Chapter by chapter, Debroy takes the reader on a voyage of exploration that includes Sanskrit grammar and the nuances of words and metre, covering the anustubh chhanda that became the seminal form of the shloka, though other variations also followed as poets found themselves requiring some creative liberty. He explains the shlokas that most people know, punctiliously setting them in their context and putting out that meanings can depend on whether the text is divorced from the main body of work or not. The one that recurs is the often quoted ‘renounce the fruits of action’, which is related to non attachment and according to the philosophy of the Gita, akarma can also be karma and vice versa.