Verse 17

¹⁰Standing in his own duty, worshipping with sacrifices, with no craving in him for the fruit, Uddhava, he goes neither to heaven nor to hell, so long as he does nothing else. ¹¹Living in this world, standing in his own duty, faultless and clean, he comes to a knowledge that is wholly pure, or else to devotion to me, as chance brings it. ¹²Even those in heaven want this world, and so do those in hell, since it is the place to work from with knowledge and devotion, and the other two are not. ¹³A man who sees clearly should not long for the going to heaven, nor for hell either; and he should not long for this world, since by settling into the body he grows careless.

¹⁴Knowing this, he should work before death for the state of not becoming, taking care, and knowing this body, though it must die, to be what gives him the end he wants. ¹⁵When the tree in which it has made its nest is being cut down by these watches of the day, the bird gives up its own lodging and goes to safety, not clinging. ¹⁶Knowing that his life is being cut down by the days and the nights, shaking with fear, letting go of what he clung to, knowing the highest, he grows still and does nothing. ¹⁷The human body is the first thing, easily come by and very hard to come by, a boat well made, with the teacher for its steersman, driven by me as a favouring wind. A man who does not cross the sea of becoming in it is a killer of himself.