Chapter 2

The Path of Knowledge

Krishna begins his teaching: the self is never born and never dies, so do your duty with a steady mind and let go of the results.

Verses in this chapter(72)

2.1Sanjaya said: To him who was thus overcome with pity and who was despondent, with eyes full of tears and agitated, Madhusudana (the destroyer of Madhu) or Krishna spoke these...
2.2The Blessed Lord said: Whence is this perilous strait come upon thee, this dejection which is unworthy of you, disgraceful, and which will close the gates of heaven upon you, O...
2.3Yield not to impotence, O Arjuna, son of Pritha. It does not befit thee. Cast off this mean weakness of the heart! Stand up, O scorcher of the foes!
2.4Arjuna said: How, O Madhusudana, shall I fight in battle with arrows against Bhishma and Drona, who are fit to be worshipped, O destroyer of enemies?
2.5Better it is, indeed, in this world to accept alms than to slay the most noble teachers. But if I kill them, even in this world all my enjoyments of wealth and fulfilled desires...
2.6I can hardly tell which will be better, that we should coner them or that they should coner us. Even the sons of Dhritarashtra, after slaying whom we do not wish to live, stand...
2.7My heart is overpowered by the taint of pity; my mind is confused as to duty. I ask Thee: Tell me decisively what is good for me. I am Thy disciple. Instruct me who has taken...
2.8I do not see that it would remove this sorrow that burns up my senses, even if I should attain prosperous and unrivalled dominion on earth or lordship over the gods.
2.9Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha (the Lord of the senses), Arjuna (the conqueror of sleep), the destroyer of foes, said to Krishna, "I will not fight" and became...
2.10To him who was despondent in the midst of the two armies, Krishna, as if smiling, O Bharata, spoke these words.
2.11The Blessed Lord said: Thou hast grieved for those that should not be grieved for, yet thou speakest words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
2.12Nor at any time indeed was I not, nor thou, nor these rulers of men, nor verily shall we ever cease to be hereafter.
2.13Just as in this body the embodied (soul) passes into childhood, youth and old age, so also does it pass into another body; the firm man does not grieve thereat.
2.14The contacts of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain, have a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely...
2.15That firm man whom, surely, these afflict not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for attaining immortality.
2.16The unreal hath no being; there is non-being of the real; the truth about both has been seen by the knowers of the Truth (or the seers of the Essence).
2.17Know that to be indestructible, by Which all this is pervaded. None can cause the destruction of That, the Imperishable.
2.18These bodies of the embodied Self, Which is eternal, indestructible and immeasurable, are said to have an end. Therefore fight, O Arjuna.
2.19He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks It is slain, neither of them ï1knowsï1. It slays not, nor is It slain.
2.20It is not born, nor does It ever die; after having been, It again ceases not to be; unborn, eternal, changeless and ancient, It is not killed when the body is killed.
2.21Whosoever knows It to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and inexhaustible, how can that man slay, O Arjuna, or cause to be slain?
2.22Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so also the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others which are new.
2.23Weapons cut It not, fire burns It not, water wets It not, wind dries It not.
2.24This Self cannot be cut, burnt, wetted, nor dried up. It is eternal, all-pervading, stable, immovable and ancient.
2.25This (Self) is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing This to be such, thou shouldst not grieve.
2.26But even if thou thinkest of It as being constantly born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed, thou shouldst not grieve.
2.27For certain is death for the born, and certain is birth for the dead; therefore, over the inevitable thou shouldst not grieve.
2.28Beings are unmanifested in their beginning, manifested in their middle state, O Arjuna, and unmanifested again in their end. What is there to grieve about?
2.29One sees This (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of It as a wonder; another hears of It as a wonder; yet having heard, none understands It at all.
2.30This, the Indweller in the body of everyone, is ever indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, thou shouldst not grieve for any creature.
2.31Further, having regard to thy duty, shouldst not waver, for there is nothing higher for a Kshatriya than a righteous war.
2.32Happy are the Kshatriyas, O Arjuna! who are called upon to fight in such a battle that comes of itself as an open door to heaven.
2.33But if thou wilt not fight this righteous war, then having abandoned thine own duty and fame, thou shalt incur sin.
2.34People, too, will recount thy everlasting dishonour; and to one who has been honoured, dishonour is worse than death.
2.35The great car-warriors will think that thou hast withdrawn from the battle through fear; and thou wilt be lightly held by them who have thought much of thee.
2.36Thy enemies also, cavilling at thy power, will speak many abusive words. What is more painful than this?
