Sanjaya said: The Supreme Lord, Madhusudan, then spoke to the sad- dened Arjuna whose heart was filled with pity, his eyes brimming with tears.

The Supreme Lord said: O Arjuna, how has such illusion overcome you at this crucial moment? This does not befit an Aryan, and it leads not to heaven but to infamy.

O son of Kunti, give up this cowardice, for it does not befit you. O great hero, cast off this petty weakness of heart and arise for battle!

Arjuna said: O Madhusudan, slayer of the enemy, how can I counterattack,
shooting arrows at venerable Bhisma and my teacher Drona, who are worthy of my worship?

It is better to live in this world and beg, without taking the lives of our noble elders and teachers. Otherwise, by killing them we shall remain in this world only to enjoy their wealth and possessions tainted with their blood.

I cannot understand which will be better — victory or defeat; for if we kill the sons of Dhrtarastra, who now stand before us on the battlefront, we shall not wish to live.

Now I am bewildered. What is my real duty? I am losing heart and distraught. So please tell me clearly what is the best course of action to take. I am Your surrendered disciple; please instruct me.

Even if we gain an unrivalled, flourishing kingdom on earth and sovereignty over heaven, I see nothing to dispel my debilitating grief.

Sanjaya said: Thus the valiant, vigilant Arjuna spoke to Krishna, who is Hrsikes, the Lord of the senses of all beings. Then he declared, «Govinda, I will not fight», and fell silent.

O Bharat, there amidst the armies, Sri Hrsikes, smiling, spoke thus to the grief-stricken Arjuna:

The Lord said: O Arjuna, you are lamenting for that which is unworthy of grief, yet speaking words of wisdom. The wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.

Never was there a time when you, I, or all these kings did not exist. Just as we exist in the present, so have we existed in the past, and shall continue to exist in the future.

As the living being passes through the bodily changes of childhood, youth, and old age, it similarly attains another body at death. The wise are not deluded by this.

O son of Kunti, the engagement of the senses with their objects produces the sensations of cold, heat, pleasure, and pain. But these effects are temporary — they come and go. Therefore, O Bharat, you must endure them.

O noblest of men, the wise man who is equipoised in pleasure and pain, and undisturbed by sense-experiences, is alone qualified for immortality.

Of the asat (destructible object, such as the mutable body and associated phenomena) there is no eternal existence; of the sat (eternal object, the soul) there is no destruction or change. The nature of each has been realized by the seers of the truth.

Know that the soul, by which the entire body is pervaded, is indestructible. No one can destroy the imperishable soul.

The soul is said to be eternal, indestructible and immeasurable. Only these physical bodies are subject to destruction. Therefore fight, O Bharat.

Those who think the living being slays, and those who think it is slain, are ignorant of the true nature of the soul; for the soul neither slays nor is slain.

The soul is neither born nor dies; it has neither been nor will it be created, because it is unborn and eternal. It is ever-youthful, yet ancient. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.

O Partha, knowing the soul to be indestructible, eternal, birthless and immutable, how can a person kill or cause anyone to be killed?

As a person adopts new garments, discarding those that are old and worn, similarly, the soul continues to adopt new bodies, leaving those that are old and useless.

Weapons cannot pierce the soul, and fire cannot burn it. Water cannot wet it, and air cannot dry it.

It is said that the soul is indivisible and cannot be burned, moistened, or dried. It is eternal, it reaches all planes yet remains still, immovable, and ever-present. It is imperceptible, inconceivable, and untransformable (by the sixfold transformations: birth, existence, growth, maturity, diminution, and destruction). Therefore, knowing the nature of the soul as such, there is no reason to lament for it.

And, O best of warriors, even if you think that the soul is perpetually subject to birth and death, you still
have no reason to lament. For one who is born, death is certain, and for one who dies, he must be reborn to undergo the reactions of his past actions. Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.

O Bharat, when all living beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest be- tween birth and death, and again unmanifest at death, why lament for them?

Some see the soul as astonishing, some describe it as astonishing, some hear of it as astonishing, while others, though hearing about it, know nothing of it.

O Bharat, the soul dwelling within the bodies of all living beings is eternal and cannot be slain. Therefore, you need lament for no one.

Moreover, considering your natural duty, you have no reason to waver, since there is no action more auspicious for a warrior than a battle for justice.

O Partha, only the most fortunate warriors are blessed with the opportunity of such a battle, which has come to you like an open door to heaven.

But if you choose not to fight this battle for justice, your religious principles will be lost, fame will desert you, and sin will overcome you.

People will speak of your infamy for all time to come; and for the renowned, infamy is worse than death.

The great warriors who highly honour you will ridicule you, considering that you were afraid to fight.

Your enemies will mock you. What could be more painful?

O son of Kunti, if you are killed, you will attain heaven, and if you are victorious, you will enjoy your life on earth. Therefore, being confident of your success, arise for battle!

Considering pleasure and pain, gain and loss, and victory and defeat to be one and the same — fight. No sin will be incurred by you.

