|
|
|
ARJUNA:
LORD! of the men who serve Thee—true in heart—
|
|
|
As God revealed; and of the men who serve,
|
|
|
Worshipping Thee Unrevealed, Unbodied, far,
|
|
|
Which take the better way of faith and life?
|
|
|
|
|
|
KRISHNA:
Whoever serve Me—as I show Myself—
|
5
|
|
Constantly true, in full devotion fixed,
|
|
|
These hold I very holy. But who serve—
|
|
|
Worshipping Me The One, The Invisible,
|
|
|
The Unrevealed, Unnamed, Unthinkable,
|
|
|
Uttermost, All-pervading, Highest, Sure—
|
10
|
|
Who thus adore Me, mastering their sense,
|
|
|
Of one set mind to all, glad in all good,
|
|
|
These blessed souls come unto Me.
|
|
|
Yet, hard
|
|
|
The travail is for whoso bend their minds
|
15
|
|
To reach th’ Unmanifest. That viewless path
|
|
|
Shall scarce be trod by man bearing his flesh!
|
|
|
But whereso any doeth all his deeds,
|
|
|
Renouncing self in Me, full of Me, fixed
|
|
|
To serve only the Highest, night and day
|
20
|
|
Musing on Me—him will I swiftly lift
|
|
|
Forth from life’s ocean of distress and death
|
|
|
Whose soul clings fast to Me. Cling thou to Me!
|
|
|
Clasp Me with heart and mind! so shalt thou dwell
|
|
|
Surely with Me on high. But if thy thought
|
25
|
|
Droops from such height; if thou be’st weak to set
|
|
|
Body and soul upon Me constantly,
|
|
|
Despair not! give Me lower service! seek
|
|
|
To read Me, worshipping with steadfast will;
|
|
|
And, if thou canst not worship steadfastly,
|
30
|
|
Work for Me, toil in works pleasing to Me!
|
|
|
For he that laboreth right for love of Me
|
|
|
Shall finally attain! But, if in this
|
|
|
Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure! find
|
|
|
Refuge in Me! let fruits of labor go,
|
35
|
|
Renouncing all for Me, with lowliest heart,
|
|
|
So shalt thou come; for, though to know is more
|
|
|
Than diligence, yet worship better is
|
|
|
Than knowing, and renouncing better still
|
|
|
Near to renunciation—very near—
|
40
|
|
Dwelleth Eternal Peace!
|
|
|
Who hateth nought
|
|
|
Of all which lives, living himself benign,
|
|
|
Compassionate, from arrogance exempt,
|
|
|
Exempt from love of self, unchangeable
|
45
|
|
By good or ill; patient, contented, firm
|
|
|
In faith, mastering himself, true to his word,
|
|
|
Seeking Me, heart and soul; vowed unto Me,—
|
|
|
That man I love! Who troubleth not his kind,
|
|
|
And is not troubled by them; clear of wrath,
|
50
|
|
Living too high for gladness, grief, or fear,
|
|
|
That man I love! Who, dwelling quiet-eyed,
|
|
|
Stainless, serene, well-balanced, unperplexed,
|
|
|
Working with Me, yet from all works detached,
|
|
|
That man I love! Who, fixed in faith on Me,
|
55
|
|
Dotes upon none, scorns none; rejoices not,
|
|
|
And grieves not, letting good and evil hap
|
|
|
Light when it will, and when it will depart,
|
|
|
That man I love! Who, unto friend and foe
|
|
|
Keeping an equal heart, with equal mind
|
60
|
|
Bears shame and glory, with an equal peace
|
|
|
Takes heat and cold, pleasure and pain; abides
|
|
|
Quit of desires, hears praise or calumny
|
|
|
In passionless restraint, unmoved by each,
|
|
|
Linked by no ties to earth, steadfast in Me,
|
65
|
|
That man I love! But most of all I love
|
|
|
Those happy ones to whom ’tis life to live
|
|
|
In single fervid faith and love unseeing,
|
|
|
Eating the blessèd Amrit of my Being!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Here endeth Chapter XII. of the Bhagavad-Gîtâ,
|
70
|
|
entitled “Bhakityôgô,” or “The Book of
|
|
|
the Religion of Faith.”
|