The Bhagavad Gita begins amid war. Two sides of a large family are set to fight for control of a kingdom. Arjuna patrols the battlefield and is struck by a sudden moral crisis. He asks his charioteer and counselor Krishna about the morality of war. This conversation forms the rest of the text. The discussions between Arjuna (the leader of an army) and Krishna (a deity in human form) are far reaching and complex, but they often return to the theme of battle and war. This theme is the catalyst for their discussion; militaristic language and metaphors are also used in their conversation, with the idea of battle becoming an analogy for the battle for the soul.

The loose framing device in the text is also predicated on the theme of war. Dhritarashtra and Sanjaya discuss the battle which will dictate the future of the kingdom. Sanjaya explains events to his blind king, but rather than explain the details of the battle, he talks about the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna. This focus on the conversation equivocates the battle and the discussions, suggesting that they are equally important.