Bhagavad Gita

"But they for whom I am the supreme goal, who do all work renouncing self for me and meditate on me with single-hearted devotion, these I will swiftly rescue from death's vast sea, for their consciousness has entered into me."

"Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart - a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water - I accept with joy."

"Sanjaya; Chapter 1, verses 2–3; Graham M. Schweig translation"

"Hrishikesha blew the conch shell named Panchajanya and Dhananjaya blew the conch shell named Devadatta. Vrikodara, whose deeds give rise to fear, blew the giant conch shell named Poundra."

"The blowing of these different conchshells became uproarious, and thus, vibrating both in the sky and on the earth, it shattered the hearts of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra."

"All those for whom i'd want to live it up are here to die"

"Out of the corruption of women proceeds the confusion of castes; out of the confusion of castes, the loss of memory; out of the loss of memory, the lack of understanding; and out of this, all evils"

"As you put on fresh new clothes and take off those you've worn, You'll replace your body with a fresh one, newly born."

"What is this crime I am planning, O Krishna? Murder most hateful,Murder of brothers!Am I indeed So greedy for greatness?"

"If me unresisting, Weaponless, with weapons in their hands Dhritarāshtra's men should slay in battle,That would be a safer course for me."

"Thus speaking Arjuna in the battle Sat down in the box of the car, Letting fall his bow and arrows, His heart smitten with grief."

"My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy. O son of Prtha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy."

"My Lord! How can I, when the battle rages, send an arrow through Bheeshma and Drona, who should receive my reverence?"

"You grieve for those who should not be grieved for; yet you speak wise words.Neither for the dead nor those not dead do the wise grieve.Never was there a time when I did not exist nor you nor these lords of men. Neither will there be a time when we shall not exist; we all exist from now on. As the soul experiences in this body childhood, youth, and old age, so also it acquires another body; the sage in this is not deluded."

"One's own duty, even if imperfectly performed, is better than being done by other even if well performed. Death in (performance of) one's own duty is preferable. (The adoption of) the duty of another carries fear (with it)."

"All actions are performed by the gunas of prakriti. Deluded by identification with the ego, a person thinks, "I am the doer.""

"Swords cut him not, nor may fire burn him, O son of Bharata, waters wet him not, nor dry winds parch. He may not be cut nor burned nor wet nor withered; he is eternal, all-present, firm, unshaken, everlasting. He is called unmanifest, unimaginable, unchanging; therefore, knowing him thus, deign not to grieve!"

"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!"

"Either slain thou shalt go to heaven; or victorious thou shalt enjoy the earth. Therefore arise, O Son of Kuntī (Arjuna), resolved on battle."

"You are only entitled to the action, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruits of action be your motive, but do not attach yourself to nonaction."

"The wise, engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world. In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries."

"When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard."

"When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the Divine consciousness."

"When your intellect transcends the mire of delusion, then you will attain to disgust of what has been heard and what is yet to be heard. When, perplexed by what you have heard, you stand immovable in samadhi, with steady intellect, then you will attain yoga."

"When one's mind dwells on the objects of Senses, fondness for them grows on him, from fondness comes desire, from desire anger. Anger leads to bewilderment, bewilderment to loss of memory of true Self, and by that intelligence is destroyed, and with the destruction of intelligence he perishes"

"To him [the Sage], what seemeth the bright things of day to the mass, are known to be the things of darkness and ignorance—and what seemeth dark as night to the many, he seeth suffused with the light of noonday."

"If thou deemest that (the path of) understanding is more excellent than (the path of) action, O Janardana (Krishna), why then dost thou urge me to do this savage deed, O Kesava (Krishna)?"

"Not by not acting in this world does one become free from action, nor does one approach perfection by renunciation only. Not even for a moment does someone exist without acting. Even against one’s will, one acts by the nature-born qualities."

"From food come forth beings; from rain food is produced; from sacrifice arises rain, and sacrifice is born of action. Know you that action comes from BRAHMAJI (the Creator) and BRAHMAJI come from the Imperishable. Therefore, the all-pervading BRAHMAN (God-principle) ever rests in sacrifice."

"Not for me, partha, is there any duty in the three worlds, nor anything to attain that is unattained; and I am always at work."

"The senses, moving toward their appropriate objects, are producers of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, which come and go and are brief and changeable; these do thou endure, O son of Bharata!"

"And even if, because their minds are overwhelmed by greed, they cannot see the evil incurred by destroying one's own family, and the degradation involved in the betrayal of a friend, How can we be so ignorant as not to recoil from this wrong? The evil incurred by destroying one's own family is plain to see, Janardana."

"I explained this eternal science of yoga to Vivasvān. Vivasvān shared it with Manu, then Manu imparted it to Ikṣvāku. This science was taught and handed down in succession, but in time it was broken and the science of yoga seems to be lost."

"Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form. Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself. In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium."

"Whensoever there is the fading of the Dharma and the uprising of unrighteousness, then I loose myself forth into birth. For the deliverance of the good, for the destruction of the evil-doers, for the enthroning of the Right, I am born from age to age."

"However men try to reach me, I return their love with my love; whatever path they may travel, it leads to me in the end."

"The four divisions of human order were created by me according to differences in quality, activities, and aptitude; although the creator of this, know me as the non-doer being immutable."

"Depending upon the distribution of the three attributes or guṇas and actions, I have created the four castes. Yet, I am to be known as the non-doer, the unchangeable."

"Works do not stain me, nor in me is there longing for fruit of works; who recognizes this to be my state, he is not bound by works."

"For verily (the true nature) of 'right action' should be known; also (that) of 'forbidden (or unlawful) action' and of 'inaction'; imponderable is the nature (path) of action. He who recognises inaction in action and action in inaction is wise among men; he is a YOGI and a true performer of all actions."

"Kill therefore with the sword of wisdom the doubt born of ignorance that lies in thy heart. Be one in self-harmony, in Yoga, and arise, great warrior, arise."

"You commend, O Krishna, the renunciation of action and you also praise yoga. Tell me definitely which is the better of the two."

"Both renunciation and the yoga of action lead to the supreme good. But of these two, performance of action is superior to the renunciation of action."

"He is unaffected by Karma, although engaged in action, who has yoked himself to the way of Yoga, whose mind is purified, whose self has triumphed and whose senses have been subdued, and whose self has, indeed, become the self of all beings. Although acting he remains unaffected by Karma."

"The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]."

"As enjoyments, born of contacts (with external objects), have a beginning and an end, they become the cause of unhappiness. The wise man, O Kaunteya! does not find happiness in them."

"To the sage who wishes to rise to devotion, action is said to be a means, and to him, when he has risen to devotion, tranquillity is said to be a means."

"Use the atman to raise the atman. Do not lower the atman. The atman is the atman’s friend and the atman is the atman’s enemy. The atman, which has been used to conquer the atman, is the atman’s friend. For someone who has failed to control the atman, the atman harms like an enemy."

"यो मां पश्यति सर्वत्र सर्वं च मयि पश्यति ।तस्याहं न प्रणश्यामि स च मे न प्रणश्यति ॥"

"[Duryodhana said:] This force of ours guarded by Bhishma is unbounded; although this force, of theirs – guarded by Bhima, is bounded."