Chapter 2: The Path of Knowledge

साङ्ख्ययोग · 72 verses. Sanjaya then told how the Lord Shri Krishna, seeing Arjuna overwhelmed with compassion, his eyes dimmed with flowing tears and full of despondency, consoled him:

2.1 Sanjaya then told how the Lord Shri Krishna, seeing Arjuna overwhelmed with compassion, his eyes dimmed with flowing tears and full of despondency, consoled him:
2.2 The Lord said: My beloved friend! Why yield to this weakness, on the eve of battle, which does no credit to those who call themselves Aryans and only brings them infamy, …
2.3 O Arjuna! Why give way to unmanliness? O thou, who art the terror of thy enemies! Shake off such shameful effeminacy and make ready to act!
2.4 Arjuna argued: My Lord! How can I, when the battle rages, send an arrow through Bheeshma and Drona, whom I should revere?
2.5 Rather, I would be content with a beggar's crust than to kill these teachers of mine, these precious noble souls! To slay these masters who are my benefactors would be to…
2.6 Nor can I say whether it would be better for them to conquer me or for me to conquer them, since I would no longer care to live if I killed these sons of Dhritarashtra, w…
2.7 My heart is oppressed with pity, and my mind is confused as to what my duty is.
2.8 For even if I were to attain the monarchy of the visible world, or the sovereignty over the invisible world, it would not drive away the anguish that is now paralyzing my…
2.9 Sanjaya continued: "Arjuna, the conqueror of all enemies, then told the Lord of All-Hearts that he would not fight, and became silent, O King!
2.10 Thereupon, the Lord, with a gracious smile, addressed him who was so much depressed in the midst of the two armies.
2.11 Lord Shri Krishna said: Why grieve for those for whom no grief is due, yet professing wisdom? The wise grieve neither for the dead nor the living.
2.12 There was never a time when I was not, nor you, nor these princes were not; there will never be a time when we shall cease to exist.
2.13 As the soul experiences infancy, youth, and old age in this body, so finally it passes into another; the wise have no delusion about this.
2.14 Those external relations that bring cold and heat, pain and happiness come and go; they are not permanent. Endure them bravely, O Prince!
2.15 The hero whose soul is unmoved by circumstances, who accepts pleasure and pain with equanimity, is only fit for immortality.
2.16 That which is not shall never be; that which is shall never cease to be. These truths are self-evident to the wise.
2.17 The Spirit, which pervades all that is seen, is imperishable. Nothing can destroy it.
2.18 The material bodies that this Eternal, Indestructible, and Immeasurable Spirit inhabits are all finite; therefore, fight, O valiant man!
2.19 He who thinks that the Spirit kills, and he who thinks of it as killed, are both ignorant. The Spirit neither kills nor is it killed.
2.20 It was not born; it will never die, nor, once having been, can it cease to exist.
2.21 He who knows the Spirit to be indestructible, immortal, unborn, and always the same, how should he kill or cause to be killed?
2.22 As a man discards his threadbare robes and puts on new ones, so the Spirit throws off its worn-out bodies and takes on fresh ones.
2.23 Weapons cannot cleave it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot drench it, and wind cannot dry it.
2.24 It is impenetrable; it cannot be drowned, scorched, or dried. It is eternal, all-pervasive, unchanging, immovable, and most ancient.
2.25 It is named the Unmanifest, the Unthinkable, and the immutable. Therefore, knowing the Spirit as such, you have no cause to grieve.
2.26 Even if thou thinkest of it as constantly being born and constantly dying, O Mighty Man, thou still hast no cause to grieve.
2.27 For death is certain for that which is born, just as birth is certain for that which is dead. Therefore, do not grieve for what is inevitable.
2.28 The end and beginning of beings are unknown; we only see the intervening formations. So, what is there to grieve about?
2.29 One hears of the Spirit with surprise, another thinks it marvelous, the third listens without comprehending.
2.30 Do not be anxious about these armies; the spirit in man is imperishable.
2.31 You must look at your duty. Nothing can be more welcome to a soldier than a righteous war. Therefore, wavering in this resolve is unworthy, O Arjuna!
2.32 Blessed are the soldiers who find their opportunity; this opportunity has opened for thee the gates of heaven.
2.33 Refuse to fight in this righteous cause, and you will be a traitor, losing fame, incurring only sin.
2.34 Men will talk forever of thy disgrace; and to the noble, dishonor is worse than death.
2.35 Great generals will think that you have fled from the battlefield out of cowardice; though once honored, you will seem despicable.
2.36 Your enemies will spread scandal and mock your courage. Is there anything more humiliating?
2.37 If you are killed, you will attain Heaven; if you are victorious, you will enjoy the kingdom of earth. Therefore, arise, O Son of Kunti, and fight!
