krishna who was also a Jnani, didn’t have any desire but out of compassion on seeing the sorrowful situation of Arjuna and to help him, told the words of Vedic Dharma of realizing ones own nature of Self. Vyasa, who is the incarnation of Krishna (also known as Krishna dvaipayana) wrote Gita with Seven Hundred verses as the words of the Lord expounding the two types of Dharma (Pravritti and Nivritti). This scripture Gita is the essence of all the Upanishads. The words of Upanishads are terse and it is tough to apprehend the meaning for the initial seekers. Through the scriptures of Gita, the essence or the import of all the Upanishads can be got and therefore like Upanishads Gita is also a Moksha Shastram or Scripture of Liberation.

Actions can never liberation, permanent happiness. It is only the Knowledge on the statement Brahman Sathyam Jagan Mithya Jivobrahmaiva naaparaa gives liberation. Thus to get that Ultimate Knowledge which alone can give Eternal Happiness, one have to renounce everything, all desires and actions, be it our duty or anything else. For, there is no other way for liberation. The final statement of Krishna to Arjuna is Renounce all the actions unto Me and take refugee in Me Alone.

But it may not be easier for initial seekers to renounce all the actions suddenly as there will still be desires in the mind of the seekers though they wanted to liberated from this Samsaram. Therefore such a seeker should perform action as an offering to the Lord. When action is performed with such an attitude, the mind gets purified. Purification of mind in itself is not the goal, the person have to move forward towards realizing ones own nature of Self. Purification of mind helps in apprehending the Reality very clearly and thus acts as the means for liberation. And once the seeker apprehends the Reality as ones own nature of Self, then he will always revel in the bliss of the Self.

Sankara finally gives the Anubandha Chathushthayam of Gita. Anubandha Chathushthayam has four components, they are Subject matter, Eligible Person, Prayojanam and Sambandha. The Subject matter is the Ultimate Reality of Brahman, Adhikari or Eligible person is the Samsaari who wants to get rid of sorrow, Prayojanam is complete cessation of sorrow and reveling only in happiness and sambandham is the study of this text Gita through which the adikaari can get that Prayojanam of reveling in Eternal Happiness.