Chapter 2. Contents of
the Gita Summarized
Chapter 2, Verse
1.
 Sanjaya
said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming
with tears, Madhusudana, Krsna, spoke the following words.
Chapter 2, Verse
2.
The Supreme
Person [Bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come
upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive
values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy.
Chapter 2, Verse
3.
O son
of Prtha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become
you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the
enemy.
Chapter 2, Verse
4.
Arjuna
said: O killer of Madhu [Krsna], how can I counterattack with arrows in
battle men like Bhisma and Drona, who are worthy of my worship?
Chapter 2, Verse
5.
It is
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 they are avaricious,
they are nonetheless superiors. If they are killed, our spoils will be
tainted with blood.
Chapter 2, Verse
6.
Nor do
we know which is better--conquering them or being conquered by them. The
sons of Dhrtarastra, whom if we kill we should not care to live, are now
standing before us on this battlefield.
Chapter 2, Verse
7.
Now I
am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness.
In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me.
Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct
me.
Chapter 2, Verse
8.
I can
find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I
will not be able to destroy it even if I win an unrivaled kingdom on earth
with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.
Chapter 2, Verse
9.
Sanjaya
said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Krsna, "Govinda,
I shall not fight," and fell silent.
Chapter 2, Verse
10.
O descendant
of Bharata, at that time Krsna, smiling, in the midst of both the armies,
spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.
Chapter 2, Verse
11.
The Blessed
Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not
worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the
dead.
Chapter 2, Verse
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 cease to be.
Chapter 2, Verse
13.
As the
embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth
to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A self-realized
soul is not bewildered by such a change.
Chapter 2, Verse
14.
O son
of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their
disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance
of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion
of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
Chapter 2, Verse
15.
O best
among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress
and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.
Chapter 2, Verse
16.
Those
who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there
is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers
have concluded by studying the nature of both.
Chapter 2, Verse
17.
Know
that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to
destroy the imperishable soul.
Chapter 2, Verse
18.
Only
the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living
entity is subject to destruction; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.
Chapter 2, Verse
19.
He who
thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain, does not
understand. One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is
slain.
Chapter 2, Verse
20.
For the
soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever
cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval.
He is not slain when the body is slain.
Chapter 2, Verse
21.
O Partha,
how can a person who knows that the soul is indestructible, unborn, eternal
and immutable, kill anyone or cause anyone to kill?
Chapter 2, Verse
22.
As a
person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly, the soul accepts
new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
Chapter 2, Verse
23.
The soul
can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire,
nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
Chapter 2, Verse
24.
This
individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned
nor dried. He is everlasting, all-pervading, unchangeable, immovable and
eternally the same.
Chapter 2, Verse
25.
It is
said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable, immutable, and unchangeable.
Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.
Chapter 2, Verse
26.
If, however,
you think that the soul is perpetually born and always dies, still you
still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.
Chapter 2, Verse
27.
For one
who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth
is certain. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should
not lament.
Chapter 2, Verse
28.
All created
beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state,
and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there for
lamentation?
Chapter 2, Verse
29.
Some
look at the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear
of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand
him at all.
Chapter 2, Verse
30.
O descendant
of Bharata, he who dwells in the body is eternal and can never be slain.
Therefore you need not grieve for any creature.
Chapter 2, Verse
31.
Considering
your specific duty as a ksatriya, you should know that there is no better
engagement for you than fighting on religious principles; and so there
is no need for hesitation.
Chapter 2, Verse
32.
O Partha,
happy are the ksatriyas to whom such fighting opportunities come unsought,
opening for them the doors of the heavenly planets.
Chapter 2, Verse
33.
If, however,
you do not fight this religious war, then you will certainly incur sins
for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.
Chapter 2, Verse
34.
People
will always speak of your infamy, and for one who has been honored, dishonor
is worse than death.
Chapter 2, Verse
35.
The great
generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you
have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider
you a coward.
Chapter 2, Verse
36.
Your
enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability.
What could be more painful for you?
Chapter 2, Verse
37.
O son
of Kunti, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly
planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore get
up and fight with determination.
Chapter 2, Verse
38.
Do thou
fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress,
loss or gain, victory or defeat--and, by so doing, you shall never incur
sin.
Chapter 2, Verse
39.
