Vyasa: The Bhagavad Gita
The Plainspoken Classics - Scriptorium Press (First Edition, 2026)
An original AI translation made directly from the source language.
https://openscriptorium.com


======== Chapter 1 — Arjuna's Despair ========

1.1  Dhritarashtra said: On the field of dharma, the field of Kuru, gathered together and eager to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, Sanjaya?
1.2  Sanjaya said: Having seen the army of the Pandavas arrayed for battle, King Duryodhana approached his teacher Drona and spoke these words.
1.3  Behold, teacher, this great army of the sons of Pandu, arrayed by your own pupil, the wise son of Drupada.
1.4  Here are heroes, great archers, equal in battle to Bhima and Arjuna: Yuyudhana, Virata, and Drupada, the great warrior.
1.5  Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana, and the valiant king of Kashi; Purujit, Kuntibhoja, and Shaibya, a bull among men.
1.6  The mighty Yudhamanyu and the valiant Uttamaujas; the son of Subhadra, and the sons of Draupadi, all of them great warriors.
1.7  But know also, best of the twice-born, those distinguished among us; I name to you the leaders of my army, so that you may recognize them.
1.8  Yourself, and Bhishma, and Karna, and Kripa, ever victorious in battle; Ashvatthama, Vikarna, and the son of Somadatta.
1.9  And many other heroes, ready to give up their lives for my sake, armed with many kinds of weapons, all skilled in war.
1.10  Our army, guarded by Bhishma, is unlimited, while theirs, guarded by Bhima, is limited.
1.11  Therefore, standing each in his own place at every point of entry, all of you must guard Bhishma alone.
1.12  Then the aged Kuru elder, the grandsire, roaring a lion's roar to gladden Duryodhana's heart, blew his conch loudly, mighty in valor.
1.13  Then conches and kettledrums, cymbals, drums, and horns were sounded all at once; the sound was tumultuous.
1.14  Then, standing in their great chariot yoked with white horses, Krishna and Arjuna blew their divine conches.
1.15  Hrishikesha blew the Panchajanya, Dhananjaya blew the Devadatta, and Bhima, of fearsome deeds, blew his great conch Paundra.
1.16  King Yudhishthira, son of Kunti, blew the Anantavijaya; Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosha and the Manipushpaka.
1.17  The king of Kashi, supreme archer, and Shikhandi, the great warrior, Dhrishtadyumna, Virata, and the unconquered Satyaki,
1.18  Drupada, and the sons of Draupadi, O lord of the earth, and the mighty-armed son of Subhadra, all blew their conches, each his own.
1.19  That tumultuous sound tore at the hearts of Dhritarashtra's sons, echoing through the sky and the earth.
1.20  Then, seeing Dhritarashtra's sons drawn up in position as the flying of weapons was about to begin, Arjuna, whose banner bore the monkey, the son of Pandu, took up his bow,
1.21  Arjuna said: and spoke these words to Hrishikesha, lord of the earth: Place my chariot, Achyuta, between the two armies,
1.22  so that I may look upon those arrayed here, eager for battle, with whom I must fight in this coming struggle of war.
1.23  I wish to see those who are gathered here ready to fight, wishing to please the evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra in this war.
1.24  Sanjaya said: Thus addressed by Gudakesha, O descendant of Bharata, Hrishikesha placed that finest of chariots between the two armies,
1.25  before Bhishma and Drona and all the rulers of the earth, and said: Behold, Partha, these Kurus gathered together.
1.26  There Partha saw standing before him fathers and grandfathers, teachers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends,
1.27  fathers-in-law and companions too, in both armies. Seeing all these kinsmen standing arrayed, the son of Kunti,
1.28  Arjuna said: overcome by deep compassion, spoke these sorrowful words: Seeing my own people here, Krishna, drawn up eager to fight,
1.29  my limbs give way and my mouth goes dry; there is trembling in my body, and my hair stands on end.
1.30  The bow Gandiva slips from my hand, and my skin is burning; I cannot stand still, my mind seems to whirl.
1.31  And I see omens that bode ill, Keshava. I foresee no good to come from killing my own people in battle.
1.32  I have no desire for victory, Krishna, nor for kingship, nor for pleasures. What use is kingship to us, Govinda, what use are enjoyments or life itself,
1.33  when those for whose sake we desired kingship, enjoyments, and pleasures stand here in battle, having given up their lives and their wealth.
1.34  Teachers, fathers, sons, and grandfathers too, uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, and other kinsmen,
1.35  these I do not wish to kill, even though they would kill me, Madhusudana, not even for the sake of dominion over the three worlds, let alone for the earth.
1.36  What joy would we gain from killing Dhritarashtra's sons, Janardana? Only evil would fall upon us if we killed these men, even though they are the aggressors.
1.37  Therefore we ought not to kill Dhritarashtra's sons, our own kinsmen; for how could we be happy, Madhava, after killing our own people?
1.38  Even if these men, their minds overcome by greed, see no wrong in destroying a family or committing treachery against friends,
1.39  why should we not know enough to turn back from this evil, Janardana, we who see clearly the wrong done in destroying a family?
1.40  When a family is destroyed, its eternal traditions perish; when tradition is lost, lawlessness overtakes the whole family.
1.41  When lawlessness prevails, Krishna, the women of the family are corrupted; and when women are corrupted, O descendant of Vrishni, the mingling of castes arises.
1.42  Such mingling drags the destroyers of the family, and the family itself, down to ruin; their ancestors fall, deprived of offerings of rice and water.
1.43  By these wrongs of the destroyers of the family, which bring about the mingling of castes, the eternal traditions of caste and family are torn down.
1.44  We have heard, Janardana, that those whose family traditions are destroyed are doomed to dwell in hell for an unmeasured time.
1.45  Alas, we have resolved to commit a great wrong, in that we are prepared to kill our own people out of greed for the pleasures of kingship.
1.46  It would be better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapons in hand, were to kill me in battle, unarmed and unresisting.
1.47  Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus on the battlefield, Arjuna sank down onto the seat of his chariot, letting fall his bow and arrows, his mind overwhelmed with grief.

======== Chapter 2 — The Yoga of Discernment ========

2.1  Sanjaya said: To him who was thus overcome with compassion, his eyes troubled and filled with tears, sunk in sorrow, Madhusudana spoke these words.
2.2  The Blessed Lord said: From where has this dejection come upon you at this critical moment, Arjuna? It is unworthy of the noble, it does not lead to heaven, and it brings disgrace.
2.3  Do not yield to weakness, Partha; it does not become you. Cast off this petty faintness of heart and rise up, scorcher of enemies.
2.4  Arjuna said: How shall I strike Bhishma and Drona with arrows in battle, Madhusudana? They are worthy of reverence, destroyer of foes.
2.5  It is better to live on alms in this world than to kill these great and honored teachers; for even should I kill them, though they be greedy of gain, the pleasures I enjoyed would be smeared with their blood.
2.6  Nor do we know which is better for us, that we conquer them or that they conquer us. The sons of Dhritarashtra, having killed whom we would have no wish to live, stand arrayed before us.
2.7  My very nature overcome by weakness born of pity, my mind bewildered as to duty, I ask you: tell me with certainty which is better. I am your pupil; instruct me, for I have come to you for refuge.
2.8  I see nothing that could dispel this grief which withers my senses, even if I won a prosperous and unrivaled kingdom on earth, or even lordship over the gods.
2.9  Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, Gudakesha, scorcher of enemies, said to Govinda, I will not fight, and fell silent.
2.10  To him, sitting dejected between the two armies, Hrishikesha, as if smiling, O descendant of Bharata, spoke these words.
2.11  The Blessed Lord said: You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, yet you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
2.12  Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these kings; nor will there ever be a time when we shall cease to exist, all of us, hereafter.
2.13  Just as the embodied self passes, in this body, through childhood, youth, and old age, so too it passes into another body. One who is steady of mind is not troubled by this.
2.14  The contacts of the senses with their objects, son of Kunti, give rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go, and are impermanent; endure them, descendant of Bharata.
2.15  The one whom these do not disturb, the one who is the same in pleasure and pain, the steady one, O bull among men, that one is fit for immortality.
2.16  Of the unreal there is no being; of the real there is no non-being. The finality of both has been seen by those who perceive the truth.
2.17  Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. No one is able to bring about the destruction of this imperishable thing.
2.18  These bodies of the eternal, indestructible, immeasurable embodied self are said to come to an end. Therefore, fight, descendant of Bharata.
2.19  One who thinks this self to be a slayer, and one who thinks it slain, both fail to understand: it does not slay, nor is it slain.
2.20  It is never born, nor does it ever die; nor, having come to be, will it ever cease to be again. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting, and ancient; it is not slain when the body is slain.
2.21  One who knows this self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and imperishable, how does that person cause anyone to be killed, Partha, or kill anyone?
2.22  Just as a man casts off worn-out garments and takes other new ones, so the embodied self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
2.23  Weapons do not cut this self, fire does not burn it, water does not wet it, and wind does not dry it.
2.24  This self cannot be cut, cannot be burned, cannot be wetted, and cannot be dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, unmoving, immovable, and everlasting.
2.25  This self is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Knowing it to be thus, you should not grieve.
2.26  But even if you think of this self as constantly being born and constantly dying, still, mighty-armed, you should not grieve for it in this way.
2.27  For death is certain for one who is born, and birth is certain for one who has died. Therefore you should not grieve over the unavoidable.
2.28  Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, and unmanifest again in their end, descendant of Bharata. What is there in this to lament?
2.29  One person sees this self as a marvel, another speaks of it as a marvel, and another hears of it as a marvel; yet even having heard of it, no one truly knows it.
2.30  This self dwelling in the body is eternally beyond being killed, descendant of Bharata, in the body of every being. Therefore you should not grieve for any creature.
2.31  Moreover, considering your own duty, you should not waver; for there is nothing better for a warrior than a battle fought in accordance with duty.
2.32  Happy are the warriors, Partha, who obtain such a battle unsought, an open door to heaven.
2.33  But if you will not fight this battle in accordance with duty, then, having abandoned your own duty and your honor, you will incur wrong.
2.34  People will forever speak of your dishonor, and for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.
2.35  The great warriors will think you withdrew from battle out of fear, and you will be held lightly by those who once thought highly of you.
2.36  Your enemies will speak many unspeakable words about you, disparaging your strength. What could be more painful than that?
2.37  Either you will be killed and attain heaven, or you will conquer and enjoy the earth. Therefore rise up, son of Kunti, resolved upon battle.
2.38  Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, engage in battle; thus you will not incur wrong.
2.39  This understanding has been declared to you according to Sankhya; now hear it according to yoga. Endowed with this understanding, Partha, you shall cast off the bondage of action.
2.40  In this endeavor no effort is lost, nor is there any harm; even a little of this dharma protects one from great fear.
2.41  Here, joy of the Kurus, the resolute understanding is single; the thoughts of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.
2.42  The unwise utter this flowery speech, delighting in the letter of the Veda, saying there is nothing else, Partha.
2.43  Their nature is desire, their goal is heaven; they proclaim rebirth as the fruit of action, and speak in many particular rites aimed at the attainment of enjoyment and power.
2.44  For those whose minds are carried away by such words, who are attached to enjoyment and power, the resolute understanding is not established in deep contemplation.
2.45  The Vedas have as their concern the three gunas; be free from the three gunas, Arjuna, free from the pairs of opposites, ever grounded in truth, indifferent to gain and safekeeping, possessed of self.
2.46  As much use as there is in a well when water is overflowing everywhere, so much use is there in all the Vedas for a knowing man of learning.
2.47  Your right is to action alone, never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, and do not become attached to inaction.
2.48  Perform action, Dhananjaya, established in yoga, abandoning attachment, and remaining the same in success and failure. This evenness of mind is called yoga.
2.49  Action performed alone, far inferior, Dhananjaya, is far beneath action joined with understanding. Seek refuge in this understanding; pitiful are those whose motive is the fruit of action.
2.50  One joined with understanding casts away, even in this life, both good deeds and bad. Therefore devote yourself to yoga; yoga is skill in action.
2.51  For the wise, joined with understanding, having abandoned the fruit born of action, freed from the bondage of birth, go to the place beyond affliction.
2.52  When your understanding crosses beyond the thicket of delusion, then you will become indifferent to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard.
2.53  When your understanding, confused by conflicting scriptural teachings, stands unmoving and steady in deep contemplation, then you will attain yoga.
2.54  Arjuna said: What is the description of one whose understanding is steady, who is established in deep contemplation, Keshava? How does one of steady wisdom speak, how does he sit, how does he move?
2.55  The Blessed Lord said: When a man casts away all the desires that arise in the mind, Partha, and is content in the self through the self alone, then he is said to be one of steady understanding.
2.56  One whose mind is not troubled in sorrows, who is free of longing amid pleasures, from whom passion, fear, and anger have departed, that sage of steady wisdom is called one who is silent within.
2.57  One who is unattached everywhere, who neither rejoices nor is repelled upon obtaining this or that, whether good or bad, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.58  And when, like a tortoise drawing in its limbs from every side, this person withdraws the senses from their objects, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.59  The objects of the senses turn away from the embodied self that abstains from feeding them, save for the taste for them; but even that taste turns away once the self has seen the highest.
2.60  For even in the case of a wise person who strives, son of Kunti, the turbulent senses can forcibly carry away the mind.
2.61  Having restrained all of them, one should sit disciplined, devoted to me as the highest; for one whose senses are under control, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.62  In a man dwelling on the objects of the senses, attachment to them arises; from attachment arises desire, and from desire arises anger.
2.63  From anger comes delusion, and from delusion, confusion of memory; from the confusion of memory, the ruin of understanding; and from the ruin of understanding, the man perishes.
2.64  But one who moves among the objects of the senses with senses under one's own control, free from attraction and aversion, self-governed, attains clarity of mind.
2.65  In that clarity, all his sorrows come to an end; for the understanding of one whose mind is clear soon becomes steady.
2.66  There is no understanding for the undisciplined, and no power of concentration for the undisciplined; for one without concentration there is no peace, and for one without peace, how can there be happiness?
2.67  For when the mind runs after the wandering senses, it carries away one's understanding, just as the wind carries away a ship upon the water.
2.68  Therefore, mighty-armed, that person whose senses are wholly restrained from their objects, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.69  What is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled one is awake; and what is waking for all beings, that is night for the sage who sees.
2.70  As the waters enter the ocean, which remains full and unmoved in its depths, so too the one whom all desires enter in like manner attains peace, not the one who longs for desires.
2.71  The man who abandons all desires and moves without longing, without the sense of mine and without egotism, attains peace.
2.72  This is the state of being grounded in brahman, Partha; having attained it, one is no longer deluded. Standing in it, even at the hour of death, one reaches the extinction that is brahman.

