Il Mahabharata Quotes

“Krishna: "Victory and defeat are the same. To Act but not to reflect on the fruit of the Act. Seek Detachment. Fight without Desire."

Arjuna: "You say, forget desire, seek detachment!! Yet you urge me to battle to massacre! Your words are ambiguous, I am confused."

Krishna: "Don’t withdraw into solitude. Renunciation is not enough. You must Act. Yet Action must not dominate you. In the heart of Action you must remain free from all attachments."

Arjuna: "How can I put into practice what you are demanding of me? The mind is capricious, unstable; it’s evasive, feverish, turbulent, tenacious. It’s harder to subdue than taming the wind."

Krishna: "You must learn to see with the same eye, a mound of earth and a heap of gold, a cow, a sage, a dog and a man who eats the dog. There is another intelligence, beyond the mind.”
― Jean-Claude Carrière, Il Mahabharata

“Krishna: I am All that you think. All that you say. Everything hangs on Me, like pearls on a thread. I am the Earth’s scent and the Fire’s heat. I Am appearance and disappearance. I Am the tricks that hoax. I Am the radiance of All that shines. I am Time grown ancient. All beings fall in to the night and all beings are brought back to the day light. I have already defeated all these warriors. But he who thinks he can kill and he who thinks he can be killed are both mistaken. No weapon can pierce the life-breath that is pure consciousness. No Fire can burn it. No water can drench it. No Wind can make it dry. Have no fear and rise up because I Love you. Now you can dominate your mysterious and incomprehensible spirit. You can see its other side. Act as you must Act. I myself Am never without Action. Rise up”
― Jean-Claude Carrière, Il Mahabharata