Thus
far I have declared to you the analytical knowledge of sankhya philosophy.
Now listen to the knowledge of yoga whereby one works without fruitive
result. O son of Prtha, when you act by such intelligence, you can free
yourself from the bondage of works.
Chapter 2, Verse
40.
In this
endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this
path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.
Chapter 2, Verse
41.
Those
who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved
child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.
Chapter 2,
Verse 42-43.
Men of
small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas,
which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets,
resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification
and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.
Chapter 2, Verse
44.
In the
minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence,
and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination of devotional
service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.
Chapter 2, Verse
45.
The Vedas
mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature. Rise
above these modes, O Arjuna. Be transcendental to all of them. Be free
from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established
in the Self.
Chapter 2, Verse
46.
All purposes
that are served by the small pond can at once be served by the great reservoirs
of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one
who knows the purpose behind them.
Chapter 2, Verse
47.
You have
a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the
fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results
of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
Chapter 2, Verse
48.
Be steadfast
in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success
or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.
Chapter 2, Verse
49.
O Dhananjaya,
rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender
fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their
work are misers.
Chapter 2, Verse
50.
A man
engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions
even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art
of all work.
Chapter 2, Verse
51.
The wise,
engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves
from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in
the material world. In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries.
Chapter 2, Verse
52.
When
your intelligence has passed out of the dense forest of delusion, you shall
become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is to be heard.
Chapter 2, Verse
53.
When
your mind is no longer disturbed by the flowery language of the Vedas,
and when it remains fixed in the trance of self-realization, then you will
have attained the divine consciousness.
Chapter 2, Verse
54.
Arjuna
said: What are the symptoms of one whose consciousness is thus merged in
Transcendence? How does he speak, and what is his language? How does he
sit, and how does he walk?
Chapter 2, Verse
55.
The Blessed
Lord said: O Partha, when a man gives up all varieties of sense desire
which arise from mental concoction, and when his mind finds satisfaction
in the self alone, then he is said to be in pure transcendental consciousness.
Chapter 2, Verse
56.
One who
is not disturbed in spite of the threefold miseries, who is not elated
when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger,
is called a sage of steady mind.
Chapter 2, Verse
57.
He who
is without attachment, who does not rejoice when he obtains good, nor lament
when he obtains evil, is firmly fixed in perfect knowledge.
Chapter 2, Verse
58.
One who
is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws
its limbs within the shell, is to be understood as truly situated in knowledge.
Chapter 2, Verse
59.
The embodied
soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense
objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher
taste, he is fixed in consciousness.
Chapter 2, Verse
60.
The senses
are so strong and impetuous, O Arjuna, that they forcibly carry away the
mind even of a man of discrimination who is endeavoring to control them.
Chapter 2, Verse
61.
One who
restrains his senses and fixes his consciousness upon Me, is known as a
man of steady intelligence.
Chapter 2, Verse
62.
While
contemplating the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for
them, and from such attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.
Chapter 2, Verse
63.
From
anger, delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory. When
memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is lost,
one falls down again into the material pool.
Chapter 2, Verse
64.
One who
can control his senses by practicing the regulated principles of freedom
can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord and thus become free from all
attachment and aversion.
Chapter 2, Verse
65.
For one
who is so situated in the Divine consciousness, the threefold miseries
of material existence exist no longer; in such a happy state, one's intelligence
soon becomes steady.
Chapter 2, Verse
66.
One who
is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind
nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace.
And how can there be any happiness without peace?
Chapter 2, Verse
67.
As a
boat on the water is swept away by a strong wind, even one of the senses
on which the mind focuses can carry away a man's intelligence.
Chapter 2, Verse
68.
Therefore,
O mighty-armed, one whose senses are restrained from their objects is certainly
of steady intelligence.
Chapter 2, Verse
69.
What
is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled;
and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective
sage.
Chapter 2, Verse
70.
A person
who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires--that enter like
rivers into the ocean which is ever being filled but is always still--can
alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
Chapter 2, Verse
71.
A person
who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from
desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of
false ego--he alone can attain real peace.
Chapter 2, Verse
72.
That
is the way of the spiritual and godly life, after attaining which a man
is not bewildered. Being so situated, even at the hour of death, one can
enter into the kingdom of God.
  
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