Srimad BhagavadGita

Sañjaya said,
"Madhusūdana spoke as follows to Arjuna, who was thus filled with compassion, whose eyes were full of pain and tears, whose mind was numb due to immense grief. "

Kṛṣṇa said, "O Arjuna! Why has this grief overpowered you at such an inappropriate place? Such grief is never acquired by the noble, obstructs entry into heavenly planets and is a cause of disgrace."

“O Son of Pṛthā! Do not yield to this fearfulness, which is unacceptable in you who is known as a great hero. Give up this unbefitting faint-heartedness and rise to fight, O scorcher of enemies!"

Arjuna said,
“O Madhusūdana, Arisūdana! In this battle, how can I hurt with arrows grandfather Bhīṣma, ācārya Droņa and others who are worthy of my worship."

"Instead of killing our respectable superiors like Bhīṣma, Droṇa and others, it is certainly better for us to earn our food by begging. Even though they are holding on to material pleasures, after killing such superiors, how can we occupy their places and enjoy material opulences stained in their blood?"

"I do not know which out of the two is better for us- our victory over them or their victory over us. It is not our wish at all to get the comforts of life by killing them. But unfortunately, those sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra are standing in front of us ready for war."

"Having lost all my courage due to this flaw of compassion which has struck me and having become deluded about my duty, I am asking you to tell me what is conclusively best for me. I have become your disciple from now on. Please instruct me about the right path as I have surrendered to you."

"Winning a prosperous, unrivalled kingdom on this earth or even lordship over the devatas, I certainly do not see anything that can dispel this grief of mine, which is drying up all my senses."

"After having spoken thus to Hṛṣīkeśa, Arjuna the scorcher of enemies said, 'O Govinda! I will not fight' and became silent."

"O Dhṛtarāṣṭra! Hṛṣīkeśa spoke the following words in a smiling way to the grieving Arjuna in the midst of both the armies."

"You are grieving for things that should not be grieved for and speaking words of wisdom too. The wise never lament over either the lifeless bodies or the conscious souls"

“There never was a time in the past when I, who is Sarveśwara, did not exist, or you or any of these kings who are all jīvas did not exist. All of us shall never cease to exist in the future too.”

“Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth and old age in this body, similarly soon after leaving this body, the process of obtaining another body also occurs. The wise are not deluded about leaving this body and taking up another body.”

“O Kuntiputrā ! The contact of the qualities of sound, touch, form, taste, smell carried by their respective sense objects, with the sense organs, keeps causing cold and heat, etc, resulting in the experiences of pleasure and pain. These experiences are not permanent in nature and have the natural tendency to come and go. They get completely destroyed in the state of liberation of the soul. O descendant of Bharata! Hence, endure these pleasures and pain caused due to contact with the objects of the senses.”

“O best among men, one who perceives pleasure and pain caused by contact with the sense objects alike and whose mind is not distressed by them, such a steadfast person alone is eligible for liberation.”

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"Eternality which is a quality of the real is not there for the physical body which is referred to as 'asat- unreal'. Transience which is a quality of the unreal is not there for the soul which is referred to as 'sat- real'. This conclusion about these two- the body and the soul, has also been revealed in this way by the seers."

“Know that the soul substance by which all these insentient objects are pervaded, is indestructible. No material has the capability or the power to destroy this imperishable soul”

“It is said in the śāstras that these visible material bodies of the embodied soul are arranged for the soul to experience the fruits of its actions, hence after the experience is complete, these bodies get destroyed. The soul has no birth, no end, is the enjoyer of the insentient enjoyable substances and at the same time totally different from them, O Arjuna! Therefore fight.”

"One who knows this soul to be a destroyer (who destroys with the aid of tools like fire, weapons, etc.) of objects or another soul and also one who assumes that this soul is destroyed by itself or any other means are both ignorant. This soul does not slay and this soul is also absolutely unslayable which means that it does not undergo destruction by itself in the course of time or by any other means."

"This soul is never born and it never dies. It is not the case that this soul gets created in the beginning of
kalpa and gets destroyed at the end of kalpa. This soul is unborn, deathless, changeless and primaeval,
hence it is not slain when the body is slayed."

"O Pārtha! the puruṣa who knows this soul to be indestructible, unborn, unchanging and eternal, how can he kill any soul or get it killed by someone?"

"Just as a person casts off worn out garments and puts on another new set, similarly the soul casts off bodies with which bondage (experience of fruits of karmas) is over and acquires other new bodies."

"Weapons like the sword do not cut the soul, fire does not burn and destroy it, water does not dissolve and destroy it and wind does not dry and destroy this soul. This soul cannot be cut, cannot be burnt or even dried, is insoluble and pervades all insentient matter. It is therefore eternal, has a stable nature, is immovable and primeval."