======== Chapter 3 — The Yoga of Action ========

3.1  Arjuna said: If you consider understanding superior to action, Janardana, then why do you urge me to this terrible action, Keshava?
3.2  With seemingly contradictory words you appear to confuse my understanding. Tell me the one path with certainty, by which I may attain what is best.
3.3  The Blessed Lord said: In this world, blameless one, a twofold path has been taught by me since ancient times: the path of knowledge for followers of Sankhya, and the path of action for followers of yoga.
3.4  A man does not attain freedom from action merely by abstaining from action, nor does he reach perfection through renunciation alone.
3.5  For no one ever remains, even for an instant, without performing action; everyone is made to act helplessly by the gunas born of nature.
3.6  One who restrains the organs of action but sits dwelling in the mind on the objects of the senses, whose self is deluded, is called a hypocrite.
3.7  But one who controls the senses with the mind, Arjuna, and undertakes the discipline of action with the organs of action, unattached, that person is superior.
3.8  Perform your appointed action, for action is better than inaction; even the maintenance of your body would not be accomplished through inaction.
3.9  This world is bound by action, except when action is done for the sake of sacrifice; for that purpose, son of Kunti, perform action free from attachment.
3.10  Having created creatures together with sacrifice in the beginning, Prajapati said: By this shall you multiply; let this be the cow that grants your desires.
3.11  Nourish the gods with this, and let the gods nourish you; nourishing one another, you shall attain the highest good.
3.12  Nourished by sacrifice, the gods will indeed grant you the enjoyments you desire. One who enjoys what is given by them without offering anything in return is truly a thief.
3.13  The good, who eat what remains after sacrifice, are freed from all sins; but the wicked, who cook only for their own sake, eat sin.
3.14  From food, beings come into existence; from rain, food arises; from sacrifice, rain arises; and sacrifice arises from action.
3.15  Know that action arises from brahman, and brahman arises from the imperishable. Therefore the all-pervading brahman is ever established in sacrifice.
3.16  One who does not follow, here in this world, this wheel thus set in motion, living sinfully, delighting in the senses, that person lives in vain, Partha.
3.17  But for the man who delights only in the self, who is satisfied in the self, and content only in the self, for him there is nothing that needs to be done.
3.18  He has no purpose to serve here by action performed, nor any by action left undone; nor does he depend for any purpose on any being.
3.19  Therefore, always unattached, perform the action that must be done; for a man performing action without attachment attains the highest.
3.20  By action alone did Janaka and others attain perfection. You should perform action also with regard to holding the world together.
3.21  Whatever the best of men does, other men do as well; whatever standard he sets, the world follows.
3.22  There is nothing in the three worlds, Partha, that I must do, nothing unattained that must be attained; yet still I engage in action.
3.23  For if I did not engage tirelessly in action, men would follow my path in every way, Partha.
3.24  These worlds would perish if I did not perform action; I would become the cause of the mingling of castes, and I would be the ruin of these creatures.
3.25  As the ignorant act with attachment to action, descendant of Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment, seeking to hold the world together.
3.26  The wise should not unsettle the understanding of the ignorant who are attached to action; rather, joined in discipline, he should encourage them to perform all their actions.
3.27  Actions are performed in every way by the gunas of nature; one whose self is deluded by egotism thinks, I am the doer.
3.28  But one who knows the truth, mighty-armed, about the distinction between the gunas and their actions, understanding that it is the gunas acting upon the gunas, does not become attached.
3.29  Those deluded by the gunas of nature become attached to the actions of the gunas; but the one who knows the whole should not unsettle those of little understanding who know only in part.
3.30  Surrendering all your actions to me, with your mind fixed on the self, free from craving and from the sense of mine, fight, with the fever of your soul cast off.
3.31  Those who constantly follow this teaching of mine, full of faith and free from envy, they too are freed from the bondage of action.
3.32  But those who, full of envy, do not follow this teaching of mine, know them to be deluded in all knowledge, lost, and without discernment.
3.33  Even a man of knowledge acts in accordance with his own nature; beings follow their nature. What can restraint accomplish?
3.34  In the object of each sense, attraction and aversion are fixed; one should not come under the sway of these two, for they are one's enemies lying in wait.
3.35  Better is one's own duty, though imperfectly performed, than the duty of another well performed. Death in the pursuit of one's own duty is better; the duty of another invites danger.
3.36  Arjuna said: But impelled by what does a man commit wrong, O descendant of Vrishni, even against his own wish, as if driven to it by force?
3.37  The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the guna of passion, all-devouring and deeply sinful; know this to be the enemy here.
3.38  As fire is covered by smoke, and a mirror by dust, and an embryo enveloped by its membrane, so is this world covered by that desire.
3.39  Knowledge is covered by this constant enemy of the wise, which takes the form of desire, son of Kunti, an insatiable fire.
3.40  The senses, the mind, and the understanding are said to be its seat; through these it deludes the embodied self, covering over his knowledge.
3.41  Therefore, first restrain the senses, bull among the descendants of Bharata, and cast off this evil thing, which destroys knowledge and discernment.
3.42  The senses are said to be superior to the body; the mind is superior to the senses; and understanding is superior to the mind; but that which is superior to understanding, is he, the self.
3.43  Thus, knowing that which is beyond understanding, and steadying the self by the self, slay the enemy, mighty-armed, in the form of desire, so difficult to overcome.

