Great generals will think that thou hast fled from the battlefield through cowardice;
though once honoured thou wilt seem despicable.
Thine enemies will spread scandal and mock at thy courage. Can anything be more
humiliating?
If killed, thou shalt attain Heaven; if victorious, enjoy the kingdom of earth. Therefore
arise, O Son of Kunti, and fight!
Look upon pleasure and pain, victory and defeat, with an equal eye. Make ready for the
combat, and thou shalt commit no sin.
I have told thee the philosophy of Knowledge. Now listen and I will explain the
philosophy of Action, by means of which, O Arjuna, thou shalt break through the bondage
of all action.
On this Path, endeavour is never wasted, nor can it ever be repressed. Even a very little of
its practice protects one from great danger.
By its means, the straying intellect becomes steadied in the contemplation of one object
only; whereas the minds of the irresolute stray into bypaths innumerable.
Only the ignorant speak in figurative language. It is they who extol the letter of the
scriptures, saying, `There is nothing deeper than this.’
Consulting only their own desires, they construct their own heaven, devising arduous and
complex rites to secure their own pleasure and their own power; and the only result is
rebirth.
While their minds are absorbed with ideas of power and personal enjoyment, they cannot
concentrate their discrimination on one point.
The Vedic Scriptures tell of the three constituents of life – the Qualities. Rise above all of
them, O Arjuna, above all the pairs of opposing sensations; be steady in truth, free from
worldly anxieties and centered in the Self.
As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest
from any scripture that which will serve his purpose.
But thou hast only the right to work, but none to the fruit thereof. Let not then the fruit of
thy action be thy motive; nor yet be thou enamored of inaction.
Perform all thy actions with mind concentrated on the Divine, renouncing attachment and
looking upon success and failure with an equal eye. Spirituality implies equanimity.
Physical action is far inferior to an intellect concentrated on the Divine. Have recourse then
to Pure Intelligence. It is only the petty-minded who work for reward.
When a man attains to Pure Reason, he renounces in this world the results of good and
evil alike. Cling thou to Right Action. Spirituality is the real art of living.
The sages guided by Pure Intellect renounce the fruit of action; and, freed from the chains
of rebirth, they reach the highest bliss.
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