Bhagwad Geeta

Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga

Chapter 2, Verse 1

Sanjaya is reciting what’s happening on the battlefield to Dhritarashtra that, Arjuna’s eyes are filled with tears. Their tears came because of the sadness he is undergoing because of the feeling compassion. He is worried that this war will lead to wiping out the entire male members of the clan/community of Kshatriyas and the future society will be disturbed. He could see that for maintaining of society he should sacrifice his life.

I tried to search on the internet what is the right feeling Arjuna was going through and found that this feeling is almost equal to compassion. In this Stanza Lord Krishna is addressed as Madhusuana. Lord Krishna looking at Arjuna spoke the following words.

Chapter 2, Verse 2

For the first time in this stanza, Lord Krishna is addressed as Bhagwan.(33).The entity that has 6 attributes. Dominion, might, glory, splendour, wisdom, and dispassion. The first five can be summed up as having all the qualities in the world and the last one having the power to renounce all the first five qualities and be non-attached to them. To have wealth and not be attached to them is a great quality and only God can possess such a quality.

He desires to know from Arjuna from where did he get such illusion at a very undesirable moment. This is not the quality of Aryans.(noble men). And also says this move of him will not make him move to the heavens and will also not earn him any fame.

Chapter 2, Verse 3

For the first time, Veda Vyasa has written two names for a character in this stanza. Arjuna is referred to as Partha and Paranthapa in this. Partha is the son of Prtha, meaning son of Kunti. Krishna when addressing Arjuna as Partha, wanted to stress that Arjuna is born to Kunti who begot Arjuna by worshipping Indra, the King of Gods.

Lord Krishna uses negative comments to stir the mood of Arjuna. He asks him from where did he get this “klaibyam”. Which in Sanskrit means impotence/cowardice. Any man would shake up if his mentor/guide calls him impotent or cowardice. So to disturb the despondent mood of Arjuna, Krishna uses negative words. He says that this type of behaviour is not expected out of Partha, Son of Kunti.

Also, Arjuna is addressed as Parantapa, which means destroyer of enemies. Now he uses positive words to lift up the mood of Arjuna. I am amazed at the setting of words of Veda Vyasa. The stanza starts with the negative word and ends with the positive word for Arjuna. Lord Krishna reminds Arjuna, to arise from this mood and asks him to form where did this mood come from? Lord Krishna uses both negative and positive affirmations to set the mood right. This we can also use in our talks with people, not only criticize them but also encourage their positive qualities.

Chapter 2, Verse 4

Here also Veda Vyasa uses two words for Lord Krishna. Madhusudana and Arisoodana. Arjuna replies back to Krishna saying how can he shoot arrows at Bhishma and Drona. He again shows that he is basically thinking about kinsman and how he can destroy them.

Chapter 2, Verse 5

Arjuna continues saying that it is better to live in the world begging rather than killing his teacher’s Bhishma and Dronacharya and enjoying the benefits of the world tainted with their blood. Here Arjuna is basically talking about the consequences of fighting the war versus of not fighting the war. He thinks that if there is no war If peace can be made he is ready to go to Vana vasa again and live by begging. He thinks that he will be alive if the war can be stopped now and peace can be made.

The consequence, if war is fought, is he is definitely going to win and his illustrious teachers and his grand uncle will be killed in the battle. Arjuna is certain that if war is fought he is bound to win, and the material riches he will be enjoying the later will be tainted with blood. His thinking is quite a long term and not short term.

Chapter 2, Verse 6

In this stanza Arjuna argues which one is better he does not know whether to conquer or to be conquered. This type of feeling emanates from renunciation type of feelings whether it is good to earn all the money and riches or to just live by begging. This shows the characters of Yogi in Arjuna. Though he is certain that he will win, he is ready to make the sacrifice. This shows the renunciation nature of Arjuna.