======== Chapter 4 — The Yoga of Knowledge and Renunciation of Action ========

4.1  The Blessed Lord said: I taught this imperishable yoga to Vivasvan; Vivasvan told it to Manu; Manu spoke it to Ikshvaku.
4.2  Received thus in succession, the royal sages knew it, until over great stretches of time, O scorcher of foes, this yoga was lost in the world.
4.3  That same ancient yoga I have taught to you today, for you are my devotee and my friend; this is the highest secret.
4.4  Arjuna said: Your birth was later, the birth of Vivasvan was earlier. How am I to understand that you taught it in the beginning?
4.5  The Blessed Lord said: Many births of mine have passed, and yours too, Arjuna. I know them all; you do not know them, scorcher of foes.
4.6  Though I am unborn and my self is imperishable, though I am the lord of beings, I come into being by my own creative power, taking hold of my own nature.
4.7  Whenever righteousness (dharma) declines, Bharata, and unrighteousness rises up, then I bring myself into being.
4.8  For the protection of the good, for the destruction of evildoers, and for the establishment of dharma, I come into being age after age.
4.9  Whoever truly knows in this way my divine birth and action does not, on leaving the body, take birth again; he comes to me, Arjuna.
4.10  Freed from passion, fear, and anger, absorbed in me, taking refuge in me, many, purified by the austerity of knowledge, have come to my state of being.
4.11  In whatever way people approach me, I meet them in that same way; in every respect, Partha, people follow my path.
4.12  Those desiring the success of their actions here sacrifice to the gods, for success born of action comes swiftly in the human world.
4.13  The fourfold order was created by me, divided according to quality and action. Though I am its maker, know me to be the non-doer, the imperishable one.
4.14  Actions do not stain me, nor do I long for the fruit of action. He who understands me thus is not bound by actions.
4.15  Knowing this, the ancient seekers of liberation still performed action; therefore you too should perform action, as the ancients did before you.
4.16  "What is action, what is inaction?" — even the wise are confused about this. I will explain to you what action is, knowing which you will be freed from misfortune.
4.17  One must understand action, and one must understand wrong action, and one must understand inaction as well; the way of action is deep and hard to fathom.
4.18  Whoever sees inaction in action and action in inaction is wise among men; he is disciplined, having accomplished all action.
4.19  The wise call him a man of understanding whose every undertaking is free of desire and calculation, whose actions are burned up in the fire of knowledge.
4.20  Abandoning attachment to the fruit of action, always content, dependent on nothing, he does nothing at all even while fully engaged in action.
4.21  Free of hope, his mind and self restrained, having given up all possessions, performing action with the body alone, he incurs no fault.
4.22  Content with whatever comes unbidden, beyond the pairs of opposites, free of envy, equal in success and failure, he is not bound even when he acts.
4.23  For one who is free of attachment, liberated, his mind fixed in knowledge, performing action as sacrifice, the entire action dissolves away.
4.24  Brahman is the offering, brahman is the oblation poured by brahman into the fire of brahman; brahman alone is to be reached by one absorbed in action that is brahman.
4.25  Some yogis offer sacrifice to the gods alone; others offer sacrifice by sacrifice itself into the fire of brahman.
4.26  Some offer hearing and the other senses into the fires of restraint; others offer sound and the other objects of sense into the fires of the senses.
4.27  Others offer all the actions of the senses and the actions of the life-breath into the fire of the yoga of self-restraint, kindled by knowledge.
4.28  Some offer sacrifice with wealth, some with austerity, some through yoga; others, disciplined ascetics of strict vows, offer sacrifice through study and knowledge.
4.29  Some offer the outgoing breath into the incoming, and others the incoming into the outgoing, restraining the paths of both breaths, intent upon control of the breath.
4.30  Others, restricting their food, offer their very life-breaths into the life-breaths. All these are knowers of sacrifice, their impurities consumed by sacrifice.
4.31  Those who eat the nectar left over from sacrifice go to the eternal brahman. This world is not for the one who offers no sacrifice — how then any other world, best of the Kurus?
4.32  Thus many kinds of sacrifice are spread out before brahman. Know that all of them arise from action; knowing this, you will be freed.
4.33  Better than sacrifice made of material things is the sacrifice of knowledge, scorcher of foes. All action without exception, Partha, finds its consummation in knowledge.
4.34  Learn this by prostrating yourself, by questioning, by service. Those who have knowledge, who have seen the truth, will instruct you in that knowledge.
4.35  Knowing this, you will not fall into confusion again, Pandava; by this knowledge you will see all beings without exception in yourself, and then in me.
4.36  Even if you were the worst wrongdoer among all wrongdoers, you would cross over all wrongdoing by the raft of knowledge alone.
4.37  As a kindled fire reduces its fuel to ashes, Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge reduce all actions to ashes.
4.38  There is nothing in this world as purifying as knowledge. One who is himself perfected by yoga finds this within himself in time.
4.39  The one with faith obtains knowledge, devoted to it, his senses restrained; having obtained knowledge, he swiftly attains supreme peace.
4.40  But the one without knowledge, without faith, whose self is full of doubt, is destroyed. Neither this world nor the world beyond, nor happiness, exists for the doubting self.
4.41  Actions do not bind the one who has renounced action through yoga, whose doubt is cut away by knowledge, who possesses himself, winner of wealth.
4.42  Therefore, having cut away with the sword of knowledge this doubt born of ignorance that dwells in the heart, take up yoga and rise, Bharata.

======== Chapter 5 — The Yoga of Renunciation ========

5.1  Arjuna said: You praise the renunciation of actions, Krishna, and then again yoga. Tell me decisively which one of these two is better.
5.2  The Blessed Lord said: Renunciation and the yoga of action both lead to the highest good, but between the two, the yoga of action is superior to the renunciation of action.
5.3  He should be known as a perpetual renouncer who neither hates nor desires; for free of the pairs of opposites, mighty-armed one, he is easily released from bondage.
5.4  Children, not the wise, speak of the disciplines of understanding (samkhya) and of action (yoga) as different. Whoever is properly established in even one of them obtains the fruit of both.
5.5  The state reached by those of the discipline of understanding is reached also by those of the discipline of action. Whoever sees understanding and action as one truly sees.
5.6  But renunciation, mighty-armed one, is hard to attain without yoga. The sage disciplined in yoga reaches brahman before long.
5.7  Disciplined in yoga, purified in self, his self mastered, his senses conquered, his self become the self of all beings, he is not stained even while acting.
5.8  "I do nothing at all," thinks the disciplined one who knows the truth — though seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing,
5.9  speaking, releasing, grasping, opening and closing the eyes — holding that it is only the senses acting upon the objects of the senses.
5.10  One who acts, having offered up his actions to brahman, abandoning attachment, is untouched by evil, as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.
5.11  With the body, the mind, the understanding, or merely with the senses, the yogis perform action, abandoning attachment, for the purification of the self.
5.12  The disciplined one, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains lasting peace; the undisciplined one, attached to the fruit through desire, is bound.
5.13  Having mentally renounced all actions, the embodied self dwells at ease, master of the city of nine gates, neither acting nor causing action.
5.14  The lord creates for the world neither agency, nor actions, nor the union of action and its fruit; it is nature that acts.
5.15  The all-pervading one takes on no one's evil, nor even their good deeds. Knowledge is covered over by ignorance; by this, living beings are deluded.
5.16  But for those in whom that ignorance of the self is destroyed by knowledge, their knowledge, like the sun, illuminates that supreme reality.
5.17  Their understanding fixed on it, their self one with it, established in it, devoted to it as the highest, they go to the state from which there is no return, their impurities shaken off by knowledge.
5.18  The wise look with an equal eye upon a learned and humble brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and even an outcaste who eats dogs.
5.19  Even here, in this life, the created world is conquered by those whose minds are fixed in equanimity; for brahman is flawless and equal, and therefore they are established in brahman.
5.20  He should not rejoice on obtaining what is pleasant, nor be troubled on obtaining what is unpleasant — the one of steady understanding, undeluded, who knows brahman, established in brahman.
5.21  The one whose self is unattached to outward contacts finds the happiness that is within the self; joined to brahman through yoga, he enjoys unfailing happiness.
5.22  For the pleasures that are born of contact with the senses are only wombs of suffering; they have a beginning and an end, Kaunteya, and the wise do not delight in them.
5.23  Whoever is able, even here, before release from the body, to withstand the force that rises from desire and anger, is disciplined; he is a happy man.
5.24  Whoever finds happiness within, delight within, and likewise light within — that yogi, having become brahman, attains the extinction that is brahman.
5.25  The seers whose impurities are exhausted, whose doubts are cut away, whose selves are disciplined, who delight in the welfare of all beings, attain the extinction that is brahman.
5.26  For those ascetics who are free of desire and anger, whose thoughts are restrained, who know the self, the extinction that is brahman lies close at hand on every side.
5.27  Shutting out external contacts, fixing the gaze between the eyebrows, making the outgoing and incoming breaths equal as they move within the nostrils,
5.28  the sage who has mastered his senses, mind, and understanding, intent on liberation as the highest, free of desire, fear, and anger — he is indeed forever free.
5.29  Knowing me as the one who enjoys sacrifice and austerity, the great lord of all the worlds, the friend of all beings, he attains peace.

======== Chapter 6 — The Yoga of Self-Mastery ========

6.1  The Blessed Lord said: Whoever performs the action that must be done without relying on the fruit of action is a renouncer and a yogi — not the one who lights no fire and performs no rites.
6.2  What they call renunciation, know that to be yoga, Pandava; for no one becomes a yogi without renouncing intention.
6.3  For the sage who wishes to climb to yoga, action is said to be the means; for the one who has already climbed to yoga, stillness is said to be the means.
6.4  When one is attached neither to the objects of the senses nor to actions, having renounced all intention, then he is said to have climbed to yoga.
6.5  One should lift oneself up by the self, and not let the self sink down; for the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.
6.6  The self is the friend of the self for the one by whom the self has been conquered by the self; but for the one without self-mastery, the very self stands hostile like an enemy.
6.7  For the one who has conquered himself and become peaceful, the supreme self remains steady in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, and likewise in honor and disgrace.
6.8  The yogi whose self is content with knowledge and discernment, who stands unshaken, whose senses are conquered, to whom a clod, a stone, and gold are the same, is said to be disciplined.
6.9  He stands apart, showing equal regard toward well-wishers, friends, enemies, the indifferent, the neutral, the hateful, kinsmen, the righteous, and even wrongdoers.
6.10  The yogi should constantly discipline himself, staying in a solitary place, alone, his thought and self restrained, free of desire and possessions.
6.11  Having set up a firm seat for himself in a clean place, neither too high nor too low, covered with cloth, a deer skin, and kusha grass,
6.12  there, making the mind one-pointed, the movements of thought and senses restrained, seated on that seat, he should practice yoga for the purification of the self.
6.13  Holding the body, head, and neck steady and unmoving, firm, gazing fixedly at the tip of his own nose, not looking about in any direction,
6.14  his self at peace, free of fear, established in the vow of a student of sacred knowledge, his mind restrained, his thought fixed on me, he should sit disciplined, intent on me.
6.15  Thus constantly disciplining himself, the yogi of controlled mind attains the peace that culminates in extinction, the peace that abides in me.
6.16  Yoga is not for the one who eats too much, nor for the one who does not eat at all, nor for the one given to too much sleep, nor for the one who stays awake too long, Arjuna.
6.17  For the one moderate in food and recreation, moderate in action, moderate in sleep and waking, yoga becomes the destroyer of suffering.
6.18  When the thoroughly disciplined mind rests in the self alone, free of longing for all desires, then he is said to be disciplined.
6.19  As a lamp in a windless place does not flicker — that is the comparison remembered for the yogi of controlled thought, disciplining himself in yoga.
6.20  When the mind, restrained by the practice of yoga, comes to rest, and when, seeing the self by the self, he finds contentment in the self,
6.21  when he knows that infinite happiness which is grasped by the understanding and lies beyond the senses, and stationed in it does not waver from the truth,
6.22  and having gained which he considers no other gain greater, and established in which he is not shaken even by heavy sorrow,
6.23  let him know this to be yoga, the severing of union with suffering. This yoga should be practiced with determination, with a mind free of despondency.
6.24  Abandoning without exception all desires born of intention, restraining the whole assembly of senses on every side by the mind alone,
6.25  he should, little by little, come to rest, with understanding held firm; having fixed the mind in the self, he should not think of anything at all.
6.26  Wherever the wavering, unsteady mind wanders off, from there he should restrain it and bring it back under the control of the self.
6.27  For this yogi of peaceful mind, whose passion is stilled, who has become brahman, free of stain, the highest happiness comes to him.
6.28  Thus constantly disciplining himself, the yogi free of stain easily attains the boundless happiness of contact with brahman.
6.29  His self disciplined by yoga, he sees the self abiding in all beings and all beings abiding in the self; he sees the same everywhere.
6.30  Whoever sees me everywhere and sees everything in me — for him I am not lost, nor is he lost to me.
6.31  Whoever, established in oneness, worships me abiding in all beings, that yogi dwells in me, however he may be living.
6.32  The one who sees equality everywhere by comparison with himself, Arjuna, whether in pleasure or in pain, is held to be the highest yogi.
6.33  Arjuna said: This yoga you have taught, Madhusudana, resting on equanimity — I do not see how it can be lasting, because the mind is restless.
6.34  For the mind is restless, Krishna, turbulent, powerful, obstinate; I consider its restraint as difficult to accomplish as restraining the wind.
6.35  The Blessed Lord said: Without doubt, mighty-armed one, the mind is restless and hard to restrain; but by practice, Kaunteya, and by dispassion, it can be grasped.
6.36  Yoga is hard to attain, I hold, for the one whose self is unrestrained; but by the one who strives, whose self is mastered, it can be attained through the right means.
6.37  Arjuna said: The one who has faith but lacks effort, whose mind wanders away from yoga, who fails to reach perfection in yoga — what path does he take, Krishna?
6.38  Fallen from both, does he not perish like a torn cloud, without support, deluded on the path to brahman, mighty-armed one?
6.39  You should dispel this doubt of mine completely, Krishna, for there is no one but you fit to dispel this doubt.
6.40  The Blessed Lord said: Partha, neither in this world nor in the next is there ruin for him; for no one who does good, dear one, ever comes to a bad end.
6.41  Having attained the worlds of those who did righteous deeds and having dwelt there for endless years, the one fallen from yoga is born in the house of the pure and prosperous.
6.42  Or he is born into a family of yogis endowed with wisdom; but a birth such as this is very hard to obtain in this world.
6.43  There he regains that connection of understanding developed in his former body, and from there he strives once more toward perfection, joy of the Kurus.
6.44  By that very former practice he is carried onward even against his will; even one who merely seeks to know yoga goes beyond the word of the scriptures.
6.45  But the yogi who strives with diligence, his faults purified away, made perfect through many births, then reaches the highest goal.
6.46  The yogi is greater than the ascetics, and considered greater even than the learned; the yogi is greater also than those devoted to ritual action; therefore, Arjuna, be a yogi.
6.47  And among all yogis, the one who worships me with faith, his inner self absorbed in me, I consider to be the most disciplined of all.

