Public domain translation by Sir Edwin Arnold (1885), via Project Gutenberg. Presented unabridged.
Krishna.<br/> Therefore, who doeth work rightful to do,<br/> Not seeking gain from work, that man, O Prince!<br/> Is Sanyasi and Yogi--both in one<br/> And he is neither who lights not the flame<br/> Of sacrifice, nor setteth hand to task.
Regard as true Renouncer him that makes<br/> Worship by work, for who renounceth not<br/> Works not as Yogin. So is that well said:<br/> "By works the votary doth rise to faith,<br/> And saintship is the ceasing from all works;<br/> Because the perfect Yogin acts--but acts<br/> Unmoved by passions and unbound by deeds,<br/> Setting result aside.
Let each man raise<br/> The Self by Soul, not trample down his Self,<br/> Since Soul that is Self's friend may grow Self's foe.<br/> Soul is Self's friend when Self doth rule o'er Self,<br/> But Self turns enemy if Soul's own self<br/> Hates Self as not itself.[FN#10]
The sovereign soul<br/> Of him who lives self-governed and at peace<br/> Is centred in itself, taking alike<br/> Pleasure and pain; heat, cold; glory and shame.<br/> He is the Yogi, he is Yukta, glad<br/> With joy of light and truth; dwelling apart<br/> Upon a peak, with senses subjugate<br/> Whereto the clod, the rock, the glistering gold<br/> Show all as one. By this sign is he known<br/> Being of equal grace to comrades, friends,<br/> Chance-comers, strangers, lovers, enemies,<br/> Aliens and kinsmen; loving all alike,<br/> Evil or good.
Sequestered should he sit,<br/> Steadfastly meditating, solitary,<br/> His thoughts controlled, his passions laid away,<br/> Quit of belongings. In a fair, still spot<br/> Having his fixed abode,--not too much raised,<br/> Nor yet too low,--let him abide, his goods<br/> A cloth, a deerskin, and the Kusa-grass.<br/> There, setting hard his mind upon The One,<br/> Restraining heart and senses, silent, calm,<br/> Let him accomplish Yoga, and achieve<br/> Pureness of soul, holding immovable<br/> Body and neck and head, his gaze absorbed<br/> Upon his nose-end,[FN#11] rapt from all around,<br/> Tranquil in spirit, free of fear, intent<br/> Upon his Brahmacharya vow, devout,<br/> Musing on Me, lost in the thought of Me.<br/> That Yojin, so devoted, so controlled,<br/> Comes to the peace beyond,--My peace, the peace<br/> Of high Nirvana!
But for earthly needs<br/> Religion is not his who too much fasts<br/> Or too much feasts, nor his who sleeps away<br/> An idle mind; nor his who wears to waste<br/> His strength in vigils. Nay, Arjuna! call<br/> That the true piety which most removes<br/> Earth-aches and ills, where one is moderate<br/> In eating and in resting, and in sport;<br/> Measured in wish and act; sleeping betimes,<br/> Waking betimes for duty.
When the man,<br/> So living, centres on his soul the thought<br/> Straitly restrained--untouched internally<br/> By stress of sense--then is he Yukta. See!<br/> Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind;<br/> Such is the likeness of the Yogi's mind<br/> Shut from sense-storms and burning bright to Heaven.<br/> When mind broods placid, soothed with holy wont;<br/> When Self contemplates self, and in itself<br/> Hath comfort; when it knows the nameless joy<br/> Beyond all scope of sense, revealed to soul--<br/> Only to soul! and, knowing, wavers not,<br/> True to the farther Truth; when, holding this,<br/> It deems no other treasure comparable,<br/> But, harboured there, cannot be stirred or shook<br/> By any gravest grief, call that state "peace,"<br/> That happy severance Yoga; call that man<br/> The perfect Yogin!
