For the first time, in the 8th century AD, this book was taken out of that mighty epic, The Mahabharata, by Shankaracharya, who wrote a great commentary in Sanskrit on it and placed it before the people. Till then it had been lost in the Bhishma Parva of the mighty epic.

Swami Vivekananda expressed great appreciation for this great work of Shankaracharya. To quote his own words from his lecture on ‘Vedanta in All Its Phases’ ( The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, vol. III, p. 328): ‘The great glory of Shankaracharya was his preaching of the Gita . It is one of the greatest works that this great man did among the many noble works of his noble life—the preaching of the Gita , and writing the most beautiful commentary upon it. And he has been followed by all founders of the orthodox sects in India, each of whom has written a commentary on the Gita .’

Reference: Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita Vol. 1 by Swami Ranganathananda (p.14)