Bhagwat Geeta; Chapter 2
Gita summary
Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusudan Krishna spoke the following words.2:1
The supreme personality of godhead said: my dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy. 2:2
Arjuna said: O killer of enemies, O killer of Madhu, how can I counter attack with arrows in battle men like Bhisma and Drona who are worthy of my worship. 2:4
It would be better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though desiring worldly gains they are superiors. If they are killed, everything we enjoy will be tainted with blood. 2:5
Sanjaya said: having spoken thus, Arjuna chastiser of enemies told Krishna, "Govinda I should not fight" and fell silent. 2:9
The lord of Shree said: While speaking learned words you lament for those not worthy of lamentation. The wise lament neither for the living nor the dead. 2:11
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings, nor shall any of us cease to exist in the future. 2:12
O son of Kunti, happiness, and distress are temporary experiences that arise from sense perception. Heat, cold, pleasure, and pain come and go and you must learn to tolerate them, O descendent of Bharata. 2:14
Indeed who tolerates these dualities of sense perception, such a wise person to whom happiness and unhappiness are thus the same, is eligible for the eternal life of self-realization, O best among men. 2:15
That which is subject to change is not eternal or ultimately real. That which is real is neither temporary nor subject to change. It can not be destroyed. This is the conclusion of seers of truth reached after deliberating on both. 2:16
Both ones think that the soul is the slayer and one who thinks that the soul is slain is confused. The soul neither slays nor is slain. 2:19
The soul neither born nor does it ever die. Nor being will it ever cease to be. Unborn, eternal nor subject to decay, primeval, it is not slain when the body is slain. 2:20
Just as one does new garments after discarding old ones. Similarly, the self embodied consciousness new bodies after discarding the worn-out ones. 2:22
The self can not be pierced by weapons, burned by fire, moistened by water, or withered by the wind. 2:23
Surely the self is indivisible, unburnable, insoluble, and can not be dried up. It is eternal, all prevailing, changeless, unmoving, and primeval. 2:24
It is said that the self is invisible, inconceivable, and unchangeable. Knowing this you should not mourn for the body. 2:25
O mighty-armed one, even you think that the self is continually born and continually dies, you still have no reason to lament for it. 2:26
Death is certain for all who take birth. Birth is just as certain for all who die. Therefore, do not lament in matters like this, which are unavoidable. 2:27
In consideration of your Dharma, as a warrior, you should not hesitate, for there is nothing more righteous for a warrior than to fight for the Dharma itself. 2:31
I have spoken to you about how to use wisdom in Sankhya Yoga. With this wisdom Arjuna, you will free yourself from the bondage resulting from Karma. 2:39
In this practice of the Dharma, no effort is wasted, nor is one's progress ever diminished. Even the slightest practice of this discipline protects one from great danger. 2:40
Suchpeopleof great intelligence proclaims that the flowery word of the Vedas is all in all. They take delight in the letter of the VedicLaw, saying there is nothing more than this. They are full of desires for opulence and material enjoyment and think that attaining heaven or a good birth in the next life is desirable. Thus they remain attached for ritualistic performance. 2:42
The Vedas mainly deal with life within the jurisdiction of three Gunas. You should transcend these Gunas, becoming indifferent to material dualities, fixed in truth, free from concerns for acquisition, and confront and established in the self. 2:45
You are only eligible to act in terms of your acquired nature as a warrior. You are not entitled to the fruits of your action. You should not be neither motivated to act by the hope of enjoying the fruits of your action, nor become attached to acting to all. 2:47
Perform your duty fixed in the Yoga of action, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. O winner of wealth such equanimity of mind is what is meant by Yoga. 2:48
One whose intelligence is disciplined to act is this way rids himself of both good and bad Karma. Therefore devote yourself to Yoga, the art of work. 2:50
When your intellect emerges from the thickest of delusion you shall become disgusted with all that has been heard and all that is to be heard. Thereafter when your intellect is fixed and not perplexed by spiritual injunctions you will attain Yoga.2:52:53
The Lord of Shree said: O Partha one who, having renounced all desires born of the mind, is satisfied in the self and the self is said to be one whose insight is steady. 2:55
Indeed, O son of Kunti, the senses are so strong that they can forcibly carry away the mind of even a discriminating person. 2:60
When one contemplates the sense objects, attachment for them is born. From attachment desire born. From desire Frustration and from frustration delusion is born. When one is deluded, memory is lost, with the loss of memory the power of discrimination is destroyed with the destruction of discrimination one's oneself is lost. 2:62:63
However, even while moving among the sense objects, the self-controlled one who is free from attachment and aversion bringing his self under the jurisdiction of God and attains God's grace. 2:64
Whichever of the roving senses the mind runs after that sense carries away one's intelligence, just as the wind carries away a ship on the water. 2:67
A person who has abandoned all desires for sense indulgence acts free from desire, indifferent to proprietorship, and free from egoism, he attains peace. 2:71
