That which is night for all beings becomes, for the man who has mastered the senses, the time of awakening; that which for all is the time of awakening, is night for the collected sage.

He who remains steadfast in spite of the ceaseless flow of desires, as the ocean remains immovable in spite of the thousand rivers flowing into it, can alone find serenity; but not he who seeks to satisfy these desires.

He who is no longer attracted to material pleasures, who is no longer a slave to his desires, who has rejected all spirit of possession and who has freed himself from the false ego, can alone know perfect serenity.

Such are the modes of spirituality. He who settles there, even at the moment of death, comes out of his confusion, and the Kingdom of God opens for him.

Action in Krishna consciousness

The Supreme Lord says:

You who are blameless, as I have already explained, two kinds of men realise the Absolute Truth. Some approach it by means of empiricism, or philosophical speculation, others by acting in a spirit of devotion.

It is not simply by refraining from action that one can free oneself from the chains of karma (the law of action-reaction or the law of cause and effect). Renunciation alone is not enough to achieve perfection. Inevitably, man is compelled to act by the influence of the three gunas (the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature: virtue, passion and ignorance), and cannot remain inactive, even for a moment.

He who withholds his senses and organs of action, but whose mind is still attached to the objects of the senses, is deluded, and is only a pretender.

He who disciplines his senses by mastering his mind, and who, without attachment, engages his organs of action in acts of devotion, is far superior to him. Do your duty, for action is better than inaction. Without action, man is unable to attend to his simplest needs. But action should be offered as a sacrifice to Visnu (Krishna's plenary emanation), lest it bind the doer to the material world. Therefore, perform your duty in order to please Him, and forever you will be freed from the chains of matter.

At the beginning of creation, the Lord of all beings populated the universe with men and celestial beings. Recommending the sacrifices to Visnu, He blessed them saying, “May these sacrifices bring you happiness and shower upon you all desirable benefits.”