Mahabharata quotes

Whenever dharma weakens and disorder rises, I bring myself into being. To protect the good, to destroy those who do harm, and to establish dharma, I come into being age after age.

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत। अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्॥ परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्। धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे॥

yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata

Let go of all duties and come to me alone for shelter. I will free you from every fault. Do not grieve.

सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज। अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः॥

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja

Where there is dharma, there is victory.

यतो धर्मस्ततो जयः

yato dharmas tato jayah

Dharma destroyed destroys; dharma protected protects.

धर्म एव हतो हन्ति धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः

dharma eva hato hanti dharmo rakshati rakshitah

Non-injury is the highest dharma.

अहिंसा परमो धर्मः

ahimsa paramo dharmah

Argument settles nothing, the scriptures disagree, and there is no sage whose opinion can stand as proof. The truth of dharma is hidden in a cave. The path is the one the great have walked.

तर्कोऽप्रतिष्ठः श्रुतयो विभिन्ना नैको ऋषिर्यस्य मतं प्रमाणम्। धर्मस्य तत्त्वं निहितं गुहायां महाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः॥

dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam mahajano yena gatah sa panthah

Whom did you lose first, yourself or me? If you had already lost yourself, what was left of you that could stake me?

Hear the whole of dharma, and having heard it, hold to it: do not do to another what you would not want done to you.

श्रूयतां धर्मसर्वस्वं श्रुत्वा चैवावधार्यताम्। आत्मनः प्रतिकूलानि परेषां न समाचरेत्॥

atmanah pratikulani paresham na samacharet

An assembly where the elders say nothing is no assembly, and men who do not speak dharma are not elders.

Where was dharma when a boy alone was surrounded by six of you? Where was it in the hall, when a queen was dragged in and you laughed? Ask about the rules after you have answered that.

To abandon one who is devoted to me, who has taken shelter with me and asks for protection, is a sin without end. I will not enter heaven on those terms.

With my arms raised I cry out and no one listens. From dharma come wealth and pleasure. Why then is dharma not practised?

ऊर्ध्वबाहुर्विरौम्येष न च कश्चिच्छृणोति माम्। धर्मादर्थश्च कामश्च स किमर्थं न सेव्यते॥

urdhva-bahur viraumy esha na cha kashchich chhrinoti mam

Do your work established in discipline, letting go of attachment, indifferent to success and failure alike. That evenness is what is meant by yoga.

योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय। सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते॥

yogasthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dhananjaya

Better your own duty done imperfectly than another duty done well. It is better to die doing your own work; another work brings danger.

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः॥

shreyan svadharmo vigunah para-dharmat svanushthitat

I have told you the knowledge that is more secret than any secret. Consider it fully, and then do as you choose.

इति ते ज्ञानमाख्यातं गुह्याद्गुह्यतरं मया। विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु॥

vimrishyaitad asheshena yathechchhasi tatha kuru

I know how to break into the formation. I was never taught the way out.

I eat the food of this house. My arrows belong to the throne even when my blessing does not.

Your right is to the work alone, never to its fruits. Do not act for the sake of the fruit, and do not be attached to inaction either.

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥

karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu kadachana

A man is born alone and dies alone. He crosses his difficulties alone, and alone he eats the fruit of what he has done.

I am time, grown old, come forth to destroy these worlds. Even without you, none of these warriors drawn up in their ranks will live.

कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः। ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः॥

kalo 'smi loka-kshaya-krit pravriddho

I will hold my life until the sun turns north. Until then, keep me here on this bed of arrows.

When I heard that Arjuna had strung the bow and struck the target at the svayamvara, then, Sanjaya, I had no hope of victory.

Time cooks all creatures. Time puts everything to sleep and wakes it again.

कालः पचति भूतानि

kalah pachati bhutani

On the field of dharma, on the field of the Kurus, gathered together and wanting to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, Sanjaya?

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः। मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय॥

dharma-kshetre kuru-kshetre samaveta yuyutsavah

Do not give in to this weakness. It does not become you. Shake off this small faintness of heart and stand up.

क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते। क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप॥

klaibyam ma sma gamah partha naitat tvayy upapadyate

I will not give them enough land to stand a needle point on, not without war.

I will break the chest of this man and drink his blood, and I will shatter the thigh that he bared before her. If I do not, let me not reach the world my fathers went to.

If Jayadratha is alive at sunset tomorrow, I will walk into the fire myself.

I will tell you what happens on the field as it happens, and I will not soften it.

They killed my father with a lie while his weapons were down. Let them learn tonight what his son is willing to do.

Many births have passed for me, and for you as well, Arjuna. I know them all; you do not.

बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि जन्मानि तव चार्जुन। तान्यहं वेद सर्वाणि न त्वं वेत्थ परन्तप॥

bahuni me vyatitani janmani tava charjuna

To those who think of nothing else and worship me, who stay constant, I carry what they lack and keep what they have.

अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते। तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्॥

ananyash chintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate

Radha is my mother and Adhiratha my father, because they took me up when no one else would. I will not sell that for a kingdom on the eve of the fighting.

The source of a river and the origin of a hero are both hard to trace. Let him be a king, and then let him fight.

Whoever hates Arjuna hates me, and whoever follows Arjuna follows me. Know that Arjuna is half of my body.

As a man puts off worn-out clothes and takes new ones, so the embodied self lays aside worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि। तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही॥

vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya

For the born, death is certain; for the dead, birth is certain. You should not grieve over what cannot be avoided.

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च। तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि॥

jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur dhruvam janma mritasya cha

My limbs give way, my mouth is dry, my body shakes and my hair stands on end.

सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति। वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे रोमहर्षश्च जायते॥

sidanti mama gatrani mukham cha parishushyati

You will have five sons when this is over. Either Arjuna will be dead and I will remain, or I will be dead and he will. The number will not change.

You could have stopped this and did not. Thirty-six years from now you will see your own people kill one another as mine did, and you will die alone in a forest, with no one to mourn you.

This is not victory. We have killed our own teachers and our own brothers for a piece of land, and I would rather have begged.

It is not born and it does not die. Having been, it never ceases to be. Unborn, eternal, unchanging and ancient, it is not killed when the body is killed.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः। अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥

na jayate mriyate va kadachin

Weapons do not cut it, fire does not burn it, water does not wet it and wind does not dry it.

नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः। न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः॥

nainam chhindanti shastrani nainam dahati pavakah

Brooding on objects breeds attachment to them; from attachment desire is born, and from desire, anger. Anger makes confusion, confusion ruins memory, ruined memory destroys judgement, and the man is lost.

ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते। सङ्गात्सञ्जायते कामः कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते॥ क्रोधाद्भवति सम्मोहः सम्मोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रमः। स्मृतिभ्रंशाद् बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति॥

dhyayato vishayan pumsah / krodhad bhavati sammohah

Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. You alone are your own friend, and you alone are your own enemy.

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्। आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः॥

uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet

The mind is restless, Krishna, turbulent, powerful and unyielding. Holding it seems to me as hard as holding the wind.

चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम्। तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम्॥

chanchalam hi manah krishna pramathi balavad dridham

Desire, anger and greed: these three are the gates of ruin that destroy the self. Let them go.

त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मनः। कामः क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत्॥

trividham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah

What is found here may be found elsewhere; what is not here is found nowhere.

यदिहास्ति तदन्यत्र यन्नेहास्ति न तत्क्वचित्

yad ihasti tad anyatra yan nehasti na tat kvachit

Day after day creatures go to the house of death, and those who remain believe they will not. What is more astonishing than that?

अहन्यहनि भूतानि गच्छन्ति यममन्दिरम्। शेषाः स्थावरमिच्छन्ति किमाश्चर्यमतः परम्॥

ahany ahani bhutani gachchhanti yama-mandiram

The mother is heavier than the earth, the father higher than the sky, the mind quicker than the wind, and thought more numerous than grass.

Desire is never quieted by getting what it wants. Like fire fed with butter, it only grows.

न जातु कामः कामानामुपभोगेन शाम्यति। हविषा कृष्णवर्त्मेव भूय एवाभिवर्धते॥

na jatu kamah kamanam upabhogena shamyati

The weak man who has the strong for an enemy, the man robbed of everything, the man eaten by desire, and the thief: these do not sleep.

Where Krishna, master of discipline, stands, and where Arjuna stands with his bow, there are fortune, victory, prosperity and settled right. So I believe.

यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः। तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम॥

yatra yogeshvarah krishno yatra partho dhanurdharah

Ask whether the age makes the king or the king makes the age, and know that the king is the maker of his age.

Give up one man to save a family, a family to save a village, a village to save a country, and the whole earth to save yourself.

त्यजेदेकं कुलस्यार्थे ग्रामस्यार्थे कुलं त्यजेत्। ग्रामं जनपदस्यार्थे आत्मार्थे पृथिवीं त्यजेत्॥

tyajed ekam kulasyarthe gramasyarthe kulam tyajet

Give them five villages and there will be peace. Refuse, and there is nothing left to say.

Peace is worth almost any price. But a peace that requires you to hand over what is right is only a slower war.

The hour for which a kshatriya woman bears a son has come. If you will not act now, when will you?