======== Chapter 7 — The Yoga of Knowledge and Realization ========

7.1  The Blessed Lord said: With mind fixed on me, Partha, practicing yoga and taking refuge in me, hear how you will know me fully, without doubt, in my entirety.
7.2  I will declare to you completely this knowledge together with realization, knowing which nothing further remains here to be known.
7.3  Among thousands of people, scarcely one strives for perfection; and among those who strive and attain perfection, scarcely one knows me in truth.
7.4  Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect, and ego — this is my nature divided eightfold.
7.5  This is the lower nature; know my other nature to be higher than this, O mighty-armed one — the living being by which this world is sustained.
7.6  Understand that all beings have their source in these two natures; I am the origin and also the dissolution of the whole world.
7.7  There is nothing higher than me, Dhananjaya. All this is strung on me like clusters of jewels on a thread.
7.8  I am the taste in water, Kaunteya; I am the light in the moon and the sun; I am the sacred syllable Om in all the Vedas, the sound in space, the manhood in men.
7.9  I am the pure fragrance in the earth and the brilliance in fire; I am the life in all beings, and the austerity in those who practice austerity.
7.10  Know me, Partha, to be the eternal seed of all beings; I am the intellect of the intelligent, the splendor of the splendid.
7.11  I am the strength of the strong, free from desire and passion; I am desire in beings that is not opposed to dharma, O bull among the Bharatas.
7.12  Whatever states of being arise, whether sattvic, rajasic, or tamasic, know that they come from me alone; yet I am not in them — they are in me.
7.13  Deluded by these three states composed of the gunas, the whole world fails to recognize me, who am beyond them and imperishable.
7.14  This divine illusion of mine, composed of the gunas, is difficult to cross beyond; but those who take refuge in me alone cross over this illusion.
7.15  Evildoers, deluded and base among men, do not take refuge in me; their knowledge is carried away by illusion, and they cling to a demonic nature.
7.16  Four kinds of virtuous people worship me, Arjuna: the distressed, the seeker of knowledge, the seeker of wealth, and the man of knowledge, O bull among the Bharatas.
7.17  Among these, the man of knowledge, ever disciplined and devoted to one alone, is the best; for I am exceedingly dear to the man of knowledge, and he is dear to me.
7.18  All of these are noble, but the man of knowledge I consider to be my very self; for he, disciplined in mind, is established in me alone as the highest goal.
7.19  At the end of many births, the man of knowledge takes refuge in me, knowing that Vasudeva is all that is; such a great soul is very hard to find.
7.20  Those whose knowledge has been carried away by this or that desire take refuge in other deities, following this or that rule, constrained by their own nature.
7.21  Whatever form a devotee wishes to worship with faith, I make his faith in that form unwavering.
7.22  Endowed with that faith, he seeks to worship it, and from it he obtains the objects of his desire, which are in truth granted by me alone.
7.23  But the fruit gained by those of little understanding is finite; those who worship the gods go to the gods, but my devotees come to me.
7.24  The unwise think of me, the unmanifest, as having come into manifest form, not knowing my higher state, imperishable and unsurpassed.
7.25  I am not revealed to all, veiled as I am by my creative power (yoga-maya); this deluded world does not recognize me as unborn and imperishable.
7.26  I know, Arjuna, the beings that are past, present, and yet to come; but no one knows me.
7.27  By the delusion of the pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, all beings fall into confusion at birth, O scorcher of the foe.
7.28  But those people of virtuous deeds whose sin has come to an end, freed from the delusion of opposites, worship me with firm resolve.
7.29  Those who strive, taking refuge in me, for release from old age and death, know brahman entirely, and the self, and all action.
7.30  Those who know me together with the material realm, the divine realm, and the realm of sacrifice, with minds disciplined, know me even at the time of departure.

======== Chapter 8 — The Yoga of the Imperishable ========

8.1  Arjuna said: What is that brahman? What is the self? What is action? What is called the material realm, and what is said to be the divine realm, O supreme among men?
8.2  What is the realm of sacrifice, and how does it dwell here in this body, O slayer of Madhu? And how, at the time of departure, are you to be known by those of disciplined self?
8.3  The Blessed Lord said: Brahman is the imperishable, the supreme; its own essential nature is called the self; the creative emanation that brings forth the existence of beings is called action.
8.4  The material realm is the perishable state of being; the divine realm is the supreme person; and I alone am the realm of sacrifice here in this body, O best of embodied beings.
8.5  Whoever, at the time of death, departs remembering me alone, leaving the body behind, attains my state of being; of this there is no doubt.
8.6  Whatever state of being he remembers when he leaves the body at the end, to that he goes, Kaunteya, always having been shaped by that state.
8.7  Therefore, at all times, remember me and fight. With mind and intellect fixed on me, you will come to me without doubt.
8.8  With mind disciplined by the practice of yoga, not wandering to anything else, one goes to the supreme divine person, Partha, by constantly meditating on him.
8.9  One who meditates on the seer, the ancient one, the ruler, subtler than the subtlest, the sustainer of all, of unthinkable form, radiant like the sun, beyond darkness —
8.10  who, at the time of departure, with unwavering mind, endowed with devotion and the power of yoga, having drawn the life-breath rightly between the eyebrows, attains that supreme divine person.
8.11  That which the knowers of the Veda call the imperishable, which ascetics free from passion enter, desiring which they practice celibacy — that state I will declare to you in brief.
8.12  Having restrained all the gates of the body, confined the mind within the heart, and fixed one's own life-breath in the head, established in the discipline of yoga,
8.13  uttering the single syllable Om, which is brahman, and remembering me — whoever departs thus, leaving the body, attains the supreme goal.
8.14  To one who constantly remembers me, always, with mind undivided, I am easy to attain, Partha, for that ever-disciplined yogi.
8.15  Having attained me, great souls, having reached the highest perfection, do not undergo rebirth into this fleeting abode of suffering.
8.16  All the worlds up to the realm of Brahma are subject to return, Arjuna; but having attained me, Kaunteya, there is no rebirth.
8.17  Those who know that a day of Brahma lasts a thousand ages, and that his night lasts a thousand ages, they are the knowers of day and night.
8.18  At the coming of day, all manifest things arise from the unmanifest; at the coming of night, they dissolve into that same thing called the unmanifest.
8.19  This same multitude of beings, coming into existence again and again, dissolves helplessly at the coming of night, Partha, and arises at the coming of day.
8.20  But beyond that unmanifest, there is another unmanifest state of being, eternal, which does not perish when all beings perish.
8.21  That unmanifest is called the imperishable; they call it the supreme goal, attaining which none return; that is my highest abode.
8.22  That supreme person, Partha, is attainable by undivided devotion, he within whom all beings dwell and by whom all this is pervaded.
8.23  I will declare to you, best of the Bharatas, the time at which yogis, departing, go to non-return or to return.
8.24  Fire, light, day, the bright fortnight, the six months of the sun's northern course — departing by this path, those who know brahman go to brahman.
8.25  Smoke, night, the dark fortnight, the six months of the sun's southern course — by this path, the yogi attains the lunar light and returns.
8.26  These two paths, bright and dark, are considered eternal for the world; by one, one goes to non-return; by the other, one returns again.
8.27  Knowing these two paths, Partha, no yogi is ever deluded; therefore, at all times, be disciplined in yoga, Arjuna.
8.28  Whatever meritorious fruit is prescribed for the study of the Vedas, for sacrifices, austerities, and gifts, the yogi who knows this transcends all of it and attains the supreme, primal abode.

======== Chapter 9 — The Royal Knowledge, the Royal Secret ========

9.1  The Blessed Lord said: To you, who do not envy, I will now declare this most secret knowledge together with realization, knowing which you will be released from evil.
9.2  This is the royal knowledge, the royal secret, the purest and highest; it is directly realizable, in accord with dharma, easy to practice, and imperishable.
9.3  Men without faith in this dharma fail to reach me, Parantapa, and return to the path of death and samsara.
9.4  All this world is pervaded by me in my unmanifest form; all beings dwell in me, but I do not dwell in them.
9.5  And yet beings do not dwell in me — behold my sovereign power! My self sustains beings and brings them into being, yet does not dwell in them.
9.6  Just as the great wind, moving everywhere, always rests in space, know that in the same way all beings rest in me.
9.7  All beings, Kaunteya, pass into my nature at the end of a cosmic cycle; at the beginning of the next cycle, I send them forth again.
9.8  Presiding over my own nature, I send forth again and again this whole multitude of beings, powerless, under the control of nature.
9.9  Nor do these actions bind me, Dhananjaya, for I remain as if indifferent, unattached to those actions.
9.10  Under my supervision, nature brings forth all things, moving and unmoving; by this cause, Kaunteya, the world turns round.
9.11  Fools disregard me when I take on a human form, not knowing my higher state as the great lord of beings.
9.12  Their hopes vain, their actions vain, their knowledge vain, senseless, they take refuge in a deluding nature that is demonic and fiendish.
9.13  But great souls, Partha, taking refuge in the divine nature, worship me with minds fixed on nothing else, knowing me as the imperishable source of beings.
9.14  Constantly glorifying me, striving with firm vows, bowing to me with devotion, ever disciplined, they revere me.
9.15  Others, too, worship me through the sacrifice of knowledge, as one, as many, and in many forms, facing every direction.
9.16  I am the ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the offering to ancestors, I am the healing herb; I am the sacred formula, I am the clarified butter, I am the fire, I am the oblation.
9.17  I am the father of this world, the mother, the sustainer, the grandfather; I am that which is to be known, the sacred syllable Om, the Rig, the Sama, and the Yajur.
9.18  I am the goal, the sustainer, the lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, the friend; I am the origin, the dissolution, the foundation, the treasure-house, the imperishable seed.
9.19  I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also death; I am being and non-being, Arjuna.
9.20  Knowers of the three Vedas, drinkers of soma, purified of sin, worship me with sacrifices and pray for the way to heaven; having attained the meritorious world of Indra, they enjoy in heaven the divine pleasures of the gods.
9.21  Having enjoyed that vast heavenly world, when their merit is exhausted, they enter the world of mortals; thus following the dharma of the three Vedas, desiring desires, they obtain only coming and going.
9.22  For those who worship me alone, thinking of nothing else, ever disciplined, I secure what they lack and preserve what they have.
9.23  Even those devoted to other deities who worship them with faith, worship me alone, Kaunteya, though not according to the right way.
9.24  For I am the enjoyer and also the lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know me in truth, and so they fall.
9.25  Those who vow to the gods go to the gods; those who vow to the ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship spirits go to the spirits; but those who worship me come to me.
9.26  Whoever offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, that offering of devotion from a pure-souled one I accept.
9.27  Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give, whatever austerity you practice, Kaunteya, do it as an offering to me.
9.28  Thus you will be released from the bonds of action, whether their fruits are good or evil; with your self disciplined in the yoga of renunciation, freed, you will come to me.
9.29  I am the same toward all beings; none is hateful or dear to me. But those who worship me with devotion are in me, and I am also in them.
9.30  Even if one of very evil conduct worships me, devoted to me alone, he must be regarded as righteous, for he has rightly resolved.
9.31  Quickly he becomes righteous of soul and attains lasting peace; know for certain, Kaunteya, that my devotee never perishes.
9.32  For those who take refuge in me, Partha, even those born of the womb of sin — women, merchants, and laborers — they too attain the highest goal.
9.33  How much more, then, virtuous brahmins and devoted royal seers! Having come to this fleeting and joyless world, worship me.
9.34  Fix your mind on me, be devoted to me, sacrifice to me, bow to me; having thus disciplined yourself, with me as your supreme goal, you will come to me.

