Contents of the Gita Summarized

sañjaya uvāca taṁ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭam aśru-pūrṇākulekṣaṇam viṣīdantam idaṁ vākyam uvāca madhusūdanaḥ

Sañjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusūdana, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.

śrī-bhagavān uvāca kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame samupasthitam anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam akīrti-karam arjuna

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.

klaibyaṁ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayy upapadyate kṣudraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyaṁ tyaktvottiṣṭha paran-tapa

O son of Pṛthā, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy.

arjuna uvāca kathaṁ bhīṣmam ahaṁ saṅkhye droṇaṁ ca madhusūdana iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi pūjārhāv ari-sūdana

Arjuna said: O killer of enemies, O killer of Madhu, how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy of my worship?

gurūn ahatvā hi mahānubhāvān śreyo bhoktuṁ bhaikṣyam apīha loke hatvārtha-kāmāṁs tu gurūn ihaiva bhuñjīya bhogān rudhira-pradigdhān

It would be better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though desiring worldly gain, they are superiors. If they are killed, everything we enjoy will be tainted with blood.

na caitad vidmaḥ kataran no garīyo yad vā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas te ’vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ

Nor do we know which is better – conquering them or being conquered by them. If we killed the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, we should not care to live. Yet they are now standing before us on the battlefield.

kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam

Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.

na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād yac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām avāpya bhūmāv asapatnam ṛddhaṁ rājyaṁ surāṇām api cādhipatyam

I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.

sañjaya uvāca evam uktvā hṛṣīkeśaṁ guḍākeśaḥ paran-tapaḥ na yotsya iti govindam uktvā tūṣṇīṁ babhūva ha

Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, “Govinda, I shall not fight,” and fell silent.

tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasann iva bhārata senayor ubhayor madhye viṣīdantam idaṁ vacaḥ

O descendant of Bharata, at that time Kṛṣṇa, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.

śrī-bhagavān uvāca aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.

na tv evāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayam ataḥ param

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

dehino ’smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati

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.

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino ’nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.

yaṁ hi na vyathayanty ete puruṣaṁ puruṣarṣabha sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ so ’mṛtatvāya kalpate

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.

nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ ubhayor api dṛṣṭo ’ntas tv anayos tattva-darśibhiḥ

Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both.

avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam vināśam avyayasyāsya na kaścit kartum arhati

That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul.

antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ anāśino ’prameyasya tasmād yudhyasva bhārata

The material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is sure to come to an end; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.

ya enaṁ vetti hantāraṁ yaś cainaṁ manyate hatam ubhau tau na vijānīto nāyaṁ hanti na hanyate

Neither he who thinks the living entity the slayer nor he who thinks it slain is in knowledge, for the self slays not nor is slain.

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

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.

vedāvināśinaṁ nityaṁ ya enam ajam avyayam kathaṁ sa puruṣaḥ pārtha kaṁ ghātayati hanti kam

O Pārtha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, eternal, unborn and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?

vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī

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.

nainaṁ chindanti śastrāṇi nainaṁ dahati pāvakaḥ na cainaṁ kledayanty āpo na śoṣayati mārutaḥ

The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.

acchedyo ’yam adāhyo ’yam akledyo ’śoṣya eva ca nityaḥ sarva-gataḥ sthāṇur acalo ’yaṁ sanātanaḥ

This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.

avyakto ’yam acintyo ’yam avikāryo ’yam ucyate tasmād evaṁ viditvainaṁ nānuśocitum arhasi

It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.

atha cainaṁ nitya-jātaṁ nityaṁ vā manyase mṛtam tathāpi tvaṁ mahā-bāho nainaṁ śocitum arhasi

If, however, you think that the soul [or the symptoms of life] will always be born and die forever, you still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca tasmād aparihārye ’rthe na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi

One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.

avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā

All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?

āścarya-vat paśyati kaścid enam āścarya-vad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ āścarya-vac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti śrutvāpy enaṁ veda na caiva kaścit

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.

dehī nityam avadhyo ’yaṁ dehe sarvasya bhārata tasmāt sarvāṇi bhūtāni na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi

O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any living being.

sva-dharmam api cāvekṣya na vikampitum arhasi dharmyād dhi yuddhāc chreyo ’nyat kṣatriyasya na vidyate

Considering your specific duty as a kṣatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation.

yadṛcchayā copapannaṁ svarga-dvāram apāvṛtam sukhinaḥ kṣatriyāḥ pārtha labhante yuddham īdṛśam

O Pārtha, happy are the kṣatriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.

atha cet tvam imaṁ dharmyaṁ saṅgrāmaṁ na kariṣyasi tataḥ sva-dharmaṁ kīrtiṁ ca hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi

If, however, you do not perform your religious duty of fighting, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.

akīrtiṁ cāpi bhūtāni kathayiṣyanti te ’vyayām sambhāvitasya cākīrtir maraṇād atiricyate

People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death.

bhayād raṇād uparataṁ maṁsyante tvāṁ mahā-rathāḥ yeṣāṁ ca tvaṁ bahu-mato bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam

The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you insignificant.

avācya-vādāṁś ca bahūn vadiṣyanti tavāhitāḥ nindantas tava sāmarthyaṁ tato duḥkha-taraṁ nu kim

Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?

hato vā prāpsyasi svargaṁ jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm tasmād uttiṣṭha kaunteya yuddhāya kṛta-niścayaḥ

O son of Kuntī, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore, get up with determination and fight.

sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi

Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat – and by so doing you shall never incur sin.

eṣā te ’bhihitā sāṅkhye buddhir yoge tv imāṁ śṛṇu buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha karma-bandhaṁ prahāsyasi

Thus far I have described this knowledge to you through analytical study. Now listen as I explain it in terms of working without fruitive results. O son of Pṛthā, when you act in such knowledge you can free yourself from the bondage of works.

nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti pratyavāyo na vidyate sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt

In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām yām imāṁ puṣpitāṁ vācaṁ pravadanty avipaścitaḥ veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārtha nānyad astīti vādinaḥ kāmātmānaḥ svarga-parā janma-karma-phala-pradām kriyā-viśeṣa-bahulāṁ bhogaiśvarya-gatiṁ prati

Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched. 2.42-2.43 Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.

bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ samādhau na vidhīyate

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

trai-guṇya-viṣayā vedā nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho niryoga-kṣema ātmavān

The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the self.

yāvān artha uda-pāne sarvataḥ samplutodake tāvān sarveṣu vedeṣu brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ

All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.

karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi

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.

yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañ-jaya siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga ucyate

Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.

dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañ-jaya buddhau śaranam anviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ

O Dhanañjaya, keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service, and in that consciousness surrender unto the Lord. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.

buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam

A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad reactions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, which is the art of all work.

karma-jaṁ buddhi-yuktā hi phalaṁ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ janma-bandha-vinirmuktāḥ padaṁ gacchanty anāmayam

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].

yadā te moha-kalilaṁ buddhir vyatitariṣyati tadā gantāsi nirvedaṁ śrotavyasya śrutasya ca

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.

śruti-vipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niścalā samādhāv acalā buddhis tadā yogam avāpsyasi

When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the divine consciousness.

arjuna uvāca sthita-prajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhi-sthasya keśava sthita-dhīḥ kiṁ prabhāṣeta kim āsīta vrajeta kim

Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk?

śrī-bhagavān uvāca prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān ātmany evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthita-prajñas tadocyate

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O Pārtha, 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.

duḥkheṣv anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣu vigata-spṛhaḥ vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir ucyate

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.

yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas tat tat prāpya śubhāśubham nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā

In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ kūrmo ’ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā

One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness.

viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ rasa-varjaṁ raso ’py asya paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

Though the embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.

yatato hy api kaunteya puruṣasya vipaścitaḥ indriyāṇi pramāthīni haranti prasabhaṁ manaḥ

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.

tāni sarvāṇi saṁyamya yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ vaśe hi yasyendriyāṇi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā

One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.

dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣūpajāyate saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho ’bhijāyate

While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.

krodhād bhavati sammohaḥ sammohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśo buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati

From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost one falls down again into the material pool.

rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu viṣayān indriyaiś caran ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā prasādam adhigacchati

But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control his senses through regulative principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord.

prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ hānir asyopajāyate prasanna-cetaso hy āśu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate

For one thus satisfied [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness], the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness, one’s intelligence is soon well established.

nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham

One who is not connected with the Supreme [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness] can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

indriyāṇāṁ hi caratāṁ yan mano ’nuvidhīyate tad asya harati prajñāṁ vāyur nāvam ivāmbhasi

As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man’s intelligence.

tasmād yasya mahā-bāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā

Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

āpūryamāṇam acala-pratiṣṭhaṁ samudram āpaḥ praviśanti yadvat tadvat kāmā yaṁ praviśanti sarve sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī

A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires – that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still – can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.

vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān pumāṁś carati niḥspṛhaḥ nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ sa śāntim adhigacchati

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.

eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṁ prāpya vimuhyati sthitvāsyām anta-kāle ’pi brahma-nirvāṇam ṛcchati

That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man is not bewildered. If one is thus situated even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God.