Arjuna said: O Krishna, You praise the renunciation of action, and again You praise yoga through action. Tell me with certainty which one is better.

The Supreme Lord said: Both renunciation of action and yoga of action lead to the supreme goal. But of the two, karma yoga is superior to renunciation of action.

One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of activities is known as always renounced. Free from all dualities, such a person is easily liberated from bondage.

Only the ignorant speak of knowledge and karma yoga as different. The learned say that by applying oneself well to either, one attains the fruit of both.

The state attained by the path of knowledge is also reached by the path of action. One who sees that knowledge and action are one truly sees.

O mighty-armed one, renunciation is difficult to attain without yoga. The sage who is devoted to yoga soon attains Brahman.

One who is devoted to yoga, who is pure in soul, who has conquered the self and senses, and who realizes the Self in all beings - such a person is not tainted even while acting.

A person in divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, and breathing...

...speaking, releasing, grasping, opening and closing the eyes - always knows that the senses are engaged with their objects and thinks, 'I do nothing at all.'

One who performs their duty without attachment, offering the results to the Supreme, is untouched by sin, just as a lotus leaf is untouched by water.

Yogis perform actions with body, mind, intelligence, and even the senses alone, abandoning attachment, for the purification of the self.

The steadily devoted, renouncing the fruits of action, attains lasting peace. But one who is not connected with the Divine, being attached to the fruits of work, becomes bound.

The self-controlled embodied being, mentally renouncing all actions, resides happily in the city of nine gates, neither acting nor causing action.

The Lord creates neither the sense of doership nor the actions of the world, nor the connection of action and its results. It is nature that acts.

The Supreme does not accept anyone's sin or merit. Knowledge is covered by ignorance; thereby beings are deluded.

But for those whose ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the Self, that knowledge, like the sun, reveals the Supreme.

Those whose intellect is absorbed in That, whose Self is That, who are established in That, who have That as their supreme goal - they go to the state from which there is no return, their impurities washed away by knowledge.

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

Those whose minds are established in equality have already conquered birth and death here. Brahman is flawless and equal; therefore, they are established in Brahman.

One who does not rejoice upon achieving something pleasant, nor lament upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is steady-minded and undeluded - such a knower of Brahman is established in Brahman.

One who is unattached to external sensations and finds happiness within the Self - such a person, united with Brahman through yoga, enjoys imperishable bliss.

The pleasures that arise from contact with sense objects are sources of suffering, for they have a beginning and an end. The wise do not delight in them, O Arjuna.

One who is able to withstand, while still in the body, the force arising from desire and anger - that person is a yogi, a happy person.

One whose happiness is within, whose delight is within, whose light is within - that yogi, being Brahman, attains liberation in Brahman.

The sages whose sins are destroyed, whose doubts are cut asunder, who are self-controlled, and who are engaged in the welfare of all beings - they attain liberation in Brahman.

For those sages who are free from desire and anger, who have controlled their minds, and who have realized the Self - liberation in Brahman exists everywhere.

Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes focused between the eyebrows, equalizing the incoming and outgoing breaths within the nostrils...

...with senses, mind, and intelligence controlled, the sage who is devoted to liberation, free from desire, fear, and anger - such a person is forever liberated.

Knowing Me as the enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all worlds, and the friend of all beings, one attains peace.