Sacred Text · The Bhagavad Gita

Bhagavad Gita 2.47

Chapter 2 · Edwin Arnold’s Song Celestial (cited by classical reference)

“But thou, want not! ask not! Find full reward / Of doing right in right! Let right deeds be / Thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them. / And live in action! Labour! Make thine acts / Thy piety, casting all self aside, / Contemning gain and merit.”

Bhagavad Gita 2.47 · Arnold

Translation: Sir Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial; or, Bhagavad-Gîtâ (1885), public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 2388). Arnold’s Song Celestial is continuous English verse in 18 chapters, without numbered slokas; each passage is an exact excerpt, located by content and cited by the classical chapter.verse reference it renders. The key passages 2.20, 4.7-8, 9.26 and 18.66 were validated against the source before publishing. Poetic line breaks are shown with a slash.

Christian comparison

How this connects to Jesus

Act, but not for the reward, says the Gita: let right deeds be your motive, not the fruit that comes from them. It is a noble call to selfless duty. The Gospel honours good works too, yet adds a word the Gita does not: that we are saved not by the works we perform but by grace, as a gift, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Where the Gita frees you from craving the fruit of your works, Jesus frees you from having to earn your acceptance at all.

Explore: Works and their fruit Why Jesus?Read the Gospel

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