Bhagavad Gita
chapters four through six
The Blessed Lord said:
I proclaimed this imperishable yoga to Vivasvan; Vivasan told it
to Manu and Manu spoke it to Iksvaku.
Thus handed down from one to another the royal sages knew it till
that yoga was lost to the world through long lapse of time, O
Oppressor of the foe (Arjuna).
This same ancient yoga has been today declared to thee by Me; for
thou art My devotee and My friend; and this is the supreme
secret.
Arjuna said:
Later was Thy birth and earlier was the birth of Vivasvat. How
then am I to understand that thou didst declare it to him in the
beginning?
The Blessed Lord said:
Many are My lives that are past, and thine also, O Arjuna; all of
them I know but thou knowest not, O Scourge of the foe (Arjuna).
Though (I am) unborn, and My self (is) imperishable, though (I
am) the lord of all creatures, yet establishing Myself in My own
nature, I come into (empiric) being through My power (maya).
Whenever there is a decline of righteousness and rise of
unrighteousness, O Bharata (Arjuna), then I send forth (create
incarnate) Myself.
For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked
and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being
from age to age.
He who knows thus in its true nature My divine birth and works,
is not born again, when he leaves his body but comes to Me, O
Arjuna.
Delivered from passion, fear and anger, absorbed in Me, taking
refuge in Me, many purified by the austerity of wisdom, have
attained to My state of being.
As men approach me so do I accept them: men on all sides follow
my path, O Partha (Arjuna).
Those who desire the fruition of there works on earth offer
sacrifices to the gods (the various forms of the one Godhead) for
the fruition of works in this world of men is very quick.
The fourfold order was created by Me according to the divisions
of quality and work. Though I am its creator, know Me to be
incapable of action or change.
Works do not defile Me; nor do I have yearning for their fruit.
He who knows Me thus is not bound by works.
So knowing was work done also by the men of old who sought
liberation. Therefore do thou also work as the ancients did in
former times.
What is action? What is inaction?--as to this even the wise are
bewildered. I will declare to thee what action is, knowing which
thou shalt be delivered from evil.
One has to understand what action is, and likewise one has to
understand about inaction. Hard to understand is the way of work.
He who in action sees inaction and action in inaction, he is wise
among men, he is yogin and he has accomplished all his work.
He whose undertakings are all free from the will of desire, whose
works are burned up in the fire of wisdom, him the wise call a
man of learning.
Having abandoned attachment to the fruit of works, ever content,
without any kind of dependance, he does nothing though he is ever
engaged in work.
Having no desires, with his heart and self under control, giving
up all possessions, performing action by the body alone, he
commits no wrong.
He who is satisfied with whatever comes by chance, who has passed
beyond the dualities (of pleasure and pain), who is free from
jealousy, who remains the same in success and failure, even when
he acts, he is not bound.
The work of a man whose attachments are sundered, who is
liberated, whose mind is firmly founded in wisdom, who does work
as a sacrifice, is dissolved entirely.
For him the act of offering is God, the oblation is God. By God
is it offered into the fire of God. God is that which is to be
attained by him who realizes God in his works.
Some yogins offer sacrifices to the gods while others offer
sacrifice by the sacrifice itself into the fire of the Supreme.
Some offer hearing and the other senses into the fires of
restraint; others offer sound and the other objects of sense in
the fires of sense.
Some again offer all the works of their senses and the works of
the vital force into the fire of the yoga of self control,
kindled by knowledge.
Others again who are devoted to breath control, having restrained
the paths of prana (the outgoing breath) and apana (the incoming
breath) pour as a sacrifice prana into apana and apana into
prana.
While others, restricting their food, pour as sacrifice their
life breaths into life breaths. All these are knowers of
sacrifice (know what sacrifice is) and by sacrifice have their
sins destroyed.