======== Chapter 10 — The Yoga of Divine Manifestation ========

10.1  The Blessed Lord said: Hear again, mighty-armed one, my supreme word, which I will speak to you, who delight in it, out of desire for your good.
10.2  Neither the hosts of gods nor the great sages know my origin, for I am the source of the gods and the great sages in every way.
10.3  He who knows me as unborn and beginningless, the great lord of the worlds, is undeluded among mortals and is freed from all sins.
10.4  Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from delusion, patience, truth, self-control, calm, pleasure, pain, being, non-being, fear, and fearlessness,
10.5  nonviolence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, generosity, fame, and infamy — these various states of beings arise from me alone.
10.6  The seven great sages of old, and the four Manus before them, whose nature is mine, were born of my mind; from them come these creatures in the world.
10.7  He who truly knows this manifestation and power of mine is joined to me by unwavering discipline — of this there is no doubt.
10.8  I am the source of all; from me everything proceeds. Knowing this, the wise, filled with devotion, worship me.
10.9  With minds fixed on me, their lives given over to me, enlightening one another and speaking of me always, they are content and they rejoice.
10.10  To those ever disciplined, who worship me with love, I give the discipline of understanding by which they come to me.
10.11  Out of compassion for them alone, dwelling within their own being, I destroy the darkness born of ignorance with the shining lamp of knowledge.
10.12  Arjuna said: You are the supreme Brahman, the supreme abode, the supreme purifier, the eternal divine Person, the primal god, unborn, all-pervading.
10.13  So all the sages have declared you, and the divine sage Narada too, and Asita, Devala, and Vyasa; and now you yourself tell me so.
10.14  I hold all this that you tell me to be true, Keshava. Neither the gods nor the demons, Lord, know your manifestation.
10.15  You alone know yourself by yourself, highest of persons, source of beings, lord of beings, god of gods, lord of the world.
10.16  You should tell me, without omission, of your divine manifestations, by which powers you stand pervading these worlds.
10.17  How am I to know you, O yogin, by constant meditation? And in what various forms are you to be meditated upon by me, Lord?
10.18  Tell me again in full detail of your discipline and your manifestation, Janardana, for I am never sated hearing your immortal words.
10.19  The Blessed Lord said: Well then, I will tell you of my divine manifestations, but only the chief ones, best of the Kurus, for there is no end to their extent.
10.20  I am the Self, Gudakesha, seated in the heart of all beings; I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings.
10.21  Among the Adityas I am Vishnu; among lights, the radiant sun; among the winds I am Marichi; among the stars, the moon.
10.22  Among the Vedas I am the Sama Veda; among the gods, Vasava; among the senses I am the mind; among beings, I am consciousness.
10.23  Among the Rudras I am Shankara; among Yakshas and Rakshasas, the Lord of Wealth; among the Vasus I am Fire; among the peaks, Meru.
10.24  Know me, Partha, as the chief among household priests, Brihaspati; among generals I am Skanda; among waters, the ocean.
10.25  Among the great sages I am Bhrigu; among words, the single syllable Om; among sacrifices, the sacrifice of silent recitation; among the immovable, the Himalaya.
10.26  Among all trees I am the fig tree; among the divine sages, Narada; among the Gandharvas, Chitraratha; among the perfected sages, Kapila.
10.27  Know me, among horses, as Uchchaihshravas, born of the nectar of immortality; among lordly elephants, Airavata; and among men, the king.
10.28  Among weapons I am the thunderbolt; among cows, the wish-granting cow; among the begetters of offspring, I am Kandarpa; among serpents, I am Vasuki.
10.29  Among the nagas I am Ananta; among sea-dwellers I am Varuna; among the ancestors, I am Aryaman; among those who restrain, I am Yama.
10.30  Among the Daityas I am Prahlada; among reckoners, I am Time; among beasts I am the lion, their king; and among birds, the son of Vinata.
10.31  Among purifiers I am the wind; among wielders of weapons, Rama; among fish I am the crocodile; among rivers, I am the Ganges.
10.32  Of creations I am the beginning, the end, and the middle also, Arjuna; among the sciences, the science of the Self; among the speech of debaters, I am the argument.
10.33  Among letters I am the letter A; among compounds, the dual compound; I alone am imperishable Time; I am the Ordainer whose face is turned everywhere.
10.34  I am death that seizes all, and the origin of things yet to be; among feminine things, fame, fortune, speech, memory, wisdom, steadfastness, and patience.
10.35  Among Sama hymns I am the Brihat-sama; among meters, the Gayatri; among months I am Margashirsha; among seasons, the flowering spring.
10.36  Among deceivers I am the game of dice; I am the splendor of the splendid; I am victory, I am resolve, I am the goodness of the good.
10.37  Among the Vrishnis I am Vasudeva; among the Pandavas, Arjuna; among sages too I am Vyasa; among poets, the poet Ushanas.
10.38  Among those who punish I am the rod; among those who seek victory, I am statecraft; among secret things I am silence; among the knowing, I am knowledge.
10.39  And whatever is the seed of all beings, that too I am, Arjuna; there is nothing, moving or unmoving, that can exist without me.
10.40  There is no end to my divine manifestations, scorcher of enemies. What I have told you is only a sample of the extent of my manifestation.
10.41  Whatever being there is of power, splendor, or strength, know that to have sprung from a mere fragment of my glory.
10.42  But what use to you, Arjuna, is all this knowledge in detail? I stand sustaining this entire universe with a single fragment of myself.

======== Chapter 11 — The Vision of the Universal Form ========

11.1  Arjuna said: Out of grace for me you have spoken the supreme secret called the knowledge of the Self; by this word of yours, my confusion has departed.
11.2  For I have heard from you in detail the arising and passing away of beings, lotus-eyed one, and also your imperishable greatness.
11.3  Just as you have described yourself, supreme Lord, so it is; but I wish to see your form as sovereign, highest of persons.
11.4  If you think it possible for me to see it, Lord, then, master of yoga, show me your imperishable Self.
11.5  The Blessed Lord said: Behold, Partha, my forms — by the hundreds, by the thousands — manifold and divine, of many colors and shapes.
11.6  Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Ashvins, and the Maruts; behold many wonders never seen before, Bharata.
11.7  Behold here today, gathered in one place, the whole universe, moving and unmoving, within my body, Gudakesha, and whatever else you wish to see.
11.8  But you cannot see me with this eye of yours alone; I give you a divine eye. Behold my sovereign power.
11.9  Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus, O king, Hari, the great lord of yoga, then showed to Partha his supreme, sovereign form —
11.10  a form of many mouths and eyes, of many wondrous aspects, adorned with many divine ornaments, brandishing many divine weapons raised on high,
11.11  wearing divine garlands and robes, anointed with divine fragrances, made wholly of wonders, the radiant god, boundless, his face turned everywhere.
11.12  If the light of a thousand suns were to blaze forth all at once in the sky, that might resemble the splendor of that great being.
11.13  There, in the body of the god of gods, Pandu's son beheld the whole universe, in all its manifold divisions, standing gathered together in one place.
11.14  Then, overcome with astonishment, his hair standing on end, Arjuna bowed his head to the god, and with joined palms he spoke.
11.15  Arjuna said: I see the gods, O God, in your body, and all the varied hosts of beings — Brahma the lord seated on his lotus throne, and all the sages and the divine serpents.
11.16  I see you everywhere, of infinite form, with many arms, bellies, mouths, and eyes; I see no end, no middle, and no beginning of you, lord of the universe, form of the universe.
11.17  I see you crowned, bearing mace and discus, a mass of light shining on every side, blazing all around like fire and sun, hard to look upon, immeasurable.
11.18  You are the imperishable, the supreme object of knowledge; you are the ultimate resting place of this universe; you are the undying guardian of the eternal law; you are, I hold, the everlasting Person.
11.19  Without beginning, middle, or end, of boundless power, with countless arms, the sun and moon your eyes, I see you, your mouth a blazing fire, scorching this whole universe with your own radiance.
11.20  This space between heaven and earth is pervaded by you alone, and all the directions besides. Having seen this wondrous and terrible form of yours, the three worlds tremble, great being.
11.21  These hosts of gods are entering into you; some, in fear, praise you with joined palms; the hosts of great sages and perfected beings cry 'may it be well' and extol you with abundant hymns of praise.
11.22  The Rudras, the Adityas, the Vasus, the Sadhyas, the All-gods, the two Ashvins, the Maruts, the ancestors, the Gandharvas, Yakshas, demons, and perfected beings — all of them gaze at you, astonished.
11.23  Seeing your great form, with its many mouths and eyes, mighty-armed one, its many arms, thighs, and feet, its many bellies, its many teeth terrible to see, the worlds tremble, and so do I.
11.24  Seeing you touching the sky, ablaze, of many colors, mouths gaping wide, vast blazing eyes, my inmost self trembles, Vishnu; I find no steadiness and no peace.
11.25  Seeing your mouths, terrible with their teeth, resembling the fires of time's ending, I lose my bearings and I find no refuge. Have mercy, lord of gods, dwelling place of the universe.
11.26  And these sons of Dhritarashtra, all of them, along with the hosts of kings, Bhishma, Drona, and that son of the charioteer too, together with our own chief warriors —
11.27  they are rushing into your mouths, terrible with their teeth, fearsome to see; some are caught between your teeth, their heads already crushed.
11.28  As the many rushing waters of rivers race toward the ocean alone, so do these heroes of the human world rush into your blazing mouths.
11.29  As moths, rushing headlong at ever greater speed, plunge into a blazing flame to their destruction, so too do these worlds rush into your mouths, to their destruction, at ever greater speed.
11.30  You lick and devour all the worlds on every side with your flaming mouths. Filling the whole universe with your radiance, your fierce splendors scorch it, Vishnu.
11.31  Tell me who you are, so terrible in form. Homage to you, best of gods, have mercy. I wish to understand you, the primal one; I do not comprehend what you intend.
11.32  The Blessed Lord said: I am Time, grown old, set out to destroy the worlds, come here to annihilate all people. Even without you, all these warriors arrayed in the opposing ranks shall cease to exist.
11.33  Therefore arise, win glory, conquer your enemies, and enjoy a flourishing kingdom. By me alone have they already been slain; be merely the instrument, left-handed archer.
11.34  Drona and Bhishma and Jayadratha and Karna, and the other warrior heroes as well — slain already by me — you need only kill. Do not waver; fight. You shall conquer your rivals in battle.
11.35  Sanjaya said: Having heard this word of Keshava, the diademed one, joined palms trembling, bowed once more, and, faltering, terrified, prostrated himself and spoke again to Krishna.
11.36  Arjuna said: It is fitting, Hrishikesha, that at your renown the universe rejoices and is filled with love; the demons flee in terror in every direction, and all the hosts of the perfected bow down to you.
11.37  And why should they not bow to you, great being — you who are greater even than Brahma, the first creator? Boundless one, lord of gods, dwelling place of the universe, you are the imperishable, the being and the non-being, and what is beyond both.
11.38  You are the primal god, the ancient Person; you are the ultimate resting place of this universe; you are the knower and the object of knowledge, and the supreme abode; by you this universe is pervaded, form of infinite forms.
11.39  You are the wind, Yama, fire, Varuna, the moon, the Lord of Creatures, and the great forefather. Homage, homage to you, a thousand times over, and again, yet again, homage, homage to you.
11.40  Homage before you and homage behind you; homage be to you on every side, O all. Of boundless might and immeasurable valor, you reach all things — therefore you are all.
11.41  For whatever I have rashly spoken out of familiarity, thinking you my companion — 'O Krishna, O Yadava, O friend' — not knowing this greatness of yours, whether through carelessness or through affection,
11.42  and for whatever disrespect I have shown you in jest, at play, on a bed, seated, or at meals, whether alone or in front of others, unfailing one — I ask forgiveness of you, immeasurable one.
11.43  You are the father of this world, of the moving and the unmoving; you are its object of worship, its most venerable teacher. There is no one equal to you — how could there be anyone greater — in the three worlds, being of unequaled power.
11.44  Therefore, bowing down, prostrating my body, I seek your grace, adorable Lord. As a father bears with a son, a friend with a friend, a lover with the beloved, so should you bear with me, God.
11.45  I am overjoyed to have seen what has never been seen before, yet my mind trembles with fear. Show me, God, that other form of yours; have mercy, lord of gods, dwelling place of the universe.
11.46  I wish to see you exactly as before, crowned, bearing mace, discus in hand. Take on again that four-armed form, thousand-armed one, whose body is the universe.
11.47  The Blessed Lord said: Being gracious to you, Arjuna, I have shown you, by my own power, this supreme form, radiant, universal, boundless, primal, which no one before you has ever seen.
11.48  Not by study of the Vedas, not by sacrifice, not by gifts, not by rites, not by fierce austerities, can I be seen in this form in the human world by anyone other than you, hero of the Kurus.
11.49  Let there be no fear in you, no bewilderment, at having seen this terrible form of mine. Free of fear, with a glad mind, behold again this other form of mine.
11.50  Sanjaya said: Having said this to Arjuna, Vasudeva showed once more his own former form; and, becoming again the gentle being, he comforted this frightened man.
11.51  Arjuna said: Seeing this gentle human form of yours again, Janardana, I have now come back to myself, my mind composed, restored to my own nature.
11.52  The Blessed Lord said: This form of mine that you have seen is very hard to see; even the gods are ever longing for a sight of this form.
11.53  Not by the Vedas, not by austerity, not by giving, not by sacrifice, can I be seen in the manner in which you have seen me.
11.54  But by devotion that turns to nothing else, I can, in this manner, be known and truly seen, and entered into, Arjuna, scorcher of enemies.
11.55  He who does my work, who holds me as the highest goal, who is devoted to me, free of attachment, without hatred toward any being — he comes to me, Pandava.

