The Bhagavad Gita

by Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa

attached to personal reward will reap the consequences of their actions: some pleasant, some unpleasant, some mixed. But those who renounce every desire for personal reward go beyond the reach of karma. 13 Listen, Arjuna, and I will explain the five elements necessary for the accomplishment of every action, as taught by the wisdom of Sankhya. 14 The body, the means, the ego, the performance of the act, and the divine will: 15 these are the five factors in all actions, right or wrong, in thought, word, or deed. 16 Those who do not understand this think of themselves as separate agents. With their crude intellects they fail to see the truth. 17 The person who is free from ego, who has attained purity of heart, though he slays these people, he does not slay and is not bound by his action. 18 Knowledge, the thing to be known, and the knower: these three promote action. The means, the act itself, and the doer: these three are the totality of action. 19 Knowledge, action, and the doer can be described according to the gunas. Listen, and I will explain their distinctions to you. 20 Sattvic knowledge sees the one indestructible Being in all beings, the unity underlying the multiplicity of creation. 21 Rajasic knowledge sees all things and creatures as separate and distinct. 22 Tamasic knowledge, lacking any sense of perspective, sees one small part and mistakes it for the whole. 23 Work performed to fulfill one’s obligations, without thought of personal reward or of whether the jo...