Sanjaya said: To him who was thus overcome with pity and despondency, with eyes full of tears and agitated, Madhusudana spoke these words.

The Blessed Lord said: Whence is this perilous condition come upon thee, this dejection, un-Aryan-like, heaven-excluding, disgraceful, O Arjuna?

Yield not to impotence, O Partha! It does not befit thee, Cast off this mean weakness of heart! Stand up, O Parantapa (O scorcher of foes) !

Arjuna said: How, O Madhusudana, shall I, in battle, fight with arrows against Bhishma and Drona, who are fit to be worshipped, O destroyer of enemies!

Better indeed, in this world, is to eat even the bread of beggary than to slay the most noble of teachers. But, if I kill them, even in this world, all my enjoyments of wealth and desires will be stained with blood.

I can scarcely say which will be better, that we should conquer them or that they should conquer us. Even the sons of Dhritarashtra, after slaying whom we do not wish to live, stand facing us.

My heart is overpowered by the taint of pity; my mind is confused as to duty. I ask Thee. Tell me decisively what is good for me. I am Thy disciple. Instruct me, who have taken refuge in Thee.

I do not see that it would remove this sorrow that burns up my senses, even if I should attain prosperous and unrivalled dominion on earth, or even Lordship over the gods.

Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, Gudakesha, the destroyer of foes, said to Govinda: I will not fight ; and became silent.

To him who was despondent in the midst of the two armies, Hrishikesha, as if smiling, O Bharata, spoke these words.

The Blessed Lord said: You have grieved for those that should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

It is not that at any time (in the past) , indeed, was I not, nor were you, nor these rulers of men. Nor, verily, shall we all ever cease to be hereafter.

Just as in this body the embodied (soul) passes into childhood, youth and old age, so also does he pass into another body; the firm man does not grieve at it.

The contacts of senses with objects, O son of Kunti, which cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain, have a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O descendant of Bharata.

That firm man whom, surely, these afflict not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for realising the Immortality of the Self.

The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the Real; the truth about both these has been seen by the Knowers of the Truth (or the Seers of the Essence) .

Know That to be Indestructible by which all this is pervaded. None can cause the destruction of That — the Imperishable.

They have an end, it is said, these bodies of the embodied-Self. The Self is Eternal, Indestructible, Incomprehensible. Therefore, fight, O Bharata.

He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks He is slain, neither of these knows. He slays not, nor in He slain.

He is not born, nor does He ever die; after having been, He again ceases not to be; Unborn, Eternal, Changeless and Ancient, He is not killed when the body is killed.

Whosoever knows Him to be Indestructible, Eternal, Unborn, and Inexhaustible, how can that man slay, O Partha, or cause others to be slain?

Just as a man casts off his worn out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the embodied-Self casts off its worn out bodies and enters others which are new.

Weapons cleave It not, fire burns It not, water moistens It not, wind dries It not.

This Self cannot be cut, nor burnt, nor moistened, nor dried up. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable immovable and ancient.

This (Self) is said to be Unmanifest, Unthinkable and Unchangeable. Therefore, knowing This to be such, you should not grieve.

But even if you think of Him as being constantly born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed, you should not grieve.

Indeed, certain is death for the born, and certain is birth for the dead; therefore, over the inevitable, you should not grieve.

Beings unmanifest in the beginning, and unmanifest again in their end seem to be manifest in the middle, O Bharata. What then is there to grieve about?

One sees This as a wonder; another speaks of This as a wonder; another hears of This as a wonder; yet, having heard none understands This at all!

This, the Indweller in the body of everyone is ever indestructible, O Bharata; and, therefore, you should not grieve for any creature.

Further, looking at thine own duty thou oughtest not to waver, for there is nothing higher for a KSHATRIYA than a righteous war.

Happy indeed are the KSHATRIYAS, O Partha, who are called to fight in such a battle, that comes of itself as an open-door to heaven.

But, if you will not fight this righteous war, then, having abandoned your own duty and fame, you shall incur sin.

People too, will recount your everlasting dishonour; and to one who has been honoured, dishonour is more than death.

The great battalion commanders will think that you have withdrawn from the battle through fear; and you will be looked down upon by them who had thought much of you and your heroism in the past.

And many unspeakable words will your enemies speak caviling about your powers. What can be more painful than this?

Slain, you will obtain heaven; victorious you will enjoy the earth; therefore, stand up, O son of Kunti, determined to fight.

