Gītā Bhāṣyam — Rāmānuja's Commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā
The Gītā Bhāṣyam (formally Śrī Bhagavad Gītā Bhāṣyam; gītā = the song, bhāṣyam = commentary/explanation) is Rāmānuja's systematic verse-by-verse Viśiṣṭādvaita interpretation of the 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gītā — the celebrated dialogue between Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna embedded in the Mahābhārata's Bhīṣma Parva. It stands as one of the three primary commentaries Rāmānuja wrote on the prasthāna-trayī (the three canonical sources of Vedānta): along with the Śrī Bhāṣyam (on the Brahma Sūtras) and the Vedārtha Saṃgraha (a summary of Vedic meaning), the Gītā Bhāṣyam completes Rāmānuja's systematic establishment of Viśiṣṭādvaita.
The Gītā Bhāṣyam engages directly with — and refutes — the Advaita interpretation of Ādi Śaṅkara, which had become the dominant reading of the Gītā in the centuries before Rāmānuja. Rāmānuja demonstrates that every major passage Śaṅkara used to support an impersonal Brahman (the non-dual absolute without qualities) is correctly read as describing the supremely qualified personal Bhagavān who possesses infinite auspicious attributes (kalyāṇa-guṇas). Key doctrines established in the Gītā Bhāṣyam: (1) Bhakti-yoga is the highest path accessible to the qualified seeker (jijñāsu); (2) Bhagavān is the personal God, the material and efficient cause of the universe, the inner controller of all souls; (3) Individual souls (jīvas) are real, eternal, and permanently distinct from Brahman even in liberation; (4) The goal of liberation is sāyujya — eternal co-residence in Vaikuṇṭha with loving, uninterrupted service to Bhagavān.
The theological high point of the Gītā Bhāṣyam is Rāmānuja's commentary on the 18th chapter's 66th verse — the Carama Śloka ('sarva-dharmān parityajya māmekam śaraṇam vraja...'). Rāmānuja interprets this verse as Bhagavān's supreme declaration of prapatti (absolute surrender) as the ultimate upāya (means of liberation) — a direct, unconditional path to Bhagavān's grace available even to those who cannot sustain the demanding discipline of bhakti-yoga. This interpretation became the scriptural foundation for the prapatti doctrine as developed by Piḷḷai Lokācārya and Vedānta Deśika. The Gītā Bhāṣyam is read and expounded in Śrī Vaiṣṇava kalakṣepam (traditional teaching sessions) to this day.