======== Chapter 12 — The Yoga of Devotion ========

12.1  Arjuna said: Between those devotees who worship you, ever disciplined, and those who worship the imperishable, the unmanifest, which have the deeper knowledge of yoga?
12.2  The Blessed Lord said: Those who fix their minds on me and worship me, ever disciplined, endowed with supreme faith — these I consider most perfectly disciplined.
12.3  But those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest, the all-pervading, the inconceivable, the unchanging, the immovable, the constant,
12.4  restraining the whole host of the senses, of equal mind in all conditions, delighting in the welfare of all beings — they too attain to me.
12.5  The difficulty is greater for those whose minds are set on the unmanifest, for the unmanifest goal is reached with hardship by those who bear a body.
12.6  But those who, surrendering all actions to me, intent on me alone, worship me, meditating on me by that undivided discipline —
12.7  for them, whose minds are fixed on me, I soon become the one who lifts them up out of the ocean of death and rebirth, Partha.
12.8  Fix your mind on me alone; let your understanding rest in me. In me alone you shall dwell hereafter — of this there is no doubt.
12.9  But if you are unable to hold your mind steadily upon me, then seek to reach me through the discipline of practice, Arjuna.
12.10  If you are unequal even to practice, be intent on works done for my sake; performing actions for my sake, you will attain perfection.
12.11  But if you are unable even to do this, taking refuge in my discipline, then renounce the fruit of all action, with the self restrained.
12.12  Knowledge is indeed better than practice; meditation is superior to knowledge; renunciation of the fruit of action is better than meditation; peace follows immediately upon renunciation.
12.13  He who bears no ill will toward any being, who is friendly and compassionate, free from possessiveness and from the sense of I, the same in pleasure and in pain, and forbearing,
12.14  ever content, disciplined, self-controlled, of firm resolve, his mind and understanding surrendered to me — that devotee of mine is dear to me.
12.15  He by whom the world is not disturbed, and who is not disturbed by the world, who is free from joy, impatience, fear, and agitation — he too is dear to me.
12.16  He who wants nothing, is pure, capable, indifferent to outcomes, free from anxiety, who has given up every undertaking — that devotee of mine is dear to me.
12.17  He who neither rejoices nor hates, neither grieves nor desires, who has renounced both good and evil, full of devotion — he is dear to me.
12.18  The same toward enemy and friend, and likewise in honor and dishonor, the same in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, free from attachment,
12.19  regarding blame and praise alike, silent, content with whatever comes, without a fixed home, steady of mind, full of devotion — that man is dear to me.
12.20  But those who honor this immortal teaching of righteousness just as it has been declared, full of faith, holding me as their highest goal, devoted — they are exceedingly dear to me.

======== Chapter 13 — The Field and the Knower of the Field ========

13.1  The Blessed Lord said: This body, son of Kunti, is called the field; the one who knows it is called by those who know these things the knower of the field.
13.2  Know also that I am the knower of the field in all fields, Bharata. The knowledge of the field and the knower of the field is, in my view, true knowledge.
13.3  What that field is, of what kind, what changes it undergoes, from what it arises, and who that knower is and what his power is — hear this from me in brief.
13.4  It has been sung in many ways by seers, in various separate hymns, and in the aphorisms on Brahman, with reasoning and certainty.
13.5  The great elements, the sense of self, the intellect, the unmanifest, the ten senses and the one, and the five objects of the senses;
13.6  desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the aggregate body, consciousness, steadiness — this, in brief, is the field together with its modifications.
13.7  Freedom from false pride, freedom from deceit, non-violence, patience, uprightness, service to a teacher, purity, steadfastness, mastery over oneself;
13.8  dispassion toward the objects of the senses, and also absence of self-importance; seeing clearly the flaw and pain in birth, death, old age, and sickness;
13.9  non-attachment, freedom from clinging to son, wife, home and the like, and constant evenness of mind in the face of desired and undesired events;
13.10  unwavering devotion to me through undivided discipline, resorting to solitary places, no delight in the company of crowds;
13.11  constancy in knowledge of the self, and seeing the purpose in the knowledge of truth — this is declared to be knowledge, and whatever is other than this is ignorance.
13.12  I will now explain the object of knowledge, knowing which one attains the deathless. It is the beginningless supreme Brahman, said to be neither being nor non-being.
13.13  With hands and feet everywhere, eyes, heads, and faces everywhere, with hearing everywhere in the world, it stands pervading all things.
13.14  Appearing as if endowed with the qualities of all the senses, yet free of all the senses; unattached, yet sustaining all; without qualities, yet the enjoyer of qualities.
13.15  Outside and inside all beings, unmoving and also moving; because of its subtlety it is unknowable; it is far away and also near.
13.16  Undivided, yet standing as if divided among beings, it is to be known as the sustainer of beings, and also as their devourer and their producer.
13.17  It is said to be the light of lights, beyond darkness; it is knowledge, the object of knowledge, and what is reached by knowledge, seated in the heart of all.
13.18  Thus the field, and knowledge, and the object of knowledge have been stated in brief. My devotee, understanding this, becomes fit for my state of being.
13.19  Know that primal nature and the person are both without beginning; and know that the modifications and the qualities all arise from primal nature.
13.20  Primal nature is said to be the cause of the agency of the body and its instruments; the person is said to be the cause of the experience of pleasure and pain.
13.21  For the person, situated in primal nature, experiences the qualities born of primal nature; attachment to these qualities is the cause of his birth in good and evil wombs.
13.22  The witness, the permitter, the sustainer, the experiencer, the great lord, and also the supreme self — thus is the supreme person in this body described.
13.23  One who thus knows the person and primal nature together with its qualities, however he may be living, is not born again.
13.24  Some perceive the self within the self by meditation, through the self; others by the discipline of knowledge, and others by the discipline of action.
13.25  But others, not knowing this, worship having heard it from others; they too cross beyond death, devoted to what they have heard.
13.26  Whatever being comes into existence, whether fixed or moving, know it, bull of the Bharatas, to arise from the union of the field and the knower of the field.
13.27  He who sees the supreme lord standing equally in all beings, not perishing even as they perish, he truly sees.
13.28  For seeing the lord present equally everywhere, he does not injure the self by the self, and so he goes to the highest path.
13.29  He who sees that actions are performed in every way by primal nature alone, and that the self is not the doer, he truly sees.
13.30  When he perceives the diverse states of beings as resting in one, and their expansion as arising from that one alone, then he attains Brahman.
13.31  Because it is without beginning and without qualities, this supreme self is imperishable; though situated in the body, son of Kunti, it does not act, nor is it tainted.
13.32  As the all-pervading space, because of its subtlety, is not tainted, so the self, situated everywhere in the body, is not tainted.
13.33  As the one sun illumines this whole world, so the knower of the field illumines the whole field, Bharata.
13.34  Those who thus know, with the eye of knowledge, the distinction between the field and the knower of the field, and the liberation of beings from primal nature, go to the supreme.

