The Crisis
On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna, the great warrior, was overwhelmed by doubt and sorrow. Seeing his relatives, teachers, and friends on both sides ready for battle, his bow slipped from his hand.
Arjuna: O Krishna, seeing my kinsmen here desiring to fight, my limbs fail, my mouth is parched, my body trembles. I see evil omens. I do not see any good in killing my own people. I desire neither victory nor kingdom nor pleasures. Of what use is kingdom, enjoyment, or even life itself?
I will not fight!
Krishna’s Teaching
Krishna: O Arjuna, whence has this impurity come upon you at this critical hour? It is unworthy of a noble person, does not lead to heaven, and causes disgrace.
Do not yield to unmanliness, O Arjuna. It does not befit you. Shake off this weakness of heart and stand up!
The Nature of the Self
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचित् (Na Jayate Mriyate Va Kadachit)
Never is the Self born, nor does it die
Krishna: You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, yet speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor the dead.
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men. Nor will there ever be a time when we shall cease to be.
Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so does it pass into another body. The wise are not deluded by this.
The Self is never born, never dies. Having come into being once, it never ceases to be. It is unborn, eternal, permanent, and primordial. It is not killed when the body is killed.
The Imperishable
Krishna: Weapons cannot cut It, fire cannot burn It, water cannot wet It, wind cannot dry It.
This Self is uncleavable, incombustible, not to be moistened, not to be dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable, ancient.
This Self is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable, and unchanging. Therefore, knowing It to be such, you should not grieve.
The Way of Action
Arjuna: But Krishna, even if I accept this teaching about the eternal Self, how should I act? Should I renounce action and become a monk?
Krishna: No, O Arjuna! Your duty is to act without attachment to the fruits of action.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन (Karmanyeva Adhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana)
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action
Perform your duty established in yoga, O Arjuna, abandoning attachment, being even-minded in success and failure. This evenness of mind is called yoga.
The Integration
Krishna: The man who sees action in inaction and inaction in action is wise among men. He is a yogi and a performer of all actions.
He whose every undertaking is free from desire and selfish purpose, whose actions are consumed by the fire of knowledge—him the wise call a sage.
Having abandoned attachment to the fruits of action, always content, depending on nothing, though engaged in action, he does not act at all.
The Realization
Arjuna: O Krishna, I see now. The Self is immortal. The body perishes but the Self endures. Action is necessary, but attachment to results is bondage.
But tell me—how can I remain unattached while performing my duty with full vigor?
Krishna: By establishing yourself in the knowledge of the Self. The person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires—that enter like rivers into the ocean which is being filled yet is always still—such a person alone achieves peace, not the one who strives to satisfy desires.
The Living Wisdom
This dialogue teaches:
- The eternal nature of the Self: Beyond birth and death
- The necessity of action: Life in the world requires engagement
- Detachment from results: Freedom comes from selfless action
- Equanimity: Remaining steady in success and failure
- Integration: Knowledge and action unified
योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि (Yogasthah Kuru Karmani)
Established in yoga, perform actions
This is not mere philosophy—it is the path of living fully in the world while remaining rooted in the eternal Self. Action without attachment, duty without desire, engagement without bondage.
The Bhagavad Gita’s teaching is the integration of knowledge and action, contemplation and engagement, the eternal and the temporal—the complete path for householders living in the world.