Memorable lines

In the annihilation of the family the eternal traditions of the family are destroyed.

take refuge as a disciple with thee; enlighten me.

The enlightened man does not mourn either for the living or for the dead.

That which really is, cannot go out of existence, just as that which is non-existent cannot come into being.

Finite bodies have an end.

Weapons cannot cleave it (the soul), nor the fire burn, nor do the waters drench it, nor the wind dry.

Certain is death for the born, and certain is birth for the dead.

To one in noble station, dishonour is worse than death.

Even a little of this dharma (as declared in the Gita) delivers from the great fear.

Thou hast a right to action, but only to action, never to its fruits.

It is equality that is meant by Yoga.

Poor and wretched souls are they who make the fruit of their works the object of their thoughts and activities.

Yoga is skill in works.

He from whom liking and fear and wrath have passed away, is the sage of settled understanding.

For the unpeaceful how can there be happiness?

Not by abstention from works does a man enjoy actionlessness, nor by mere renunciation (of works) does he attain to his perfection.

None stands even for a moment not doing work.

Action is greater than inaction.

Know that work is born of Brahman

Whatsoever the Best doeth, that the lower kind of man puts into practice.

Death in one’s own law of being is better, perilous is it to follow an alien law.

I stand upon my own Nature and I come into birth by my self-Maya.

For the enthroning of the Right, I am born from age to age.

As men approach Me, so I accept them to My love

The fourfold order was created by Me according to the divisions of quality and active function.

What is action and what is inaction, as to this even the sages are perplexed and deluded.

Brahman is the giving, Brahman is the food-offering, by Brahman it is offered into the Brahman-fire, Brahman is that which is to be attained by Samadhi in Brahman-action.

Knowledge is that in which all this action culminates, O Partha !

Learn that by worshipping the feet of the teacher, by questioning and by service; the men of knowledge who have seen (not those who know merely by the intellect) the true principles of things, will instruct thee in knowledge.

There is nothing in the world equal in purity to knowledge.

He who has faith attains knowledge.

The ignorant who has not faith, the soul of doubt goeth to perdition.

He should be known as always a Sannyasin who neither dislikes nor desires.

Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance; thereby creatures are bewildered.

Sages see with an equal eye

By the self thou shouldst deliver the self, thou shouldst not depress and cast down the self (whether by self-indulgence or suppression); for the self is the friend of the self and the self is the enemy.

Whenever the restless and unquiet mind goes forth, it should be controlled and brought into subjection in the Self.

Without doubt, O mighty-armed, the mind is restless and very difficult to restrain; but O Kaunteya, it may be controlled by constant practice and non-attachment.

Never does anyone who practises goods, O beloved, come to woe.

Of all Yogins he who given up to me, with love and faith, him I hold to be the most united with me in Yoga.

Among thousands of men one here and there strives after perfection, and of those who strive and attain to perfection one here and there knows me in all the principles of my existence.

My divine Maya is hard to overcome.

Among the virtuous ones who turns towards Me (the Divine) with devotion, O Arjuna, there are four kinds of bhaktas; the suffering, the seeker for good in the world, the seeker for knowledge, and those who adore Me with knowledge, O Lord of the Bharatas.

Whose bhakti is all concentrated on Him (the Divine), is the best.

Attaining which one returns not; that is my supreme place of being.

But that supreme Purusha has to be won by a bhakti which turns to him alone.

Therefore at all times be in Yoga, O Arjuna.

To those constantly in Yoga with Me, I spontaneously bring every good.

He who offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a cup of water, that offering of love from the striving soul, is acceptable to Me.

Whatever thou doest, whatever thou enjoyest, whatever thou sacrificest, whatever thou givest, whatever energy of tapasyā, of the soul’s will or effort, thou puttest forth, make it an offering unto Me.

I (the Eternal Inhabitant) am equal in all existences, none is dear to Me, none hated.

My devotee does not perish.

I am the birth of everything and from Me all proceeds into development of action and movement.

I am the Time-Spirit, destroyer of the world, arisen huge-statured for the destruction of the nations.

Do thou become the occasion only, O Savyasachin.

The gods themselves ever desire to look upon it (the supreme form of the Divine).

Better indeed is knowledge than practice; than knowledge, meditation is better; than meditation, renunciation of the fruit of action; on renunciation follows peace.

He who neither desires the pleasant and rejoices at its touch nor abhors the unpleasant and sorrows at its touch, who has abolished the distinction between fortunate and unfortunate happenings (because his devotion receives all things equally as good from the hands of his eternal Lover and Master), he is dear to Me.

He is the light of all lights and luminous beyond all the darkness of our ignorance.

The three gunas – Sattva, Rajas, Tams – are born of Prakriti.

The real form of it cannot be perceived by us in this material world of man’s embodiment, nor its beginning nor its end, nor its foundation.

It is an eternal portion of Me that becomes the Jiva in the world of living creatures.

The deluded do not perceive. They only perceive who have the eye of knowledge.

I, having become the flame of life, sustain the physical body of living creatures, and united with Prana and Apana, digest the four kinds of food.

I am lodged in the heart of all.

There are two Purushas (spiritual beings) in this world, the immutable (and impersonal) and the mutable (and personal).

Asuric men have no true knowledge of the way of action or the way of abstention.

Threefold are the doors of Hell, destructive of the soul – desire, wrath and greed: therefore let man renounce these three.

Three-fold is the result of Karma: pleasant, unpleasant and mixed.

A man who is intent on his own natural work attains perfection.

Better is one’s own law of works, though in itself faulty, than an alien law well wrought out.

The inborn work, O son of Kunti, though defective, ought not to be abandoned. All actions (in the three Gunas) indeed are clouded by defects as fire by smoke.

The Lord, O Arjuna, is seated in the heart of all beings.

Become my-minded, my lover and adored, a sacrificer to Me, bow thyself to ME, to Me thou shalt come, this is my pledge and promise to thee, for dear art thou to Me.

Abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me alone. I will deliver thee from all sin and evil, do not grieve.