Bhagvad Gita (250 BC 250 AD)

1. There is neither this world nor the world beyond nor happiness for the one who doubts. 2. This entire living universe is pervaded by me in my obscure state. 3. Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed. 4. Mastering my own cosmic nature, I emit them again and again all these beings, in spite of them and by the power of my nature. 5. As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change. 6. Make every act an offering to me (God); regard me as your only protector. Relying on interior discipline, meditate on me always. Remembering me, you shall overcome all difficulties through my grace. But if you will not heed me in your self-will, nothing will avail you. 7. Neither in this world nor elsewhere is there any happiness in store for him who always doubts. 8. When the sage climbs the heights of Yoga, he follows the path of work; but when he reaches the heights of Yoga, he is in the land of peace. 9. Those who know this truth, whose consciousness is unified, think always, "I am not the doer" While seeing or hearing, touching or smelling; eating, moving about, or sleeping; breathing or speaking, letting go or

holding on, even opening or closing the eyes, they understand that these are only the movements of the senses among sense objects. 10. Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace. 11. The mind is restless and difficult to restrain, but it is subdued by practice. 12. From me, its supervisor, the nature gives birth to the universe. And this is the reason why the universe exists. 13. Fix your mind on me, be devoted to me, offer service to me, bow down to me, and you shall certainly reach Me. I promise you because you are very dear to me. 15. The power of God is with you at all times; through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions; and is constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument. 15. That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul. 16. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do. 17. Attachement to the fruits of action) binds a person to continual rebirth. 18. One gradually attains tranquility of mind by keeping the mind fully absorbed in oneself by means of a well-trained intellect, and thinking of nothing else. 19. Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. 20. They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of "I", "me", and "mine" to be united with the Lord. This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality.

21. Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed. 22. One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind. 23. A Karma-yogi performs action by body, mind, intellect, and senses, without attachment (or ego), only for self-purification. 24. A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the right place, and when we expect nothing in return. 25. O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation. 26. That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul. 27. You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. 28. For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. 29. They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of "I", "me", and "mine" to be united with the Lord. This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality. 30. The soul who meditates on the Self is content to serve the Self and rests satisfied within the Self; there remains nothing more for him to accomplish.

31. Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all. 32. Perform your duty equipoise, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga. 33. At the end of a kalpa, all beings merge into my nature, then, at the beginning of the next kalpa, I emit them again. 34. There has never been a time when you and I have not existed, nor there would be a time when we will cease to exist. As the same person inhabits the body through childhood, youth, and old age, so too at the time of death he attains another body. The wise are not deluded by these changes. 35. As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. 36. Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all. 37. When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard. 38. The Supreme Personality of God said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification, which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness. 39. Make every act an offering to me (God); regard me as your only protector. Relying on interior discipline, meditate on me always. Remembering me, you shall overcome all difficulties through my grace. But if you will not heed me in your self-will, nothing will avail you. 40. Fear Not. What is not real never was and never will be. What is real always was and cannot be destroyed.

41. Action is greater than inaction. Perform therefore your task in life. Even the life of the body could not be if there was no action. 42. By thus engaging in devotional service to the Lord, great sages or devotees free themselves from the results of work in the material world. In this way they become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain the state beyond all miseries [by going back to Godhead]. 43. The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them. 44. What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the selfcontrolled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage. 45. When the sage climbs the heights of Yoga, he follows the path of work; but when he reaches the heights of Yoga, he is in the land of peace. 46. Whenever the mind unsteady and restless strays away from the spirit, let him ever and for ever lead it again to the spirit. 47. A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego--he alone can attain real peace. 48. No work stains a man who is pure; who is in harmony, who is master of his life, whose soul is one with the soul of all. 49. Not by refraining from action does man attain freedom from action. Not by mere renunciation does he attain supreme perfection. 50. You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.