Sañjaya says:
Seeing Arjuna overcome with pity, depressed, bewildered, and his eyes filled with tears, Kṛṣṇa spoke these words:

Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
Where has this weakness come from, O Arjuna? It is not worthy of a noble person like you. Such faintheartedness will not lead to the attainment of Heaven but to dishonour.

Do not give in to this unmanliness, O Arjuna, it does not befit you. Throw away this weakness and arise, O vanquisher of enemies!

Arjuna says:
O Kṛṣṇa, destroyer of enemies, how can I fire arrows against Bhīṣma and Droṇa in battle? These men are worthy of my worship.

It would be better to live a life as a beggar than to slay these great souls who are my teachers. Even if they are tainted with the desire for wealth, by slaying them I would only be enjoying blood-stained pleasures.

We do not know, which of the two is better for us — killing them or being killed by them. After slaying the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra standing here before us, there would be no point in living.

With my heart overcome by weakness and my mind confused about my duty, I urge you to tell me clearly what is good for me. I am your disciple and I take refuge in you. Please teach me.

Even if I win a prosperous kingdom unchallenged on this Earth or even if I have lordship over the gods, I cannot see how this grief drying up my senses can be dispelled.

Sañjaya says:
Having spoken so to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and the vanquisher of enemies said, ‘I will not fight’ and became silent.

O king, as Arjuna was grieving between the two armies, Kṛṣṇa, whilst smiling, spoke the following words.

Lord Kṛṣṇa says:
Whilst grieving for those who should not be grieved for, your words appear wise. But the learned lament neither for the dead nor for the living.

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

Just as the embodied Self passes through childhood, youth and old age, so too at death It passes into another body. A wise man is not bewildered by these events.

The contact of senses with their objects, O Arjuna, give rise to feelings of cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go; they are impermanent, so endure them without being disturbed.

One who is unaffected by these, O best of men, and to whom pain and pleasure are the same, that steadfast person alone is worthy of immortality.

The unreal can never come into being, and the real never ceases to be. This is the conclusion of those who have seen the Truth.

It is indestructible and pervades the whole material universe. None can cause the destruction of the imperishable Self.

The material bodies of the Self are said to have an end, while the Self Itself is eternal, indestructible and incomprehensible. Therefore, fight O Arjuna.

One who believes that the Self can kill, and one who thinks It can be killed — both are in ignorance; for the Self neither slays nor is It slain.

The Self is never born and It never dies. It has always existed and will never cease to exist. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting and most ancient. It is not killed when the body is slain.

Arjuna, if one knows this Self to be indestructible, unborn, unchanging and eternal, how and whom does one cause to be killed, and whom does one kill?

As a person casts off worn-out garments and puts on new ones, so does the embodied Self cast off Its worn-out bodies and enter into new ones.

Weapons do not cut the Self; fire does not burn It, water does not wet It, and wind does not dry It.

It cannot be cut; It cannot be burnt; It cannot be wetted, and It cannot be dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, fixed, immovable and everlasting.

This Self is said to be unseen, inconceivable and unchanging. When you understand this, you should no longer grieve.

Even if you consider this Self to repeatedly go through birth and death, O Arjuna, still you should not lament.

For death is indeed certain for everything that is born, and re-birth is certain for that which has died; therefore, you should not grieve for what is unavoidable.

O Arjuna! All beings have a beginning that is unknown, a middle that is known and an end which is also unknown. So why lament over this?

One person sees the Self as a wonder, likewise another speaks of It as a wonder; still another hears of It as a wonder. But even after hearing of It, no one truly understands It.

The Self is in all bodies, O Arjuna. It is eternal and indestructible, therefore it is not right for you to feel grief for any living being.

Furthermore, considering also your own personal duty, you should not hesitate. For a kṣatriya (warrior), there is nothing superior to fighting in a righteous war.

Happy are the kṣatriyas, O Arjuna, at such an opportunity. A war such as this, that comes of its own accord, opens the gates to Heaven.

But if you do not fight this righteous war, you will be turning away from your duty and will lose your honour. Therefore, you will accumulate sin.

Then people will forever speak of your disgrace, and for an honourable man, dishonour is worse than death.

The great warriors will think that you have fled from the battlefield in fear. These men who held you in high regard will then speak in contempt of you.

Your enemies will condemn your ability. They will use words which should never be uttered. What could be more painful than that?

If slain, you shall gain Heaven; if victorious, you shall enjoy the Earth. Therefore, arise O Arjuna, and resolve to fight.

