Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga

Translation (English):Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna overwhelmed with compassion, tears, and sorrow, Krishna spoke to him.

Translation (English):Krishna said: From where has this weakness come to you at this critical moment? It is unworthy, does not lead to heaven, and brings disgrace.

Translation (English):Do not yield to cowardice, Arjuna. Cast off this petty weakness of heart and arise to your duty.

Translation (English):Arjuna asked: How can I fight Bhishma and Drona, who deserve my reverence, with arrows in battle?

Translation (English):It is better to live by begging than to kill these noble teachers; killing them would make all enjoyments stained with their blood.

Translation (English):We do not know which is better—our victory or theirs. Those whom we would kill stand before us, and we do not wish to live after killing them.

Translation (English):My nature is overcome by pity and my mind is confused about dharma. Tell me decisively what is truly good for me; I am your disciple, so guide me.

Translation (English):I see no way to remove this grief that dries up my senses, even if I gained a prosperous kingdom on earth or lordship over the gods.

Translation (English):Sanjaya said: Having said, 'I will not fight,' Arjuna fell silent before Govinda.

Translation (English):Krishna, smiling gently, spoke to the sorrowing Arjuna between the two armies.

Translation (English):You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, while speaking words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor the dead.

Translation (English):Never was there a time when I, you, or these kings did not exist; nor shall we cease to exist in the future.

Translation (English):As the embodied self passes through childhood, youth, and old age in one body, so it passes into another body. The wise are not deluded by this.

Translation (English):Contact of the senses with their objects produces heat and cold, pleasure and pain. They come and go, so endure them patiently.

Translation (English):The person who remains steady in pleasure and pain and is not disturbed by them becomes fit for immortality.

Translation (English):The unreal has no lasting existence, and the real never ceases to exist. The truth of both has been understood by seers of reality.

Translation (English):Know that which pervades all this to be indestructible. No one can destroy the imperishable.

Translation (English):These bodies have an end, but the embodied self is eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable. Therefore fight your duty.

Translation (English):Those who think the self kills or is killed do not truly understand it; the self neither kills nor is killed.

Translation (English):The self is never born and never dies. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting, ancient, and not destroyed when the body is destroyed.

Translation (English):Knowing the self to be eternal, unborn, and imperishable, how could a person truly kill or cause another to be killed?

Translation (English):As a person discards worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, the embodied self leaves old bodies and takes new ones.

Translation (English):Weapons cannot cut the self, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it.

Translation (English):The self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, or dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable, and everlasting.

Translation (English):The self is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable, and unchanging. Knowing this, you should not grieve.

Translation (English):Even if you think the self is constantly born and constantly dies, you still should not grieve.

Translation (English):For one who is born, death is certain; for one who dies, birth is certain. Therefore do not grieve over what cannot be avoided.

Translation (English):All beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest in the middle, and unmanifest again after death. Why grieve over this?

Translation (English):Some behold the self with wonder, some speak of it with wonder, and others hear of it with wonder; yet few truly understand it.

Translation (English):The embodied self dwelling in every body is eternally indestructible. Therefore you should not grieve for any being.

Translation (English):Considering your own duty as a warrior, you should not waver; there is nothing higher for a kshatriya than a righteous battle.

Translation (English):Fortunate kshatriyas receive such a battle unexpectedly, with the gates of heaven open before them.

Translation (English):If you refuse to fight this righteous battle, you will abandon your duty and honor and incur wrongdoing.

Translation (English):People will speak of your lasting dishonor; for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.

Translation (English):Great warriors will think you withdrew from battle out of fear, and those who once respected you will hold you in low esteem.

Translation (English):Your enemies will speak many insulting words and ridicule your strength. What could be more painful?

Translation (English):If killed, you will attain heaven; if victorious, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore rise and resolve to fight.

Translation (English):Treat pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, and then engage in battle; thus you will not incur wrongdoing.

Translation (English):This wisdom has been explained to you from the standpoint of Sankhya. Now hear the wisdom of Yoga, by which you can free yourself from bondage to action.

