Arjuna said: O Kṛṣṇa, first of all You ask me to renounce work, and then again You recommend work with devotion. Now will You kindly tell me definitely which of the two is more beneficial?

The Blessed Lord said: Renunciation of actions and Karma Yoga, both lead to the highest beatitude. But, of these two, Karma Yoga is superior to the renunciation of actions.

One who neither resents(hates) nor desires the fruits of his activities is to be known as a perpetual renounced. Verily one who is free from the dualities is easily liberated from bondage of material world, O Mighty-Armed (Arjuna).

Ignorant, not the learned, speak of Sankhya (Sankhya Yoga) and Yoga (Karma Yoga) as distinct;one who is firmly established in either, attains the fruit of both. That state which is attained by the Sankhyans [Sankhya Yogis], is also attained by the Yogins, [Karma Yogis]. He alone is wise who sees that the Sankhya and theYoga are really one.

But renunciation, O Mighty-Armed, is hard to achieve without [Karma] Yoga. The contemplating sage who follows [Karma] Yoga reaches Brahman (the Self or ātman) soon.

One who works in devotion, who is a pure soul, and who controls his mind and senses, is dear to everyone, and everyone is dear to him. Though always working, such a man is never entangled.

A person in the divine consciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping, and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, opening or closing his eyes, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them.

One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme God, is not affected by sinful action, as the lotus leaf is untouched by water.

The yogīs, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intelligence, and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification.

The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me; whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine, who is greedy for the fruits of his labor, becomes entangled.

When the embodied living being controls his nature and mentally renounces all actions, he resides happily in the city of nine gates [the material body], neither working nor causing work to be done.

The master [of the body—the ātman] does not initiate agency, nor actions, nor union with the fruits of actions in relation to the world (of embodied beings); it is the inherent tendencies alone that function.

The all-pervading Self appropriates neither the demerit nor even the merit of any. Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance, thereby beings are deluded.

When, however, one is enlightened with the knowledge by which nescience is destroyed, then his knowledge reveals everything, as the sun lights up everything in the daytime.

Whose intelligence, mind and devotion (Nishtha) is fully fixed on the Supreme, he becomes cleansed of all misgivings through the wisdom(knowledge) and then he proceeds straight to the path of liberation from where he does not return into the cycle of death and birth.

Wise men associate the learned and humble, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog eater with equal vision.

Those whose minds are established in sameness and equanimity have already conquered the conditions of birth and death. They are flawless like Brahman, and thus they are already situated in Brahman.

One who having acquired the state of equanimity seeks to abide in Brahman, one whose mind is steadfastly fixed on That (ātman), undeluded — neither rejoices at gaining what is pleasant, nor grieves on obtaining what is unpleasant.

With the mind detached from external contacts, one finds happiness in the Self — with the mind engaged in the contemplation of Brahman [ātman] one enjoys endless bliss.

O Son of Kunti! The wise do not rejoice in sensual pleasure as they know they are the sources of all miseries and subject to beginning and an end.

Before giving up this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of the material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is a yogī (competent for Self-realization)and is happy in this world.

One whose happiness is within, who is active within, who rejoices within and is illumined within, is actually the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme, and ultimately he attains the Supreme.

One who is free from duality (doubts), whose mind is engaged within and who is working for the welfare of all beings, becomes cleansed of all impurities (sins) and attains the liberation in the Supreme.

Those who are free from lust and anger, who aspire [for realization], whose minds are controlled, and who have attained self-mastery — are assured of liberation in the Supreme in the very near future.

Shutting out all external contacts, focussing the gaze between the eye-brows(Agya Chakra), regulating the flow of the breath — inspiration and expiration(Pranayama),— having controlled the senses, mind and intellect, the sage who is intent on Liberation as the final goal, freed forever from desire, fear and anger. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.

Knowing Me as the enjoyer of all sacrifices and austerities(Yajna and Tapasya), as the Supreme Lord of all the worlds, as the benefactor and well-wisher of all living beings, one attains perfect peace.