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Both the good and the pleasant come to a person. The wise person considers them carefully and chooses between them. The wise person prefers the good.

The eternal among eternals, the conscious among the conscious — the one who, alone, fulfills the desires of the many. Knowing this cause, to be graspe

Thus Nachiketa, having received this knowledge from Death, and having mastered the discipline of meditation, became free from passion, free from death

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

On this path, no effort is wasted and no harm comes from it. Even a little of this practice protects you from great fear.

On this path, the resolute mind is focused on a single point. The minds of those without resolve branch off endlessly in many directions.

The Vedas concern themselves with the three qualities of nature. Rise above them, Arjuna. Go beyond the pairs of opposites. Stay steady, and do not co

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.

When your mind, no longer scattered by what it has heard, stands steady and unmoving in deep stillness, then you will attain yoga.

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

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.

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

The wise person should not unsettle the minds of those who are attached to their work and who do not know. Instead, acting with care, such a person sh

Arjuna said: Krishna, what is it that drives a person to commit sin, even against their own will, as if pushed by some force?

Knowing the self to be beyond even the intellect, and steadying the mind through the intellect, destroy this enemy that takes the form of desire and i

Krishna said: I taught this eternal yoga to Vivasvan the sun god. Vivasvan taught it to Manu. And Manu passed it on to Ikshvaku.

Passed down in this way, the royal sages came to know it. But over a long stretch of time, that yoga was lost to the world.

That same ancient yoga is what I am teaching you today. You are my devotee and my friend, and that is why I am sharing this with you. It is a deep sec

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

Others offer all the activities of the senses and the workings of the breath into the fire of the yoga of self-control, lit by knowledge.

Some make offerings of material wealth. Some offer austerity. Some offer the practice of yoga. Some offer study and knowledge. Others follow strict vo

There is nothing in this world that purifies like knowledge. In time, the one who is perfected through yoga finds this knowledge within themselves.

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.

So cut away the doubt in your heart that comes from not knowing. Take up yoga and rise.

Arjuna said: Krishna, you praise renunciation of actions, and then you praise yoga of action. Tell me clearly which one is better.

Krishna said: Both renunciation and yoga of action lead to liberation. But between the two, yoga of action is better than renunciation.

Only the ignorant say that the path of knowledge and the path of action are separate, not the learned. One who is properly established in either gains

The state reached by those on the path of knowledge is also reached by those on the path of action. The one who sees knowledge and action as one truly

But renunciation is hard to achieve without yoga, O mighty-armed one. The thoughtful person who is united in yoga reaches the absolute without delay.

One who is united in yoga, pure in mind, master of the body, master of the senses, and who sees their self as the self of all beings, is not tainted e

Remaining absorbed in the self, the knower of truth should think: I do nothing at all. Even while seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving,

The lord does not create agentship for anyone, nor any actions, nor the joining of action with its result. It is nature that moves.

With the self unattached to outer contacts, such a person finds joy within the self. With the self absorbed in the absolute through yoga, that person

What they call renunciation, know that to be yoga, O Pandava. No one becomes a yogi without giving up selfish intention.

For the sage who wishes to rise to yoga, action is said to be the means. For that same person, once established in yoga, stillness is said to be the m

When a person is not attached to sense objects or to actions, and has renounced all selfish intentions, then that person is said to be established in

A yogi should constantly concentrate the mind by staying in a solitary place, alone, with mind and body controlled, free from longing and possessions.

Having set up a firm seat for oneself in a clean place, neither too high nor too low, covered with cloth, deerskin, and kusa grass laid in order,

sitting on that seat, making the mind one-pointed, controlling the movements of mind and senses, one should practice yoga for the purification of the

with a calm mind, free from fear, firm in the vow of celibacy, controlling the mind and keeping it fixed on me, one should sit in yoga, intent on me a

Practicing yoga constantly in this way, the yogi of controlled mind reaches the peace that culminates in liberation and abides in me.

Yoga is not for one who eats too much, nor for one who does not eat at all. It is not for one who sleeps too much, nor for one who stays awake too muc

Yoga becomes a remover of sorrow for one whose eating and movement are balanced, whose effort in action is moderate, and whose sleep and waking are re

When the controlled mind rests in the self alone, free from longing for any object of desire, then that person is said to be absorbed.

A lamp in a windless place does not flicker. That is the image recalled for the yogi of controlled mind who is absorbed in the yoga of the self.

Where the mind comes to rest, restrained by the practice of yoga, and where, seeing the self through the self, one is content in the self alone,

know that severance from the pain of contact with sorrow to be what is called yoga. That yoga should be practiced with determination and without a des