Krishna Quotes

“The fruit of labours, in the lives to come, Is threefold for all men,--Desirable, And Undesirable, and mixed of both; But no fruit is at all where no work was.”

“First the force; and then The agent; next, the various instruments; Fourth, the especial effort; fifth, the God. What work soever any mortal doth Of body, mind, or speech, evil or good, By these five doth he that.”

“Knowledge, the thing known, and the mind which knows, These make the threefold starting-ground of act.”

“There is ‘true’ Knowledge. Learn thou it is this: To see one changeless Life in all the Lives, And in the Separate, One Inseparable.”

“There is false Knowledge: that which blindly clings To one as if ‘twere all, seeking no Cause, Deprived of light, narrow, and dull, and ‘dark.‘”

“There is ‘dark’ Action: when one doth a thing Heedless of issues, heedless of the hurt Or wrong for others, heedless if he harm His own soul--‘tis of Tamas, black and bad!”

“Fearlessness, singleness of soul, the will Always to strive for wisdom; opened hand And governed appetites; and piety, And love of lonely study; humbleness, Uprightness, heed to injure nought which lives, Truthfulness, slowness unto wrath, a mind That lightly letteth go what others prize; And equanimity, and charity Which spieth no man’s faults; and tenderness Towards all that suffer; a contented heart, Fluttered by no desires; a bearing mild, Modest, and grave, with manhood nobly mixed, With patience, fortitude, and purity; An unrevengeful spirit, never given To rate itself too high;--such be the signs, O Indian Prince! of him whose feet are set On that fair path which leads to heavenly birth!”

“Deceitfulness, and arrogance, and pride, Quickness to anger, harsh and evil speech, And ignorance, to its own darkness blind,-- These be the signs, My Prince! of him whose birth Is fated for the regions of the vile.”

“Ensnared In nooses of a hundred idle hopes, Slaves to their passion and their wrath, they buy Wealth with base deeds, to glut hot appetites.”

“This Universe the womb is where I plant Seed of all lives!”

“The Doors of Hell Are threefold, whereby men to ruin pass,-- The door of Lust, the door of Wrath, the door Of Avarice. Let a man shun those three!”

“For like as foods are threefold for mankind In nourishing, so is there threefold way Of worship, abstinence, and almsgiving!”

“Yet farther will I open unto thee This wisdom of all wisdoms, uttermost, The which possessing, all My saints have passed To perfectness.”

“Ignorance, begot Of Darkness, blinding mortal men, binds down Their souls to stupor, sloth, and drowsiness.”

“The fruit of Soothfastness is true and sweet; The fruit of lusts is pain and toil; the fruit Of Ignorance is deeper darkness The elements, the conscious life, the mind, The unseen vital force, the nine strange gates Of the body, and the five domains of sense; Desire, dislike, pleasure and pain, and thought Deep-woven, and persistency of being; These all are wrought on Matter by the Soul!”

“I give thee sense divine. Have other eyes, new light! And, look! This is My glory, unveiled to mortal sight!”

“Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness, Patience and honour, reverence for the wise. Purity, constancy, control of self, Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice, Perception of the certitude of ill In birth, death, age, disease, suffering, and sin; Detachment, lightly holding unto home, Children, and wife, and all that bindeth men; An ever-tranquil heart in fortunes good And fortunes evil, with a will set firm To worship Me--Me only! ceasing not; Loving all solitudes, and shunning noise Of foolish crowds; endeavours resolute To reach perception of the Utmost Soul, And grace to understand what gain it were So to attain,--this is true Wisdom, Prince.”

“Whoever serve Me--as I show Myself-- Constantly true, in full devotion fixed, Those hold I very holy.”

“To cease from works Is well, and to do works in holiness Is well; and both conduct to bliss supreme; But of these twain the better way is his Who working piously refraineth not.”