"It is said that this soul cannot be known, is inconceivable and unchanging. Therefore, knowing well that the soul is like this, it does not befit you to grieve."  

"O mighty armed one! However, if you think that this soul always takes birth and always dies like the body, even then it does not befit you to grieve in this way."

"Death is indeed certain for everything that is born and rebirth is certain for that which has died. Therefore, to grieve over what is unavoidable does not befit you."

"O Arjuna! All the bodies are in an invisible state prior to their birth (in the beginning), in a visible state during their lifetime (in the middle) and again in an invisible state post death (in the end). So, why grieve in that matter?"

"Only one in crores sees this soul which is marvellous, similarly another one in crores speaks about this soul which is marvellous and still another in many crores hears about this soul as being marvellous. Even upon hearing in this way, no one is able to truly comprehend this soul."

"In the body of anyone from devatas up to the immovable ones, though the bodies are being killed, the soul residing in the body is always indestructible. O Bhārata! Therefore it does not befit you to grieve about any living being."

"Moreover, taking into consideration your own prescribed duty of fighting the war as per your varṇa āśrama dharma, escaping from this war does not befit you. For a kṣatriya, no greater merit exists than participating in a righteous war."

"O Arjuna, Fortunate are those warriors to whom opportunity for such a war comes of its own accord. An unobstructed pathway to mokṣa opens up for them."

"If however you do not fight this righteous war then you will be turning away from the performance of your duty as a warrior and your reputation too and you will be incurring sin." 

"Everybody at all places and at all times will speak of your infamy. For someone like you who is greatly honoured for your qualities like courage, valour, etc, dishonour is worse than death."

"These great warriors will think that you fled from the war out of fear. These men who held you in high esteem will consider you a coward and ridicule you."

"Your enemies like Duryodhana will slander your prowess, will speak harsh words about you which are not supposed to be uttered by anyone. What can be more painful than that, O Arjuna!"

"If slain in this righteous war you will attain liberation, if victorious you shall enjoy the kingdom on earth. Therefore, O Kuntiputrā ! Arise with the firm resolve to fight."

"Considering pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and loss alike, if you go ahead and fight the war, you will not be bound in this miserable cycle of life and death."

"This knowledge about the nature of the soul has been imparted to you so far, now listen to the yoga concerning karmas.By performing karmas backed by this intelligence, your shall attain release from the bondage of saṃsāra caused by the karmas."

"In the practice of this karma yoga, there is no wastage of initial effort or any harm when left in between. Even a little practice of karma yoga provides protection from great fear."

"Since a karma yogi's buddhi which is resolute on the reality of the soul is firmly fixed on mokṣa as the only goal, it is always one-pointed. On the other hand, for one who is irresolute about the real nature of the soul, his varied buddhis (intelligences) are unlimited as kāmya karmas (fruitive activities) are countless and each buddhi is in turn many branched."

"O Arjuna, Those interested in heaven and such other rewards promised in the Karma-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas, having intense attachment towards them and considering them as the highest achievable rewards, they declare that there is no greater reward to be achieved. Such unwise men, due to their strong desire for material enjoyment and opulences often speak words which are full of such fruitive actions due to their lack of knowledge. These words appear impressive but in reality they are like flowers which can bear no fruit, which push a man back into the cycle of birth, death and karma after the experience of heaven. Unwise men who crave only for the material enjoyment and opulences of heaven, upon hearing these words lose their good sense and are unable to develop the resolute intelligence in the mind like the karma yoga buddhi which has firm conviction about the reality of the soul"

"The vedas prescribe what is good for those under the influence of the 3 guṇas. O Arjuna! Rise above the 3 guṇas and develop the ability to tolerate dualities like heat-cold, happiness-misery, gain-loss; victory-defeat etc. With each passing day establish yourself in sattva guṇa more and more. Do not strive to acquire material things and to protect what has been acquired. Be interested only in acquiring the soul state and in establishing in it. Just as someone who wishes to use a reservoir's water takes only as much water as is needed from it even though the water in the reservoir is overflowing in all directions, likewise a vaidika mumukṣu with knowledge takes only that which serves as a means to mokṣa from the whole of the vedas (the rest of the vedas is not taken by him); "

"O Arjuna! As a mumukṣu, you have a right to desire only with respect to the nature of the action and not on the short lived rewards of those actions like heaven, etc. Do not at any time take doer-ship for the karmas or place expectation on their rewards. At the same time, you should not resort to inaction too."

"O Arjuna, giving up attachment towards kingdom and relatives, perform your duties being established in the yoga of treating alike achievement and non-achievement of victory. This equipoised state in both is called yoga."

