A library of wisdom
The Bhagavad Gita — Quotes
The Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse conversation between Prince Arjuna, paralysed by a moral crisis on the battlefield, and his charioteer Krishna, who turns out to be the divine itse A curated set of 30 quotes from the The Bhagavad Gita tradition.
“Your right is to the work itself, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruits of action be your motive; nor let your attachment be to inaction.”
“The soul is never born, nor does it die. Unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying, primeval — it is not slain when the body is slain.”
“As a person sheds worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so does the embodied self shed worn-out bodies and take on new ones.”
“Established in yoga, perform action, having abandoned attachment. Evenness of mind, in success and failure, is called yoga.”
“He whose mind is undisturbed in sorrow, who craves no pleasure, and from whom attachment, fear, and anger have departed — he is called a sage of steady wisdom.”
“When a person dwells on the objects of the senses, attachment to them is born. From attachment, desire; from desire, anger.”
“No one can remain even for a moment without performing action. Everyone is helplessly driven to act by the qualities born of nature.”
“Whatever a great person does, others follow. Whatever standard they set, the world pursues.”
“Better one's own dharma, even imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed.”
“Whenever there is decline of dharma and rise of adharma, then I manifest myself.”
“For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and to re-establish dharma, I am born age after age.”
“Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. For the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone is the enemy of the self.”
“Without doubt, the mind is restless and difficult to control. But it can be controlled by practice and by dispassion.”
“Whoever offers me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water — that, the offering of the pure-hearted, I accept.”
“To those who worship me, thinking of no other, ever steadfast, I bring what they lack and preserve what they have.”
“Three are the gates of hell, destructive of the self — lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, abandon these three.”
“Abandoning all duties, take refuge in me alone. I will liberate you from all sins. Do not grieve.”
“Reflect on this fully and then do as you wish.”
“Wherever there is Krishna, the lord of yoga, and wherever there is Arjuna, the wielder of the bow — there will be prosperity, victory, abundance, and sound morality.”
“The Gita teaches us how the work of the world can be made the means of liberation.”
“The Gita is the philosophy of the householder, the world-engaged person — not the renunciate alone.”
“All the Gita is the divine speaking the divine wisdom into the human consciousness that is fit to receive it.”
“When doubt haunts me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita and find a verse to comfort me.”
“The Gita is not a sectarian work. It belongs to all humanity. It teaches the religion by which all can live.”
“The Gita is for action — for action without attachment, in the world, by anyone, in any role.”
“The Gita does not require us to give up the world; it requires us to give up the wrong relation with the world.”
“The Gita is a love letter from God to humanity, written in the language of dilemma.”
“To do your work without grasping for its fruit is not weakness. It is the highest possible relation to action.”
“The whole Gita is contained in two verses — 2.47 and 18.66. The first is how to act. The second is how to surrender. Together they are the entire path.”
“The Gita does not give Arjuna an answer. It gives him the means to find his own. That is the difference between a teacher and a saviour.”