Those who eat the sacred food that remains after a sacrifice
attain to the eternal Absolute; this world is not for him who
offers no sacrifice, how then any other world, O Best of the
Kurus (Arjuna)?
Thus many forms of sacrifice are spread out in the face of
Brahman (i.e. set forth as the means of reaching the Absolute).
Know thou that all these are born of work, and so knowing thou
shalt be freed.
Knowledge as a sacrifice is greater than any material sacrifice,
O scourge of the foe (Arjuna), for all works without any
exception culminate in wisdom.
Learn that by humble reverence, by inquiry and by service. The
men of wisdom who have seen the truth will instruct thee in
knowledge.
When thou hast known it, thou shalt not fall again into this
confusion, O Pandava (Arjuna), for by this thou shalt see all
existences without exception in the Self, then in Me.
Even if thou shouldst be the most sinful of all sinners, thou
shalt cross over all evil by the boat of wisdom alone.
As the fire which is kindled turns its fuel to ashes, O Arjuna,
even so does the fire of wisdom turn to ashes all work.
There is nothing on earth equal in purity to wisdom. He who
becomes perfected by yoga finds this of himself, in his self in
course of time.
He who has faith, who is absorbed in it (i.e. wisdom) and who has
subdued his senses gains wisdom and having gained wisdom he
attains quickly the supreme peace.
But the man who is ignorant, who has no faith, who is of a
doubting nature, perishes. For the doubting soul, there is
neither this world nor the world beyond nor any happiness.
Works do not bind him who has renounced all works by yoga, who
has destroyed all doubt by wisdom and who ever possesses his
soul, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna).
Therefore having cut asunder with the sword of wisdom this doubt
in thy heart that is born of ignorance, resort to yoga and stand
up, O Bharata (Arjuna).
Arjuna said:
Thou praisest, O Krsna, the renunciation of works and again their
unselfish performance. Tell me for certain which one is the
better of these two.
The Blessed Lord said: The renunciation of works and their
unselfish performance both lead to the soul's salvation. But of
the two, the unselfish performance of works is better than their
renunciation.
He who neither loathes nor desires should be known as one who has
ever the spirit of renunciation; for free from dualitites he is
released easily, O Mighty-armed (Arjuna), from bondage.
He who works having given up attachment, resigning his actions to
God, is not touched by sin, even as a lotus leaf (is untouched)
by water.
The yogins (men of action) perform works merely with the body,
mind, understanding or merely with the senses, abandoning
attachment, for the purification of their souls.
The soul earnest (or devoted) attains to peace well-founded, by
abandoning attachment to the fruits of works, but he whose soul
is not in union with the Divine is impelled by desire, and is
attached to the fruit (of action) and is (therefore) bound.
The embodied (soul), who has controlled his nature having
renounced all actions by the mind (inwardly) dwells at ease in
the city of nine gates, neither working nor causing work to be
done.
The Sovereign Self does not create for the people agency, nor
does He act. Nor does He connect works with their fruits. It is
nature that works out (these).
The All-pervading Spirit does not take on the sin or the merit of
any. Wisdom is enveloped by ignorance; thereby creatures are
bewildered.
But for those in whom ignorance is destroyed by wisdom, for them
wisdom lights up the Supreme Self like the sun.
Thinking of That, directing their whole conscious being to That,
making That their whole aim, with That as the sole object of
their devotion, they reach a state from which there is no return,
their sins washed away by wisdom.
Sages see with an equal eye, a learned and humble Brahmin, a cow,
an elephant or even a dog or an outcaste.
Even here (on earth) the created (world) is overcome by those
whose mind is established in equality. God is flawless and the
same in all. Therefore are these (persons) established in God.
One should not rejoice on obtaining what is pleasant nor sorrow
on obtaining what is unpleasant. He who is (thus) firm of
understanding and unbewildered, (such a) knower of God is
established in God.