======== Chapter 14 — The Three Qualities ========

14.1  The Blessed Lord said: I will further declare the supreme knowledge, the highest of all knowledges, knowing which all the sages have gone from here to the highest perfection.
14.2  Taking refuge in this knowledge, they have attained a nature like mine; they are not born even at creation, nor do they tremble at dissolution.
14.3  My womb is the great Brahman; in it I place the seed. From this, Bharata, comes the origin of all beings.
14.4  Whatever forms arise in all wombs, son of Kunti, the great Brahman is their womb, and I am the seed-giving father.
14.5  Sattva, rajas, and tamas — these qualities, born of primal nature, bind the imperishable embodied self in the body, mighty-armed one.
14.6  Among these, sattva, being untainted, is illuminating and free from affliction; it binds through attachment to happiness and through attachment to knowledge, blameless one.
14.7  Know rajas to be of the nature of passion, arising from craving and attachment; it binds the embodied self, son of Kunti, through attachment to action.
14.8  Know tamas, born of ignorance, to be the deluder of all embodied beings; it binds through negligence, laziness, and sleep, Bharata.
14.9  Sattva attaches one to happiness, rajas to action, Bharata; but tamas, covering knowledge, attaches one instead to negligence.
14.10  Sattva arises overpowering rajas and tamas, Bharata; rajas arises overpowering sattva and tamas, and so does tamas overpowering sattva and rajas.
14.11  When light arises in this body at all its gates, together with knowledge, then it should be known that sattva has increased.
14.12  Greed, activity, the undertaking of actions, restlessness, longing — these arise, bull of the Bharatas, when rajas has increased.
14.13  Absence of light, absence of activity, negligence, and delusion — these arise, joy of the Kurus, when tamas has increased.
14.14  If the embodied self meets dissolution when sattva has increased, then it attains the pure worlds of those who know the highest.
14.15  Meeting dissolution in rajas, one is born among those attached to action; dissolved likewise in tamas, one is born in the wombs of the deluded.
14.16  The fruit of a good action, they say, is untainted and belongs to sattva; the fruit of rajas is pain, and the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
14.17  From sattva knowledge is born, and from rajas, greed alone; negligence and delusion arise from tamas, and ignorance as well.
14.18  Those established in sattva go upward; those of rajas remain in the middle; those of tamas, dwelling in the lowest condition of the qualities, go downward.
14.19  When the seer perceives no doer other than the qualities, and knows that which is beyond the qualities, he attains my state of being.
14.20  The embodied self, having transcended these three qualities that arise from the body, is freed from birth, death, old age, and pain, and attains the deathless.
14.21  Arjuna said: By what marks, Lord, is one known who has transcended these three qualities? What is his conduct, and how does he go beyond these three qualities?
14.22  The Blessed Lord said: He does not hate light, activity, or delusion, son of Pandu, when they arise, nor does he long for them when they cease.
14.23  He who sits apart like one indifferent, unmoved by the qualities, who stands firm knowing only that the qualities are acting, does not waver.
14.24  The same in pain and pleasure, resting in himself, regarding a clod, a stone, and gold alike; the same toward the dear and the unwanted, steady, the same in blame and in praise of himself;
14.25  the same in honor and dishonor, the same toward friend and foe alike, having abandoned all undertakings — such a one is said to have transcended the qualities.
14.26  And he who serves me with unwavering devotion through the discipline of devotion, having transcended these qualities, becomes fit for oneness with Brahman.
14.27  For I am the foundation of Brahman, of the deathless and the imperishable, of the eternal law, and of unending happiness.

======== Chapter 15 — The Yoga of the Supreme Person ========

15.1  They speak of an imperishable fig tree with its root above and its branches below, whose leaves are the hymns; one who knows it is a knower of the hymns.
15.2  Its branches spread below and above, nourished by the qualities, with the objects of the senses as their shoots; and below, its roots stretch out, binding one to action in the world of men.
15.3  Its form is not perceived here in this way, nor its end, nor its beginning, nor its foundation. Having cut down this fig tree with its firmly-fixed root, using the strong axe of non-attachment,
15.4  one should then seek that place from which, once reached, none return, thinking: I go for refuge to that very primal person from whom this ancient activity has streamed forth.
15.5  Free from pride and delusion, having conquered the fault of attachment, ever dwelling on the self, their desires turned away, released from the pairs known as pleasure and pain, the undeluded reach that imperishable place.
15.6  The sun does not illumine that place, nor the moon, nor fire; that is my supreme abode, having gone to which none return.
15.7  An eternal fragment of myself, becoming a living being in the world of the living, draws to itself the mind and the five senses that rest in primal nature.
15.8  When the lord takes on a body, and when he departs from it, he takes these along and goes, as the wind carries scents away from their source.
15.9  Presiding over the ear, the eye, touch, taste, and smell, and the mind as well, he partakes of the objects of the senses.
15.10  The deluded do not perceive him as he departs, remains, or experiences, joined with the qualities; but those with the eye of knowledge see him.
15.11  Striving yogis see him established within the self; but those who have not perfected themselves, though striving, being without understanding, do not see him.
15.12  The radiance dwelling in the sun that illumines the entire world, and that which is in the moon and in fire — know that radiance to be mine.
15.13  Entering the earth, I sustain all beings by my vital power, and becoming the moon, full of sap, I nourish all plants.
15.14  Becoming the fire of life dwelling in the bodies of living beings, joined with the in-breath and the out-breath, I digest the four kinds of food.
15.15  And I am seated in the hearts of all; from me come memory, knowledge, and their loss. I alone am what is to be known by all the Vedas; I am the author of the Vedanta, and I alone am the knower of the Vedas.
15.16  There are these two persons in the world, the perishable and the imperishable; the perishable is all beings, the imperishable is called the unchanging.
15.17  But there is another, the highest person, called the supreme self, who, entering the three worlds as their imperishable lord, sustains them.
15.18  Since I surpass the perishable, and am higher even than the imperishable, therefore I am celebrated in the world and in the Veda as the supreme person.
15.19  One who, undeluded, thus knows me as the supreme person knows all there is to know, and worships me with his whole being, Bharata.
15.20  Thus this most secret teaching has been declared by me, blameless one; understanding this, a man becomes wise and has accomplished all that is to be accomplished, Bharata.

======== Chapter 16 — The Divine and the Demonic ========

16.1  The Blessed Lord said: Fearlessness, purity of being, steadiness in the yoga of knowledge, generosity, self-control, sacrifice, study of scripture, austerity, uprightness,
16.2  nonviolence, truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, peace, aversion to slander, compassion for living beings, freedom from greed, gentleness, modesty, absence of restlessness,
16.3  vigor, patience, fortitude, cleanliness, freedom from malice, freedom from excessive pride — these belong to one born to a divine nature, Bharata.
16.4  Hypocrisy, arrogance, excessive pride, anger, harshness, and ignorance — these belong to one born to a demonic nature, Partha.
16.5  The divine nature is held to lead to liberation, the demonic to bondage. Do not grieve, Pandava — you are born with the divine nature.
16.6  There are two kinds of beings created in this world, the divine and the demonic. The divine I have described at length; hear from me now, Partha, about the demonic.
16.7  Demonic people know neither right action nor its renunciation. Neither purity, nor good conduct, nor truth is found in them.
16.8  They say the world is without truth, without foundation, without a governing lord, brought about by nothing but the mutual union of male and female, driven by desire alone — what else could it be?
16.9  Holding to this view, these people of lost selves and little understanding rise up as doers of terrible deeds, enemies of the world, working for its destruction.
16.10  Given over to insatiable desire, filled with hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance, holding false notions out of delusion, they act with impure intentions.
16.11  Given over to immeasurable anxiety that ends only in death, holding the enjoyment of desires as the highest good, certain that this is all there is,
16.12  bound by a hundred bonds of hope, devoted to desire and anger, they strive to amass wealth by unjust means for the sake of enjoying their desires.
16.13  'This I have gained today; this ambition I shall attain. This wealth is already mine, and this too shall be mine besides.'
16.14  'That enemy I have slain, and I shall slay others too. I am the lord, I am the enjoyer, I am accomplished, powerful, and happy.'
16.15  'I am wealthy and of noble family — who else is equal to me? I shall sacrifice, I shall give gifts, I shall rejoice' — so think those deluded by ignorance.
16.16  Bewildered by many thoughts, wrapped in a net of delusion, attached to the gratification of desires, they fall into a foul hell.
16.17  Self-conceited, stubborn, filled with the pride of wealth and status, they perform sacrifices in name only, with hypocrisy and without regard for proper rule.
16.18  Given over to egotism, force, pride, desire, and anger, these malicious people hate me dwelling in their own bodies and in the bodies of others.
16.19  These hateful, cruel, base men I continually hurl down into demonic wombs in the cycle of rebirth, into ever more unfortunate conditions.
16.20  Entering a demonic womb, deluded birth after birth, they never reach me, Kaunteya, and so go from there to the lowest state.
16.21  This is the threefold gate of hell, destructive of the self: desire, anger, and greed. Therefore one should abandon these three.
16.22  A man freed from these three gates of darkness, Kaunteya, does what is good for the self, and so reaches the highest goal.
16.23  But one who casts aside the rule of scripture and acts according to the impulse of desire attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the highest goal.
16.24  Therefore let scripture be your authority in determining what should and should not be done. Knowing what the ordinance of scripture declares, you should act accordingly here.

======== Chapter 17 — The Three Kinds of Faith ========

17.1  Arjuna said: Krishna, those who set aside the rule of scripture but sacrifice full of faith — what is their standing? Is it sattva, rajas, or tamas?
17.2  The Blessed Lord said: The faith of embodied beings is of three kinds, born of their own nature: sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. Hear about this.
17.3  The faith of every person conforms to their inner being, Bharata. A person is made of faith; whatever faith one has, that indeed is what one is.
17.4  Sattvic people worship the gods; rajasic people worship yakshas and rakshasas; others, tamasic people, worship ghosts and hosts of spirits.
17.5  Those who perform severe austerities not enjoined by scripture, joined with hypocrisy and egotism, driven by the force of desire and attachment,
17.6  senselessly torment the collection of elements that make up the body, and me as well, dwelling within the body — know these to be of demonic resolve.
17.7  Even the food that everyone prefers is of three kinds, as are sacrifice, austerity, and giving. Hear now the distinction between them.
17.8  Foods that increase life, vitality, strength, health, joy, and satisfaction, that are savory, rich, substantial, and pleasing to the heart — these are dear to the sattvic person.
17.9  Foods that are bitter, sour, salty, excessively hot, sharp, dry, and burning are craved by the rajasic person, and they bring suffering, grief, and sickness.
17.10  Food that is stale, tasteless, putrid, or spoiled, and what is left over or unclean, is dear to the tamasic person.
17.11  The sacrifice offered according to rule by those who seek no fruit, their minds fixed only on the thought that sacrifice ought to be performed — that is sattvic.
17.12  But the sacrifice offered with an eye toward its fruit, or for the sake of show, O best of the Bharatas — know that sacrifice to be rajasic.
17.13  The sacrifice that disregards the rule, without distribution of food, without sacred verses, without gifts to priests, and without faith — this they declare to be tamasic.
17.14  Reverence for gods, brahmins, teachers, and the wise, purity, uprightness, celibacy, and nonviolence — this is called the austerity of the body.
17.15  Speech that causes no distress, that is truthful, pleasant, and beneficial, and the regular practice of scriptural study — this is called the austerity of speech.
17.16  Serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and purity of intention — this is called the austerity of the mind.
17.17  This threefold austerity, practiced with the highest faith by people who seek no fruit and are disciplined, is called sattvic.
17.18  Austerity performed for the sake of honor, respect, and reverence, and with hypocrisy, is here declared to be rajasic — unstable and impermanent.
17.19  Austerity performed out of a foolish conviction, with self-torment, or for the purpose of destroying another, is called tamasic.
17.20  A gift given simply because it ought to be given, to one who can give nothing in return, in the proper place and time and to a worthy recipient — that gift is held to be sattvic.
17.21  But the gift given with an eye toward a return, or with the fruit in view, or given reluctantly — that gift is held to be rajasic.
17.22  The gift given at the wrong place and time, to an unworthy recipient, without respect and with contempt — that is declared to be tamasic.
17.23  'Om Tat Sat' — this is remembered as the threefold designation of Brahman. By this, in ancient times, the brahmins, the Vedas, and the sacrifices were ordained.
17.24  Therefore, uttering 'Om,' the acts of sacrifice, giving, and austerity as prescribed by rule are always begun by those who speak of Brahman.
17.25  Uttering 'Tat,' and without regard for the fruit, the various acts of sacrifice, austerity, and giving are performed by those who seek liberation.
17.26  The word 'Sat' is used in the sense of being and of goodness, and it is likewise applied, Partha, to an admirable action.
17.27  Steadfastness in sacrifice, austerity, and giving is also called 'Sat,' and action for that purpose is likewise termed 'Sat.'
17.28  Whatever is offered, given, or performed, and whatever austerity is undertaken without faith, is called 'Asat,' Partha — it counts for nothing, either here or hereafter.

