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Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind.
the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves.
Perform all work carefully, guided by compassion.
All actions are performed by the gunas of prakriti. Deluded by identification with the ego, a person thinks, “I am the doer.”
they do not claim to be the doer.
Those who are deluded by the operation of the gunas become attached
to the results of their action. Those who understand these truths should not unsettle the ignorant.
Those who live in accordance with these divine laws without complaining, firmly established in faith, are released from karma.
Even the wise act within the limitations of their own nature. Every creature is subject to prakriti; what is the use of repression?
unquenchable fire for self-satisfaction,
Selfish desire is found in the senses, mind, and intellect, misleading them and burying the understanding in delusion.
Use your mighty arms to slay the fierce enemy that is selfish desire.
You and I have passed through many births, Arjuna. You have forgotten, but I remember them all.
Delivered from selfish attachment, fear, and anger, filled with me, surrendering themselves to me, purified in the fire of my being, many have reached the state of unity in me.
and every act is done with complete awareness.
The wise, ever satisfied, have abandoned all external supports. Their security is unaffected by the results of their action; even while acting, they really do nothing at all.
Competing with no one, they are alike in success and failure and content with whatever comes to them.
Brahman is attained by those who see Brahman in every action.
Others offer the forces of vitality through restraint of their senses.
It is essential in karma yoga that the selfish ego not expect gratification from the work.
Those who have attained perfect renunciation are free from any sense of duality; they are unaffected by likes and dislikes,
and are free from the bondage of self-will.
Those who follow the path of service, who have completely purified themselves and conquered their senses and self-will, see the Self in all creatures and are untouched by any action they perform.
Those who know this truth, whose consciousness is unified, think always, “I am not the doer.”
Those whose consciousness is unified abandon all attachment to the results of action and attain supreme peace.
Those who renounce attachment in all their deeds live content in the “city of nine gates,” the body, as its master.
They see the same Self in a spiritual aspirant and an outcaste, in an elephant, a cow, and a dog.
Not dependent on any external support, they realize the joy of spiritual awareness. With consciousness unified through meditation, they live in abiding joy.
Pleasures conceived in the world of the senses have a beginning and an end and give birth to misery, Arjuna. The wise do not look for happiness in them.
But those who overcome the impulses of lust and anger which arise in the body are made whole and live in joy. 24 They find their joy, their rest, and their light completely within themselves.
Self-realization is their only goal.
Only those who have genuine self-discipline, who are “self-conquered,” live in peace.
Neither extreme asceticism nor indulgence will aid meditation.
but those who work without expectation of reward who attain the goal of meditation. Theirs is true renunciation. 2
Those who cannot renounce attachment to the results of their work are far from the path.
They live in peace, alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain, praise and blame.
To such people a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same.
They are equally disposed to family, enemies, and friends, to those who support them and those who are hostile, to the good and the evil alike.
With all fears dissolved in the peace of the Self and all desires dedicated to Brahman,
He desires nothing else, and cannot be shaken by the heaviest burden of sorrow.
Renouncing wholeheartedly all selfish desires and expectations, use your will to control the senses. 25 Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self.
Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse in its search for satisfaction without, lead it within;
Freeing themselves from the taint of self-will,
30 I am ever present to those who have realized me in every creature.
Seeing all life as my manifestation, they are never separated from me.
They worship me in the hearts of all, and all their actio...
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When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union.
It is true that the mind is restless and difficult to control. But it can be conquered, Arjuna, through regular practice and detachment.
The wisdom they have acquired in previous lives will be reawakened, Arjuna, and they will strive even harder for Self-realization.
Krishna desired companions, and made the world.
