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The Eternal Self and Selfless Action · 72 verses
Ask Krishna about this chapterSanjaya then told how the Lord Shri Krishna, seeing Arjuna overwhelmed with compassion, his eyes dimmed with flowing tears and full of despondency, consoled him:
The Blessed Lord said: Whence has this delusion come upon you at this hour of peril, O Arjuna — this which is practiced by the ignoble, which does not lead to heaven,…
O Arjuna! Why give way to unmanliness? O thou, who art the terror of thy enemies! Shake off such shameful effeminacy and make ready to act!
Arjuna argued: My Lord! How can I, when the battle rages, send an arrow through Bheeshma and Drona, whom I should revere?
Indeed, it is better to live even by begging in this world than to slay these noble-souled teachers. But if I were to kill these teachers, who desire wealth and gain, I…
We do not know which would be better for us — whether we should conquer them or they should conquer us. The very sons of Dhritarashtra, after slaying whom we would not…
My nature afflicted by the flaw of faint-heartedness, my mind confused about duty, I ask You — tell me decisively what is best for me. I am Your disciple; instruct me,…
I do not see what could drive away this grief that dries up my senses, even if I were to attain on earth an unrivalled and prosperous kingdom, or even sovereignty over…
Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, Gudakesha, the scorcher of foes, said to Govinda, "I shall not fight," and fell silent.
Thereupon, the Lord, with a gracious smile, addressed him who was so much depressed in the midst of the two armies.
Lord Shri Krishna said: Why grieve for those for whom no grief is due, yet professing wisdom? The wise grieve neither for the dead nor the living.
There was never a time when I was not, nor you, nor these princes were not; there will never be a time when we shall cease to exist.
As the soul experiences infancy, youth, and old age in this body, so finally it passes into another; the wise have no delusion about this.
O son of Kunti, the contacts of the senses with their objects give rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are impermanent; endure them, O Bharata.
O noblest among men, the steady person whom these do not torment, who remains equal in pain and pleasure — he becomes fit for immortality.
The unreal has no existence, and the real never ceases to be; the conclusion regarding both of these has been seen by the seers of Truth.
The Spirit, which pervades all that is seen, is imperishable. Nothing can destroy it.
The material bodies that this Eternal, Indestructible, and Immeasurable Spirit inhabits are all finite; therefore, fight, O valiant man!
He who thinks that the Spirit kills, and he who thinks of it as killed, are both ignorant. The Spirit neither kills nor is it killed.
It was not born; it will never die, nor, once having been, can it cease to exist. Unborn, eternal, ever-enduring, yet most ancient, the spirit does not die when the…
He who knows the Spirit to be indestructible, immortal, unborn, and always the same, how should he kill or cause to be killed?
As a man discards his threadbare robes and puts on new ones, so the Spirit throws off its worn-out bodies and takes on fresh ones.
Weapons cannot cleave it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot drench it, and wind cannot dry it.
This soul cannot be cut, cannot be burnt, cannot be wetted, and cannot be dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable, and primordial.
It is named the Unmanifest, the Unthinkable, and the immutable. Therefore, knowing the Spirit as such, you have no cause to grieve.
Even if thou thinkest of it as constantly being born and constantly dying, O Mighty Man, thou still hast no cause to grieve.
For death is certain for that which is born, just as birth is certain for that which is dead. Therefore, do not grieve for what is inevitable.
Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, and unmanifest again in their end, O Bharata — what cause is there then for lamentation?
Someone sees this soul as a wonder, another likewise speaks of it as a wonder, and yet another hears of it as a wonder — and even after hearing of it, no one truly…
The embodied Self in everyone's body is always indestructible, O Bharata; therefore, you should not grieve for any living beings.
Moreover, considering your own duty as well, you should not waver, for there exists nothing better for a Kshatriya than a righteous war.
O Partha, happy are the Kshatriyas who obtain such a battle, which comes unsought and stands as an open door to heaven.
But if you do not fight this righteous war, then, abandoning your own duty and fame, you will incur sin.
Men will talk forever of thy disgrace; and to the noble, dishonor is worse than death.
Great generals will think that you have fled from the battlefield out of cowardice; though once honored, you will seem despicable.
Your enemies will speak many unspeakable words, denigrating your might. What could be more painful than that?
If you are killed, you will attain Heaven; if you are victorious, you will enjoy the kingdom of earth. Therefore, arise, O Son of Kunti, and fight!
