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Then Arjuna, whose chariot flag bore the image of Hanuman, saw Dhritarashtra's sons standing ready. As weapons were about to fly, he raised his bow an

This is the wisdom I have given you from the standpoint of knowledge. Now listen to it from the standpoint of action. Armed with this understanding, y

You have the right to action alone, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruits be your motive. But do not be attached to inaction either.

Act with evenness of mind, having given up attachment to results. This evenness of mind is called yoga.

Action driven by desire for results is far inferior to action done with evenness of mind. Seek refuge in this evenness. Those who work only for reward

A person with this evenness of mind casts off both good and bad actions in this life. Therefore aim for yoga. Yoga is skill in action.

The wise who act with evenness and give up the fruits of their actions are freed from the bondage of birth and reach a state beyond suffering.

Krishna said: When a person gives up all the desires that arise in the mind and is content within the self alone, by the self alone, that person is sa

But the person who moves through sense objects with the senses free from attraction and repulsion, under self-control, attains peace of mind.

Arjuna said: Krishna, if you believe that knowledge is superior to action, why are you pushing me into this terrible war?

Krishna said: Arjuna, in this world I have spoken of two paths. For those inclined toward knowledge, there is the path of knowledge. For those incline

A person does not become free from action simply by not acting. Nor does anyone reach fulfilment through renunciation alone.

One who restrains the organs of action but sits with the mind dwelling on the objects of the senses is a deluded person and a hypocrite.

But one who controls the senses with the mind and then engages the organs of action in work, without attachment, that person is superior.

Perform your duty. Action is better than inaction. Without action, you cannot even maintain your own body.

Action in this world leads to bondage unless it is done as an offering. Therefore, free from attachment, perform your actions as an offering.

All beings come from food. Food comes from rain. Rain comes from sacrifice. And sacrifice comes from action.

Action comes from the Vedas, and the Vedas come from the imperishable. Therefore the all-pervading Vedas are ever rooted in sacrifice.

One who does not follow this cycle here on earth, living only for the senses, lives a sinful and wasted life, Arjuna.

For such a person there is no purpose to be gained by acting or by not acting. There is no need to depend on any other being for anything.

Therefore always perform the actions that need to be done, without attachment. Through action done without attachment, a person reaches the highest.

Janaka and others reached perfection through action alone. You should also act, keeping in mind the guidance it offers to the world.

Whatever a great person does, others follow. Whatever standard such a person sets, the world takes it up.

Arjuna, there is nothing in all three worlds that I need to do. There is nothing I have not attained or need to attain. And yet I keep working.

If I ever stopped working, people would follow my example and stop as well.

If I did not act, these worlds would fall apart. I would cause chaos and bring harm to all these people.

All actions are being carried out by the qualities of nature. But the person whose mind is clouded by ego thinks, I am the one doing this.

But the one who knows the truth about how the qualities of nature work, and how they act on their own products, understands that qualities rest on qua

Those who are fully caught up in the qualities of nature become attached to actions driven by those qualities. The knower of the whole truth should no

Dedicating all your actions to me, with your mind focused on the self, free from desire and selfishness, fight without any inner agitation.

Those who follow this teaching of mine with faith and without complaint are freed from the bondage of actions.

Attraction and repulsion are built into each sense and its objects. No one should fall under the control of these two. They are one's enemies.

The one who truly knows my divine birth and actions is not reborn after leaving the body. That person comes to me.

Those who desire the results of their rituals worship the gods here. In the human world, success from such action comes quickly.

Actions do not bind me. I have no desire for the fruits of actions. One who understands this about me is not bound by actions either.

Knowing this, even the ancient seekers of liberation kept on acting. You too should act, just as those who came before you did.

Even the wise are confused about what action is and what non-action is. I will explain action to you in a way that will free you from harm.

It is worth understanding what action is. It is worth understanding what wrong action is. And it is worth understanding what non-action is. The nature

The one who sees non-action in action, and action in non-action, is wise among people. That person is balanced and has fulfilled all that needs to be

The wise call someone learned when all their undertakings are free from desire and selfish intention, and when their actions are consumed in the fire

Having let go of attachment to the fruits of action, always content, not depending on anything, such a person does not really act at all, even while a

Free from desire, with the mind and senses under control, giving up all sense of possession, acting only for the body's needs, such a person incurs no

Content with whatever comes on its own, beyond the pull of opposites, free from envy, steady in both success and failure, such a person is not bound e

For one who is free from attachment, who is liberated, whose mind rests in knowledge, who acts only as an offering, all karma dissolves completely.

The offering is the absolute. The oblation is the absolute. It is poured by the absolute into the fire of the absolute. The one who is absorbed in act

All of these know what sacrifice means, and their wrongs are wiped out through it. Those who eat what remains after a sacrifice reach the eternal.

All these many forms of sacrifice are laid out in the Vedas. Know that they all arise from action. Knowing this, you will be free.

The sacrifice of knowledge is greater than any sacrifice of material things. All action without exception finds its completion in knowledge.

Just as a blazing fire turns wood to ash, the fire of knowledge burns all actions to ash.

Actions do not bind the one who has given them up through yoga, whose doubts have been cut away by knowledge, and who is steady in the self.