Steadfastly the will<br/> Must toil thereto, till efforts end in ease,<br/> And thought has passed from thinking. Shaking off<br/> All longings bred by dreams of fame and gain,<br/> Shutting the doorways of the senses close<br/> With watchful ward; so, step by step, it comes<br/> To gift of peace assured and heart assuaged,<br/> When the mind dwells self-wrapped, and the soul broods<br/> Cumberless. But, as often as the heart<br/> Breaks--wild and wavering--from control, so oft<br/> Let him re-curb it, let him rein it back<br/> To the soul's governance; for perfect bliss<br/> Grows only in the bosom tranquillised,<br/> The spirit passionless, purged from offence,<br/> Vowed to the Infinite. He who thus vows<br/> His soul to the Supreme Soul, quitting sin,<br/> Passes unhindered to the endless bliss<br/> Of unity with Brahma. He so vowed,<br/> So blended, sees the Life-Soul resident<br/> In all things living, and all living things<br/> In that Life-Soul contained. And whoso thus<br/> Discerneth Me in all, and all in Me,<br/> I never let him go; nor looseneth he<br/> Hold upon Me; but, dwell he where he may,<br/> Whate'er his life, in Me he dwells and lives,<br/> Because he knows and worships Me, Who dwell<br/> In all which lives, and cleaves to Me in all.<br/> Arjuna! if a man sees everywhere--<br/> Taught by his own similitude--one Life,<br/> One Essence in the Evil and the Good,<br/> Hold him a Yogi, yea! well-perfected!
Arjuna.<br/> Slayer of Madhu! yet again, this Yog,<br/> This Peace, derived from equanimity,<br/> Made known by thee--I see no fixity<br/> Therein, no rest, because the heart of men<br/> Is unfixed, Krishna! rash, tumultuous,<br/> Wilful and strong. It were all one, I think,<br/> To hold the wayward wind, as tame man's heart.
Krishna.<br/> Hero long-armed! beyond denial, hard<br/> Man's heart is to restrain, and wavering;<br/> Yet may it grow restrained by habit, Prince!<br/> By wont of self-command. This Yog, I say,<br/> Cometh not lightly to th' ungoverned ones;<br/> But he who will be master of himself<br/> Shall win it, if he stoutly strive thereto.
Arjuna.<br/> And what road goeth he who, having faith,<br/> Fails, Krishna! in the striving; falling back<br/> From holiness, missing the perfect rule?<br/> Is he not lost, straying from Brahma's light,<br/> Like the vain cloud, which floats 'twixt earth and heaven<br/> When lightning splits it, and it vanisheth?<br/> Fain would I hear thee answer me herein,<br/> Since, Krishna! none save thou can clear the doubt.
Krishna.<br/> He is not lost, thou Son of Pritha! No!<br/> Nor earth, nor heaven is forfeit, even for him,<br/> Because no heart that holds one right desire<br/> Treadeth the road of loss! He who should fail,<br/> Desiring righteousness, cometh at death<br/> Unto the Region of the Just; dwells there<br/> Measureless years, and being born anew,<br/> Beginneth life again in some fair home<br/> Amid the mild and happy. It may chance<br/> He doth descend into a Yogin house<br/> On Virtue's breast; but that is rare! Such birth<br/> Is hard to be obtained on this earth, Chief!<br/> So hath he back again what heights of heart<br/> He did achieve, and so he strives anew<br/> To perfectness, with better hope, dear Prince!<br/> For by the old desire he is drawn on<br/> Unwittingly; and only to desire<br/> The purity of Yog is to pass<br/> Beyond the Sabdabrahm, the spoken Ved.<br/> But, being Yogi, striving strong and long,<br/> Purged from transgressions, perfected by births<br/> Following on births, he plants his feet at last<br/> Upon the farther path. Such as one ranks<br/> Above ascetics, higher than the wise,<br/> Beyond achievers of vast deeds! Be thou<br/> Yogi Arjuna! And of such believe,<br/> Truest and best is he who worships Me<br/> With inmost soul, stayed on My Mystery!
HERE ENDETH CHAPTER VI. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA,<br/> Entitled "Atmasanyamayog,"<br/> Or "The Book of Religion by Self-Restraint."