The Bhagavad Gita · 1 of 2 · tr. Kashinath Trimbak Telang
Chapter IV, Section 1a
CHAPTER IV.
The Deity said: This everlasting (system of) devotion I declared to the sun, the sun declared it to Manu , and Manu communicated it to Ikshvâku.
Coming thus by steps, it became known to royal sages.
But, O terror of (your) foes!
that devotion was lost to the world by long (lapse of) time.
That same primeval devotion I have declared to you to-day, seeing.
that you are my devotee and friend, for it is the highest mystery.
Ar g una said: Later is your birth the birth of the sun is prior.
How then shall I understand that you declared (this) first?
The Deity said: I have passed through many births, O Ar g una I and you also.
I know them all, but you, O terror of (your) foes!
do not know them.
Even though I am unborn and inexhaustible in (my) essence, even though I am lord of all beings, still I take up the control of my own nature , and am born by means of my delusive power.
Whensoever, O descendant of Bharata!
piety languishes, and impiety is in the ascendant, I create myself.
I am born age after age, for the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-doers, and the establishment of piety.
Whoever truly knows thus my divine birth and work, casts off (this) body and is not born again.
He comes to me, O Ar g una!
Many from whom affection, fear , and wrath have departed, who are full of me, who depend on me, and who are purified by the penance of knowledge , have come into my essence.
I serve men in the way in which they approach me .
In every way, O son of P ri thâ!
men follow in my path .
Desiring the success of actions , men in this world worship the divinities, for in this world of mortals, the success produced by action is soon obtained.
The fourfold division of castes was created by me according to the apportionment of qualities and duties.
But though I am its author, know me to be inexhaustible, and not the author.
Actions defile me not.
I have no attachment to the fruit of actions.
He who knows me thus is not tied down by actions.
Knowing this, the men of old who wished for final emancipation, performed action.
Therefore do you, too, perform action as was done by men of old in olden times.
Even sages are confused as to what is action, what inaction.
Therefore I will speak to you about action, and learning that, you will be freed from (this world of) evil.
One must possess knowledge about action; one must also possess knowledge about prohibited action; and again one must possess knowledge about inaction.
The truth regarding action is abstruse.
He is wise among men, he is possessed of devotion, and performs all actions , who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction.
The wise call him learned, whose acts are all free from desires and fancies, and whose actions are burnt down by the fire of knowledge.
Forsaking all attachment to the fruit of action, always contented, dependent on none, he does nothing at all, though he engages in action.
Devoid of expectations, restraining the mind and the self, and casting off all belongings , he incurs no sin, performing actions merely for the sake of the body .
Satisfied with earnings coming spontaneously , rising above the pairs of opposites, free from all animosity, and equable on success or ill-success, he is not fettered down, even though he performs (actions).
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 text repeatedly advocates for performing action without attachment to the fruit of actions, casting off belongings and expectations.
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.
Krishna explicitly states he incarnates age after age to protect the good, destroy evil, and establish piety, demonstrating active divine ordering of history.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage emphasizes that true knowledge of the divine birth and work liberates the soul from the cycle of rebirth, positioning direct insight as the path to salvation.
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
The wise person is described as 'equable on success or ill-success' and rising above the 'pairs of opposites,' indicating a transcendence of dualities.
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The text relies on paradoxical statements such as seeing 'inaction in action' and the Deity being both the author of caste divisions yet not the author.
The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.
The text advises casting off all belongings and being satisfied with earnings that come spontaneously, warning against attachment to material possessions. [quarantine-w4: renunciation_of_wealth x hinduism — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The text describes the ultimate goal as casting off the body and coming to the Deity, reversing the cycle of birth and returning to the divine essence.
The text centrally features the doctrine of reincarnation, with Krishna stating he and Arjuna have passed through many births and that knowledge leads to not being born again.