Of all religio-philosophical portions of the Mahabharata the Bhagavad Gita (song of the Lord), usually called the Gita, is indubitably of the highest merit and the most popular. It is a part of the Bhishmaparvan. The Gita has become in the last hundred and fifty years the subject of numerous editions, translations, commentaries and discussions. Lokhamanya Tilak calls it " a most luminous and priceless gem which makes us masters of spiritual wisdom." The oldest commentary available now is that of Adi Sankaracharya. Among the more famous bhashyas of post Sankara period are those of Ramanujacharya, Madhusudana Saraswathi and Sridhara.

The Puranas are chronicles and long narratives that popularize the content of the Vedas by appealing to the reader's imagination. There are eighteen Puranas and eighteen Upa Puranas. Each Purana is distinctly in favour of a particular Deity, whose exploits form its subject matter, and that Deity is considered in that Purana as the Supreme Reality. Hundreds of special vratas and specialized forms of worship that are practised in different parts of India derive from one or other of these Puranas. The longest Purana is the Skandha Purana (only slightly shorter than the Mahabharata), a Purana dedicated to Lord Subrahmanya or Skandha.

This epic story is based on the life of Rama, heir and then King of the throne of Ayodhya, in northern India. Different versions exist of this story. The authorship of the story is traditionally ascribed to Valmiki. Nowhere else would you find an example of an obviously literary work like the Ramayana, composed for personal aesthetic satisfaction, permeating the life and culture of a whole nation in the course of a few centuries - to such an extent that it becomes a religious authority as important as the Vedas themselves.

The Upanishads are the philosophical core of Hinduism. The theme of the Upanishads is: Knowledge of the Inner Self. They are not a collection of dogmas. Rather, they are a set of recollections and records of experiences.

The Vedas are one of mankind's oldest scriptures considered by Hindus to be a direct revelation of God. There are four main sections of the Vedas, the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda. While these books are part of Hindu religious culture they also contain a vast amount of material on Science, Culture, Medicine among other subjects in addition to Hindu religious rituals.

Around 100 to 200 years B.C., Patanjali compiled the Yoga Sutra, the first written description of the traditional yogic path. In this work, he outlines eight "limbs"; thus these teachings are often termed the "eight-limbed path" or "eight-fold path." In Sanskrit, this is translated as "Ashtanga" (sometimes spelled "Astanga"). The eight-limbed path forms the basis of Raja Yoga.

The eight limbs are:
1. Yama: Five vows of restraint, including Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), Asteya (avoidance of theft), Brachmacharya (continence), Aparigraha (avoidance of greed).
2. Niyama: Five disciplines, including Saucha (purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerities), Svadhyaya (study) and Ishvarapranidhana (surrender to God).
3. Asanas (Postures)
4. Pranayama (Control of breathing and life-currents)
5. Pratyahara (Turning the attention within)
6. Dharana (Concentration)
7. Dhyana (Meditation)
8. Samadhi (Superconscious state or holy trance)