======== Chapter 18 — The Yoga of Liberation and Renunciation ========

18.1  Arjuna said: Mighty-armed one, I wish to understand the truth of renunciation, Hrishikesha, and, separately, the truth of relinquishment, slayer of Keshin.
18.2  The Blessed Lord said: The wise understand the giving up of actions performed out of desire as renunciation; the discerning call the giving up of the fruit of all actions relinquishment.
18.3  Some thinkers say that action should be given up as tainted with fault; others say that acts of sacrifice, giving, and austerity should not be given up.
18.4  Hear my conclusion on this matter of relinquishment, best of the Bharatas. Relinquishment, tiger among men, has been declared to be of three kinds.
18.5  Acts of sacrifice, giving, and austerity should not be given up — they should indeed be performed. Sacrifice, giving, and austerity are purifying for the wise.
18.6  But even these actions should be performed while giving up attachment and the fruits — this, Partha, is my firm and highest conviction.
18.7  The renunciation of a prescribed action is not proper; giving it up out of delusion is declared to be tamasic.
18.8  Whoever gives up an action merely because it is difficult, out of fear of bodily hardship, performs a relinquishment that is rajasic and gains no benefit from it.
18.9  When a prescribed action is performed simply because it ought to be done, Arjuna, giving up both attachment and the fruit — that relinquishment is held to be sattvic.
18.10  One who relinquishes in this way does not hate an unpleasant action, nor cling to a pleasant one; filled with sattva, wise, and free of doubt.
18.11  For it is not possible for an embodied being to give up actions entirely; but one who gives up the fruit of actions is truly said to have relinquished.
18.12  For those who have not relinquished, the threefold fruit of action — unwanted, wanted, and mixed — comes about after death, but never for those who have renounced.
18.13  Learn from me these five causes, mighty-armed one, declared in the doctrine of Sankhya for the accomplishment of all actions.
18.14  The seat of action, the doer, the various instruments, the many kinds of effort, and, fifth, providence.
18.15  Whatever action a person undertakes with body, speech, or mind, whether right or wrong, these five are its causes.
18.16  This being so, whoever, because their understanding is untrained, regards the self alone as the doer — that person of poor understanding does not truly see.
18.17  One whose disposition is free of egotism, whose understanding is not tainted, though he slay these people, does not slay, nor is he bound.
18.18  Knowledge, the object of knowledge, and the knower are the threefold spur to action; the instrument, the action, and the doer are the threefold basis of action.
18.19  Knowledge, action, and the doer are each said to be of three kinds according to the distinction of the gunas, in the reckoning of the gunas. Hear of these as well, as they truly are.
18.20  The knowledge by which one sees a single imperishable being in all beings, undivided within the divided — know that knowledge to be sattvic.
18.21  But the knowledge that perceives, in all beings, various distinct beings of different kinds, on account of their separateness — know that knowledge to be rajasic.
18.22  But that knowledge which clings to a single effect as if it were the whole, without regard for reason, without grasping the real truth, and trivial — that is declared to be tamasic.
18.23  An action that is prescribed, free from attachment, performed without love or hatred by one who desires no fruit — that is called sattvic.
18.24  But an action performed by one who desires his wishes fulfilled, or with egotism, and accompanied by much exertion — that is declared to be rajasic.
18.25  An action undertaken out of delusion, without regard for consequence, loss, injury to others, or one's own capacity — that is called tamasic.
18.26  A doer who is free from attachment, who does not speak of himself, endowed with resolve and enthusiasm, unmoved by success or failure — he is called sattvic.
18.27  A doer who is passionate, who seeks the fruit of actions, who is greedy, harmful in nature, impure, subject to joy and grief — he is declared to be rajasic.
18.28  A doer who is undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, deceitful, malicious toward others, lazy, despondent, and given to procrastination — he is called tamasic.
18.29  Hear now the threefold distinction of understanding and of resolve according to the gunas, described completely and separately, Dhananjaya.
18.30  The understanding that knows right action and its renunciation, what should and should not be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation — that understanding, Partha, is sattvic.
18.31  The understanding by which one perceives righteousness and unrighteousness, what should and should not be done, incorrectly — that understanding, Partha, is rajasic.
18.32  The understanding that, enveloped in darkness, takes unrighteousness to be righteousness, and views all things in reverse — that understanding, Partha, is tamasic.
18.33  The resolve by which one sustains the activities of mind, breath, and senses through unfailing yoga — that resolve, Partha, is sattvic.
18.34  But the resolve by which one holds fast to duty, pleasure, and wealth out of attachment, desiring their fruit — that resolve, Arjuna, is rajasic.
18.35  The resolve by which a person of poor understanding does not let go of sleep, fear, grief, despondency, and delusion — that resolve, Partha, is tamasic.
18.36  Now hear from me about the threefold happiness, bull of the Bharatas — that in which one comes to delight through practice, and reaches the end of suffering.
18.37  That happiness which is like poison at first but like nectar in the end, born of the clarity of one's own understanding — that is declared to be sattvic happiness.
18.38  The happiness that arises from the contact of the senses with their objects, which is like nectar at first but like poison in the end — that happiness is remembered as rajasic.
18.39  The happiness that deludes the self both at the beginning and in its continuation, arising from sleep, laziness, and negligence — that is declared to be tamasic.
18.40  There is no being, either on earth or among the gods in heaven, that is free from these three gunas born of nature.
18.41  The duties of brahmins, kshatriyas, and vaishyas, and of shudras as well, scorcher of enemies, are distinguished according to the gunas born of their own nature.
18.42  Serenity, self-control, austerity, purity, patience, uprightness, knowledge, discernment, and belief in what is beyond — these are the natural duties of a brahmin, born of his own nature.
18.43  Valor, vigor, resolve, skill, and not fleeing in battle, generosity, and a commanding bearing — these are the natural duties of a kshatriya, born of his own nature.
18.44  Farming, cattle-herding, and trade are the natural duty of a vaishya, born of his own nature; service is the natural duty of a shudra as well, born of his own nature.
18.45  A person devoted to his own duty attains perfection. Hear now how one devoted to his own duty finds that perfection.
18.46  By worshipping, through his own duty, him from whom the activity of all beings proceeds, by whom all this is pervaded, a person attains perfection.
18.47  One's own duty, though imperfect, is better than another's duty well performed. Performing the action prescribed by one's own nature, a person incurs no fault.
18.48  One should not give up the action born with oneself, Kaunteya, even though it has its flaw; for all undertakings are covered by flaw, as fire is covered by smoke.
18.49  One whose understanding is unattached everywhere, who has conquered the self, from whom desire has departed — he attains, through renunciation, the supreme perfection of freedom from action.
18.50  Learn from me, in brief, how one who has attained perfection also attains Brahman, which is the highest culmination of knowledge, Kaunteya.
18.51  Endowed with a purified understanding, restraining the self with resolve, giving up sound and the other sense-objects, and casting aside love and hatred,
18.52  dwelling in solitude, eating little, controlling speech, body, and mind, ever devoted to meditation and yoga, taking refuge in dispassion,
18.53  abandoning egotism, force, pride, desire, anger, and possessiveness, free of the sense of 'mine,' at peace — such a person is fit for becoming one with Brahman.
18.54  Having become one with Brahman, with a serene self, he neither grieves nor desires; equal toward all beings, he attains supreme devotion to me.
18.55  Through devotion he comes to know me — who I am and how great I am, in truth. Then, having known me in truth, he enters into me at once.
18.56  Even while performing all actions at all times, relying upon me, he attains, by my grace, the eternal, imperishable abode.
18.57  Surrendering in thought all actions to me, intent on me, resorting to the yoga of understanding, keep your mind fixed on me always.
18.58  With your mind fixed on me, you will cross over every difficulty by my grace. But if, out of egotism, you will not listen, you will be lost.
18.59  If, relying on egotism, you think, 'I will not fight' — this resolve of yours is false; your own nature will compel you.
18.60  Bound by your own action born of your nature, Kaunteya, you will do, even against your will, that very thing which, out of delusion, you wish not to do.
18.61  The Lord dwells in the region of the heart of all beings, Arjuna, causing all beings to revolve by his power of illusion, as if they were mounted on a machine.
18.62  Take refuge in him alone with your whole being, Bharata. By his grace you will attain supreme peace and the eternal abode.
18.63  Thus I have declared to you this knowledge, more secret than all secrets. Reflect on it fully, then act as you wish.
18.64  Hear again from me my supreme word, the most secret of all. You are deeply loved by me; therefore I will speak what is good for you.
18.65  Fix your mind on me, be devoted to me, sacrifice to me, bow down to me. You will come to me alone; this I promise you truly, for you are dear to me.
18.66  Abandoning all duties, take refuge in me alone. I will free you from all wrongs; do not grieve.
18.67  This is never to be spoken by you to one without austerity, nor to one without devotion, nor to one unwilling to listen, nor to one who speaks ill of me.
18.68  Whoever, having shown the highest devotion to me, teaches this supreme secret among my devotees, will come to me alone, without doubt.
18.69  Among men there is no one who does me a more precious service than he, nor will there ever be anyone on earth dearer to me than he.
18.70  And whoever studies this sacred dialogue of ours, by him I will have been worshipped through the sacrifice of knowledge — this is my conviction.
18.71  And even the man who, full of faith and free of resentment, merely listens to it — he too, once freed, will attain the auspicious worlds of those who act righteously.
18.72  Has this been heard by you, Partha, with a mind fixed on a single point? Has the delusion born of your ignorance now been dispelled, Dhananjaya?
18.73  Arjuna said: My delusion is destroyed, and by your grace, Achyuta, I have regained memory. I stand firm, my doubts gone; I will act according to your word.
18.74  Sanjaya said: Thus have I heard this wondrous, hair-raising dialogue between Vasudeva and the great-souled Partha.
18.75  By the grace of Vyasa I have heard this supreme secret, this yoga, told directly by Krishna himself, the Lord of Yoga, in person.
18.76  O king, remembering again and again this wondrous and sacred dialogue between Keshava and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again.
18.77  And remembering again and again that most wondrous form of Hari, my amazement is great, O king, and I rejoice again and again.
18.78  Wherever there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, and wherever there is Partha, the wielder of the bow, there, I am certain, are fortune, victory, prosperity, and sound judgment.