Bhagavad Gita on Karma & Action

“karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana”

You have a right to your actions alone, never to their fruits. Let not the fruits be your motive, nor attachment draw you to inaction.

Spoken by Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra — the Gita sits within the Mahabharata's Bhishma Parva — as Arjuna, overcome with grief and unwilling to fight his own kin, laid down his bow before the war.

“yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya”

Steady in spirit, do your work and let go of attachment, calm alike in success and failure. This evenness of mind is yoga.

Spoken by Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra — the Gita sits within the Mahabharata's Bhishma Parva — as Arjuna, overcome with grief and unwilling to fight his own kin, laid down his bow before the war.

“yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata”

Whenever righteousness fades and wrong arises, I take form and come, age after age.

Spoken by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra (within the Mahabharata's Bhishma Parva), revealing that He takes form age after age, whenever righteousness fades.