Karma (कर्म)

Taking as equal pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, gird thee for the battle; thus thou shalt not incur sin.

Flowery speech is uttered by the foolish, rejoicing in the letter of the Vedas, O Pârtha, saying: "There is naught but this";

With desire for self, with heaven for goal, they offer birth as the fruit of action, and prescribe many and various ceremonies for the attainment of pleasure and lordship.

Thy business is with the action only, never with its fruits; so let not the fruit of action be thy motive, nor be thou to inaction attached.

Perform action, O Dhananjaya, dwelling in union with the divine, renouncing attachments and balanced evenly in success and failure: equilibrium is called yoga.

Far lower than the Yoga of Discrimination is action, O Dhananjaya. Take thou refuge in the Pure Reason; pitiable are they who work for fruit.

United to the Pure Reason one abandoneth here both good and evil deeds; therefore cleave thou to yoga; yoga is skill in action.

The Sages, united to the Pure Reason, renounce the fruit which action yieldeth, and, liberated from the bonds of birth, they go to the blissful seat.

If it be thought by Thee that knowledge is superior to action, O Janârdana, why dost Thou, O Keshava, enjoin on me this terrible action?

In this world there is a twofold path, as I before said, O sinless one: that of yoga by knowledge, of the Sâñkhyas; and that of yoga by action, of the Yogis.

Man winneth not freedom from action by abstaining from activity, nor by mere renunciation doth he rise to perfection.

Nor can anyone, even for an instant, remain really actionless; for helplessly is everyone driven to action by the qualities born of nature.

But who, controlling the senses by the mind, O Arjuna, with the organs of action without attachment, performeth yoga by action, he is worthy.

Perform thou right action, for, action is superior to inaction, and, inactive, even the maintenance of thy body would not be possible.

The world is bound by action, unless performed for the sake of sacrifice; for that sake, free from attachment, O son of Kuntî, perform thou action.

Therefore, without attachment, constantly perform action which is duty, for, by performing action without attachment, man verily reacheth the Supreme.

Janaka and others indeed attained to perfection by action: then having an eye to the welfare of the world also, thou shouldst perform action.

As the ignorant act from attachment to action, O Bhârata, so should the wise act without attachment, desiring the welfare of the world.

Surrendering all actions to Me, with thy thoughts resting on the supreme Self, from hope and egoism freed, and of mental fever cured, engage in battle.

They who long after success in action on earth worship the Shining Ones; for in brief space verily, in this world of men, success is born of action.

Nor do actions affect Me, nor is the fruit of action desired by Me. He who thus knoweth Me is not bound by actions.

Having thus known, our forefathers, ever seeking liberation, performed action; therefore do thou also perform action, as did our forefathers in the olden time.

"What is action, what inaction"? Even the wise are herein perplexed. Therefore I will declare to thee the action by knowing which thou shalt be loosed from evil.

It is needful to discriminate action, to discriminate unlawful action, and to discriminate inaction; mysterious is the path of action.

He who seeth inaction in action, and action in inaction, he is wise among men, he is harmonious, even while performing all action.

Whose works are all free from the moulding of desire, whose actions are burned up by the fire of wisdom, him the wise have called a Sage.

Having abandoned attachment to the fruit of action, always content, nowhere seeking refuge, he is not doing anything, although doing actions.

Hoping for naught, his mind and self controlled, having abandoned all greed, performing action by the body alone, he doth not commit sin.

Content with whatsoever he obtaineth without effort, free from the pairs of opposites, without envy, balanced in success and failure, though acting he is not bound.

Of one with attachment dead, harmonious, with his thoughts established in wisdom, his works sacrifices, all action melts away.

Many and various sacrifices are thus spread out before the Eternal. Know thou that all these are born of action, and thus knowing thou shalt be free.

Better than the sacrifice of any objects is the sacrifice of wisdom, O Parantapa. All actions in their entirety, O Pârtha, culminate in wisdom.

As the burning fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so doth the fire of wisdom reduce all actions to ashes.

He who hath renounced actions by yoga, who hath cloven asunder doubt by wisdom, who is ruled by the Self, actions do not bind him, O Dhananjaya.

