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Renunciation and Action · 29 verses
Ask Krishna about this chapterArjuna said: My Lord! At one moment, You praise renunciation of action; at another, You praise right action. Tell me truly, I pray, which of these is more conducive to…
Lord Shri Krishna replied: Both renunciation of action and the path of right action lead to the highest; however, right action is the better of the two.
He is a true ascetic who never desires nor dislikes, who is unaffected by the opposites and is easily freed from bondage.
It is the ignorant, not the wise, who speak of Sankhya and Yoga as distinct; one who is properly established in even one of them obtains the fruit of both.
The level which is attained through wisdom is also reached through right action. He who perceives that the two are one, knows the truth.
But renunciation, O mighty-armed one, is difficult to attain without Yoga; the sage who is equipped with Yoga reaches Brahman without delay.
He who is spiritual, pure, has overcome his senses and his personal self, and has realized his highest Self as the Self of all—even though he acts, he is not bound by…
Though the saint sees, hears, touches, smells, eats, moves, sleeps, and breathes, yet he knows the truth and knows that it is not he who acts.
Though he talks, gives, receives, opens his eyes, and shuts them, he still knows that his senses are merely disporting themselves among the objects of perception.
He who dedicates his actions to the Spirit, without any personal attachment to them, is no more tainted by sin than the water lily is wetted by water.
Yogis, having abandoned attachment, perform actions merely with the body, mind, intellect, and even with the senses alone, for the purification of the self.
The disciplined one, having renounced the fruit of action, attains everlasting peace; the undisciplined one, impelled by desire and attached to the fruit, becomes bound.
Mentally renouncing all actions, the self-controlled soul enjoys bliss in this body, the city of the nine gates, neither doing anything themselves nor causing anything…
The Lord of this universe has not ordained activity, nor any incentive thereto, nor any relation between an act and its consequences; all this is the work of Nature.
The Lord does not accept responsibility for any person's sin or merit; they are deluded, for wisdom is submerged in ignorance within them.
Surely, wisdom is like the sun, revealing the supreme truth to those whose ignorance has been dispelled by the wisdom of the Self.
Meditating on the divine, having faith in the divine, concentrating on the divine, and losing themselves in the divine, their sins dissolve in wisdom, and they go from…
The wise see with equal vision a Brahmin endowed with learning and humility, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even a dog-eater.
Even here in this world, creation is conquered by those whose minds are established in equanimity; for Brahman is flawless and equal, and therefore they are seated in…
He who knows and lives in the Absolute remains unmoved and unperturbed; he is not elated by pleasure nor depressed by pain.
He finds happiness in his own Self and enjoys eternal bliss, whose heart does not yearn for the contacts of the earth and whose Self is one with the Everlasting.
The joys that spring from external associations bring pain; they have their beginnings and their endings. The wise person does not rejoice in them.
He who is able here itself, before liberation from the body, to withstand the impulse born of desire and anger — that person is a yogi, that person is a happy man.
He who is happy within himself and has found its peace, and in whom the inner light shines, that sage attains eternal bliss and becomes one with the spirit.
Sages whose sins have been washed away, whose sense of separateness has dissipated, who have subdued themselves, and seek only the welfare of all, come to the Eternal…
Saints who know themselves, who control their minds, and feel neither desire nor anger, find eternal bliss everywhere.
Excluding external objects, with his gaze fixed between the eyebrows, and the inward and outward breathings passing equally through his nostrils;
Governing sense, mind, and intellect, intent on liberation, free from desire, fear, and anger, the sage is eternally free.
Knowing Me as the One who gladly receives all offerings of austerity and sacrifice, as the Mighty Ruler of all the Worlds and the Friend of all beings, he passes to…