Sanjay Said: Madhusudan(Bhagvan Shri Krishna) spoke the following words to desolate Arjuna who was overwhelmed with compassion, eyes brimming with tears or anguish.

Shri Bhagvan (Shri Krishna) said: My dear Arjuna! From where has this delusion of yours has appeared in this critical moment? This delusion is not at all befitting a noble soul. This sin will not lead you to higher planets, but to infamy.

O Arjuna! Yield not to this dbasing impotence. It does not suits you. Give up such petty timidness and stand up and do your duty, O Subjugator of the Opponent.

Arjuna said: O Madhusudan(Shri Krishna)! How shall I counter attack arrows of warriors like Bhisma and Drona on the battle field? Both of them are worthy of my worship. It is better to live in this world by begging than to live instead of killing these noble teachers. But after killing these elders[in the opponent army] who are desiring wealth and materistic gains, definitely in this world we will enjoy only blood contaminated pleasures.

We do not know, which of the two is better for us— our vanquishing them, the very sons of Dhrtarashtra, or their vanquishing us. After slaying them we would not wish to live, even though they are standing in array against us.

Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking you to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto you. Please instruct me.

I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to destroy it even if I win an unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.

Sanjaya said;
Having spoken thus to Sri Krishna, Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and the scorcher of foes, said,'I will not fight' and became silent.

Having spoken thus to Sri Krishna, Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and the scorcher of foes, said, 'I will not fight' and became silent.

O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krsna, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna. The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.

There was never a time when I, you and any of these people does not exist. nor in the future shall any of us cease to be..

As our body continuously passes from childhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body after death.  Wise men do not get bemused by such a change.

The contact of senses with their objects, O Son of Kunti, give rise to feelings of cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go, they are impermanent, endure them, O Arjuna.

O Noblest of men! The person who remains alike in happiness and distress and remains steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation

Unreal does not come into subsistence and the real never ceases to exist. The truth of both of these has been professed by the seers of the truth

Know that which pervades the entire body (i.e soul) is indestructible. No one is capable to destroy this imperishable[soul].

Only the bodies of this unceasing, immeasurable and eternal soul are destroyed. Therefore, get up and fight, O Arjuna!

One who deems the Self a slayer, and one who thinks of it as slain — both are ignorant; for the Self neither slays nor is slain.

There is neither birth nor death of the soul at any time. Nor, having once been, does it ever cease to be. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, and primeval. The soul is not killed when the body is slain.

O Partha, how can a person who knows this soul as indestructible, unborn, eternal and immutable, kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?

As a person puts on new clothes, discarding old and torn clothes, similarly a personified soul enters new material bodies, leaving the old bodies.

Weapons do not cut it(the soul), fire does not burn it, waters do not wet it, and the wind does not dry it.

It cannot be cut; it cannot be burnt; it cannot be wetted and it cannot be dried, it is eternal, all pervading, stable, immovable and primeval.

This soul is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable and unchanging. Therefore, knowing it thus, it does not befit you to grieve.

If, however, you consider that the living being is perpetually born and always dies, still you still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.

Everyone who has taken birth has to die, and everyone who has died to born again. Therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.

O Arjuna! All beings, in the beginning, were unmanifest, they are manifest(physical form) in the middle(now) and going to be unmanifest again in the end. Why then lament for them?

Some look at the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.

O descendant of Bharata(Arjuna)! This sould which dwells in the body of living beings is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore you need not grieve for any creature.

Considering your specific duty as a ksatriya, you should know that there is no better engagement for you than fighting dharma and righteousness; and so there is no need for hesitation.

O Partha, happy are the ksatriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought, opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.

If, however, you do not fight this religious war, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.

People will always speak of your infamy, and for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.

The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you a coward.

Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?

O son of Kunti, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore get up and fight with determination.

Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat--and, by so doing, you shall never incur sin.

Thus far I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of sankhya philosophy. Now listen to the knowledge of yoga whereby one works without fruitive result. O son of Prtha, when you act by such intelligence, you can free yourself from the bondage of works.

In this path, there is no loss of effort and untoward outcome. A little progress on this discipline protects one danger of birth and death.

O beloved child of the Kurus! Ones who are in this blessed path are determined and focused whereas the intelligence of those who are hesitant in multifaceted and diverse.

"O Arjuna! Men of less wisdom presume inquisitive anagoges of the Vedas and presume Heaven as the sovereign destination and argue that there is nothing beyond the heaven, and pleasures, they only gratify the statements of Vedas according to pleasure of their sense. Preoccupied by desires, they perform numerous orientations rituals producing of good birth, wealth and power for the attainment of pleasure and prosperity."

In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination of devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

The Vedas mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature. Rise above these modes, O Arjuna. Be transcendental to all of them. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the Self

All purposes that are served by the small pond can at once be served by the great reservoirs of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.

You have control over performing your action (right to do action/duty) and not over the results. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be inclined toward not doing your duty.

O Arjuna! Perform your duties being on the path of Yoga leaving behind attachment and remaining even minded in success and failure. Such calm temperament is called Yoga.

Dhananjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.

A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work.

The wise, engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world. In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries.

When your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard. When your mind, which has become unstable by hearing the differing language of the scriptures, has become stable, steady in regarding Self-Realization in God, you will attain the divine consciousness.

Arjuna said: What are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in Transcendence(Samadhisthata)? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he sit, and how does he walk?

The Blessed Lord said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of sense desire which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind finds satisfaction in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.

One who is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries, who is not elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind.

He who is without attachment, who does not rejoice when he obtains good, nor lament when he obtains evil, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.

One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is to be understood as truly situated in knowledge.

The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.

The senses are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.
One who restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a man of steady intelligence.

While thinking over and concentrating on the objects of senses, a person develops attachment them. From such attachment desires develops and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.
From anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost, one falls down again into the material pool.

One who can control his senses by practicing the regulated principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord and thus become free from all attachment and aversion.

For one who is so situated in the Divine consciousness, the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such a happy state, one's intelligence soon becomes steady.

One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?

As a boat in the water is carried away by strong wind similarly, the mind with the wondering senses can carry away the intelligence.

Therefore, O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly of steady intelligence.

What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.

As the rivers and lakes enter into the ocean, which although full, remains undisturbed, in the same way, when all desires flow into a steady-minded person, the desires become fused in him, do not affect him, and do not make him avarice. He achieves peace is contrary to the one who strives to satisfy desires

A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego, he alone can attain real peace.

O Son of Pratha! This is the state of godly life. On having attained this state, one does not get deluded. Even if one attains this state at the time of his death, he attains Me.