Translation (English):In this path no effort is lost and no adverse result arises. Even a little practice of this dharma protects one from great fear.

Translation (English):Here, the resolute intellect is single-pointed, while the thoughts of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.

Translation (English):The unwise, attached to flowery Vedic promises, say there is nothing beyond ritual and its rewards.

Translation (English):Driven by desire and intent on heaven, they pursue elaborate rituals that produce further birth and the fruits of action, seeking enjoyment and power.

Translation (English):For those attached to enjoyment and power and whose minds are carried away by them, steady wisdom for meditation does not arise.

Translation (English):The Vedas deal with the three gunas. Rise beyond them, be free from dualities, established in purity, free from anxiety about acquisition and preservation, and centered in the Self.

Translation (English):To a person who knows the truth, all the Vedas are as useful as a small well when water is available everywhere.

Translation (English):You have authority over action alone, never over its fruits. Do not act only for results, and do not become attached to inaction.

Translation (English):Established in Yoga, perform action while abandoning attachment. Remain even-minded in success and failure; this equanimity is called Yoga.

Translation (English):Action motivated by desire for results is far inferior to the discipline of wisdom. Seek refuge in wisdom; those driven by results are pitiable.

Translation (English):One united with wisdom gives up both good and evil results here. Therefore devote yourself to Yoga; Yoga is skillfulness in action.

Translation (English):Wise people abandon the fruits born of action and become free from the bondage of birth, reaching the state beyond suffering.

Translation (English):When your intellect crosses beyond the confusion of delusion, you will become indifferent to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard.

Translation (English):When your intellect, no longer confused by conflicting teachings, becomes steady and unmoving in meditation, you will attain Yoga.

Translation (English):Arjuna asked: What is the description of one whose wisdom is steady and who is established in samadhi? How does such a person speak, sit, and move?

Translation (English):Krishna said: When a person abandons all desires arising in the mind and is satisfied in the Self through the Self, that person is called steady in wisdom.

Translation (English):One whose mind is undisturbed in sorrow, free from craving in pleasure, and beyond attachment, fear, and anger is called a sage of steady wisdom.

Translation (English):One who is unattached everywhere, neither rejoicing nor hating when encountering good or bad, has steady wisdom.

Translation (English):When a person withdraws the senses from their objects like a tortoise withdrawing its limbs, their wisdom is firmly established.

Translation (English):Sensory objects fall away from one who abstains from them, but their taste remains; even that taste disappears upon experiencing the Supreme.

Translation (English):Even for a discerning person who strives, the turbulent senses can forcibly carry away the mind.

Translation (English):Controlling all the senses, one should remain disciplined and devoted to Me. The wisdom of one whose senses are controlled is steady.

Translation (English):While contemplating sense objects, attachment arises; from attachment comes desire, and from desire comes anger.

Translation (English):From anger comes delusion; from delusion, loss of memory; from loss of memory, destruction of discrimination; and from that, one is ruined.

Translation (English):Moving among sense objects with senses free from attraction and aversion, and with the self controlled, a person attains inner serenity.

Translation (English):When serenity is attained, all sorrows are diminished, and the intellect of the serene person quickly becomes steady.

Translation (English):One who lacks discipline has neither steady wisdom nor meditation; without meditation there is no peace, and without peace how can there be happiness?

Translation (English):When the mind follows even one wandering sense, it carries away wisdom like the wind carrying a boat on water.

Translation (English):Therefore, O mighty-armed one, the wisdom of the person whose senses are completely restrained from their objects is firmly established.

Translation (English):What is night to all beings is wakefulness for the disciplined sage; what all beings are awake to is like night to the sage who sees truth.

Translation (English):As waters enter the full and unmoving ocean without disturbing it, so desires enter the person who remains undisturbed; such a person attains peace, not one who seeks desires.

Translation (English):Giving up all desires, free from craving, possessiveness, and ego, a person attains peace.

Translation (English):This is the state of Brahman, O Arjuna. Having attained it, one is no longer deluded; remaining established in it even at the end of life, one attains Brahman-nirvana.