BG 2.1 - 72
Seeing Arjuna overwhelmed with compassion, his eyes flowing with tears, and his mind overcome by sorrow, Krishna consoled him.
Krishna asked:
How has this delusion overcome you in this hour of peril? This is a crude mentality, practiced by those who do not reach the higher abodes.
[2]Do not yield to impotence, Arjuna. This does not befit you. Arise above this petty weakness of the heart and conquer your enemies.
[3]
Arjuna replied:
How can I shoot an arrow at Grandsire Bhishma or my teacher Dronacharya, men who are worthy of my worship?
[4]It would be better to live as a beggar than to kill my exalted teachers. Anything gained from killing my elders would be always be stained by their blood.
[5]We do not know if it is better for us to conquer or to be conquered. The sons of Dhritarashtra, who we do not want to kill, stand ready to kill us.
[6]My heart is besieged by cowardice, and I need your guidance on what my duty is. I am your disciple and surrender completely to your wisdom.
[7]I do not see this overwhelming grief going away even if I were the most prosperous king in the world, or even if I were to gain sovereignty over all of heaven.
[8]
Having spoken his dilemma to Krishna, Arjuna repeated "I will not fight" and became silent. From a chariot in the middle of two great armies, Krishna smiled at the grief-stricken Arjuna, and spoke these words.
Krishna said:
You speak these words that sound of wisdom, yet you are grieving for those who should not be grieved for. The wise do not grieve for the living nor do they grieve for the dead.
[11]There was never a time in the past, and there will never be a time in the future, when any of us cease to exist.
[12]Just as the soul travels in one body from childhood and youth into old age, it passes into a new body after one's death - the wise have no delusions about this.
[13]The contact of the senses with the sense objects produce cold and heat, happiness and sorrow. They rise and fall. They are impermanent. Learn to tolerate them, Arjuna.
[14]
Only the person who is not distressed by these sensations, who can accept both pain and pleasure with equanimity, is eligible for liberation. Those who have seen the truth know that the unreal does not exist, and that which is real never ceases to exist. There is an imperishable entity that pervades all things. Nothing can destroy it. These material bodies have an end, while the soul they carry is eternal, indestructible, and incomprehensible. Therefore, Arjuna, fight in this battle!
One who considers themself the slayer, and another who considers themself slain, are both wrong. The soul can neither kill nor be killed. It is never born, and it never dies. Having come into existence, it never ceases to exist. It is immortal, and does not die when the body dies. One who knows the soul to be indestructible and eternal - how does such a person cause anyone to be killed, and who do they kill?
As one would cast off worn-out garments and put on new ones, the soul casts off its worn-out bodies and enters new ones.
[22]The soul cannot be cut by weapons, burned by fire, drenched by water or dried by the wind.
[23]This soul cannot be broken, burned, drowned, or dried. It is eternal, all-pervasive, and unchanging.
[24]This soul is said to be unchanging and inconceivable. Therefore, knowing this, you have no reason to grieve.
[25]
Even if you think of this soul as constantly cycling through birth and death, even then you should not grieve. For one who has been born, death is certain. For one who dies, rebirth is certain. Therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable. All beings have an unknown beginning, a known middle, and an unknown end. What is there to grieve in this?
Someone sees this soul as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet, even having heard, none understand it. The soul is always immortal, and therefore, you should not mourn for any living beings. Further, your duty as a soldier compels you not to waver. For a warrior, there is no higher duty than fighting a righteous war. The doors of heaven are wide open to such warriors, who rejoice to come across such a war.
On the other hand, refusing to fight in this righteous war is a sinful act, a dereliction of your duty, and will destroy your reputation. People will always remember your dishonor. For a respectable person, infamy is worse than death. The great warriors will think you have fled out of fear. Those who hold you in high esteem will no longer do so. Your enemies will use harsh words to defame you further. What could be more painful than this? If you are slain, you will attain heaven. If you win, you will enjoy a kingdom on Earth. Therefore, stand up and fight with determination. Happiness and sadness, gain and loss, victory and defeat - all should be treated alike. In this way, you will never be acting sinfully when fighting.
