Sanskrit
अहिंसा सत्यमक्रोधस्त्यागः शान्तिरपैशुनम् । दया भूतेष्वलोलुप्त्वं मार्दवं ह्रीरचापलम् ॥
ahiṃsā satyam akrodhas tyāgaḥ śāntir apaiśunam dayā bhūteṣv aloluptvaṃ mārdavaṃ hrīr acapalam
Translation
Harmlessness, truth, absence of wrath, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to living beings, uncovetousness, mildness, modesty, absence of fickleness,
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The virtue list continues, and its second wave opens with ahiṃsā (harmlessness) and satya (truth) — the same pairing that later yogic and Jain traditions would elevate above all other ethical restraints. Terms like apaiśunam (freedom from malicious gossip) and acapalam (freedom from fickleness) point to a fairly granular moral psychology: the text isn’t just naming broad virtues but the small behavioral tics — backbiting, restlessness — that erode them. There’s still no argument for why these are good; verses 1–3 function as an itemized checklist a listener is meant to recognize themselves in, not a philosophical proof.