Bagavad Gita : the famous dialogue between Krishna and Ardjuna, about action when you want to dwell in Absolute Being, in the same time !
**The Gita: Dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna before the mythic battle**
This dialogue is particularly important because it demonstrates how one should act in the world while remaining contemplative, without withdrawing from action to sit passively under a banyan tree—a very modern message!
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**Selections from the Bhagavad Gita**
"Just as the dweller in this body passes through childhood, youth, and old age, so too does it pass into another body. This does not trouble the wise.
The contact of the senses with their objects, O son of Kunti, gives rise to the experience of cold and heat, pleasure and pain. These are transitory; they come and go. Endure them patiently, O Bharata.
In truth, the man who is unshaken by these contacts, who remains even-minded in pleasure and pain, is fit for immortality, O best among men!
The unreal has no existence; the real never ceases to be. The seers of truth have discerned the nature of these two principles.
Know that what pervades all this is indestructible. No one can bring about the destruction of this immutable being.
These bodies are said to have an end, but the indweller of the body is eternal, imperishable, and infinite. Therefore, fight, O Bharata!
He who believes the soul to be the slayer or who thinks it is slain does not understand. The soul slays not, nor is it slain.
It is never born nor does it die; nor, having been, does it cease to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient—it is not slain when the body is slain.
One who knows this to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and immutable—how can that person, O Partha, slay or cause another to slay?
As a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so does the dweller in the body cast off worn-out bodies and take on others that are new.
Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it. This self cannot be pierced, burned, soaked, or dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable, and ancient.
It is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable, and unchanging. Knowing it as such, you should not grieve.
Even if you think it is constantly born and constantly dies, O mighty-armed one, you should not grieve over this.
For death is certain for the born, and rebirth is certain for the dead. Therefore, you should not grieve over what is inevitable.
Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, and unmanifest again in their end, O Bharata. What, then, is there to lament?
The soul that dwells in the body of all beings, O Bharata, is eternal and cannot be slain. Therefore, you should not grieve for any creature.
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Even considering your own duty, you should not waver. Established in equanimity—in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat—engage in battle, and so you shall incur no sin.
What has been explained to you so far is the wisdom of the Sankhya philosophy. Now listen to the wisdom of Yoga. When you are established in this understanding, O Partha, you shall be free from the bondage of action.
In this Yoga, no effort is ever wasted, and there is no obstacle. Even a little practice of this Dharma delivers one from great fear.
In this Yoga, the intellect is resolute and focused, whereas the intellect of the irresolute is divided into many branches and endlessly scattered.
The Vedas deal with the three gunas. Be beyond these gunas, free from the dualities, ever steadfast in purity, detached from possessions, and established in the Self.
You have control only over your actions, never over their fruits. Therefore, do not be motivated by the results of actions, nor attach yourself to inaction.
Established in Yoga, perform actions, having abandoned attachment, and with an even mind in success and failure. This equanimity is called Yoga.
The one whose intellect is united attains liberation from both good and evil. Therefore, devote yourself to Yoga. Yoga is skill in action.
Sages with intellect united to the Self, who renounce the fruits of their actions and are freed from the bonds of rebirth, attain a state free from suffering.
When your intellect crosses beyond the mire of delusion, you shall become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is yet to be heard.
When your intellect, confused by the teachings of the Vedas, stands immovably fixed in the Self, then you will have attained Yoga.
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For the continuation or the full text of these excerpts in English, you can let me know! 😊
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