"Actions driven by desire for rewards are indeed far too inferior to actions performed with this buddhi. O Arjuna! Therefore take the shelter of this buddhi talked about earlier because one who performs actions with attachment to their rewards is a saṃsāri"

"In the performance of actions, a person with this buddhi gets rid of both good and bad results. Arjuna, you should therefore strive to abide in this buddhi. Presence of this buddhi in the performance of karmas is a great skill on par with a skill achieved due to extraordinary capabilities."

"The wise men possessing this buddhi become free from puṇyas and pāpas by giving up the rewards of their actions, resulting in freedom from the bondage of this saṃsāra and attainment of Paramapada".

"When your buddhi passes beyond the contamination called delusion, you will then repent about what has been told and what is going to be told."

"When your intelligence specially enlightened by listening to ME and firmly placed, remains unshaken in the concentrated mind, then you will attain a vision of the soul. "

"O Keśava! What is the description of a dedicated practitioner of jñāna yoga whose mind is firmly established in the knowledge about the soul? What does this jñāna yogi speak, what kind of activities does he perform with his mind and body?"

"O Arjuna! When one finds pleasure in his own soul which is blissful by nature with a mind which is totally established in the soul, when he totally gives up all the desires for the various other rewards in his mind then he is called a 'sthitaprajña'."

"One whose mind is undisturbed in pain, unaffected by pleasure, free from attachment, fear and anger, who contemplates on the soul always is called a sthitaprajña."

"One who does not have inclination towards anything which is pleasing, who, upon attaining them, neither hails the favourable nor condemns the unfavourable, such a person's wisdom is firmly established. He is a sthitaprajña."

"When the seeker of true knowledge thus pulls back his senses from the sense objects in all ways just as a tortoise retracts its limbs, such a person's wisdom is firmly established. He is a sthitaprajña."

"The sense objects turn away from the jīva who has diverted his senses from them. But the taste for sense objects does not go away. This taste goes away only after the essential nature of the soul is seen i.e soul is realised."

"O Kunti Putra! A person's strong senses forcefully carry away his mind even though he can discriminate between right and wrong and is continuously striving for soul realisation."

"One who pulls back all his senses from the sense objects, fixes his mind on ME and has a a calm mind cleared of all doubts. Such a person's mind and other senses are in control with MY blessings. He is said to be a sthitaprajñā (one established firmly in knowledge) ."

"One who meditates on the objects of the five senses (due to his tendency to indulge in them from endless lifetimes), his hold on them increases, due to which strong desire to acquire them occurs. This desire leads to anger which comes like a flood. This anger leads to loss of discrimination between right and wrong. Loss of discrimination leads to loss of memory or forgetfulness. Forgetfulness leads to loss of intelligence and one gets destroyed by drowning deeper in this saṃsāra."

"Becoming free from attraction and aversion by MY grace, with his senses under control, surpassing the pull of the sense objects like sounds, forms, etc, one who has control over his mind, achieves purity of mind."

"All the miseries of such a person get destroyed after the mind gets purified and very soon his intelligence becomes well established ."

One whose mind has no inclination towards ME does not understand the knowledge about the soul completely. One without this knowledge cannot contemplate on the soul. One who does not contemplate on the soul continues to crave for sense objects. Therefore he has no peace. How can one without this peace resulting due to relief from cravings, attain happiness?

"The mind that is made to follow the senses which crave for the sense objects as they please, certainly pulls his intelligence towards those sense objects just as headwind forcibly sidetracks a boat sailing in water from its course."

“O mighty armed one! Therefore one whose senses are pulled back from their objects in all ways, his intelligence (knowledge about the soul) is firmly established.”

"For all the living beings, like the night, this knowledge about the soul has no efflugence and is not manifest to them. However, it is manifested in the form of a vision of the soul to the practitioner of jñāna yoga who has control over his senses. On the other hand, for a practitioner of jñāna yoga who is always contemplating on the soul, the knowledge about the sense objects which all the living beings are awake to and actively experiencing, is unmanifest like the night.

Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, “Just as the waters of the rivers enter the ocean which is always full by itself and steady, in the same manner the sense objects enter into one who has control over his senses. He alone attains peace and not someone who hankers after sense objects.”

“The person who abandons all the sense objects and lives without craving, attachment, ego or possession on them, attains peace.”

“O Arjuna! Attaining true knowledge about the soul and remaining firmly established in performing actions without attachment (sanga rahita karma) leads to the attainment of the soul, also called as 'brahmam'. Having attained this state of perfection in performing action without attachment, he does not fall prey to delusion. By remaining firmly established in this state of karma yoga even at the hour of death, he attains the blissful soul.