When the soul is no longer attached to external contacts
(objects) one finds the happiness that is in the Self. Such a one
who is self-controlled in Yoga on God (Brhama) enjoys undying
bliss.
Whatever pleasures are born of contacts (with objects) are only
sources of sorrow, they have a beginning and an end, O Son of
Kunti (Arjuna), no wise man delights in them.
He who is able to resist the rush of desire and anger, even here
before he gives up his body, he is a yogin, he is the happy man.
He who finds his happiness within, his joy within and likewise
his light only within, that yogin becomes divine and attains to
the beatitude of God (brahmanirvana).
The holy men whose sins are destroyed, whose doubts (dualities)
are cut asunder, whose minds are disciplened and who rejoice in
(doing) good to all creatures, attain to the beatitude of God.
To those austere souls (yatis) who are delivered from desire and
anger asnd who have subdued their minds and have knowledge of the
Self, near to them lies the beatitude of God.
And shutting out all external objects, fixing the vision between
the eyebrows, making even the inward and the outward breaths
moving within the nostrils, the sage who has controlled the
senses, mind and understanding, who is intent on liberation, who
has cast away desire, fear and anger, he is ever freed.
And having known Me as the Enjoyer of sacrifices and austerities,
the Great Lord of all the worlds, the Friend of all beings, he
(the sage) attains peace.
The Blessed Lord said:
He who does the work which he ought to do without seeking its
fruit he is the samnyasin, he is the yogin, not he who does not
light the sacred fire, and performs no rites.
What they call renunciation, that know to be disciplened
activity, O Pandava (Arjuna), for no one becomes a yogin who has
not renounced his (selfish) purpose.
Work is said to be the means of the sage who wishes to attain to
yoga; when he has attained to yoga, serenity is said to be the
means.
When one does not get attached to the objects of sense or to
works, and has renounced all purposes, then, he is said to have
attained to yoga.
Let a man lift himself by himself; let him not degrade himself;
for the Self alone is the friend of the self and the Self alone
is the enemy of the self.
For him who has conquered his (lower) self by the (higher) Self
his Self is a friend but for him who has not possessed his
(higher) Self, his very Self will act in enmity, like an enemy.
When one has conquered one's self (lower) and has attained to the
calm of self-mastery, his Supreme Self abides ever concentrate,
he is at peace in cold and heat, in pleasure and pain, in honour
and dishonour.
The ascetic (yogi) whose soul is satisfied with wisdom and
knowledge, who is unchanging and master of his senses, to whom a
clod, a stone and a piece of gold are the same, is said to be
controlled (in yoga).
He who is equal-minded among friends, companions and foes, among
those who are neutral and impartial, among those who are hateful
and related, among saints and sinners,he excels.
Let the yogin try constantly to concentrate his mind (on the
Supreme Self) remaining in solitude and alone, self-controlled,
free from desires and (longing for) possessions.
Having set in a clean place his firm seat, neither too high nor
too low, covered with sacred grass, a deerskin, and a cloth, one
over the other,
There taking his place on the seat, making his mind one-pointed
and controlling his thought and sense, let him practise yoga for
the purification of the soul.
Holding the body, head and neck, erect and still, looking fixedly
at the tip of his nose, without looking around (without allowing
his eyes to wander).
Serene and fearless, firm in the vow of celibacy, subdued in
mind, let him sit, harmonized, his mind turned to Me and intent
on Me alone.
The yogin of subdued mind, ever keeping himself thus harmonized,
attains to peace, the supreme nirvana, which abides in Me.
Verily, yoga is not for him who eats too much or abstains too
much from eating. It is not for him, O Arjuna, who sleeps too
much or keeps awake too much.
For the man who is temperate in food and recreation, who is
restrained in his actions, whose sleep and waking are regulated,
there ensues disciplene (yoga) which destroys all sorrow.
When the disciplened mind is established in the Self alone,
liberated from all desires, then is he said to be harmonized (in
yoga).
