18:1: Arjuna said: O Krishna [Mighty-Armed One], I desire to know the truth about the different types of renunciation and the forsaking of the material world, O God of the senses, O Killer of the daitya Kesî [a class of demons].
18:2: Sri Krishna [the Blessed One] replied: The sages call the renunciation of desirable activities ‘sannyasa,’ and the forsaking of fruitive activities renunciation [tyaga].
18:3: According to some pundits, all activities should be forsaken as contamination, whereas others say that acts such as sacrifice, charity, and austerity should never be abandoned.
18:4: Hear My opinion about forsaking, Arjuna [best of the Bharatas]. O tiger among men, some say there are three kinds of forsaking.
18:5,6: Acts of sacrifice, charity, and austerity should never be forsaken. Sacrifices, charities, and austerities ought to be performed because they purify even the pundits.
By forsaking all attachments to the fruitive results of these activities, they should be performed, Arjuna [Son of Partha]. This is My decisive and supreme teaching.
18:7: Renunciation of obligatory activities is not appropriate. Their renunciation is declared to be in the quality of ignorance.
18:8: One who thus forsakes these bodily activities out of fear of suffering or because they are a hindrance, forsakes the fruitive results in the quality of passion and does not achieve success.
18:9: Those activities that ought to be performed, which are obligatory, O Arjuna, and which are performed, forsaking attachment to the fruit of action, are considered to be in the quality of goodness.
18:10: Pervaded by the quality of goodness, the intelligent never despise that which is inauspicious nor cleave to that which is auspicious, thus all doubts are destroyed.
18:11: No one endowed with a material body can completely forsake all activities, but one who forsakes fruitive activities is considered a wise forsaker.
18:12: Three kinds of fruitive reactions accrue after death to those who do not forsake — undesirable, desirable, and mixed, but none whatsoever for those who are renounced.
18:13, 14: O mighty-armed one, know that from Me these five causes — as presented in the Sankhya system (i.e., the yogic method of systematic investigation leading to in-sights into the nature of material existence and culminating in spiritual realization) — are declared to be the culmination of all actions, for the perfection of all activities:
1. The body
2. the indwelling doer
3. the various instrumental causes
4. the diverse functions
5. destiny.
18:15: Whatever activities a person performs with the body, speech, or mind, whether right or wrong, are produced by these five factors.
18:16: This being so, a person who sees oneself as the sole doer of activities, because of a lack of intelligence, does not properly see; his opinion is degraded.
18:17: One whose nature and intelligence are not contaminated by false ego, although engaged in killing all these mortals, actually kills no one and is not bound.
18:18: Knowledge, the object of knowledge, and the knower are the three catalysts of action; the three-fold conglomeration of activities is the instrumental cause, the activity, and the doer.
18:19: Knowledge, activity, and the doer are of three kinds according to their qualitative divisions, as is declared by the Sankhya philosophy’s erudition on the gunas. As is right, hear of these as well.
18:20: Know that knowledge by which one sees the undivided, immutable nature manifested in the diverse living beings to be in the quality of goodness.
8:21: But know that knowledge is of the quality of passion by which one perceives, within the variegated life forms, various kinds of living entities.
18:22: But that knowledge to which one is attached without reason, as though it were the whole of one’s duty although it is only a fragment, which is devoid of the wealth of truth and hence is insignificant, is said to be in the quality of ignorance.
18:23: Activities that are obligatory and performed without attachment, which are executed without love or hatred by one who does not desire fruitive results, are said to be in the quality of goodness.
18:24: But those activities by which one strives out of a false sense of self, hoping to obtain some desired object, or which are performed with intense effort, are said to be in the quality of passion.
18:25: Those activities which are heedlessly begun, and which are performed in delusion, without regard to the consequences of destruction, injury, or personal ability, are said to be in the quality of ignorance.
18:26: One who is liberated from attachment, is devoid of false ego, is resolute, endowed with enthusiasm, and is steadfast in perfection or imperfection, is said to possess the quality of goodness.
18:27: The doer who is impassioned, who desires fruitive reactions, is greedy, barbarous, impure, and who is motivated by happiness and misery, is said to be in the quality of passion.
18:28: That doer who is uncontrolled, materialistic, rigid, crafty, malicious, lazy, discouraged, and procrastinating is said to be in the quality of ignorance.
18:29: With resoluteness here, O Dhananjaya, of the divisions of the intellect and the three qualities of material nature. These I will now completely reveal to you.
18:30: That intellect which distinguishes between action and inaction, between what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, between fear and fearlessness and between bondage and liberation, is of the quality of goodness, O Arjuna [Son of Partha].
18:31: That intellect which confuses what is religious and moral with what is irreligious and immoral, what ought to be done with what ought not to be done, Arjuna [Son of Partha], is of the quality of passion.
18:32: That intellect which is pervaded by ignorance and thinks all things to be the opposite of what they really are, which accepts what is irreligious and immoral as being religious and moral, O child of Partha, is in the quality of ignorance.
18:33: That resoluteness by which one sustains the activities of the mind, the vital life energies, and the senses through yoga and constant self-discipline, Arjuna [O Son of Partha], is in the quality of goodness.
18:34: But, O Arjuna, that resoluteness which sustains Dharma, Kama, and Artha 6 out of a desire for their fruitive results, is in the quality of passion, Arjuna [Son of Partha].
18:35: That resoluteness by which a fool does not abandon sleep, fear, lamentation, despondency, and intoxication, O Arjuna [Son of Partha], is in the quality of ignorance.
