Bhagavad Gita Quotes

The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence. --Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Text 23

 

My dear Arjuna, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulated principles of Bhakti yoga. In this way you will develop a desire to attain to Me. -Bhagavad Gita 12:9

 

Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work. -Bhagavad Gita 3:8

Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage. Bhagavad Gita 3:9

 

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a Spiritual Master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth. --Bhagavad Gita 4:34

Engage your mind always thinking of Me, become My devotee, engage your body in My service, and surrender unto Me. Completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me. --Bhagavad Gita 9:34

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it. --Bhagavad Gita 9:26

O son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an offering unto Me. --Bhagavad Gita 9:27

 

The Blessed Lord said: He whose mind is fixed on My personal form, always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith, is considered by Me to be most perfect. --Bhagavad Gita 12:2

For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Partha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death. --Bhagavad Gita 12:6-7

 

Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt. –Bhagavad Gita 12:8

My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of Bhakti Yoga and in this way develop a desire to attain Me. Bhagavad Gita 12:9

If you cannot practice the regulations of Bhakti Yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage. – Bhagavad Gita 12:10

 

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. --Bhagavad Gita 2:12

As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change. --Bhagavad Gita 2:13

O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. --Bhagavad Gita 2:14

O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation. --Bhagavad Gita 2:15

Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both. --Bhagavad Gita 2:16

Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul. --Bhagavad Gita 2:17

 

Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata. --Bhagavad Gita 2:18

He who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain, does not understand. One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is slain. --Bhagavad Gita 2:19

For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. --Bhagavad Gita 2:20

O Partha, how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, unborn, eternal and immutable, kill anyone or cause anyone to kill? --Bhagavad Gita 2:21

As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. --Bhagavad Gita 2:22

 

The soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind. --Bhagavad Gita 2:23

This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.--Bhagavad Gita 2:24

It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable, immutable, and unchangeable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body. --Bhagavad Gita 2:25

If, however, you think that the soul is perpetually born and always dies, still you still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.--Bhagavad Gita 2:26

For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.--Bhagavad Gita 2:27

All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?--Bhagavad Gita 2:28

Some look at the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.--Bhagavad Gita 2:29

O descendant of Bharata, he who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any creature.--Bhagavad Gita 2:30

 

Considering your specific duty as a ksatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there is no need for hesitation. --Bhagavad Gita 2:31

O Partha, happy are the ksatriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets. --Bhagavad Gita 2:32

If, however, you do not fight this religious war, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter. --Bhagavad Gita 2:33

People will always speak of your infamy, and for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death. --Bhagavad Gita 2:34

The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you a coward. --Bhagavad Gita 2:35

Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you? --Bhagavad Gita 2:36

O son of Kunti, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore, get up and fight with determination. --Bhagavad Gita 2:37

Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat--and, by so doing, you shall never incur sin. --Bhagavad Gita 2:38

 

Thus far I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of sankhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Prtha, when you act by such intelligence, you can free yourself from the bondage of works. --Bhagavad Gita 2:39

In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous. --Bhagavad Gita 2:40

Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched. --Bhagavad Gita 2:41

Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this. --Bhagavad Gita 2:42, 2:43

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination of devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place. --Bhagavad Gita 2:44

The Vedas mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature. Rise above these modes, O Arjuna. Be transcendental to all of them. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the Self. --Bhagavad Gita 2:45

All purposes that are served by the small pond can at once be served by the great reservoirs of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them. --Bhagavad Gita 2:46

 

You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. --Bhagavad Gita 2:47

Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga. --Bhagavad Gita 2:48

O Dhananjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers. --Bhagavad Gita 2:49

A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore, strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work. --Bhagavad Gita 2:50

The wise, engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world. In this way, they can attain that state beyond all. --Bhagavad Gita 2:51

When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard. --Bhagavad Gita 2:52

When your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas, and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will have attained the divine consciousness. --Bhagavad Gita 2:53

Arjuna said: What are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in Transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk? --Bhagavad Gita 2:54

 

The Blessed Lord said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of sense desire which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness. --Bhagavad Gita 2:55

One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries, who is not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind. --Bhagavad Gita 2:56

He who is without attachment, who does not rejoice when he obtains good, nor lament when he obtains evil, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge. --Bhagavad Gita 2:57

One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is to be understood as truly situated in knowledge.
--Bhagavad Gita 2:58

The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness. --Bhagavad Gita 2:59

The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them. --Bhagavad Gita 2:60

One who restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence. --Bhagavad Gita 2:61

While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises. --Bhagavad Gita 2:62

 

From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool. --Bhagavad Gita 2:63

One who can control his senses by practicing the regulated principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord and thus become free from all attachment and aversion. . --Bhagavad Gita 2:64

For one who is so situated in the Divine consciousness, the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such a happy state, one's intelligence soon becomes steady. --Bhagavad Gita 2:65

One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace? --Bhagavad Gita 2:66

As a boat on the water is swept away by a strong wind, even one of the senses on which the mind focuses can carry away a man's intelligence. --Bhagavad Gita 2:67

Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence. --Bhagavad Gita 2:68

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage. --Bhagavad Gita 2:69

A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires--that enter like rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still--can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires. --Bhagavad Gita 2:70

 

A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego--he alone can attain real peace. --Bhagavad Gita 2:71

That is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man is not bewildered. Being so situated, even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God. --Bhagavad Gita 2:72

 

Arjuna said: O Janardana, O Kesava, why do You urge me to engage in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work? --Bhagavad Gita 3:01

My intelligence is bewildered by Your equivocal instructions. Therefore, please tell me decisively what is most beneficial for me. --Bhagavad Gita 3:02

The Blessed Lord said: O sinless Arjuna, I have already explained that there are two classes of men who realize the Self. Some are inclined to understand Him by empirical, philosophical speculation, and others are inclined to know Him by devotional work. --Bhagavad Gita 3:03

Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection. --Bhagavad Gita 3:04

All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment. --Bhagavad Gita 3:05

 

One who restrains the senses and organs of action, but whose mind dwells on sense objects, certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender. --Bhagavad Gita 3:06

On the other hand, he who controls the senses by the mind and engages his active organs in works of devotion, without attachment, is by far superior. --Bhagavad Gita 3:07

Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work. --Bhagavad Gita 3:08

Work done as a sacrifice for Visnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage. --Bhagavad Gita 3:09

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Visnu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajna [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things." --Bhagavad Gita 3:10

The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you; thus nourishing one another, there will reign general prosperity for all. --Bhagavad Gita 3:11

In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajna [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return, is certainly a thief. --Bhagavad Gita 3:12

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin. --Bhagavad Gita 3:13