u/thisisashukla

Between Jan–March 2023, at least five GitaGPTs launched in India. The first was a weekend project by a 23-year-old Google Bengaluru engineer. Four clones followed in 4 weeks.

All of them were GPT-3 with a one-paragraph "you are Krishna" system prompt. No retrieval, no verse lookup, no citations, no safety filters.

Rest of World and CBC tested them:

• Multiple bots said killing was acceptable "if it was your dharma"
• One called non-believers "misguided and doomed to destruction"
• Three praised Modi, said Rahul Gandhi was "not competent to lead," went silent on Godse
• A parallel Ask Quran bot told users to "kill the polytheist wherever they are found" before being pulled

The creator's defense: "I just build the knives. If people use it to murder or cut vegetables, that's not in my hands."

Meanwhile Magisterium AI — a Catholic chatbot launched the same year — is now the most-used theological AI in the world. It retrieves from 30,000+ Church docs and cites every source. The Gita has 700 verses and the commentaries are public domain. Any of the five could've built this. None did.

Full teardown: https://wisdomquotes.in/blogs/rise-and-failure-of-gitagpt

Between Jan–March 2023, at least five GitaGPTs launched in India. The first was a weekend project by a 23-year-old Google Bengaluru engineer. Four clones followed in 4 weeks.

All of them were GPT-3 with a one-paragraph "you are Krishna" system prompt. No retrieval, no verse lookup, no citations, no safety filters.

Rest of World and CBC tested them:

• Multiple bots said killing was acceptable "if it was your dharma"
• One called non-believers "misguided and doomed to destruction"
• Three praised Modi, said Rahul Gandhi was "not competent to lead," went silent on Godse
• A parallel Ask Quran bot told users to "kill the polytheist wherever they are found" before being pulled

The creator's defense: "I just build the knives. If people use it to murder or cut vegetables, that's not in my hands."

Meanwhile Magisterium AI — a Catholic chatbot launched the same year — is now the most-used theological AI in the world. It retrieves from 30,000+ Church docs and cites every source. The Gita has 700 verses and the commentaries are public domain. Any of the five could've built this. None did.

Full teardown: https://wisdomquotes.in/blogs/rise-and-failure-of-gitagpt

Namaste everyone 🙏

I run wisdomquotes.in — a small corner of the internet where I share verses, reflections, and daily wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita. Over the last while, talking to readers has made one thing very clear to me: people don't just want to read the Gita. They want to ask it things.

And honestly, that's how the Gita itself begins. Arjuna gets to interrupt. He gets to say "I still don't understand," push back, ask the same thing three different ways until it lands. Krishna meets him exactly where he is.

Most of us read the Gita the other way around — verse, commentary, try to bridge the gap ourselves. Beautiful in its own way, but I keep wondering what it would feel like to sit in Arjuna's seat for ten minutes.

So I'm exploring building something in that direction — a way to actually converse with the Gita's teachings, grounded in the real verses and traditional commentaries (not hallucinated spiritual fluff). Before I go deeper, I want to hear from people who actually love this text:

• What's a question you've always wanted to put to the Gita directly?
• Is there a verse you've read a hundred times and still feel you haven't truly understood?
• When life gets hard — a loss, a decision, a difficult relationship — what do you wish you could ask?
• How do you wish you could read or experience the Gita that you currently can't? (audio walks? verse-a-day? by mood? by life situation?)

No question is too small or too "unspiritual." I'm as curious about "what does Krishna say about handling a toxic boss" as I am about "what is the nature of the Self." Both are real, both deserve an answer.

Drop whatever comes up. I'm reading every reply. 🪔

Namaste everyone 🙏

I run wisdomquotes.in — a small corner of the internet where I share verses, reflections, and daily wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita. Over the last while, talking to readers has made one thing very clear to me: people don't just want to read the Gita. They want to ask it things.

And honestly, that's how the Gita itself begins. Arjuna gets to interrupt. He gets to say "I still don't understand," push back, ask the same thing three different ways until it lands. Krishna meets him exactly where he is.

Most of us read the Gita the other way around — verse, commentary, try to bridge the gap ourselves. Beautiful in its own way, but I keep wondering what it would feel like to sit in Arjuna's seat for ten minutes.

So I'm exploring building something in that direction — a way to actually converse with the Gita's teachings, grounded in the real verses and traditional commentaries (not hallucinated spiritual fluff). Before I go deeper, I want to hear from people who actually love this text:

• What's a question you've always wanted to put to the Gita directly?
• Is there a verse you've read a hundred times and still feel you haven't truly understood?
• When life gets hard — a loss, a decision, a difficult relationship — what do you wish you could ask?
• How do you wish you could read or experience the Gita that you currently can't? (audio walks? verse-a-day? by mood? by life situation?)

No question is too small or too "unspiritual." I'm as curious about "what does Krishna say about handling a toxic boss" as I am about "what is the nature of the Self." Both are real, both deserve an answer.