2.38 Look upon pleasure and pain, victory and defeat, with an equal eye. Be prepared for the combat, and you will commit no sin.
2.39 I have told you the philosophy of knowledge.
2.40 On this path, endeavour is never wasted nor repressed. Even a little practice of it protects one from great danger.
2.41 By its means, the straying intellect becomes steadied in contemplating one object only; whereas the minds of the irresolute stray into innumerable bypaths.
2.42 Only the ignorant speak in figurative language; it is they who extol the letter of the scriptures, saying, "There is nothing deeper than this."
2.43 Consulting only their own desires, they construct their own heaven, devising arduous and complex rites to secure their own pleasure and power; and the only result is rebi…
2.44 While their minds are absorbed with thoughts of power and personal enjoyment, they cannot focus their discrimination on one point.
2.45 The Vedic Scriptures tell of the three constituents of life—the Qualities.
2.46 As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can extract from any scripture that which will serve their purpose.
2.47 But you have only the right to work, but none to the fruit of it. Let not the fruit of your action be your motive; nor be you enamored of inaction.
2.48 Revised: Perform all your actions with your mind concentrated on the Divine, renouncing attachment and looking upon success and failure with an equal eye.
2.49 Physical action is far inferior to an intellect concentrated on the Divine. Therefore, have recourse to Pure Intelligence.
2.50 When a person attains Pure Reason, they renounce in this world the results of both good and evil. Cling to Right Action. Spirituality is the true art of living.
2.51 The sages, guided by pure intellect, renounce the fruits of their actions; and, thus freed from the shackles of rebirth, they attain the highest bliss.
2.52 When your reason has crossed the entanglements of illusion, then you will become indifferent to both the philosophies you have heard and those you may yet hear.
2.53 When the intellect, bewildered by the multiplicity of holy scriptures, stands unperturbed in blissful contemplation of the infinite, then you have attained spirituality.
2.54 Arjuna asked: My Lord! How can we recognize the saint who has attained Pure Intellect, who has reached this state of Bliss, and whose mind is steady? How does he talk, ho…
2.55 Lord Shri Krishna replied: When a person has given up the desires of their heart and is content with the Self alone, they have surely reached the highest state.
2.56 The sage whose mind is unruffled in suffering, whose desire is not aroused by enjoyment, who is without attachment, anger, or fear—take him to be one who stands at a loft…
2.57 He who, wherever he goes, is not attached to any person or place by ties of flesh; who accepts good and evil alike, neither welcoming the one nor shrinking from the other…
2.58 He who can withdraw his senses from the attraction of their objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within its shell—take it that such a one has attained perfection.
2.59 The objects of sense turn away from him who is abstinent. Even the taste for them is lost in him who has seen the Truth.
2.60 O Arjuna! The mind of one who is attempting to conquer it is forcibly carried away, in spite of their efforts, by their tumultuous senses.
2.61 Restraining them all, let him steadfastly meditate on Me; for whoever conquers their senses achieves perfection.
2.62 When a person dwells on the objects of sense, they create an attraction for them; this attraction develops into desire, and desire breeds anger.
2.63 Anger induces delusion; delusion leads to loss of memory; loss of memory results in the shattering of reason; and the destruction of reason leads to destruction.
2.64 But the self-controlled soul, who moves among sense objects, free from attachment or repulsion, wins eternal peace.
2.65 Having attained peace, he becomes free from misery; for when the mind gains peace, right discrimination follows.
2.66 Right discrimination is not for him who cannot concentrate.
2.67 As a ship at sea is tossed by the tempest, so the reason is carried away by the mind when preyed upon by straying senses.
2.68 Therefore, O Mighty-Armed One, he whose senses are detached from their objects—take it that his reason is purified.
2.69 The saint is awake when the world sleeps, and he disregards that for which the world lives.
2.70 He attains peace into whom desires flow as rivers into the ocean, which, though brimming with water, remains ever the same; not he whom desires carry away.
2.71 He attains peace who, giving up desire, moves through the world without aspiration, possessing nothing that he can call his own and is free from pride.
2.72 O Arjuna! This is the state of the Self, the Supreme Spirit, to which, if one attains, it shall never be taken away.

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