The Bhagavad Gita · 2 of 2 · tr. Kashinath Trimbak Telang
Chapter III, Section 1b
For should I at any time not engage without sloth in action, men would follow in my path from all sides, O son of P ri thâ!
If I did not perform actions, these worlds would be destroyed, I should be the cause of caste interminglings; and I should be ruining these people.
As the ignorant act, O descendant of Bharata!
with attachment to action, so should a wise man act without attachment, wishing to keep the people (to their duties).
A wise man should not shake the convictions of the ignorant who are attached to action, but acting with devotion (himself ) should make them apply themselves to all action.
He whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks himself the doer of the actions, which, in every way, are done by the qualities of nature .
But he, O you of mighty arms!
who knows the truth about the difference from qualities and the difference from actions , forms no attachments, believing that qualities deal with qualities .
But those who are deluded by the qualities of nature form attachments to the actions of the qualities .
A man of perfect knowledge should not shake these men of imperfect knowledge (in their convictions).
Dedicating all actions to me with a mind knowing the relation of the supreme and individual self, engage in battle without desire, without (any feeling that this or that is) mine, and without any mental trouble .
Even those men who always act on this opinion of mine, full of faith, and without carping, are released from all actions.
But those who carp at my opinion and do not act upon it, know them to be devoid of discrimination, deluded as regards all knowledge , and ruined.
Even a man of knowledge acts consonantly to his own nature .
All beings follow nature.
What will restraint effect?
Every sense has its affections and aversions towards its objects fixed.
One should not become subject to them, for they are one's opponents .
One's own duty, though defective, is better than another's duty well performed.
Death in (performing) one's own duty is preferable; the (performance of the) duty of others is dangerous.
Ar g una said: But by whom, O descendant of V ri sh n i!
is man impelled, even though unwilling, and, as it were, constrained by force, to commit sin?
The Deity said: It is desire, it is wrath , born from the quality of passion; it is very ravenous, very sinful.
Know that that is the foe in this world.
As fire is enveloped by smoke, a mirror by dust, the fœtus by the womb, so is this enveloped by desire.
Knowledge, O son of Kuntî!
is enveloped by this constant foe of the man of knowledge, in the shape of desire, which is like a fire and insatiable.
The senses, the mind, and the understanding are said to be its seat ; with these it deludes the embodied (self) after enveloping knowledge.
Therefore, O chief of the descendants of Bharata!
first restrain your senses, then cast off this sinful thing which destroys knowledge and experience .
It has been said , Great are the senses, greater than the senses is the mind, greater than the mind is the understanding.
What is greater than the understanding is that .
Thus knowing that which is higher than the understanding, and restraining (your)self by (your)self, O you of mighty arms!
destroy this unmanageable enemy in the shape of desire.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Asha Cosmic Ordercosmology
Truth as the fundamental structure of reality.
The passage emphasizes the maintenance of cosmic order (dharma) through the performance of one's specific duty to prevent caste intermingling and world destruction.
All passages →Detachment Gelassenheitpraxis
Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.
The core teaching of the passage is acting without attachment to the fruits of action and without the feeling of 'mine,' which aligns with the concept of radical letting-go.
All passages →Divine Providencetheology
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The text implies a divine ordering where the wise man acts to keep people in their duties and where the Divine is the ultimate recipient of all actions.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The text repeatedly contrasts the 'ignorant' with the 'wise man of perfect knowledge' who understands the distinction between the self and the qualities of nature, presenting this knowledge as the path to liberation.
All passages →Inner Lightanthropology
The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
The text refers to 'knowledge' being enveloped by desire, implying an innate luminous capacity for truth within the individual that must be uncovered.
All passages →Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The Divine is addressed personally as 'me' and 'O you of mighty arms,' indicating a responsive, active presence rather than an abstract principle.
All passages →Nature Preservationpraxis
The ethical imperative to live in accordance with one's innate nature and avoid artificial social constraints that harm it.
The text explicitly states that one should act consonantly to one's own nature and that all beings follow their inherent nature.
All passages →Self Knowledgesoteriology
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
Central to the passage is the instruction to know the truth about the difference between the self and the qualities of nature, identifying the ego's delusion as the root of bondage.
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