Chapter 2

Sañjaya said: To Arjuna, who was thus despondent and overwhelmed with pity, his eyes filled with confusion and tears, Madhusūdana spoke these words:

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: O Arjuna, from where has this weakness come in this hour of danger? It is unworthy of noble persons and will not lead to the attainment of Heaven. Instead, it causes dishonor.

Do not give in to this cowardice, O Arjuna, it does not befit you. Throw away this lowly weakness of heart and arise, O vanquisher of enemies!

Arjuna said: O Madhusūdana, destroyer of enemies, how can I fire arrows against Bhīṣma and Droṇa in battle, who are worthy of worship?

It would be better to live in this world, even by begging, than to kill these noble, venerable elders. Our enjoyment of avaricious pleasures, after killing them here, would certainly be stained with blood.

We do not know which of the two is better for us—defeating them or being conquered by them. Those sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra after killing whom we would no longer wish to live, are verily standing here before us.

With my nature overcome by the stain of weakness and my mind confused about my duty, I urge You to tell me clearly what would be better for me. I am Your disciple who has taken refuge in You. Please instruct me.

Even the attainment of a prosperous, unchallenged kingdom on this Earth—or lordship over the gods—I cannot see what could remove this grief that dries up my senses.

Sañjaya said: Having thus spoken to Hṛṣīkeśa, Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and vanquisher of enemies said to Govinda, “I will not fight” and became silent.

O descendant of Bharata, as he was grieving between the two armies, Hṛṣīkeśa, slightly smiling, spoke the following words to him.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: You are grieving for those who should not be grieved for, yet you speak words of wisdom. The truly wise ones lament neither for the dead nor for the living.

Surely there has never been a time when I didn’t exist, nor you, nor any of these kings, nor will there ever be a time when we all don’t exist.

Just as childhood, youth, and old age take place in the body, the embodied ātmā attains another body at death. A wise person is not bewildered about this.

The contact of the senses with their objects, O Kaunteya, gives rise to feelings of cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are impermanent, so endure them without being disturbed, O descendant of Bharata.

O best of men, the wise person who is unaffected by these, and to whom pain and pleasure are the same, is indeed worthy of immortality.

There is no existence of the unreal, and there is no non-existence of the real. This is the conclusion regarding these two that is perceived by those who have realized the Truth.

Know that which pervades this entire body to be indestructible. None can cause the destruction of the imperishable ātmā.

The bodies of the eternal, imperishable, and incomprehensible ātmā dwelling in the body are said to be perishable. Therefore fight, O descendant of Bharata.

One who believes the ātmā to be the killer, and one who thinks it can be killed — both do not know; for the ātmā neither slays nor is it slain.

The ātmā is never born, nor does it ever die, nor is it the case that once having come to existence it will cease to exist in the future. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting and most ancient. It is not killed when the body is slain.

O son of Pṛthā, if one knows this ātmā to be indestructible, unborn, unchanging, and eternal, how and whom does that person kill or cause to be killed?

Just as a person who has discarded worn-out clothes puts on new ones, so the embodied ātmā, having discarded its worn-out bodies, enters into new ones.

Weapons do not cut the ātmā; fire does not burn it, water does not wet it, and wind does not dry it.

It cannot be cut; it cannot be burnt; it cannot be wetted, and it cannot be dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, changeless, immovable, and everlasting.

This ātmā is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable, and unchanging. Knowing the ātmā in this way, you should therefore no longer grieve.

Even if you consider this ātmā to repeatedly go through birth and death, O Arjuna, even then you should not lament.

Indeed, death is certain for one who is born, and rebirth is certain for one who has died; therefore do not grieve over what is inevitable.

O descendant of Bharata! All beings are unmanifest in the beginning, manifest in the middle and unmanifest at death. So why lament over this?

One person sees the ātmā as a wonder, likewise another speaks of it as a wonder; yet another hears of it as a wonder. But even after hearing about it, no one really knows it.

The embodied ātmā is in the bodies of all, O descendant of Bharata. It is eternal and indestructible, therefore you should not grieve for any living being.

Additionally, considering your personal duty, you should not hesitate, since for a kṣatriya, there is nothing more auspicious than a righteous war.

O Pārtha, the kṣatriyas rejoice when they get such an opportunity for battle. A war that comes of its own accord opens the gates to Heaven.

But if you do not fight this righteous war, thus turning away from personal duty and honor, you will incur sin.

Then people will forever speak of your disgrace, and for an honorable man, dishonor is worse than death.

The great warriors will think that you have fled from the battlefield in fear and you will earn the disrespect of those who held you in high esteem.

Moreover, your enemies, ridiculing your ability, will use words which should never be uttered. Indeed what could be more painful than that?

