Teachings & Quotes

Famous verses of the Bhagavad Gita, their meaning and lessons for life.

Your right is to action, not to its fruits – You have a right to your duty alone, never to its results. Do not let the fruit be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction either.
The soul is never born and never dies – The soul is neither born nor does it ever die. Unborn, eternal, everlasting and ancient, it is not slain when the body is slain.
As a person changes worn-out clothes – Just as a person casts off worn-out garments and puts on new ones, the embodied soul casts off worn-out bodies and enters new ones.
Weapons cannot cut the soul – Weapons cannot cut the soul, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it and wind cannot dry it.
Pleasure and pain come and go — endure them – Contact of the senses with their objects brings cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are not permanent; bear them patiently, O Bharata.
Evenness of mind is yoga – Established in yoga, O Dhananjaya, perform your actions giving up attachment, remaining the same in success and failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.
Yoga is skill in action – One endowed with a balanced intellect leaves behind both good and bad deeds even in this life. Therefore devote yourself to yoga; yoga is skill in action.
The person of steady wisdom – One whose mind is not shaken by sorrow, who has no craving for pleasure, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.
From anger to ruin – From anger comes delusion, from delusion confusion of memory, from loss of memory the destruction of intelligence, and when intelligence is lost one falls.
Perform your prescribed duty – Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. Without action even the maintenance of your body would not be possible.
Others follow what the great do – Whatever a great person does, others follow. Whatever standard such a person sets, the world follows it.
Better one's own duty, though imperfect – Better is one's own duty, even if imperfectly done, than the duty of another well performed. Even death in one's own duty is good; another's path is full of fear.
Whenever righteousness declines – Whenever there is a decline of righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, O Bharata, then I manifest Myself.
To protect the good – To protect the righteous, to destroy the wicked and to re-establish dharma, I appear age after age.
Nothing purifies like knowledge – In this world there is nothing as purifying as knowledge. One perfected in yoga finds it within oneself in due course of time.
The one with faith attains knowledge – One who has faith, who is devoted to it and has mastered the senses, gains knowledge; and having gained it, soon attains supreme peace.
The equal vision of the wise – The wise see with equal vision a learned and humble brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and an outcaste.
Lift yourself by yourself – One should lift oneself by one's own mind and not let oneself sink. The mind alone is one's friend, and the mind alone is one's enemy.
Yoga is for the balanced – For one who is moderate in eating and recreation, balanced in work, and regular in sleep and waking, yoga becomes the destroyer of sorrow.
The mind is mastered by practice and detachment – Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed, the mind is restless and hard to control; but by practice and detachment, O son of Kunti, it can be restrained.
All is strung on Me like pearls on a thread – There is nothing whatsoever higher than Me, O Dhananjaya. All this is strung on Me like pearls on a thread.
I carry what they lack and preserve what they have – To those who worship Me with undivided devotion, ever absorbed in Me, I bring what they lack and preserve what they have.
A leaf, a flower, a fruit or water – Whoever offers Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, that loving offering of the pure-hearted I accept.
Fix your mind on Me, be My devotee – Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me and bow down to Me. Thus uniting yourself with Me and taking Me as the supreme goal, you will surely come to Me.
I am the Self in the heart of all beings – I am the Self, O Gudakesha, seated in the hearts of all beings. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.
I am Time, the destroyer of worlds – I am mighty Time, the destroyer of the worlds, engaged here in destroying them. Even without you, the warriors arrayed in the opposing armies will not survive.
The devotee dear to the Lord – One who hates no being, who is friendly and compassionate to all, free from possessiveness and ego, equal in pleasure and pain, and forgiving — such a devotee is dear to Me (12.13–14).
Every soul is My eternal part – The living soul in this world of beings is an eternal fragment of Myself; it draws to itself the mind and the five senses that rest in nature.
Three gates to ruin: lust, anger and greed – Lust, anger and greed are the three gates of hell that lead to the ruin of the soul. Therefore one should abandon all three.
The austerity of speech – Words that cause no distress, that are truthful, pleasant and beneficial, together with the regular study of scripture, are called the austerity of speech.
Abandon all and take refuge in Me alone – Abandoning all varieties of duty, take refuge in Me alone. I shall free you from all sins; do not grieve.
Where Krishna is, there is victory – Sanjaya says: wherever there is Krishna, the Lord of yoga, and wherever there is Arjuna, the archer, there will surely be fortune, victory, prosperity and sound morality. This is my conviction.