Drop whatever comes up. I'm reading every reply. 🪔

https://preview.redd.it/ayp5fra2ql5h1.png?width=1621&format=png&auto=webp&s=70a97438ccc01c6ded595cace780163a97a705e5

I built a gamified Hindu philosophy app for people who grew up hearing Sanskrit at home but never really felt it – would love your feedback [iOS]

Most philosophy apps I've seen either go too academic (wall of Sanskrit) or too surface (generic mindfulness that could've come from anywhere). I wanted to build something for people who have passive familiarity with this tradition — heard it at home, at temple — but never had a way to actually internalize it as lived concepts.

So I built Wisdom.

What it does: You pick how you're feeling right now — stuck, anxious, lost, empty, alone — and the app routes you into one of three paths drawn from the Bhagavad Gita:

• Path of Action (Karma Yoga) — for when you need to move forward
• Path of Wisdom (Jnana Yoga) — for when you need to see more clearly
• Path of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga) — for when you need to feel less alone

Each day is a single quote, a short reflection, and silent depth points that accumulate over time. As you go deeper, Sanskrit starts fading in alongside the English — not as a quiz, not behind a paywall, but as a reward for showing up.

What makes it different:

• Philosophy first in plain English. Sanskrit is revealed, not demanded.
• 22 nodes in a skill tree you actually progress through — not an endless scroll
• No streak shaming, no confetti, no "Premium activated." The subscription is called Diksha (initiation).

Solo dev, real passion project. Would love feedback from anyone this speaks to.

App Store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wisdom-app-quotes-widget/id6747684125

https://preview.redd.it/0050z5ra445h1.png?width=1254&format=png&auto=webp&s=8457addb2d81ac3471d7709f19b72a169719a4ce

Hey everyone,

I’m building an iOS app called Wisdom — a simple app that brings short, practical insights from the Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu wisdom texts into a daily reflection habit.

The idea is not just “quote of the day.”
I’m trying to make it feel like:

Read a verse → understand what it means for modern life → reflect for 30 seconds → build a small daily practice.

The app has:

• Daily wisdom quotes
• Short modern explanations
• Journaling/reflection prompts
• Different paths like Action, Wisdom, and Devotion
• Home screen widgets for daily reminders
• A calm, spiritual-but-modern design

I’d love feedback on:

1. Does the onboarding make the value clear quickly?
2. Does the app feel peaceful or too abstract?
3. Are the quotes/explanations actually useful?
4. Would you come back to this daily?
5. What feels confusing, boring, or unnecessary?

Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wisdom-app-quotes-widget/id6747684125

Genuine question, not rhetorical.

I've noticed that a lot of NRIs I know, including myself, have a complicated relationship with texts like the Gita. We grew up around them, we know they contain something valuable, and every few years something in life makes us want to go back to them.

But the versions available are either too academic, too religious in framing, or so dense that you need a guide just to know where to start. And the modern summaries often strip out everything that made the original worth reading.

So the question is honest: if there was a way to access these texts in plain, grounded language, one idea at a time, would you actually use it daily? Or is this one of those things that sounds good in theory but doesn't fit into how we actually live now?

Curious what the experience has been for people here.

https://preview.redd.it/r79jmk2ebt3h1.png?width=1140&format=png&auto=webp&s=f185fc2496688a907d072dfba38343d2020e77ca

Very interesting and pragmatic observation in Katha Upanishad

Most people assume there's one "right" way to practice spirituality.

Krishna disagrees.

In the Bhagavad Gita, he lays out three distinct paths — not because one is better than the others, but because seekers are built differently.

Jnana Yoga — for the seeker who needs to understand. Who can't surrender until they've dissected the truth from every angle. Knowledge is their doorway.

Bhakti Yoga — for the seeker who feels their way to the divine. Devotion, love, surrender. The heart leads, the mind follows.

Karma Yoga — for the seeker who can't sit still. Who finds God through action. Krishna's instruction: do your duty completely, but let go of the result.

Three paths. One destination.

The question Krishna is really asking Arjuna — and us — is: who are you, and how do you actually move toward truth?

Which path feels most like yours?

https://preview.redd.it/5kmbvwfnf23h1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad41f28278d74394c8a91cc7eb004725dc9efed9

Most people assume there's one "right" way to practice spirituality.

Krishna disagrees.

In the Bhagavad Gita, he lays out three distinct paths — not because one is better than the others, but because seekers are built differently.

Jnana Yoga — for the seeker who needs to understand. Who can't surrender until they've dissected the truth from every angle. Knowledge is their doorway.

Bhakti Yoga — for the seeker who feels their way to the divine. Devotion, love, surrender. The heart leads, the mind follows.

Karma Yoga — for the seeker who can't sit still. Who finds God through action. Krishna's instruction: do your duty completely, but let go of the result.

Three paths. One destination.

The question Krishna is really asking Arjuna — and us — is: who are you, and how do you actually move toward truth?

Full breakdown here: 👉 https://www.wisdomquotes.in/blogs/krishna-three-paths-bhagavad-gita

Which path feels most like yours?

https://preview.redd.it/eayg1ykjf23h1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=b59875f2002913d92cb63ce48983de3b64d0ebfe

Most people assume there's one "right" way to practice spirituality.

