HinduismBhagavat Gita

Bhagavat Gita : history, translation & quotes : 79 quote(s)

hen the senses contact sense objects, a person experiences cold or heat,
pleasure or pain. These experiences are fleeting; they come and go. Bear
them patiently, Arjuna. Those who are not affected by these changes, who
are the same in pleasure and pain, are truly wise and fit for immortality.
Assert your strength and realize this!...

The disunited mind is far from wise; how can it meditate? How can it be
at peace? When you know no peace, how can you know joy? When you let
your mind follow the call of the senses, they carry away your better
judgement as storms drive a boat off its charted course on the sea.

Use all of your power to free the senses from attachment and aversion
alike, and live in the full wisdom of the Self.

hat man is disciplined and happy
who can prevail over the turmoil
That springs from desire and anger,
here on earth, before he leaves his body.

hey are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away
from the ego-cage of "I," "me," and "mine" to be united with the Lord.
Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality.

hose who aspire to the state of self-discipline should seek the Self in
inner solitude through meditation, controlling body and mind, free from
expectations and attachment to material possessions.

Select a clean spot, neither too high nor too low, and seat yourself firm-
ly on a cloth, a deerskin, and kusha grass. Then, once seated, strive to
still your thoughts. Make your mind one-pointed in meditation, and your
heart will be purified. Hold your body, head, and neck firmly in a
straight line, and keep your eyes from wandering. With all fears dissolv-
ed in the peace of the Self and all desires dedicated to God, controlling
the mind and fixing it on Me, sit in meditation with Me as your only goal.
With senses and mind constantly controlled through meditation, united with
the Self within, an aspirant attains Nirvana, the state of abiding joy and
peace in Me.

Arjuna, those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or
sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temp-
erate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of
sorrow through meditation. Through constant effort they learn to withdraw
the mind from selfish cravings and absorb it in the Self. Thus they at-
tain the state of union.

When meditation is mastered, the mind is unwavering like the flame of a
lamp in a windless place. In the still mind, in the depths of meditation,
the eternal Self reveals itself. Beholding the Self by means of the Self,
an aspirant knows the joy and peace of complete fulfilment. Having at-
tained that abiding joy beyond the senses, revealed in the stilled mind,
he never swerves from the central truth. He desires nothing else, and
cannot be shaken by the heaviest burden of sorrow.

The practice of meditation frees one from all affliction. This is the
path of yoga. Follow it with determination and sustained enthusiasm. Re-
nouncing wholeheartedly all selfish desires and expectations, use your
will to control the senses. Little by little, through patience and
repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self.

Wherever the mind wanders, restless and diffuse in its search for satis-
faction without, lead it within; train it to rest in the Self. Abiding
joy comes to those who still the mind. Freeing themselves from the taint
of self-will, with their consciousness unified, they become one with God.

pproach someone who has realized the purpose of life and question him
with reverence and devotion; he will instruct you in this wisdom. Once
you attain it, you will never be deluded. You will see all creatures in
the Self, and all in Me.

his is true knowledge: to seek the Self as the true end of wisdom always.
To seek anything else is ignorance.

he path to the Unmanifest is very difficult for embodied souls to realize
[by effort at meditation]. But quickly I come to those who offer me every
action, who worship me only, their dearest delight, with undaunted
devotion. Because they love me, these are my bondsmen, and I shall save
them from mortal sorrow and all the waves of life's deathly ocean.

he supreme Lord who pervades all existence, the true Self of all
creatures, may be realized through undivided love.

man of faith, absorbed in faith, his senses controlled, attains
knowledge, and, knowledge attained, quickly finds supreme peace. But the
ignorant man, who is without faith, goes doubting to destruction. For the
doubting self there is neither this world, nor the next, nor joy.

he faith of every man, O Arjuna, accords with his nature. Man is made up
of faith; as is his faith, so is he.

The threefold austerity [of body, speech, and mind] practiced with faith
by men of balanced mind, without any expectation of reward, is said to be
pure.

Without faith, whatever offering or gift is made or work done or penance
performed, it is reckoned "not-being" both now and hereafter.