2.37Slain, thou wilt obtain heaven; victorious, thou wilt enjoy the earth; therefore, stand up, O son of Kunti, resolved to fight.
2.38Having made pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat the same, engage thou in battle for the sake of battle; thus thou shalt not incur sin.
2.39This, which has been taught to thee, is wisdon concerning Sankhya. Now listen to wisdom concerning Yoga, endowed with which, O Arjuna, thou shalt cast off the bonds of action.
2.40In this there is no loss of effort, nor is there any harm (production of contrary results or transgression). Even a little of this knowledge (even a little practice of this Yoga)...
2.41Here, O joy of the Kurus, there is but a single one-pointed determination; many-branched and endless are the thoughts of the irresolute.
2.42Flowery speech is uttered by the unwise, taking pleasure in the eulogising words of the Vedas, O Arjuna, saying, "There is nothing else.
2.43Full of desires, having heaven as their goal, (they utter speech which is directed to ends) leading to new births as the result of their works, and prescribe various methods...
2.44For those who are attached to pleasure and power, whose minds are drawn away by such teaching, ï1thatï1 determinate reason is not formed which is steadily bent on meditation and...
2.45The Vedas deal with the three attributes (of Nature); be thou above these three attributes. O Arjuna, free yourself from the pairs of opposites, and ever remain in the quality of...
2.46To the Brahmana who has known the Self, all the Vedas are of as much use as is a reservoir of water in a place where there is a flood.
2.47You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but not to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to...
2.48Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning attachment and balanced in success and failure. Evenness of mind is called Yoga.
2.49Far lower than the Yoga of wisdon is action, O Arjuna. Seek thou refuge in wisdom; wretched are they whose motive is the fruit.
2.50Endowed with wisdom (evenness of mind), one casts off in this life both good and evil deeds; therefore, devote thyself to Yoga; Yoga is skill in action.
2.51The wise, possessed of knowledge, having abandoned the fruits of their actions, and being freed from the fetters of birth, go to the place which is beyond all evil.
2.52When thy intellect crosses beyond the mire of delusion, then thou shalt attain to indifference as to what has been heard and what has yet to be heard.
2.53When thy intellect, which is perplexed by the Veda text, which thou hast read, shall stand immovable and steady in the Self, then thou shalt attain Self-realisation.
2.54Arjuna said: What, O Krishna, is the description of him who has steady wisdom, and is merged in the superconscious state? How does one of steady wisdom speak, how does he sit, how...
2.55The Blessed Lord said: When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then is he said to be one of steady wisdom.
2.56He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not hanker after pleasures, and is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.
2.57He who is everywhere without attachment, on meeting with anything good or bad, who neither rejoices not hastes, his wisdom is fixed.
2.58When, like the tortoise which withdraws on all sides its limbs, he withdraws his senses from the sense-objects, then his wisdom becomes steady.
2.59The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man leaving the longing (behind); but his longing also turns away on seeing the Supreme.
2.60The turbulent senses, O Arjuna, do violently carry away the mind of a wise man though he be striving (to control them).
2.61Having restrained them all he should sit steadfast, intent on Me; his wisdom is steady whose senses are under control.
2.62When a man thinks of the objects, attachment for them arises; from attachment desire is born; from desire anger arises.
2.63From anger comes delusion; from delusion loss of memory; from loss of memory the destruction of discrimination; from the destruction of discrimination he perishes.
2.64But the self-controlled man, moving among the objects with the senses under restraint and free from attraction and repulsion, attains to peace.
2.65In that peace all pains are destroyed; for the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady.
2.66There is no knowledge of the Self to the unsteady and to the unsteady no meditation is possible, and to the unmeditative there can be no peace, and to the man who has no peace...
2.67For the mind, which follows in the wake of the wandering senses, carries away his discrimination, as the wind (carries away) a boat on the waters.
2.68Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, his knowledge is steady whose senses are completely restrained from sense-objects.
2.69That which is night to all beings, in that the self-controlled man is awake; when all beings are awake, that is night for the Muni (sage) who sees.
2.70He attains peace into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the man who is full of desires.
2.71That man attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of mine and without egoism.
2.72This is the Brahmic seat (eternal state), O son of Pritha. Attaining to this, none is deluded. Being established therein, even at the end of life, one attains to oneness with...

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