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1. Krishna, if it is your belief that the way of intelligence is superior to action, then why do you enjoin me, Keshava, to this terrible undertaking?
2. With such equivocal words you seem to confuse my intelligence. Describe clearly an unambiguous way through which I may attain what is best.
3. Blameless one, I have taught of old that in this world two ways are open: the discipline of knowledge for Sankhya theorists, and the discipline of action for yogins.
4. A man does not attain freedom from the results of action by abstaining from actions, and he does not approach perfection simply by renunciation.
5. For no one ever, even for a moment, exists without acting; everyone, regardless of their will, is made to perform actions by the constituents which originate from material nature.
6. The man who, having restrained his action organs, then sits with his mind preoccupied with sense objects, is called a self-deluding hypocrite.
7. But the man who, controlling his senses with his mind, undertakes through his action organs the discipline of action without attachment, distinguishes himself, Arjuna.
8. You should perform enjoined action, for action is better than non-action; even the minimum of bodily subsistence would be impossible without action.
9. The entire world is bound by actions; the only exception is action undertaken for sacrificial purposes. Therefore, Son of Kunti, free from attachment, you should perform that kind of action.
10. When he created creatures in the beginning, along with the sacrifice, Prajapati said: “May you be fruitful by this sacrifice, let this be the cow which produces all you desire.
11. “You should nourish the gods with this so that the gods may nourish you; nourishing each other, you shall achieve the highest good.
12. “For nourished by the sacrifice, the gods will give you the pleasures you desire. The man who enjoys these gifts without repaying them is no more than a thief.”
13. The virtuous who eat the remainder of the sacrifice are released from all faults; the wicked who cook for the sake of themselves consume impurity.
14. Beings exist through food, the origin of food is rain, rain comes from sacrifice, sacrifice derives from action.
15. Know that action originates from Brahman – Brahman whose source is the imperishable. Therefore all-pervading Brahman is eternally established in the sacrifice.
16. Whoever in this world doe not turn the wheel thus set in motion, Partha, lives in vain, making a pleasure garden of his senses, intent upon evil.
17. But it is clear that, for the man who delights in the self, and is satisfied with the self, and fulfilled only in the self, there is nothing that has to be done.
18. For him there is no significance whatsoever in what has been done or has not been done in this world, and he has no kind of dependence at all on any being.
19. Therefore, without attachment, always do whatever action has to be done; for it is through acting without attachment that a man attains the highest.
20. Indeed, it was by action alone that King Janaka and others attained perfection. Looking only to what maintains the world, you too must act.
21. Whatever the superior man does, so do the rest; whatever standard he sets, the world follows it.
22. Partha, as for me there is nothing whatever that has to be done in the three worlds; there is nothing unaccomplished to be accomplished. Yet I still engage in action.
23. For were I not to engage tirelessly in action, humans everywhere would follow in my wake, Partha.
24. If I did not engage in action, these worlds would fall into ruin; I should be the instrument of anarchy; I should destroy these creatures.
25. Just as the ignorant act out of attachment to action, Bharata, so the wise should also act, but without attachment, intent upon maintaining the world.
26. The wise man should not disturb the minds of those ignorant people who are attached to action; acting in a disciplined manner himself, he should encourage involvement in all actions.
27. In every case, actions are performed by the constituents of material nature; although the man who is deluded by egotism thinks to himself, “I am the actor.”
28. But he who knows the principle underlying the division of constituents and actions, understanding that it is constituents that are acting on constituents, is not attached, Great Arm.
29. The person whose knowledge is comprehensive should not agitate those dullards whose knowledge is not so great – those who are deluded by the constituents of material nature and attached to the actions of the constituents.
30. Giving up all actions to me, with your mind on what relates to the self, desireless and not possessive, fight! Your fever is past.
31. Faithful, uncontentious men, who constantly practise this doctrine of mine, are also released from the results of action.
32. But you should know that those who object to this, who do not follow my doctrine, and who are blind to all knowledge, are mindless and lost.
33. Even the one who knows acts in accordance with his own material nature. Creatures conform to material nature – what good will repression do?
34. In the case of a sense, desire and aversion adhere to the object of that sense; you should not fall into the power of those two, for they will block your path.
35. It is better to practise your own inherent duty deficiently than another’s duty well. It is better to die conforming to your own duty; the duty of others invites danger.
36. So what is it that impels a man to do evil, Varshneya, even unwillingly, as though compelled to it by force?
37. It is desire, it is anger, produced from the constituent of passion, all-consuming, all-injuring; know that that is the enemy here.
38. As a fire is covered by smoke and a mirror by dust; as an embryo is covered by a sac, this world is enveloped by that.
39. By this perpetual enemy of the wise, by this insatiable fire in the form of desire, knowledge is obscured, Son of Kunti.
40. It is said that the sense, the mind, and the intelligence are its locality; having obscured a man’s knowledge with these, it deludes the embodied self.
41. Therefore, having first restrained the senses, Bull of the Bharatas, strike down this evil thing, the destroyer of insight and knowledge.
42. They say that the senses are great; the mind is greater than the senses. Yet greater than the mind is the intelligence; but he is that which is still greater than the intelligence.
43. So, Great Arm, having learned what is higher than the intelligence, and having strengthened yourself through the self, kill that enemy in the shape of desire, so difficult to pin down.