As a lamp in a windless place flickereth not, to such is likened
the yogi of subdued thought who practises union with the Self (or
disciplene of himself).
That in which thought is at rest, restrained by the practice of
concentration, that in which he beholds the Self through the self
and rejoices in the Self;
That in which he finds this supreme delight, perceived by the
intelligence and beyond the reach of the senses, wherein
established, he no longer falls away from the truth;
That, on gaining which he thinks that there is no greater gain
beyond it, wherein established he is not shaken even by the
heaviest sorrow;
Let that be known by the name of yoga, this disconnection from
union with pain. This yoga should be practised with
determination, with heart undismayed.
Abandoning without exception all desires born of (selfish) will,
restraining with the mind all the senses on every side;
Let him gain little by little tranquility by means of reason
controlled by steadiness and having fixed the mind on the Self,
let him not think of anything (else).
Whatsoever makes the wavering and unsteady mind wander away let
him restrain and bring it back to the control of the Self alone.
For supreme happiness comes to the yogin whose mind is peaceful,
whose passions are at rest, who is stainless and has become one
with God.
Thus making the self ever harmonized, the yogin, who has put away
sin, experiences easily the infinite bliss of contact with the
eternal.
He whose self is harmonized by yoga, seeth the Self abiding in
all beings and all beings in the Self; everywhere he sees the
same.
He who sees Me every where and sees all in Me; I am not lost to
him nor is he lost to Me.
The yogin who established in oneness, worships Me abiding in all
beings lives in Me, howsoever he may be active.
He, O Arjuna, who sees with equality everything, in the image of
his own self, whether in pleasure or in pain, he is considered a
perfect yogi.
Arjuna said:
This yoga declared by you to be of the nature of equality
(evenness of mind), O Madhusudana (Krsna), I see no stable
foundation for, on account of restlessness.
For the mind is verily fickle, O Krsna, it is impetuous, strong
and obstinate. I think that it is as difficult to control as the
wind.
The Blessed Lord said:
Without a doubt, O Mighty-armed (Arjuna), the mind is difficult
to curb and restless but it can be controlled, O son of Kunti
(Arjuna), by constant practice and non-attachment.
Yoga is hard to attain, I agree, by one who is not self
controlled; but by the self-controlled it is attainable by
striving through proper means.
Arjuna said:
He who cannot control himself though he has faith, with the mind
wandering away from yoga, failing to attain perfection in yoga,
what way does he go, O Krsna?
Does he not perish like a rent cloud, O Mighty-armed (Krsna),
fallen from both and without any hold and bewildered in the path
that leads to the Eternal?
Thou shoulst dispel completely this, my doubt, O Krsna, for there
is none else than Thyself who can destroy this doubt.
The Blessed Lord said:
O, Partha (Arjuna), neither in this life nor hereafter is there
destruction for him; for never does any one who does good, dear
friend, tread the path of woe.
Having attained to the world of the righteous and dwelt there for
very many years, the man who has fallen away from yoga is again
born in the house of such as are pure and prosperous.
Or he may be born in the family of yogins who are endowed with
wisdom. For such a birth as this is more difficult to obtain in
the world.
There he regains the (mental) impressions (of union with the
Divine) which he had developed in his previous life and with this
(as the starting point) he strives again for perfection, O Joy of
the Kurus (Arjuna).
By his former practice, he is carried on irresistibly. Even the
seeker after knowledge of yoga goes beyond the Vedic rule.
But the yogi who strives with assiduity, cleansed of all sins,
perfecting himself through many lives, then he attains to the
highest goal.
The yogin is greater than the ascetic; he is considered to be
greater than the man of knowledge, greater than the man of ritual
works, therefore do thou become a yogin, O Arjuna.
And of all yogins, he who full of faith worships Me, with his
inner self abiding in Me, I hold to be the most attuned (to Me in
Yoga).
On to Chapters Seven through Nine!