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is worse than doing the wrong thing.
    34  “If you do not do your duty the tale of your dishonor will be repeated endlessly. For a man of honor to go down in history as dishonorable is a fate worse than death. Ordinary human beings naturally strive to preserve their lives, but the warrior has a different way. Warriors must be ever ready not merely to safeguard, but to sacrifice their lives for a cause. Knowingly surrendering your life to an ideal increases your glory.
    35  “But your superb soldiers will think it was fear that made you withdraw. Though they esteemed you before, they will treat you and your name with derision.
    36  “Your enemies who have harbored a grudging respect for your prowess in battle will slander you and ridicule your bravery. Do you really think they will believe that you withdrew out of love for kith and kin? Those who used to shudder at the thought of fighting you will crack insolent jokes about your faintheartedness. Failure to do your duty will destroy the well-deserved reputation you built over many heroic battles.
    37  “This battle is a righteous cause, Arjuna. No matter what happens, you win. If killed, you immediately enter heaven; if victorious, you achieve a great name and fame. Either way, you triumph. So, arise, Arjuna! Fight!
    38  “And heed this important point about life in general: The way to win this great war is to react alike to both pain and pleasure, profit and loss, victory and defeat.”
The Secret of Selfless Action
     
    39  Krishna, as though to solidify that point, pauses a moment and then continues. “You have now heard an intellectual explanation of the principle of Atma (the True Self), and of the need to discriminate between the Real (unchanging) and the not-Real ( anything that changes). Now pay attention while I explain a practical spiritual discipline called karma yoga for living a more effective, happier life in this vexing, ever-changing world. This is the path of selfless, God-dedicated action. By making this your path you canlive a spiritual life and yet stay fully active in the world. You can remain a man of action, achieving your very best, and yet not be bound or caught by the worldly.
    40   “Karma yoga (literally, ‘union with God through action’) is not in the least bit dangerous, Old Friend. On this path no effort ever goes to waste and there is no failure. Even a little practice of this will protect you from the cycle of death and rebirth.
    41  “When one’s actions are not based on desire for personal reward, one can more easily steady the mind and direct it toward the Atma, the True Self Within. For the person of steady mind, Arjuna, there is always just one decision, but for the quivering mind pulled in a thousand directions, the decisions that plague it are endless, and they exhaust one’s mental strength. People with an unsteady mind inevitably end up failing; those with an unwavering mind achieve great success.
    42-43  “There are people, ignorant of this principle, who take delight in their own particular dogma, proclaiming there is nothing else. Their idea of ‘heaven’ is their own enjoyment. The main reason they do their activities is to achieve the pleasures and power that ‘heaven’ promises. Thus, even though their motive is common and positive, they are in truth filled with rather selfish desires.
    44  “With their minds thus taken up by their own selfish desires for everlasting pleasure and power, they are not able to develop the utter concentration needed to reach union with God, which is mankind’s only real objective.
    45  “The scriptures describe three components of nature (called gunas). I will describe these in more detail later,but for now, concentrate on transcending all of them. Focus on going beyond all of nature and all worldly attachments. To be bound to worldly nature is certainly not the purpose of life. Focus instead on the Eternal that lies beyond this worldliness. Concentrate on