Public domain translation by Sir Edwin Arnold (1885), via Project Gutenberg. Presented unabridged.
Arjuna.<br/> Thou whom all mortals praise, Janardana!<br/> If meditation be a nobler thing<br/> Than action, wherefore, then, great Kesava!<br/> Dost thou impel me to this dreadful fight?<br/> Now am I by thy doubtful speech disturbed!<br/> Tell me one thing, and tell me certainly;<br/> By what road shall I find the better end?
Krishna.<br/> I told thee, blameless Lord! there be two paths<br/> Shown to this world; two schools of wisdom.
First<br/> The Sankhya's, which doth save in way of works<br/> Prescribed[FN#4] by reason; next, the Yog, which bids<br/> Attain by meditation, spiritually:<br/> Yet these are one! No man shall 'scape from act<br/> By shunning action; nay, and none shall come<br/> By mere renouncements unto perfectness.<br/> Nay, and no jot of time, at any time,<br/> Rests any actionless; his nature's law<br/> Compels him, even unwilling, into act;<br/> [For thought is act in fancy]. He who sits<br/> Suppressing all the instruments of flesh,<br/> Yet in his idle heart thinking on them,<br/> Plays the inept and guilty hypocrite:<br/> But he who, with strong body serving mind,<br/> Gives up his mortal powers to worthy work,<br/> Not seeking gain, Arjuna! such an one<br/> Is honourable. Do thine allotted task!<br/> Work is more excellent than idleness;<br/> The body's life proceeds not, lacking work.<br/> There is a task of holiness to do,<br/> Unlike world-binding toil, which bindeth not<br/> The faithful soul; such earthly duty do<br/> Free from desire, and thou shalt well perform<br/> Thy heavenly purpose. Spake Prajapati--<br/> In the beginning, when all men were made,<br/> And, with mankind, the sacrifice-- "Do this!<br/> Work! sacrifice! Increase and multiply<br/> With sacrifice! This shall be Kamaduk,<br/> Your 'Cow of Plenty,' giving back her milk<br/> Of all abundance. Worship the gods thereby;<br/> The gods shall yield thee grace. Those meats ye crave<br/> The gods will grant to Labour, when it pays<br/> Tithes in the altar-flame. But if one eats<br/> Fruits of the earth, rendering to kindly Heaven<br/> No gift of toil, that thief steals from his world."
Who eat of food after their sacrifice<br/> Are quit of fault, but they that spread a feast<br/> All for themselves, eat sin and drink of sin.<br/> By food the living live; food comes of rain,<br/> And rain comes by the pious sacrifice,<br/> And sacrifice is paid with tithes of toil;<br/> Thus action is of Brahma, who is One,<br/> The Only, All-pervading; at all times<br/> Present in sacrifice. He that abstains<br/> To help the rolling wheels of this great world,<br/> Glutting his idle sense, lives a lost life,<br/> Shameful and vain. Existing for himself,<br/> Self-concentrated, serving self alone,<br/> No part hath he in aught; nothing achieved,<br/> Nought wrought or unwrought toucheth him; no hope<br/> Of help for all the living things of earth<br/> Depends from him.[FN#5] Therefore, thy task prescribed<br/> With spirit unattached gladly perform,<br/> Since in performance of plain duty man<br/> Mounts to his highest bliss. By works alone<br/> Janak and ancient saints reached blessedness!<br/> Moreover, for the upholding of thy kind,<br/> Action thou should'st embrace. What the wise choose<br/> The unwise people take; what best men do<br/> The multitude will follow. Look on me,<br/> Thou Son of Pritha! in the three wide worlds<br/> I am not bound to any toil, no height<br/> Awaits to scale, no gift remains to gain,<br/> Yet I act here! and, if I acted not--<br/> Earnest and watchful--those that look to me<br/> For guidance, sinking back to sloth again<br/> Because I slumbered, would decline from good,<br/> And I should break earth's order and commit<br/> Her offspring unto ruin, Bharata!<br/> Even as the unknowing toil, wedded to sense,<br/> So let the enlightened toil, sense-freed, but set<br/> To bring the world deliverance, and its bliss;<br/> Not sowing in those simple, busy hearts<br/> Seed of despair. Yea! let each play his part<br/> In all he finds to do, with unyoked soul.<br/> All things are everywhere by Nature wrought<br/> In interaction of the qualities.<br/> The fool, cheated by self, thinks, "This I did"<br/> And "That I wrought; "but--ah, thou strong-armed Prince!--<br/> A better-lessoned mind, knowing the play<br/> Of visible things within the world of sense,<br/> And how the qualities must qualify,<br/> Standeth aloof even from his acts. Th' untaught<br/> Live mixed with them, knowing not Nature's way,<br/> Of highest aims unwitting, slow and dull.<br/> Those make thou not to stumble, having the light;<br/> But all thy dues discharging, for My sake,<br/> With meditation centred inwardly,<br/> Seeking no profit, satisfied, serene,<br/> Heedless of issue--fight! They who shall keep<br/> My ordinance thus, the wise and willing hearts,<br/> Have quittance from all issue of their acts;<br/> But those who disregard My ordinance,<br/> Thinking they know, know nought, and fall to loss,<br/> Confused and foolish. 'Sooth, the instructed one<br/> Doth of his kind, following what fits him most:<br/> And lower creatures of their kind; in vain<br/> Contending 'gainst the law. Needs must it be<br/> The objects of the sense will stir the sense<br/> To like and dislike, yet th' enlightened man<br/> Yields not to these, knowing them enemies.<br/> Finally, this is better, that one do<br/> His own task as he may, even though he fail,<br/> Than take tasks not his own, though they seem good.<br/> To die performing duty is no ill;<br/> But who seeks other roads shall wander still.
Arjuna.<br/> Yet tell me, Teacher! by what force doth man<br/> Go to his ill, unwilling; as if one<br/> Pushed him that evil path?
Krishna.<br/> Kama it is!<br/> Passion it is! born of the Darknesses,<br/> Which pusheth him. Mighty of appetite,<br/> Sinful, and strong is this!--man's enemy!<br/> As smoke blots the white fire, as clinging rust<br/> Mars the bright mirror, as the womb surrounds<br/> The babe unborn, so is the world of things<br/> Foiled, soiled, enclosed in this desire of flesh.<br/> The wise fall, caught in it; the unresting foe<br/> It is of wisdom, wearing countless forms,<br/> Fair but deceitful, subtle as a flame.<br/> Sense, mind, and reason--these, O Kunti's Son!<br/> Are booty for it; in its play with these<br/> It maddens man, beguiling, blinding him.<br/> Therefore, thou noblest child of Bharata!<br/> Govern thy heart! Constrain th' entangled sense!<br/> Resist the false, soft sinfulness which saps<br/> Knowledge and judgment! Yea, the world is strong,<br/> But what discerns it stronger, and the mind<br/> Strongest; and high o'er all the ruling Soul.<br/> Wherefore, perceiving Him who reigns supreme,<br/> Put forth full force of Soul in thy own soul!<br/> Fight! vanquish foes and doubts, dear Hero! slay<br/> What haunts thee in fond shapes, and would betray!
HERE ENDETH CHAPTER III. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA,<br/> Entitled "Karma-Yog,"<br/> Or "The Book of Virtue in Work."