Arjuna said: O Janardana, O Keshava, if You consider knowledge to be superior to action, why then do You urge me to engage in this terrible action?

My intelligence is bewildered by Your equivocal instructions. Tell me clearly which one path will lead to my highest good.

The Supreme Lord said: O sinless one, I have already explained that there are two paths of spiritual realization - the path of knowledge for the contemplative, and the path of action for the active.

Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection.

No one can remain without action even for a moment. Everyone is helplessly driven to action by the qualities born of material nature.

One who restrains the senses of action but whose mind dwells on sense objects certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender.

On the other hand, if a sincere person tries to control the active senses by the mind and engages in karma yoga without attachment, that person is far superior.

Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. Without action, even the maintenance of your body would be impossible.

Work must be performed as sacrifice to the Supreme; otherwise work binds one to this material world. O son of Kunti, perform your duties free from attachment for that purpose.

In the beginning of creation, the Creator, along with the spirit of sacrifice, created mankind and said, 'By this sacrifice shall you prosper; let it be the wish-fulfilling cow.'

By this you shall nourish the gods, and the gods will nourish you. Thus nourishing one another, you shall attain the highest good.

Nourished by sacrifice, the gods will give you desired enjoyments. One who enjoys their gifts without offering to them in return is certainly a thief.

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first in sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.

All living bodies subsist on food, which is produced from rains. Rains are produced from sacrifice, and sacrifice is born of prescribed duties.

Prescribed duties originate from the Vedas, and the Vedas originate from the Supreme. Therefore, the all-pervading Brahman is eternally established in sacrifice.

O Partha, one who does not follow this cosmic cycle of sacrifice established by the Vedas, but lives for sense pleasure, lives in vain.

But one who takes pleasure in the self, who is satisfied in the self, and who rejoices only in the self - for such a person there is no duty.

Such a self-realized person has no purpose to fulfill by doing any action, nor any reason to avoid any action. Nor does such a person need to depend on any other being.

Therefore, without attachment, always perform the work that must be done, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.

Kings like Janaka attained perfection solely by the performance of action. You should also act, considering what is best for the welfare of the world.

Whatever a great person does, common people follow. Whatever standard they set, the world follows.

O Partha, there is no work prescribed for Me within the three worlds. There is nothing that I need, nothing that I have not attained - yet I am engaged in action.

For if I ever failed to engage in carefully performing prescribed duties, O Partha, certainly all men would follow My path.

If I did not perform action, these worlds would be destroyed. I would be the cause of confusion and would destroy these living beings.

As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, so the wise should act without attachment, for the welfare of the world.

The wise should not unsettle the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action. Instead, working in a spirit of devotion, they should encourage others to perform all actions.

All activities are performed by the modes of material nature. But one whose mind is deluded by ego thinks, 'I am the doer.'

O mighty-armed one, one who knows the truth about the divisions of the modes and their functions does not become attached, understanding that it is the modes interacting with modes.

Those deluded by the modes of nature become attached to the activities of the modes. But the wise should not disturb those slow people of lesser understanding.

Surrendering all actions to Me with mind fixed on the Self, free from expectation and possessiveness, fight - freed from mental fever.

Those who regularly follow this teaching of Mine with faith, free from envy, become liberated from the bondage of actions.

But those who, out of envy, disregard these teachings and do not follow them are deluded about all knowledge. Know them to be doomed and mindless.

Even a wise person acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature. What can repression accomplish?

Attachment and aversion for sense objects are situated in the senses. One should not come under their control, for they are obstacles on the path.

It is better to perform one's own duty imperfectly than to perfectly perform another's duty. It is better to die in one's own dharma; another's path is dangerous.

Arjuna said: O descendant of Vrishni, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?

The Supreme Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the mode of passion. Know this to be the all-devouring, sinful enemy in this world.

As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo by the womb, so is this knowledge covered by desire.

O Arjuna, the knowledge of even the wise is covered by this eternal enemy in the form of desire, which is never satisfied and burns like fire.

The senses, mind, and intelligence are said to be the seat of this desire. Through these, it deludes the embodied being by covering their knowledge.

Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin by regulating the senses. It is the destroyer of knowledge and realization.

The senses are superior to dull matter; the mind is higher than the senses; the intelligence is higher than the mind; and the soul is higher than the intelligence.

Thus knowing the self to be superior to the intelligence, O mighty-armed one, steady the mind with the self and conquer this formidable enemy in the form of desire.