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

The Supreme Lord said: From where has this impurity come upon you at this critical hour? It is not befitting an honorable person, it does not lead to higher realms, and it causes disgrace, O Arjuna.

Do not yield to unmanliness, O Partha. It does not befit you. Give up this petty weakness of heart and arise, O conqueror of enemies!

Arjuna said: O Madhusudana, O slayer of enemies, how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhishma and Drona, who are worthy of my worship?

It would be better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though they are avaricious, they are nonetheless superiors. If they are killed, everything we enjoy will be tainted with blood.

We do not know which is better - conquering them or being conquered by them. The sons of Dhritarashtra, whom if we killed we would not care to live, are standing before us.

My nature is overcome by weakness and pity. I am confused about my duty. I ask You: tell me clearly what is best for me. I am Your disciple. Instruct me, for I have surrendered to You.

I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win an unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.

Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, Gudakesha, the conqueror of sleep and subduer of enemies, said to Govinda, 'I shall not fight,' and fell silent.

O Bharata, to him who was thus lamenting in the midst of both armies, Hrishikesha, smiling as it were, spoke these words.

The Supreme Lord said: You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, yet you speak words of wisdom. The wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.

Just as the embodied soul continuously passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too does the soul pass into another body at death. The wise are not deluded by this.

O son of Kunti, the contact of the senses with their objects gives rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are impermanent. Endure them bravely, O Bharata.

O best among men, the person whom these do not disturb, who remains steady in pleasure and pain, is fit for liberation.

The unreal has no existence, and the real never ceases to be. The truth about both has been realized by the seers of Truth.

Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one can destroy the imperishable soul.

The material body of the eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable soul is certain to come to an end. Therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.

One who thinks the soul kills, and one who thinks it is killed, are both ignorant. The soul neither kills nor is killed.

The soul is never born, nor does it ever die; it has never come into being and will never cease to exist. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval. The soul is not slain when the body is slain.

O Partha, how can a person who knows the soul to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and immutable kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?

As a person puts on new garments, discarding old ones, similarly the soul accepts new bodies, giving up old and useless ones.

The soul can never be cut by weapons, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor dried by the wind.

This soul is unbreakable and incombustible; it can neither be wetted nor dried. It is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable, and eternally the same.

It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable, and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.

If, however, you think the soul is perpetually born and always dies, still you have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed one.

For one who is born, death is certain, and for one who has died, birth is certain. Therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.

All beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest in the middle, and unmanifest again after death. What is there to lament, O Bharata?

Some see the soul as amazing, some describe it as amazing, some hear of it as amazing, while others, even after hearing about it, cannot understand it at all.

O Bharata, the soul dwelling in the body of everyone is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore, you should not grieve for any living being.

Considering your specific duty as a warrior, you should not waver. For a warrior, there is nothing more honorable than a righteous battle.

O Partha, happy are the warriors to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.

If, however, you do not perform your duty of fighting this righteous war, then you will certainly incur sin for neglecting your duties and lose your reputation as a warrior.

People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death.

The great generals who have held you in high esteem will think you have fled from the battlefield out of fear, and thus they will consider you insignificant.

Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?

If you are killed, you will attain heaven; if you are victorious, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore, arise, O son of Kunti, and be determined to fight.

Treating happiness and distress, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, engage in battle. In this way you shall not incur sin.

So far I have described to you the wisdom of Sankhya. Now listen to the wisdom of Yoga, by which you can free yourself from the bondage of action.

In this path there is no loss of effort, and there is no harm. Even a little advancement on this path protects one from the greatest fear.

Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

Men of small knowledge are very attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets. O Partha, there is nothing else besides this, they say.

Full of desires and aspiring for heaven, they prescribe various rituals for attaining pleasure and power, leading to rebirth as the result of their actions.

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

The Vedas deal mainly with the three modes of material nature. Rise above these modes, O Arjuna. Be transcendental to them, free from duality, ever established in goodness, unconcerned with acquisition and preservation, and established in the self.

All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows their purpose.

You have the right to perform your duty, but never to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of results, and never be attached to inaction.

Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duties abandoning attachment, remaining equal in success and failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.

O Dhananjaya, keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service, and in that consciousness surrender unto the Lord. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.

One who is endowed with wisdom casts off both good and evil deeds in this very life. Therefore, strive for yoga, which is the art of all work.

By thus engaging in devotional service to the Lord, great sages become freed from the results of work in the material world. In this way they become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain the 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 divine consciousness.

Arjuna said: O Keshava, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in transcendence? How does one speak, sit, and walk?

The Supreme Lord said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of desire for sense gratification which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind, thus purified, finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.

One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries, nor elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

One who is without attachment everywhere, who neither rejoices nor hates when obtaining good or evil, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

One who is able to withdraw the senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness.

The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, one is fixed in consciousness.

The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a person of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.

One who restrains the senses, keeping them under full control, and fixes consciousness upon Me, is known as a person of steady intelligence.

While contemplating sense objects, one develops attachment to them. From attachment arises desire, and from unfulfilled desire arises anger.

From anger arises delusion, from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is destroyed, one falls down.

But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control the senses through regulated principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord.

For one thus satisfied, the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer. In such satisfied consciousness, one's intelligence is soon well established.

One who is not connected with the Supreme can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the roaming senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a person's intelligence.

Therefore, O mighty-armed one, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

As the ocean remains undisturbed though waters flow into it, one who remains unmoved by desires attains peace, not the one who strives to satisfy desires.

A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego, alone can attain real peace.

O Partha, this is the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a person is not bewildered. If one is established in this state even at the hour of death, one can attain the kingdom of God.