Having imparted this philosophy concerning the body and soul, I will now tell you how one may use their intellect to release themselves from the bondage of action. One does not lose anything by doing this, nor do they trigger any adverse results. Even a small amount of practice protects one from great danger. The mind must remain resolute and single-pointed. The minds of the irresolute have many endless branches.
Those with limited understanding get attracted to the flowery language of the Vedas. They advocate for ostentatious rituals to please their senses, project opulence, and gain the results of righteous conduct. They only progress further toward gratifying their desires with luxury and opulence. Desiring sensual gratification as well as the heavenly abodes, they devise pompous ceremonies to collect the result of good deeds, only moving further toward enjoyment of the senses. With their mind deeply attached to worldly pleasures, and their intellect unstable, they are unable to summon the resolute determination to achieve enlightenment.
The Vedas deal with the three modes of material nature. Transcend these three modes, Arjuna - become free from dualities, remain eternally fixed in truth, stay unconcerned with material gain and preservation, and remain situated within the self. The purpose of a small well is also served by a large lake. Similarly, one who realizes the absolute truth also achieves complete knowledge of the Vedas.
You have a right to perform your duty, but you are not entitled to the fruit of your actions. Do not let results be your motivation, and avoid attachment to inaction. Be steadfast in performing your duties, abandoning all attachment to success and failure - such equanimity is called Yoga. Stay far away from inferior actions which seek reward, and seek to establish the intellect in the refuge of divine wisdom. Miserly are those whose only motive is the fruit of their actions.
Those who are equanimous can eradicate both good and bad deeds. Therefore, strive for Yoga - the art of working skillfully. The wise, with equanimous minds, relinquish the fruit of their actions and are freed from the bondage of life and death, attaining a state that is devoid of suffering. When your intellect is freed from delusion, you will attain indifference toward what has been heard and what has yet to be heard. When your intellect remains steadfast in divine consciousness, you will have attained Yoga.
Arjuna asked:
What does a person with steady intellect speak of? How does such an enlightened person sit, and how do they walk?
[54]
When one renounces all desires of the mind and is content in the self alone, they are said to possess steady wisdom. A sage of steady wisdom is undisturbed by misery, does not crave pleasure, and remains free from attachment, fear, and anger. One who remains unattached, who is neither delighted nor dejected by finding either good or evil, has steady wisdom. When one is able to withdraw their senses from external stimulation like a tortoise retracts its limbs, one establishes steady wisdom.
One might restrain the senses, but cravings do not change until one recognizes the supreme consciousness. The senses are so strong and turbulent that they can even carry away the mind of someone who practices discrimination and self-control. Having subdued the senses, sit toward me and remain fixed in perfect knowledge. When one thinks of sense objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment, desire is born; from desire, anger arises. Anger clouds judgement and bewilders one's memory. When memory is bewildered, the intellect is destroyed, and the self is ruined.
When one can control their mind and perceive the world with senses that are free from craving and aversion, they achieve divine serenity. In that serenity, all sorrows are destroyed, and wisdom becomes firmly established. There is no wisdom, contemplation, or peace for the troubled person. How can such a person ever be happy? The mind's roaming follows the wandering senses, just as a ship is carried away by the winds.
Therefore, one whose senses are restrained from the sense objects of their environment is fixed in steady wisdom. What all beings consider as day is the night of ignorance for the wise, and what all creatures see as night is the day for the introspective sage. Just as the ocean remains undisturbed by the incessant flow of waters from rivers merging into it, likewise the sage who is unmoved despite the flow of desirable objects all around him attains peace, and not the person who strives to satisfy desires. That person, who gives up all material desires and lives free from a sense of greed, proprietorship, and egoism, attains perfect peace. Such is the realization of Brahma. By attaining this, one attains freedom from delusion in life and liberation from reincarnation in death.
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3. Selfless Service
Karm Yog