Renunciation of actions Thou praisest, O Krishna, and then also yoga. Of the two which one is the better? That tell me conclusively.

Renunciation and yoga by action both lead to the highest bliss; of the two, yoga by action is verily better than renunciation of action.

He who is harmonised by yoga, the self purified, Self-ruled, the senses subdued, whose Self is the Self of all beings, although acting he is not affected.

He who acteth, placing all actions in the Eternal, abandoning attachment, is unaffected by sin as a lotus leaf by the waters.

Yogis, having abandoned attachment, perform action only by the body, by the mind, by the Reason, and even by the senses, for the purification of the self.

The harmonised man, having abandoned the fruit of action, attaineth to the eternal Peace; the non-harmonised, impelled by desire, attached to fruit, are bound.

He that performeth such action as his duty, independently of the fruit of action, he is an ascetic, he is a Yogi, not he that is without fire, and without rites.

O son of Prithâ, neither in this world nor in the life to come is there destruction for him; never doth any who worketh righteousness, O beloved, tread the path of woe.

The Yogi is greater than the ascetics; he is thought to be greater than even the wise; the Yogi is greater than the men of action; therefore become thou a Yogi, O Arjuna!

But those men of pure deeds, in whom sin is come to an end, they, freed from the delusive pairs of opposites, worship Me, steadfast in vows.

They who, refuged in Me, strive for liberation from birth and death, they know the Eternal, the whole Self-knowledge, and all action.

The indestructible, the supreme is the Eternal; His essential nature is called Self-knowledge; the emanation that causes the birth of beings is named Action;

Nor do these works bind me, O Dhananjaya, enthroned on high unattached to actions.

Whatsoever thou doest, whatsoever thou eatest, whatsoever thou offerest, whatsoever thou givest, whatsoever thou doest of austerity, O Kaunteya, do thou that as an offering unto Me.

Therefore stand up! win for thyself renown, Conquer thy foes, enjoy the wealth filled realm, By Me they are already overcome, Be thou the outward cause, left-handed one.

If also thou art not equal to constant practice, be intent on My service; performing actions for My sake, thou shalt attain perfection.

If even to do this thou hast not strength, then, taking refuge in union with Me, renounce all fruit of action with the self controlled.

Some by meditation behold the Self in the self by the Self; others by the Sânkhya Yoga, and others by the Yoga of Action;

He who seeth that Matter verily performeth all actions, and that the Self is actionless, he seeth.

Downwards and upwards spread the branches of it, nourished by the qualities; the objects of the senses its buds; and its roots grow downwards, the bonds of action in the world of men.

Therefore let the Scriptures be thy authority, in determining what ought to be done, or what ought not to be done. Knowing what hath been declared by the ordinances of the Scriptures, thou oughtest to work in this world.

The sacrifice which is offered by men without desire for fruit, as enjoined by the ordinances, under the firm belief that sacrifice is a duty, that is pure.

This threefold austerity, performed by men with the utmost faith, without desire for fruit, harmonised, is said to be pure.

With the pronunciation of "Tat" and without aiming at fruit are performed the various acts of sacrifice, austerity and gift, by those desiring liberation.

The Blessed Lord said: Sages have known as renunciation the renouncing of works with desire; the relinquishing of the fruit of all actions is called relinquishment by the wise.

But even these actions should be done leaving aside attachment and fruit, O Partha; that is my certain and best belief.

He who performeth a prescribed action, saying, "it ought to be done," O Arjuna, relinquishing attachment and also fruit, that relinquishment is regarded as pure.

Nor indeed can embodied beings completely relinquish action; verily he who relinquisheth the fruit of action, he is said to be a relinquisher.

Good, evil and mixed—threefold is the fruit of action hereafter for the non-relinquisher; but there is none ever for the renouncer.

These five causes, O mighty-armed, learn of Me as declared in the Sankhya system for the accomplishment of all actions:

He who is free from the egoistic notion, whose Reason is not affected, though he slay these peoples, he slayeth not, nor is bound.

An action which is ordained, done by one undesirous of fruit, devoid of attachment, without love or hate, that is called pure.

Abandoning all duties come unto Me alone for shelter; sorrow not, I will liberate thee from all sins.