18:36: Now hear from Me of the three kinds of happiness, Arjuna [best of the Bharatas], in which, by regular practice, one is delighted and attains an end to suffering.
18:37: That happiness, which is like poison at the beginning but like nectar in the end, and which is born of one’s intellectual composure, is said to be of the quality of goodness.
18:38: Happiness, which is yoked to the senses and their objects, is considered being of the quality of passion. Initially, it is like nectar, but ultimately, it is like poison.
18:39: That self-delusory happiness which arises from sleep, sloth, and negligence in the beginning and, as being because of it, is said to be in the quality of ignorance.
18:40: Neither on the earth, in the heavens, nor again among the devas, is any living entity free from the three qualities which are born of material nature.
18:41: The activities of the brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaishyas, and sudras are apportioned under the gunas and are born of their own natures, Arjuna [O Parantapa: “Chastiser of the enemy”].
18:42: Born of his own nature, the divine services of a brahmana are tranquility, self-restraint, austerity, purity, tolerance, uprightness, knowledge, realization, and belief in God.
18:43: Born of one’s own nature, the divine services of a ksatriya are heroism, vigor, fortitude, skillfulness in battle, refusal to retreat, generosity, and natural leadership ability.
18:44: Born according to his nature, the divine services of a vaishya are agriculture, cow herding, and economics, while the divine services of a sudra, born of his own nature, are service to others.
18:45: When each person is devoted to their own proper activities, everyone achieves perfection. This is how, when engaged in one’s personal divine service, perfection is achieved.
18:46: By worshiping God, from Whom all living beings emanate, and by Whom all this is pervaded, one achieves perfection by performing personal divine service.
18:47, 48: It's better to fulfill one’s own religious and moral duties, though imperfectly, than to have another fulfill them well. No one receives negative karma by performing their personal divine service as ordained by their natures.
O child of Kunti, one’s natural service should not be forsaken, even if deemed deficient, for all undertakings are enveloped with fault as fire is with smoke.
18:49: One whose intellect is unattached on every front, who has conquered the self and whose desires are removed through renunciation, attains the supreme perfection that arises from non-action.
Learn briefly from Me about that perfection which, having attained, one obtains Brahman and becomes situated in the highest knowledge, Arjuna [Son of Kunti].
18:51 - 53: Resolutely yoked with pure intelligence, regulating the sense objects such as sound, forsaking attachment, and hatred; abiding in solitude, eating little, with speech, body, and mind restrained, always yoked in meditation, and taking refuge in detachment; abandoning false ego, false strength, false pride, desire, anger, and extortion, devoid of possessiveness and peaceful, one is eligible for rapport with Brahman.
18:54: Being in concordance with Brahman, clear-minded, neither lamenting nor desiring and being equipoise toward all living beings, one attains the highest devotion to Me.
18:55: By devotion to Me, one recognizes who and what I am in truth; thus, knowing Me in truth, one enters Me thereafter.
18:56: By always performing all activities and taking refuge in Me, one achieves, by My Grace, the eternal and immutable abode.
18:57: With your consciousness absorbed in Me, taking refuge in Me as supreme, renounce all activities through the yoga of mental renunciation.
18:58: With your consciousness absorbed in Me, you will overcome all obstacles by My grace. However, if, due to a false ego, you do not heed My words, then you will perish.
18:59, 60: If, taking refuge from a false ego, you say, ‘I will not fight!’ [or ‘I will not do my duty’] thinking all this to be deceitful, still, your own resoluteness and nature will oblige you.
O Arjuna [Son of Kunti], you are bound by karma, which is born of your embodied nature. Because of delusion, you will instinctively do that which you do not want to do.
18:61: O Arjuna, the Master of all living beings, dwells in the heart, and by God’s illusory power, the Blessed One causes all beings to roam about as though mechanically.
18:62: O Arjuna [descendant of Bharata], with all your being seek and take refuge in the Blessed One; by God’s Grace, attains supreme peace and the eternal abode.
18:63: Thus, to you has this knowledge been detailed by Me, which is more secret than the most concealed. Consider this carefully, then proceed as you see fit.
18:64: Because you are exceedingly dear to Me, hear from Me again the most confidential and supreme word which I will declare for your benefit.
18:65: With your mind fixed on Me, be My devotee. Sacrifice to Me and offer obeisances unto Me; truly you will come to Me. I promise you this because you are dear to Me.
18:66: Abandoning all types of religious and moral duties, take refuge in Me alone. I will liberate you from all inauspiciousness; do not grieve.
18:67: This is never to be spoken of by you to one who is not austere, who is not a devotee, who does not perform service, nor to one who is envious.
18:68 - 71: One who teaches this transcendent esoteric knowledge to My devotees because of supreme devotion to Me will come to Me without a doubt.
Among mortals, there is none whose service is dearer to Me than that person, nor will there ever be one dearer in all the world.
And one who studies this sacred conversation of ours, by that person I will be worshipped by the sacrifice of knowledge, thus is My opinion.
Also, that faithful person, who is free from envy and who hears this, is liberated and reaches the auspicious planets of the righteous.
18:72: O Arjuna [Son of Partha], have you heard this with a focused mind? Has your ignorance and delusion been dispelled, Arjuna [O Dhananjaya]?
18:73: Arjuna said: By Your Grace, my delusion is destroyed, and my memory is regained, O Acyuta. I am firm and free from all doubts now. By Your word, I will act.
The use of the name of Acyuta here identifies Sri Krishna with Lord Vishnu, the 100th and 318th names found in the