Duty

Moreover, considering your own duty, you should not waver. For a warrior, there is nothing more worthy than a righteous battle.

These bodies of the eternal, indestructible, immeasurable embodied soul are said to have an end. Therefore, O Bharata, fight.

O son of Kunti, one should not abandon one's innate duty even if it is touched by fault, for all undertakings are enveloped by flaws as fire is by smoke.

One's own duty, though imperfectly performed, is better than the duty of another well discharged; performing the work allotted by one's own nature, one incurs no sin.

By worshipping through one's own duty the Source from which all beings arise and by which this whole universe is pervaded, a human being attains perfection.

When obligatory duty is performed simply because it must be done, O Arjuna, with attachment and all longing for fruits relinquished — that renunciation is held to be sattvic.

Better is one's own duty, even if imperfectly performed, than the duty of another performed well. Death in one's own duty is better; the duty of another is fraught with danger.

O Partha, I have no duty whatsoever in all the three worlds; there is nothing I have not attained nor anything that needs attaining — yet I continue to act.

Whatever a great person does, ordinary people follow that. Whatever standard such a one sets, the world follows in its wake.

Perform your prescribed duty; action is certainly superior to inaction. Even the maintenance of your body would not be possible through inaction.

Slain, you will attain heaven; victorious, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore rise, O son of Kunti, resolved to fight.

But if you will not fight this righteous battle, then you will abandon your own duty and honour and incur sin.

O Partha, fortunate are the warriors who encounter such a battle, coming on its own as an open gateway to heaven.

After imparting the Veda, the teacher instructs the departing student: Speak truth. Walk the path of righteousness. Do not let negligence interrupt your self-study. Bring the teacher a cherished gift and never sever the thread of progeny. Never be careless about truth, never about righteousness, never about welfare, never about prosperity, never about the study and teaching of scripture.

O son of Kunti, bound by the work born of your own nature, what you wish not to do through delusion — you shall do that very thing, even against your will.

If, clinging to ego, you think 'I will not fight' — this resolve of yours is false; your own nature will compel you.

Each person attains perfection by being absorbed in their own duty; how one who is devoted to one's own work finds that perfection — hear that now.

Agriculture, cattle-keeping, and trade are the natural duties of a vaishya; and for the shudra, the natural duty is one of service to others.

Valour, vigour, steadfastness, skill, and never fleeing from battle, generosity, and a natural air of lordship — these are the inherent duties of a kshatriya.

To renounce one's obligatory duty is not appropriate; to abandon it through delusion is declared to be renunciation in the mode of darkness.