Bhagavad Gītā has eighteen chapters, and each is designated as a type of yoga. The word yoga has many different meanings. In the Gītā it is used principally in the sense of the means undertaken to accomplish or to be united with one’s goal. Therefore, the word yoga can also be translated as “path,” as has been done here especially in the chapter titles. There are primarily three different types of yoga, namely, karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, and bhakti-yoga. When we employ karma, or selfless action, for uniting with or reaching our goal, it is called karma-yoga. Similarly, when we cultivate jñāna, or the intuitive insight of our conscious identity with the Absolute, it is called jñāna-yoga. When bhakti, or devotion, is adopted as the means of attaining unity in love, it is called bhakti-yoga. In the case of the latter, bhakti is not only the means but also the goal.
The authority of the Guru is coming from sastra only. Guru and sastra are not independent. They go together. Guru is the embodiment of sastra. You will not know sastra because you are going to study it with your samskaras. You need a Guru who has risen above that conditioning and who can give you the light of the sastra.