Treating happiness and sorrow, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, then engage in battle; thus you shall not incur sin.
I have told you the philosophy of knowledge. Now, listen, and I will explain the philosophy of action, by means of which, O Arjuna, you will break through the bondage…
On this path, endeavour is never wasted nor repressed. Even a little practice of it protects one from great danger.
O joy of the Kurus, on this path the resolute intellect is single-pointed; but the thoughts of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.
Only the ignorant speak in figurative language; it is they who extol the letter of the scriptures, saying, "There is nothing deeper than this."
Full of desires, with heaven as their highest goal, their words promise rebirth as the fruit of actions, abound in elaborate rituals, and are directed toward the…
For those deeply attached to enjoyment and power, whose minds are carried away by that flowery speech, the resolute intellect directed toward samadhi is never…
The Vedic Scriptures tell of the three constituents of life—the Qualities. Rise above all of them, O Arjuna, above all the pairs of opposing sensations; be steadfast in…
Whatever purpose a small well serves when water floods everywhere on all sides, that much alone is the purpose of all the Vedas for a Brahmana who truly knows.
But you have only the right to work, but none to the fruit of it. Let not the fruit of your action be your motive; nor be you enamored of inaction.
Steadfast in Yoga, perform your actions, O Dhananjaya, abandoning attachment and remaining equal in success and failure; such equanimity is called Yoga.
Physical action is far inferior to an intellect concentrated on the Divine. Therefore, have recourse to Pure Intelligence. It is only the small-minded who work for…
One who is endowed with wisdom casts off here both good and evil deeds; therefore, devote yourself to yoga — yoga is skill in action.
The sages, guided by pure intellect, renounce the fruits of their actions; and, thus freed from the shackles of rebirth, they attain the highest bliss.
When your reason has crossed the entanglements of illusion, then you will become indifferent to both the philosophies you have heard and those you may yet hear.
When your intellect, which has been confused by the diverse teachings of the scriptures, stands firm and unwavering, steady in deep absorption, then you will attain Yoga.
Arjuna asked: My Lord! How can we recognize the saint who has attained Pure Intellect, who has reached this state of Bliss, and whose mind is steady? How does he talk,…
The Blessed Lord said: When one completely abandons all desires dwelling in the mind, O Partha, and is satisfied in the Self by the Self alone, then one is said to be…
He whose mind is unperturbed in sorrows, who has no craving for pleasures, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger — he is called a sage of steady wisdom.
He who is without attachment to anything anywhere, who neither rejoices nor recoils upon encountering good or evil — his wisdom is firmly established.
When one completely withdraws the senses from the objects of the senses, as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its shell, his wisdom is firmly established.
The objects of sense turn away from him who is abstinent. Even the taste for them is lost in him who has seen the Truth.
O Arjuna! The mind of one who is attempting to conquer it is forcibly carried away, in spite of their efforts, by their tumultuous senses.
Restraining all of them, one should sit steadfast in yoga, devoted to Me as the supreme; for the wisdom of one whose senses are under control is firmly established.
When a person dwells on the objects of sense, they create an attraction for them; this attraction develops into desire, and desire breeds anger.
Anger induces delusion; delusion leads to loss of memory; loss of memory results in the shattering of reason; and the destruction of reason leads to destruction.
But one who moves among sense objects with senses that are free from attachment and aversion, with those senses under one's own control, such a self-disciplined person…
In that serenity, the destruction of all sorrows arises; for the intellect of one whose mind is serene soon becomes firmly established.
Right discrimination is not for him who cannot concentrate. Without concentration, there cannot be meditation; he who cannot meditate must not expect peace; and without…
As a ship at sea is tossed by the tempest, so the reason is carried away by the mind when preyed upon by straying senses.
Therefore, O mighty-armed one, he whose senses are completely restrained from their sense objects on all sides — his wisdom is firmly established.
That which is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled one is awake; that in which all beings are awake, that is night for the seeing sage.
He attains peace into whom desires flow as rivers into the ocean, which, though brimming with water, remains ever the same; not he whom desires carry away.
He attains peace who, giving up desire, moves through the world without aspiration, possessing nothing that he can call his own and is free from pride.
This is the state of being established in Brahman, O Partha. Having attained this, one is never deluded. Being established in this state, even at the hour of death, one…