Class

Bhagavad-Gita As It Is is the most widely read edition of this classic of world literature. It contains knowledge of five basic truths: Krishna (God), the individual soul, the material world, action in this world, and time. Bhagavad-gita thoroughly explains the nature of consciousness, the self, and the universe.

Word for word: 

dhrtarastrah uvaca — King Dhrtarastra said; dharma-ksetre — in the place of pilgrimage; kuru-ksetre — in the place named Kuruksetra; samavetah — assembled; yuyutsavah — desiring to fight; mamakah — my party (sons); pandavah — the sons of Pandu; ca — and; eva — certainly; kim — what; akurvata — did they do; sanjaya — O sanjaya.

Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:  

Dhrtarastra said: O sanjaya, after my sons and the sons of Pandu assembled in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, desiring to fight, what did they do?

Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:

Bhagavad-gita is the widely read theistic science summarized in the Gita-mahatmya (Glorification of the Gita). There it says that one should read Bhagavad-gita very scrutinizingly with the help of a person who is a devotee of Sri Krishna and try to understand it without personally motivated interpretations. The example of clear understanding is there in the Bhagavad-gita itself, in the way the teaching is understood by Arjuna, who heard the Gita directly from the Lord. If someone is fortunate enough to understand the Bhagavad-gita in that line of disciplic succession, without motivated interpretation, then he surpasses all studies of Vedic wisdom, and all scriptures of the world. One will find in the Bhagavad-gita all that is contained in other scriptures, but the reader will also find things which are not to be found elsewhere. That is the specific standard of the Gita. It is the perfect theistic science because it is directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna.

The topics discussed by Dhrtarastra and sanjaya, as described in the Mahabharata, form the basic principle for this great philosophy. It is understood that this philosophy evolved on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra, which is a sacred place of pilgrimage from the immemorial time of the Vedic age. It was spoken by the Lord when He was present personally on this planet for the guidance of mankind.