If slain, you shall gain Heaven; if victorious, you shall enjoy the Earth. Therefore, arise, O son of Kuntī, with firm resolve to fight.

Considering pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat to be the same, prepare yourself for battle. In this way, you will not incur sin.

The knowledge which I have taught to you so far is based on Sāṅkhya. Now listen to the teaching concerning karma-yoga. O Pārtha, by being endowed with this wisdom, you will escape the bondage of karma.

On this path, there is no loss of invested efforts nor is there any failure. Even a little practice of this yoga saves one from great fear.

On this path the resolute intellect is one-pointed, O descendant of Kuru; but the thoughts of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.

O Pārtha, those who are unwise delight in the words of the Veda, declaring “there is nothing superior to this!” Full of desire and with heaven as their goal, such people utter flowery hymns about special rites to gain power and pleasure, which lead to further birth and karma.

The intellect of those who cling to pleasure and power and whose minds have been carried away by such flowery speech, cannot be firmly established in single-pointed focus.

The Vedas deal with the three guṇas, O Arjuna. You must become free from these guṇas and the pairs of opposites. Be ever established in sattva-guṇa, free from concerns of gain and protection—instead, be established in the ātmā.

As much utility there is for a well flooded by water from all sides, that much use there is in all the Vedas for a realized brāhmaṇa.

You have only the right to act, but never to the fruits of action. Do not consider yourself the cause of actions’ outcomes, nor let there be any attachment to avoiding action.

O Dhanañjaya, established in yoga and abandoning attachment, perform action, remaining equal in success and failure. This equanimity is called yoga.

O Dhanañjaya, action done with attachment is greatly inferior to this yoga of wisdom, so seek refuge in that wisdom. The petty-minded are motivated by the fruits of action.

United with such wisdom, one rises above both righteous and unrighteous deeds while living. Therefore, engage yourself in this yoga. This yoga is expertise in action.

The sages who are established in this wisdom renounce the fruits of action and attain the state beyond all suffering, and are freed from the bondage of rebirth.

When your intellect crosses beyond the forest of delusion, you will be indifferent to what you have heard and what you will hear in the future.

When your intellect, confused by the words of the Vedas remains unshaken in single-mindedness, then you will have attained the state of yoga.

Arjuna said: O Keśava, what is the description of one whose intellect is fixed and who is seated in transcendence? How does such a person speak? How does he sit and how does he move?

The Lord said: When one gives up all desires arising in the mind, O Pārtha, and is satisfied within oneself by the Self alone, then one is said to be of steady wisdom.

One whose mind is not perturbed by suffering, who does not crave after happiness, who is free from desire, fear and anger—such a person is called a sage of steady intellect.

He who has no attachment anywhere, who feels neither attraction nor aversion when encountering the agreeable or the disagreeable—his wisdom is steady.

When one completely withdraws the senses from the sense objects, just as a tortoise retracts its limbs, then one’s wisdom is firmly established.

The sense objects slacken their pull for someone who abstains from them, but their taste remains. Once having seen the Supreme, even that taste vanishes.

O Kaunteya! The turbulent senses forcefully carry away the mind of even a wise person who is striving to control them.

Having controlled all the senses, one should abide in the state of meditation, focusing on Me; for one who has controlled his senses, wisdom is firmly established.

When deliberating upon sense-objects, a person develops an attachment to them; from attachment ensues desire, from desire arises anger.

From anger arises delusion; from delusion, there is loss of memory; from loss of memory the destruction of discrimination occurs; and with the destruction of discrimination, one is lost.

But one who is self-controlled, who interacts with sense objects with senses that are free from attraction and aversion and under the control of the Self, attains tranquility.

In this state of tranquility, all his sorrows are overcome. Certainly, the intellect of a person with a serene mind soon becomes firmly established in Me.

For one who is not self-controlled, there is no discernment nor proper awareness. For one devoid of such practice, there can be no peace, and without peace, how can there be happiness?

Indeed, when the mind follows the wandering senses, it carries away one’s intelligence, just as the wind drives a ship across the water.

Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, one whose senses are entirely restrained from their objects, his wisdom is firmly established.

What is night to all beings, to that the self-controlled is awake, and that to which all beings are awake, is night for the enlightened one.

Just as rivers enter into the sea, which remains full, steady and immovable, so the person into whom all desires flow attains peace, not the one who craves for pleasures.

Having abandoned all desires, the person who lives without any craving, and does not have any notion of “I” and “mine”, attains real peace.

This is the realized state, O Pārtha, having attained which one is no longer deluded. By abiding in this state even at the hour of death, one attains the bliss of Brahman.