Lord Krishna on Karma Yoga

1.      The knowledge that I have communicated so far is from the analytical study. I will answer you from the knowledge acquired in karma yoga system. When you attain the knowledge in yoga system, you will cast off the bonds of action

2.      In karma yoga efforts are not wasted. Efforts do not lead to faults. Even if you are slightly familiar with this yoga system, it delivers you from the greatest of the fears.      

3.      In this path, there is single state of mind that is firmly devoted to the objective. The minds that are not firmly devoted to an objective are multibranched and leads to endless pursuits

4.      The ignorant take delight in the beauty of the words and the flowery structure of Vedas. They regard heaven as the highest object of acquisition

5.      The desirous consider the benefits of acquiring heaven as the prime object of acquisition and concern themselves with rites for attaining pleasure and profit

6.      For attaining pleasure and profit, they sweet talk and delude their hearts and minds. The deluded mind is unable to steadfastly hold itself and remain firmly devoted to the objective

7.      Arjuna, Vedas concern themselves with the triple aggregate: Duty, profit, pleasure. One who is unaffected by this triple aggregate, the one who is unaffected by the dualities of life and adheres to patience without anxiety for new acquisitions or protecting those acquired, goes beyond the three qualities of nature: goodness, passion, darkness

8.      The use of Vedas for the one who goes beyond the three qualities of nature, is same as the use of water from his well when a vast reservoir of pure water that extends all around

9.      You shall not have inclination for inaction. Your concern should only be with work. But not with the results. The results of your work should not become the motive for work

10. Arjuna, stay in yoga, and without attachment apply yourself to work. Consider its outcome: success or failure as equal and remain the same after the results. This equanimity is called Yoga.

11. Working with desire for fruit is inferior to working level-headedly. It is miserable to work for the sake of fruits. Surrender to equanimity.

12. Equanimous person refrains from branding actions as good and bad. Therefore, apply yourself to karma yoga. Yoga is cleverness in action

13. The wise renounce the fruits of the action, get freed from the obligation of karma and attain the state of bliss   

14. When your knowledge surpasses the maze of delusion, you will become indifferent to the ones that you have heard and the ones you will hear  

15. When you are distracted from your objective for various reasons, but you choose to remain firm and steady in your objective then you will attain the state of yoga

Should I use this opportunity or not?

Chapter 2, Bhagavad Gita

33. If you do not make use of this opportunity, you shall lose your reputation and incur the sin for abandoning your duties

34. All the men will talk down on you. For a warrior like you, who deserves respect, becoming infamous is worse than death

35. All the great warriors will regard you as abstaining from fear. All those who have regarded you in high esteem will think lowly of you

36. Your enemies will decry your competence and will use swear words that should not be uttered. What can be more painful than that?

37. If you are slain, you will attain heaven. If you are victorious, you will enjoy the sovereignty of earth. Therefore, for the sake of the fight, arise with a resolve

38. Build an equitable mind by considering pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as equal. When you fight with such an equitable mind, you will not attain any sin

Arjuna's dilemma

20. Arjuna beheld the vast army assembled for the war, and before the missiles began to fly, lifted his bow and uttered the following words to his charioteer Krishna 

21. O infallible one, place my chariot between both the forces that are assembled here

22. I would like to observe those who stand here desirous of battle and the ones whom I must face as opponents

23. I desire to see who all have assembled here to favour the evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra

24. Krishna moved the chariot and placed it in the middle of the forces

25. He strategically placed it (instead of placing it in front of Duryodhana and increasing the energy, he placed it in front of his favourite relatives and drained his energy) and made Arjuna face his grandsire Bhishma and Guru Drona, and the other benevolent rulers and said, “Arjuna, see these Kauravas!”

26. There Arjuna observed both the armies. He could only see fathers, grandfathers, teachers, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, uncles, other loving beings and well wishers

27. That son of Kunti, beholding his relatives, keenly observed them and overwhelmed with compassion and despondency uttered the following words

28. O Krishna, seeing my relatives assembled and eager for the fight, my body is losing all its energy and my mouth becomes dry

29. My entire frame is trembling, my hair stands on its end, my bow, which has the name Gandiva, slips from my hand and my skin burns

30. Krishna, I have lost the strength to even stand, my mind is in a turmoil. I behold bad omens

31. In this war, I am unable to see the benefits of killing my relatives. Now, I do not desire victory, kingdom, and other pleasures  

32. What benefit do we achieve by possessing the kingdom without the people?  

33. They for whose sake, we are desiring sovereignty, enjoyments, and pleasures are arrayed for this battle prepared to give up their life and wealth

34. Teachers, parents, children, grandparents, uncles, brothers, brothers-in-law, marital relatives are assembled here against us

35. Even for the sake of the three worlds, I will not slay them. For the sake of this earth, will I kill them?

36. What happiness do we achieve by slaying this army of Dhritarashtra? Even if we kill these aggressors, only sins will overtake us

37. Therefore, killing our relatives is something that I will not be able to do. Krishna, how can we be happy by killing our own relatives?

38. Owing to their greed, they are unable to appreciate the evil that arises from the quarrel within a family and extermination of the race    

39. But shouldn’t we who understand those sins abstain from it?

40. When a race is destroyed, the eternal customs and values are lost. And iniquity surrounds everyone  

41. When iniquity increases in proportions, immorality follows. Family ladies become corrupt, unwanted progeny comes into being and races intermingle  

42. Unwanted progeny ensures social evils and makes life hell to those who are pure and those that intermingle. The familial rites end. And without food and water, ancestors fall from heaven

43. When races intermingle eternal rites of families become extinct

44. I have heard that the ones whose family rites become extinct always dwell in hell

45. Because of the desire to rule this land, I have resolved to perpetrate such a great sin of killing my own kinsmen. Alas! How strange is it?

46. Wouldn’t it be better to remain unarmed and be killed by Dhritarashtra’s men in this war? 

47. Having spoken these words, Arjuna, with his mind troubled in grief, threw his bows and arrows away, and sat down in his chariot’s floor 

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On the results of your work

The minds that are not firmly devoted to an objective are multibranched and leads to endless pursuits
 
The ignorant take delight in the beauty of the words and the flowery structure of Vedas. They regard heaven as the highest object of acquisition
 
The desirous consider the benefits of acquiring heaven as the prime object of 
acquisition and concern themselves with rites for attaining pleasure and profit
 
For attaining pleasure and profit, they sweet talk and delude their hearts and minds. The deluded mind is unable to steadfastly hold itself and remain firmly devoted to the objective
 
Arjuna, Vedas concern themselves with the triple aggregate: Duty, profit, pleasure. One who is unaffected by this triple aggregate, the one who is unaffected by the dualities of life and adheres to patience without anxiety for new acquisitions or protecting those acquired, goes beyond the three qualities of nature: goodness, passion, darkness
 
The use of Vedas for the one who goes beyond the three qualities of nature, is same as the use of water from his well when a vast reservoir of pure water that extends all around
 
You shall not have inclination for inaction. Your concern should only be with work. But not with the results. The results of your work should not become the motive for work