अर्जुन उवाच किं तद्ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम । अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते ॥
arjuna uvāca kiṃ tadbrahma kimadhyātmaṃ kiṃ karma puruṣottama | adhibhūtaṃ ca kiṃ proktamadhidaivaṃ kimucyate ||
Translation
Arjuna said: What is Brahman? What is adhyatma (the Self)? What is karma, O Supreme Person? What is called adhibhuta? And what is adhidaiva?
Interpretation
Chapter 8 opens with Arjuna asking seven technical questions arising from the end of Chapter 7. These are precise theological and metaphysical questions: What is the ultimate reality (Brahman)? What is the principle of the Self (adhyatma)? What is action (karma)? What governs the physical realm (adhibhuta)? What governs the divine realm (adhidaiva)? The answers Krishna gives frame the entire metaphysics of the Gita.