Krishna, I See Death-Forces All Around Me (act I, Scene I)

(Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield.)

ARJUNA: Krishna, the battle is about to start. Alas, I see death-forces all around me.

KRISHNA: Stop, Arjuna. Your heart has always been a perfect stranger to fear.

(Krishna sings.)

Klaibyam ma sma gamah . . .

[Yield not to feebleness.]

ARJUNA: My Lord, please tell me something about death.

KRISHNA: Arjuna, this is a divine battle, so be not afraid of killing others, nor of being killed yourself. Here is my teaching with regard to death.

(Krishna sings.)

Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya

Navani grhnati naro 'parani

Tatha sarirani vihaya jirnany

Anyani samyati navani dehi

[As a man casts off his worn-out garments and puts on new ones, so also the embodied soul casts off the worn-out body and enters into a new form for manifestation.]

ARJUNA: Is there anything that is not killed?

KRISHNA: Yes, Arjuna, the soul is not killed. The soul cannot be killed.

(Krishna sings.)

Nai 'nam chindanti sastrani

Nai 'nam dahati pavakah

Na cai 'nam kledayanty apo

Na sosayati marutah

[Weapons cannot cleave the soul.

Fire cannot burn the soul.

Water cannot drench the soul.

Wind cannot dry the soul.]

Nimitta matram bhava savyasachin

[O Arjuna, become a mere instrument.]

ARJUNA: O Krishna, fear of death is gone. I shall be afraid neither of killing others nor of being killed by others. Fight I must, and conquer the forces undivine.