Chapter 2: Sānkhya Yog – Transcendental Knowledge

Verses

1. 2.1 — Sanjaya said: To him who was thus overcome by pity, whose eyes were filled with tears, and who was…
2. 2.2 — The Blessed Lord said, 'My dear Arjuna, how has this impurity come upon you? It is not at all befitting a…
3. 2.3 — Do not yield to impotence, O son of Pritha. It does not befit you. Cast off this base weakness of the heart…
4. 2.4 — Arjuna said: 'O Madhusudana, killer of the demon Madhu, how can I counterattack with arrows in this battle…
5. 2.5 — It is better to live by begging in this world than to slay these noble teachers. By killing them, even if I…
6. 2.6 — We do not know which is better for us—that we conquer them or that they conquer us. Even those sons of…
7. 2.7 — My heart is overwhelmed by pity, and my mind is confused regarding my duty. I beseech You, tell me…
8. 2.8 — I do not see any means to remove this sorrow which is drying up my senses, even if I were to obtain an…
9. 2.9 — Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, the Lord of the senses, Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and…
10. 2.10 — O descendant of Bharata, as both armies stood ready, Krishna, smiling, spoke these words to the…
11. 2.11 — The Blessed Lord said: You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, yet you speak words of wisdom.…
12. 2.12 — Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us…
13. 2.13 — Just as the soul experiences childhood, youth, and old age within this current body, it similarly undergoes…
14. 2.14 — O son of Kunti, the contact between the senses and their objects creates sensations of cold and heat,…
15. 2.15 — O noble among men, that steadfast person whom these sense-objects do not agitate, who remains unchanged in…
16. 2.16 — The unreal has no existence, and the real never ceases to be; the truth of both has been perceived by the…
17. 2.17 — Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the destruction of that, the…
18. 2.18 — The material bodies of the eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable soul are subject to an end; therefore,…
19. 2.19 — He who considers the Self to be the slayer, and he who considers It to be slain, both of them are ignorant;…
20. 2.20 — It is never born, nor does it ever die; nor, once having been, does it ever cease to be. Unborn, eternal,…
21. 2.21 — O Partha, how can a person who knows the soul to be indestructible, eternal, birthless, and immutable kill…
22. 2.22 — Just as a person casts off worn-out garments and wears new ones, likewise, the embodied soul casts off…
23. 2.23 — Weapons cannot cut the soul, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it.
24. 2.24 — This soul cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried; it is eternal, all-pervading, unchanging, immovable, and…
25. 2.25 — The Self is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable, and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve.
26. 2.26 — But even if you consider the Self as subject to constant birth and death, even then, O mighty-armed one, you…
27. 2.27 — For one who has been born, death is certain; and for one who has died, rebirth is certain. Therefore, you…
28. 2.28 — All beings are unmanifest in the beginning, manifest in the middle, and unmanifest again in the end, O…
29. 2.29 — One looks upon this Soul as a wonder; another speaks of It as a wonder; another hears of It as a wonder;…
30. 2.30 — The soul dwelling within all bodies is eternal and indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, you should not…
31. 2.31 — Furthermore, considering your own duty, you should not waver, for there is nothing more auspicious for a…
32. 2.32 — Happy are the Kshatriyas, O Partha, who encounter such a war as this, which has come of its own accord,…
33. 2.33 — But if you do not fight this righteous war, then abandoning your own duty and reputation, you will incur sin.
34. 2.34 — And people will always speak of your infamy; and for a person of honor, dishonor is worse than death.
35. 2.35 — The great chariot-warriors will think that you have withdrawn from the battle out of fear, and you will be…
36. 2.36 — Your enemies will describe you with many unmentionable words and scorn your ability; what could be more…
37. 2.37 — If slain, you will attain heaven; if victorious, you will enjoy the earth; therefore, arise, O son of Kunti,…
38. 2.38 — Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as the same, engage in battle; thus, you will…
39. 2.39 — Thus far I have declared to you the wisdom of Sankhya. Now listen to the wisdom of Yoga, endowed with which,…
40. 2.40 — In this path, there is no loss of effort, nor is there any harm caused by partial completion. Even a small…
41. 2.41 — O descendant of the Kurus, in this path, the resolute intellect is single-pointed, whereas the minds of the…
42. 2.42 — O Partha, those who lack wisdom delight in the flowery words of the Vedas, which proclaim that there is…
43. 2.43 — Men of small knowledge are absorbed in the flowery words of the Vedas, which advocate various ritualistic…
44. 2.44 — For those who are deeply attached to worldly pleasures and opulence, and whose discriminative faculty is…
45. 2.45 — The Vedas deal with the three modes of material nature; O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three…
46. 2.46 — Just as a small reservoir is of limited use when a vast flood covers everything, so are all the Vedas of…
47. 2.47 — You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never…
48. 2.48 — Perform your duty, O Arjuna, abandoning attachment and remaining steady in both success and failure, for…
49. 2.49 — O Dhananjaya, keep all abominable activities far distant by the practice of devotional service, and in such…
50. 2.50 — Endowed with wisdom, one casts off both good and evil deeds in this very life. Therefore, devote yourself to…
51. 2.51 — The wise, established in this wisdom of equanimity, abandon the fruits of their actions, and being liberated…
52. 2.52 — When your intellect has crossed the mire of delusion, you will attain indifference to all that has been…
53. 2.53 — When your intellect, which has been bewildered by the conflicting Vedic interpretations, becomes steady and…
54. 2.54 — Arjuna said: O Krishna, what are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is steady and who is absorbed in…
55. 2.55 — The Blessed Lord said, 'O Partha, when a man completely casts off all desires of the mind and finds…
56. 2.56 — He whose mind is undisturbed in adversity, who is devoid of desire for pleasures, and who is free from…
57. 2.57 — He who remains unattached under all conditions, and who neither rejoices when encountering good nor recoils…
58. 2.58 — As a tortoise draws its limbs into its shell from every side, so when one withdraws the senses from their…
59. 2.59 — Sensory objects recede from an abstinent person, yet the taste for them remains; but even this longing…
60. 2.60 — O son of Kunti, the turbulent senses are so powerful that they forcibly carry away the mind of even a man of…
61. 2.61 — Having restrained them all, one should sit steadfast, intent on Me; for whose senses are under control, his…
62. 2.62 — By meditating on the objects of the senses, attachment to them is born; from attachment, desire arises; and…
63. 2.63 — From anger comes delusion; from delusion comes the loss of memory; from the loss of memory comes the…
64. 2.64 — But the self-controlled person, moving among sense objects with the senses free from both attachment and…
65. 2.65 — For one who is peaceful, all sorrows are destroyed; indeed, the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon…
66. 2.66 — For one who is not connected with the Divine, there is no transcendental knowledge, and for the unsteady,…
67. 2.67 — As a strong wind sweeps away a boat on the water, even one of the wandering senses on which the mind focuses…
68. 2.68 — Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he whose senses are completely restrained from their objects, his…
69. 2.69 — What is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled person is awake; and when all beings are awake,…
70. 2.70 — As the ocean remains calm and undisturbed even though waters flow into it from all sides, so the person who…
71. 2.71 — That person who abandons all cravings and acts free from longing, without the sense of 'mine' and without…
72. 2.72 — O son of Pritha, this is the state of the God-realized soul, attaining which one is no longer deluded. Being…