I have revealed to you this knowledge (buddhi) of the soul. Now hear from Me how to act in this knowledge (bhakti-yoga), through which you will be able to free yourself from the bondage of action.

On this path there can be no loss and no harm. The slightest practice of such a spiritual ideal saves one from the greatest fear.

O descendant of the Kuru dynasty, resolute intelligence dedicated to Me is one-pointed — I am its only objective. But irresolute intelligence is splayed by endless desires for mundane enjoyment.

O Partha, unwise persons, not knowing that the chief directive of the Vedas is the attainment of the Supreme Truth, are fond of interpreting the fleetingly enchanting words of the karma- kanda section of the Vedas as ultimate.

Their hearts are filled with desires and their goal is heaven. They advocate the many sacrifices and rituals that yield wealth, worldly pleasures, and high birth.

Thus attached to enjoyment and opulence, deluded by these flowery words of the Vedas, they do not attain the resolve to dedicate themselves to the Supreme Lord.

O Arjuna, the Vedas deal with the three modes of material nature. But you, Arjuna, give up duality and all pursuits for gain and preservation, stand ever in the plane of truth, and by the yoga of wisdom, transcend the modes of nature.

As all the purposes served by several ponds can be served better by a large lake, similarly, the fruits of worshipping the various gods by their respective Vedic prayers are sur- passed by serving Me. The knower of Brahman who thus knows the purport of the Vedas fulfills all life’s objectives.

Your right is to your work, never to the fruits. Be neither motivated by the fruit of action nor inclined to give up action.

O Dhananjaya, give up the ego that you are the doer, and be equipoised in success and failure. Thus stand firm in the plane of yoga and do your prescribed duties. Such a state of balance is indeed known as yoga.

O Dhananjaya, action is far inferior to this yoga of wisdom; those motivated by the fruits of their actions
are misers. Therefore, seek refuge in the selfless wisdom of equanimity.

The wise person abstains from both good and bad actions in this world. Engage thus in yoga, as yoga is the art of all works.

The wise are enlightened by giving up the fruits of their actions, and thus attaining liberation from the bondage of birth, they reach the plane beyond all suffering.

When your intelligence fully emerges from the dense forest of illusion, you will be indifferent to all that has been heard or is yet to be heard.

You shall attain perfect yoga or pure devotion when your intelligence, undisturbed by the apparent contradictions of the Vedas, abides in the Lord.

Arjuna said: O Kesava, what are the characteristics of the person of firmly established wisdom, who is fully absorbed
in consciousness of the Supreme (samadhi)? How does such a man of steady mind speak, be, and act in this world?

The Supreme Lord said: O Partha, one who rejects all desires that enter the mind and remains self-satisfied within, is known as a person whose wisdom is firmly established.

One who is undisturbed by sorrow, whose hankering for pleasure has gone, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is known as a silent sage of steady mind.

One who is not attached to anything in this world, who neither enjoys nor resents auspiciousness or inauspiciousness — his wisdom is firmly established.

When one’s senses are controlled and totally withdrawn from their objects, like the limbs of the tortoise withdrawn in its shell, his wisdom is firmly established.

The embodied being may renounce the sense objects, but the taste for them remains. But that, too, vanishes for the man of wisdom, by his vision of the Supreme.

And yet, O son of Kunti, the turbulent senses can forcibly plunder the mind of even the wise person striving for liberation.

Devoted to Me, the bhakti-yogi brings his senses under proper control. Firmly established is the wisdom of one whose senses are controlled.

But one whose thoughts dwell on the objects of the senses becomes atta- ched to them. From attachment, desire is born, and from desire, anger arises.

Anger gives rise to delusion, and the power of delusion causes forgetfulness; forgetfulness destroys the intelligence, and when the intelligence is lost, one loses all.

But the integrated person who can control his mind at will, and who, free from attraction and repulsion, accepts his worldly necessities through his controlled senses, attains tranquillity.

When one attains a peaceful heart, all his sorrows are dispelled. The tranquil person’s wisdom swiftly becomes steadfast.

A person bereft of self-control can have neither wisdom nor meditation. Without meditation there is no peace, and without peace, where is the hope for happiness?

As a boat on the ocean is thrown off course by an unfavourable wind, similarly, the wisdom of a person lacking self-control is carried away by even one of the roaming senses that the mind might follow.

Therefore, O subduer of the enemy, one whose senses are fully withdrawn from their objects is a person of firmly established wisdom.

That which is day for the self-controlled sage is night for all beings, and that which is day for all beings is night for the sage who sees.

As the ocean remains full and unchanged though many rivers and streams enter into it, the person of firmly established wisdom attains peace despite all desires entering him. But a person who nurtures desires cannot know peace.

Only a person who lives his life abandoning all desires, hankering, ego and possessiveness, can know real peace.

O Partha, this is realization of the Absolute, attaining which a person is freed from the delusion of mundane existence. Even at the time of death, only a momentary attainment of this state leads one to the divine abode.