Krishna disagrees.

In the Bhagavad Gita, he lays out three distinct paths — not because one is better than the others, but because seekers are built differently.

Jnana Yoga — for the seeker who needs to understand. Who can't surrender until they've dissected the truth from every angle. Knowledge is their doorway.

Bhakti Yoga — for the seeker who feels their way to the divine. Devotion, love, surrender. The heart leads, the mind follows.

Karma Yoga — for the seeker who can't sit still. Who finds God through action. Krishna's instruction: do your duty completely, but let go of the result.

Three paths. One destination.

The question Krishna is really asking Arjuna — and us — is: who are you, and how do you actually move toward truth?

Full breakdown here: 👉 https://www.wisdomquotes.in/blogs/krishna-three-paths-bhagavad-gita

Which path feels most like yours?

https://preview.redd.it/yn3sjorcf23h1.png?width=1536&format=png&auto=webp&s=12dda87154ff6790f7a47dfb719f7a279abb3c01

Most people assume there's one "right" way to practice spirituality.

Krishna disagrees.

In the Bhagavad Gita, he lays out three distinct paths — not because one is better than the others, but because seekers are built differently.

Jnana Yoga — for the seeker who needs to understand. Who can't surrender until they've dissected the truth from every angle. Knowledge is their doorway.

Bhakti Yoga — for the seeker who feels their way to the divine. Devotion, love, surrender. The heart leads, the mind follows.

Karma Yoga — for the seeker who can't sit still. Who finds God through action. Krishna's instruction: do your duty completely, but let go of the result.

Three paths. One destination.

The question Krishna is really asking Arjuna — and us — is: who are you, and how do you actually move toward truth?

Full breakdown here: 👉 https://www.wisdomquotes.in/blogs/krishna-three-paths-bhagavad-gita

Which path feels most like yours?

I'm a data scientist building a scripture app. The pipeline ended up processing the full shloka corpus of the Ashtavakra Gita (298 verses), Avadhuta Gita (271), Ram Gita (62), and several others. Tagging and scoring them for non-duality, witness-consciousness, and liberation themes surfaced something worth sharing: these three texts all point to the witness-self, but the entry point is different in each.

Ashtavakra works by systematic negation of identity — caste, life-stage, sensory experience, all stripped away. What's left is described as formless, unattached, the witness of the universe. The verse is na tvaṃ viprādiko varṇo... viśvasākṣī sukhī bhava — "knowing this, be happy." Happiness not as goal but as the natural state of the witness recognizing itself. The scoring on pure awareness and non-attachment tags was the highest of any text in the corpus.

Avadhuta doesn't argue toward the witness — it speaks as the witness already established. The structural pattern in the data is clear: negation of what he is not (fate, mind, ego), then a refrain about being "gyanamritam, steady as the sky." It reads like the Ashtavakra conclusion without the buildup. Different tool for a different stage of practice.

Ram Gita takes the most analytical route — distinguishing the jiva (consciousness reflected in intellect born from avidya) from atman (the witness, separate from intellect and beyond its distinctions). Closest to traditional Advaita scaffolding. Most useful for someone who needs the conceptual map before the direct pointing.

Full writeup with the top-scoring verses from all 7 Gitas: https://www.wisdomquotes.in/blogs/beyond-bhagavad-gita-quotes-mental-spiritual-health

For those working with these texts in practice: which entry point has been most useful — the systematic negation of Ashtavakra, the first-person declaration of Avadhuta, or the analytical framework of the Ram Gita?

Building the Wisdom app meant running a data pipeline across a lot of scripture — not just the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita but hundreds more from texts most people have never opened: Ashtavakra Gita, Avadhuta Gita, Ram Gita, Hans Gita, Shakti Gita, Shambhu Gita, Vishnu Gita.

After tagging every verse for themes like equanimity, non-attachment, fear, suffering, and witness-consciousness, some patterns became hard to ignore. A few things that surfaced:

• The Ashtavakra Gita (298 verses) ranked highest for equanimity and witness-consciousness tags. Nearly every verse is stripping away another layer of identity until only the witness remains.
• The Hans Gita is only 46 verses but nearly a third of them score high on anger-regulation and tolerance. Unusually dense on that theme for its size.
• The Avadhuta Gita has a recurring structural pattern: Dattatreya names something he is not (the suffering, the ego, the mind born from pain), then names what he is — "the nectar of wisdom, steady and like the sky." That negation→recognition move appears across dozens of verses.
• The Vishnu Gita has a verse on craving and aversion that's almost word-for-word what ACT therapy describes as psychological inflexibility.
• The Shambhu Gita is 985 verses — the largest corpus. One verse in chapter 6 describes fear not as something to overcome but something that dissolves by merging back into its own source. Different mechanism than anything in the other texts.

Wrote it all up with Sanskrit, translation, and what each verse actually says practically: https://www.wisdomquotes.in/blogs/beyond-bhagavad-gita-quotes-mental-spiritual-health

Curious whether anyone here has worked with any of these texts — which ones and what's been useful.