BHAGAVAD GITA as it is                          
Chapter Five            Action in Krsna Consciousness                       

   ARJUNA said:

1  O Krsna, 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:

2  The renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation.
   But of the two, work in devotional service is better than renunciation of
   works.

3  One who neither hates nor desires the fruits of activities is known to be
   always renounced. Such a person, liberated from all dualities, easily
   overcomes material bondage and is completely liberated, O mighty-armed
   Arjuna.

4  Only the ignorant speak of karma-yoga and devotional service as being
   different from the analytical study of the material world [sankhya].
   Those who are actually learned say that he who applies himself well to
   one of these paths achieves the results of both.

5  One who knows that the position reached by means of renunciation can also
   be attained by devotional service, and who therefore sees that sankhya and
   yoga are on the same level, sees things as they are.

6  Unless one is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord,
   mere renunciation of activities cannot make one happy. The sage,
   purified by the works of devotion, achieves the Supreme without delay.

7  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.

8-9 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
   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.

10 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.

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

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

13 When the embodied living being neither does nor causes to be done,
   mentally renouncing all actions, he resides happily in the city of
   nine gates [the material body].

14 The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body, does not create
   activities, nor does he induce people to act, nor does he create the
   fruits of action.
   All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.

15 Nor does the Supreme Spirit assume anyone's sinful or pious activities.
   Embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the ignorance which
   covers their real knowledge.

16 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.

17 When one's intelligence, mind, faith and refuge are all fixed in the
   Supreme, then one becomes fully cleansed of misgivings through complete
   knowledge and thus proceeds straight on the path of liberation.

18 The humble sage sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana,
   a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste].

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

20 A person who neither rejoices upon achieving something pleasant nor laments
   upon obtaining something unpleasant, who is self-intelligent, unbewildered,
   and who knows the science of God, is to be understood as being already
   situated in transcendence.

21 Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure, but is
   always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way,
   the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness,
   for he concentrates on the Supreme.

22 An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery,
   which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kunti,
   such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does
   not delight in them.

23 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 yogi and is happy in this world.

24 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.

25 One who is beyond duality and doubt, whose mind is engaged within,
   who is always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings,
   and who is free from all sins, achieves liberation in the Supreme.

26 Those who are free from anger and all material desires, who are
   self-realized, self-disciplined, and constantly endeavoring for
   perfection, are assumed of liberation in the Supreme in the very
   near future.

27-28 Shutting out all external sense objects, keeping the eyes and vision
   concentrated between the two eyebrows, suspending the inward and outward
   breaths within the nostrils and thus controlling the mind, senses and
   intelligence, the transcendentalist becomes free from desire, fear and
   anger. One who is always in this state is certainly liberated.

29 The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and
   austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the
   benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities,
   attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.

   End of Chapter Five