Sri Bhagavan said:
I taught this eternal and un-dying Yoga to Vivasvanu; He taught it to his son Manu, and Manu taught it to Iksvaku.
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Thus handed down in uninterrupted succession the Kings and sages knew this. O Parantapa, this Yoga was lost to the world on account of long lapse of time.
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That self-same ancient Yoga, I have now taught you; for you are my devotee and friend. This Yoga is a supreme secret.
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Arjuna said:
Recent in time is your birth and remote in antiquity was the birth of Vivasvan. How then am I to understand that You taught it in the beginning ?
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Sri Bhagavan said:
You and I have passed, O Arjuna through many lives; I know them all, but you do not know them. O Parantapa.
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Though I am unborn and deathless even in respect of body, though I am the Lord of the created beings, yet I am born in the world, out of my own will, taking stand on my nature.
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O Bharata, whenever there occurs decline in righteousness and ascendancy of un-righteousness, I manifest myself and appear in the world.
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For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of Dharma, I directly manifest myself from cycle to cycle.
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O Arjuna, who knows in this light my divine incarnation and work in their essence, is not on leaving his body, born again but reaches me.
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Devoid of passion, fear and anger, knowing Me as the supreme, seeking support and refuge in me, Many have become purified by penance and knowledge and have reached the state of being in me.
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As they worship me, so do I reciprocate or receive them. O Arjuna, all men everywhere follow My path.
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Those, who in this world, are desirous of early fruition of their action, offer sacrifices to gods( other than myself), in this way, accomplishment arising from action, is soon realized in the human world.
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The four casts based on the divisions of qualities and functions were created by me. But know me their creator to be one who is not created by another.
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Action does not affect or adhere to me, nor have I any yearning for the fruits thereof. He who understands me thus is not bound by action.
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With that knowledge of Me, duty was performed even by ancients who sought liberation. Therefore, do Karma performed by ancients and handed down from time immemorial.
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Even the wise are bewildered, in respect of problems of "What is right action and what is wrong action". There fore I shall expound to you what karma is, having known which, you will be liberated from the inauspicious.
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Indeed Karma (righteous act) Akarma (inaction) and Vikarma ( prohibited action) should be discriminated and distinguished from one another. It is hard to understand the ways of Karma.
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He, who sees in activity the absence of activity, and who sees activity in the absence of activity is the man of wisdom among men, a Yogi and one who has performed his duties fully and completely.
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He whose undertakings are all free from desire of fruits and selfish planning and whose actions are burnt up by the fire of knowledge is called a sage by the wise.
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He, who, having totally given up attachment to action and its fruits and is always contented relying on none but God, his actions are as good as doing nothing at all, although he is engaged in work.
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He, that has no desires, has controlled his mind and will and is divested of attachment, does not incur any sin by doing what is barely necessary for maintaining the body.
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He, who is contented with whatsoever is got unsought, who transcends all pairs of opposites and who is free from envy and is unaffected by success or failure, is not bound by Karma, though he works.
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Karma of one who is free from attachment to fruits thereof, free from attachment for the body , whose mind is strongly fixed in God and who does duties only to please Visnu simply dissolves his Karma.
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He who knows that Sacrificial articles are Brahman, that clarified butter is Brahman, that Brahman is the fire, that Brahman is the sacrifice along with meditation, is the only person that reaches Brahman.
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Some others who are practitioners of Yoga consider contemplation of the Lord itself as sacrifice; others perform sacrifices into the fire of Brahman to please the Lord.
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Others offer as sacrifices their sensory function into the fire of yogic control; while others offer as sacrifice the sense objects namely sound and the rest into the fire of sensory channel.
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Some others offer into the fire of Yoga known as self control, kindled by knowledge, all the functions of the organs and the functions of breath.
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Among the saints of rigid and stern observances are performers of sacrifices in which wealth or substances, penance, yoga, study of vedas and knowledge predominate, figure accordingly as offerings.
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Some others again who are devoted to breath control, having restrained the courses of outgoing prana and incoming breath, pour as sacrifice Prana into Apana and vice versa.
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Still others having regulated their food, sacrifice the activities of the senses with the senses themselves. All these are knowers of Yajna and have their sins destroyed by Yajna.
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Those who partake the nectar remains of what has been offered to the gods in sacrifice attain the Eternal Brahman, O best of the Kurus. Even this world is not for the non - sacrificer, much less the other.
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Thus many and various types of sacrifices are all spread out in the face of Brahman; know them all as resulting from the activities of the body, mind and speech and having thus understood them, you will become liberated.
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O Parantapa, sacrifice of knowledge is superior to sacrifices of wealth and material substance; O Partha, all acts in their entirety culminate in the attainment of trustworthy knowledge.
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Therefore do acquire knowledge by prostration, by enquiry and by service. The wise-seers of truth will then teach and instruct you.
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O Pandava, having acquired that knowledge, you will see all things, without exception in me - the all pervading Supreme. Consequently never again fall into such confusion as the present one, being free from confusion.
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Even if you are the worst of all sinners, you will cross over all of them by means of this boat of wisdom.
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As fire reduces the fuel to ashes O Arjuna, so does the fire of incandescent knowledge i .e Aparoksha Jnana reduces all actions to ashes.
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In this world there is no purifier like wisdom. He that is perfected in Yoga, attains it in respect to God in due course.
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He, who has faith, is devoted to me and has secured mastery over his senses, obtains that knowledge and having got it attains quickly Liberation.
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He that is ignorant, unbelieving, agnostic, perishes; for doubting ignorant, there is neither this world nor the world beyond, nor happiness.
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O Dhananjaya, actions do not bind him who dedicates by means of yoga to God without any desire for fruit, whose doubts have been rent asunder by wisdom and who is devoted to God.
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Therefore, O Arjuna having cut asunder with the sword of wisdom this doubt born of ignorance which is permeating your heart, follow the means of wisdom and stand up for the battle.
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Thus ends the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita entitled "The Jnana Yaga" ( The Yoga of knowledge).