Having made — pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat — the same, engage in battle for the sake of battle; thus you shall not incur sin.

This, which has been taught to thee, is wisdom concerning SANKHYA. Now listen to the wisdom concerning YOGA, having known which, O Partha, you shall cast off the bonds-of-action.

In this there is no loss of effort, nor is there any harm (production of contrary results) . Even a little of this knowledge, even a little practice of the YOGA, protects one from the great fear.

Here, O Joy of the Kurus, Kurunandana, there is but a single-pointed determination; many-branched and endless are the thoughts of the irresolute.

Flowery speech is uttered by the unwise, taking pleasure in the eulogising words of VEDAS, O Partha, saying, There is nothing else.

Full of desires, having heaven as their goal, they utter flowery words, which promise new birth as the reward of their actions, and prescribe various specific actions for the attainment of pleasure and Lordship.

For, those who cling to joy and Lordship, whose minds are drawn away by such teaching, are neither determinate and resolute nor are they fit for steady meditation and SAMADHI.

The VEDAS deal with the three attributes; be you above these three attributes (GUNAS) , O Arjuna, free yourself from the pairs-of-opposites, and ever remain in the SATTWA (goodness) , freed from all thoughts of acquisition and preservation, and be established in the Self.

To the BRAHMANA who has known the Self, all the VEDAS are of so much use, as is a reservoir of water in a place where there is flood everywhere.

Thy right is to work only, but never to its fruits; let not the fruit-of-action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction.

Perform action, O Dhananjaya, abandoning attachment, being steadfast in YOGA, and balanced in success and failure. Evenness of mind is called YOGA.

Far lower than the YOGA -of-wisdom is action, O Dhananjaya. Seek thou refuge in wisdom; wretched are they whose motive is the fruit.

Endowed with the Wisdom of evenness-of-mind, one casts off in this life both good deeds and evil deeds; therefore, devote yourself to YOGA, Skill in action is YOGA.

The wise, possessed of knowledge, having abandoned the fruits of their actions, freed from the fetters of birth, go to the State which is beyond all evil.

When your intellect crosses beyond the mire of delusion, then you shall attain to indifference as to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard.

When your intellect, though perplexed by what you have heard, shall stand immovable and steady in the Self, then you shall attain Self-realisation.

Arjuna said: What, O Keshava, is the description of him who has steady Wisdom and who is merged in the Superconscious state? How does one of steady Wisdom speak, how does he sit, how does he walk?

The Blessed Lord said: When a man completely casts off, O Partha, all the desires of the mind, and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he said to be one of steady Wisdom.

He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, and who in prosperity does not hanker after pleasures, who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a Sage-of-Steady-Wisdom.

He who is everywhere without attachment, on meeting with anything good or bad, who neither rejoices nor hates, his Wisdom is fixed.

When, like the tortoise which withdraws its limbs from all sides, he withdraws his senses from the sense-objects then his Wisdom becomes steady.

The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man leaving the longing (behind) ; but his longing also leaves him on seeing the Supreme.

The turbulent senses, O son of Kunti, do violently carry away the mind of a wise-man, though he be striving (to control them) .

Having restrained them all, he should sit steadfast, intent on Me; his Wisdom is steady, whose senses are under control.

When a man thinks of objects, attachment for them arises; from attachment desire is born; from desire arises anger

From anger comes delusion ; from delusion loss of memory ; from loss of memory the destruction of discrimination ; from destruction of discrimination he perishes.

But the self-controlled man, moving among objects, with his senses under restraint, and free from both attraction and repulsion, attains peace.

In that peace all pains are destroyed; for, the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady.

There is no knowledge (of the Self) to the unsteady; and to the unsteady no meditation; and to the unmeditative no peace; to the peaceless, how can there be happiness?

For, the mind, which follows in the wake of the wandering senses, carries away his discrimination, as the wind carries away a boat on the waters.

Therefore, O Mighty-armed, his knowledge is steady whose senses are completely restrained from sense-objects.

That which is night to all beings, in that the self-controlled man keeps awake; where all beings are awake, that is the night for the Sage (MUNI) who sees.

He attains Peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean, which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the desirer of desires.

That man attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of ‘l-ness’ and ‘my-ness. ‘

This is the BRAHMIC -state, O Son of Pritha. Attaining this, none is deluded. Being established therein, even at the end of life, one attains to oneness with BRAHMAN.