2 The Supreme Lord said: Both renunciation of action and the path of selfless action are greatly beneficial. Yet, of the two, you will have to understand that the application of selfless action is superior.

3 It should be known that one who is free from the duality of attraction and hatred, and who neither desires nor abhors the fruits of action, remains a renunciate even though he engages in activities. Because, O mighty-armed Arjuna, such a person very easily attains liberation from this mundane plane of bondage.

4 The learned do not support the opinion of the childishly foolish mundane rationalists (known as karma-mimamsakas) who hold that the path of renunciation (sankhya-yoga) and the path of action (karma-yoga) are separate. One who carefully follows either of these paths will achieve the same result.

5 The goal achieved by the renunciation of action is also reached by the performance of selfless action. One who by careful analysis knows both these paths to be one and the same, certainly knows their true meaning.

6 O mighty hero, to the exclusion of selfless action, mere renunciation of action is the cause of sorrow. But the wise man who engages in selfless action attains to the Absolute very swiftly.

7 Engaged in yoga in this way are three types of learned householders (jnani-grhastha): one of pure intelligence, one of controlled mind, and one of controlled senses. By their comparative practices, the former should be known as superior to the latter. All are the embodiment of goodwill for every living being. Although fully active, they are never implicated by action.

8, 9 Although such a karma-yogi who is a knower of intrinsic truth performs all the activities of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving, sleeping, breathing, speaking, expelling waste matter, accepting things, blinking the eyes, and so on, he realizes: "My sense organs eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue are engaged with their respective objects of form, sound, touch, scent, and taste." In this way he constantly perceives, "I do not perform any action at all."

10 As a lotus leaf is not moistened although it remains on the water, one who selflessly offers all his actions to the Supreme Lord, remains unaffected by sinful or pious reactions.

11 For the sake of purification of the mind, karma-yogis give up all attachment to the fruits of action and perform their activities with body, mind, and intelligence. Otherwise, they may act through their senses only, with an attitude of disinterest.

12 The pure, materially unmotivated (niskama) karma-yogi, giving up attachment to the fruits of his action, attains constant peace, or liberation from reactionary work. But the ambitious (sakama) karmi, the fruit-hunter, is obsessed with the result of his action, and he becomes implicated by his endeavors.

13 Mentally renouncing all actions in the aforesaid manner, the sense-controlled soul resides happily within the bodily abode of nine gates free from the false ego of considering himself a doer, although he externally performs all activities and free from the false ego of considering himself an inaugurator of action, although he engages others.

14 Due to their tendency towards ignorance since immeasurable time, the living beings act, considering themselves the doers or inaugurators of action. The Supreme Lord does not generate their misconception of considering themselves doers, nor does He generate their actions or their attachment to the fruits of those actions.

15 The fully self-satisfied Supreme Lord accepts neither the sin nor piety of anyone. Cognizance is the intrinsic nature of the living beings, but they are infatuated by the material body, thinking it to be themselves, on account of their original nature being enveloped by the deluding potency of the Lord.

16 Knowledge is of two types prakrta, mundane, and aprakrta, divine. Mundane knowledge is concerned with material nature, and is only the nescience of the living beings, whereas divine knowledge is genuine science. For persons whose divine knowledge has awakened, the mundane conception is vanquished and their supreme knowledge, like a mighty risen sun, reveals the Supreme Reality.

17 Those whose illusion has been previously dispelled by knowledge begin to relish within their hearts the hearing and singing of My unending glories, having devoted their thoughts to Me, meditated on Me, and developed continuous devotion for Me, the Supreme Lord. Then they completely transcend this world.

18 The intelligent souls who have attained divine qualities and abandoned all mundane prejudice, perceive the absolute transcendence within all living beings the humble and learned brahma�a, the cow, the elephant, the dog, or the outcast eater of dog-flesh. Therefore, they are known as 'pannita' men of true wisdom.

19 Those whose minds are equipoised have conquered this world while present within it, because by their spiritual equilibrium they are free from attraction and repulsion. Therefore, although remaining in this world, they are eternally situated in transcendence.

20 Fully situated in transcendence, endowed with steady intelligence, and free from the delusion of thinking of his body and associated paraphernalia as 'me' and 'mine', the knower of the Absolute neither becomes elated by obtaining something desirable nor dejected by obtaining something objectionable.

21 Such a knower of the Absolute Truth, his mind detached from sensual pleasure, initially attains the happiness of self-realization. Thereafter, linking himself with the Absolute, he attains inexhaustible joy.

22 O son of Kunti, all pleasures that arise from the contact of the senses with their objects are the sole cause of distress, and they are subject to creation and destruction they are all temporary. A judicious person is never fond of such pleasures.

23 Know that one who, as long as he lives in this body, is able, by means of the yoga path of selfless action, to check the urges of desire and anger at the root such a person is actually situated in union with the Supreme, and he knows true happiness.

24 Such a follower of the yoga path of selfless action, who enjoys internal bliss, whose mind is constantly absorbed within, and who experiences self-realization attaining perception of his pure identity, he gains entry into the plane of the Absolute.

25 Sinless, free from doubt of controlled mind, and always engaged in activities for the welfare of all living beings, the seers of truth attain such liberation.

26 Those persons of renounced order who are free from desire and anger, and who have achieved knowledge of the original nature of the soul, unconditionally attain liberation in either life or death. Such liberation occurs when one's mentally-incited subtle body expires.

27, 28 Expelling from the mind all external sense objects of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell, locking the eyesight at the point midway between the eyebrows, and practicing the discipline of equilibrium by suspending inhalation and exhalation, subjugating the senses, mind, and intelligence, one dedicates himself to liberation. Having overcome desire, fear, and anger, such a contemplative seeker of the soul is always liberated, even before the death of the body.

29 I am the enjoyer of the results of sacrifice performed by the fruit-hunter, as well as the results of austerity performed by the liberation-seeker I am their only worshipable object; I am Narayana, the indwelling monitor of all planes of life, and the Supreme Worshipable Personality who awards liberation. And I am the well-wisher of all I am Krsna, the devotees' most adorable friend. The soul who thus knows My true identity attains the ecstasy of knowing his own original divine identity.