Considering pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat to be the same, prepare yourself for battle. If you act in this way, you will not incur sin.

This knowledge which has been taught to you so far is based on Sāṅkhya. Now listen to the teaching concerning karma-yoga. When you act with this knowledge, O Arjuna, you will be free from the bonds of action.

There is nothing to lose in this endeavour nor is there any failure. Even a little practise of this yoga saves one from great danger.

O Arjuna, on this path the resolute mind is one-pointed; but the thoughts of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.

Those who are unwise rejoice at the flowery words of the Veda, declaring ‘there is nothing superior to this!’

Such people are full of desires and have heaven for their goal. Seeking pleasure and power, they teach that the performance of various rituals leads to higher rebirth.

Those who cling to pleasure and power and are attracted to these teachings cannot develop the resolute will of a concentrated mind.

The Vedas deal with the three guṇas, O Arjuna. You must free yourself from these guṇas and from the pairs of opposites. Being ever established in the sattva guṇa, do not care about acquiring things nor about protecting what has been acquired – instead, be established in the Self.

The purpose of a reservoir is easily met by an area flooded with water, in the same way the knowledge of the Vedas is easily met by a sage who is Self-realised.

You have a right to act, but not to the fruits of that action. Do not allow rewards to be your motive for action; at the same time do not be attached to avoiding action.

Established in yoga and abandoning attachment, perform your duty. See success and failure with an even mind. This equanimity is the meaning of yoga.

Arjuna, action done with attachment to the results is far inferior to this yoga. Seek refuge in that equanimous state. Those who are motivated by the fruits of action are petty-minded.

Remaining equal-minded, one rises above righteous and unrighteous deeds. Therefore, devote yourself to this yoga, for yoga is the true way of performing action.

The wise who are established in this state, renounce the fruits of action, and are freed from the bondage of rebirth. They go to the abode beyond all suffering.

When your intellect has passed beyond the forest of delusion, you will be indifferent to what you shall hear in the future and what you have already heard.

When you are no longer perplexed by the words of the Vedas and remain unshaken with a concentrated mind, then you will have achieved success in yoga.

Arjuna says:
O Kṛṣṇa, what are the defining qualities of one who has achieved this realisation? How does he speak? What is his language like? How does he sit and how does he move?

The Lord says:
When one gives up all desires arising in the mind, O Arjuna, when one satisfies himself by the Self alone, then one is said to be of steady wisdom.

One whose mind is not perturbed by pain, who does not run after pleasures, who is free from desire, fear and anger – such a person is a sage of steady intellect.

He who has no attachment anywhere, who, when encountering the agreeable or the disagreeable feels neither attraction nor aversion – his wisdom is firmly established.

When one is able to withdraw the senses from the objects of senses on every side, as a tortoise withdraws its limbs, then one’s wisdom is firmly established.

Although the objects of the senses can be given up by one who practises abstinence, the attachment for them can still persist. But when one sees the Supreme Lord, such attraction is naturally renounced by the embodied soul.

The turbulent senses, O Arjuna, forcefully carry away the mind of even a wise person, despite him continually striving to control them.

Having controlled all the senses, one should abide in the state of meditation, having Me as the supreme goal; for one who has controlled his senses, wisdom is firmly established.

When one deliberates upon sense-objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment comes desire, from desire arises anger.

From anger arises delusion; from delusion, there is loss of memory; from loss of memory the destruction of discrimination occurs; and with the destruction of discrimination, one is lost.

But one who is self-controlled, moving among the sense-objects with the senses under restraint, free from attraction and aversion, attains tranquillity.

In that state of serenity, all sorrow is overcome. For that person who has a serene mind, realisation soon becomes well established.

There can be no realisation and no properly focused mind for one who does not engage in this practice. Without such a focused mind, there can be no peace, and without peace how can there be happiness?

The roaming senses experience their objects, and when the mind follows, one’s understanding is carried away by them, just as a ship on water is carried away by the wind.

Therefore, O mighty-armed one, only when one has restrained their senses from their objects, does their wisdom become firmly established.

What is night for all beings, is actually a time of awakening for the self-controlled, and when all beings are awake, it is night for the enlightened one.

Just as different rivers flow into the sea which remains full, steady and immovable, so too do desires flow into an enlightened person. It is he who attains peace and not the one who seeks to fulfil desires.

The one who has abandoned all desires and is free from any craving, and does not have any notion of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, that person alone attains real peace.

This is the realised state, O Arjuna. Once this is attained there is no delusion. By abiding in this state even at the hour of death, one attains the abode of God.