Chapter 2, Verse 7

Arjuna agrees that his natural abilities are being obstructed/besieged because of his weakness, and his thinking about righteousness has changed. Here Arjuna shows what happens when a person feels weak: His natural abilities get stunted or obstructed. I remember a saying by Swami Vivekananda who said: “reject anything like the poison that makes you weak physically, mentally and emotionally”. I think it is very true because whatever makes us weak will take us away from our natural abilities. Getting anger makes a person weak and takes him away from natural ability in the same way any vice will take the person from his position of strength to weakness.

We should also observe that Arjuna says that his thinking about what is right and what is wrong has changed. When people become weak in mind, the perspectives about what is good and bad changes. People will start supporting bad things when they are weak and uphold good things when they are morally and spiritually strong.

Arjuna asks Lord Krishna to show him the way because he is his disciple who has surrendered himself to Lord. We can see clearly that Arjuna says he is Lord’s student/disciple. He also says that he has surrendered himself completely. This shows the desperation of Arjuna that he is totally confused in his weak state and he wants answers from Krishna.

Chapter 2, Verse 8

Here Arjuna says he doesn’t know the method to drive away the grief that is draining his senses. He is accepting that his knowledge is limited and he needs Advise of Lord Krishna. He says he does not find happiness in having an unrivalled kingdom on this earth, and even ruling over small Gods.

Chapter 2, Verse 9

Here Arjuna addresses Krishna as per his qualities. If we observe the above stanzas he says his senses are all drained and here in this stanza He addresses Krishna as Hrishikesha-The controller of Senses and he also addresses Krishna as Govinda, the person who gives victory-Victory over grief, victory over weakness.

Arjuna is addressed by Sanjaya as Gudakesa-The person who conquers sleep and paranthapa.

In this stanza, Sanjaya says that Arjuna fell silent saying to Krishna that “he will not fight”. This shows affirmation on part of Arjuna that he decided not to fight. From confusion, he graduated to another stage of decision making that he decided not to fight.

Chapter 2, Verse 10

Hrishikesha smilingly spoke the following words to Arjuna, the descendant of Bharata, who is lamenting in the midst of two armies.

Why is Krishna smiling? I think Krishna is smiling because he knew the outcome and he could see into the future and he is expecting this moment and Arjuna acted accordingly as per his expectation. We smile when children innocently ask questions, we smile when colleagues ask questions that are known to us. The smile comes automatically. The smile may also be due to the fact that Arjuna is trusting him completely and he turned a student from the role of a friend.

Chapter 2, Verse 11

Lord Krishna started speaking to Arjuna. He says Arjuna is talking like a knowledgeable person and is lamenting on things that are not worthy of mourning and says that the wise people will not lament not only for the living but also for the dead.

Krishna makes connection between Verse 28 of chapter 1 with verse 2 of Chapter 2 where Arjuna talks of the weakness for kinsmen and their death. He asks Arjuna from where did he get this weakness in the moment of crisis.

Krishna acknowledges that Arjuna is talking knowledge. This is a principle of management which says that we should not criticize people for giving their views. This is the first principle of Geetha put forward by Krishna. i.e Equanimity. He says the wise people will not lament about the dead people or the living people. Wise people are equanamous because they realise that for the soul there is no death or life and they realise both are the same.

Krishna uses the word Panditah and Pragya vadah in this stanza. Panditah is learned men and Pragya vadah is wise men. So learned men speak only on knowledge and wise men speak about knowledge and understanding both. Here in this context wise men are far more important than learned men. This again can be related to the modern world where many people are educated and there are fewer wise men. The wise men are the persons who are sought after for their advice and educated are those who give their knowledge only. Educated can give their knowledge to answer a question, but wise people give their advice for questions not yet raised by the questioner also.

Chapter 2, Verse 12

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that there was never a time when he, Arjuna and all the kings were not there in this world and also says that we will continue to exist even after death.

Chapter 2, Verse 13

Krishna explains to Arjuna that the life of an embodied soul passes through childhood, adulthood and old age and even after death the soul continues to remain embodied taking another body. Here the body is said to be made up of Pancha bhootas and once the body dies, the panchabhootas which are held together by the soul are disintegrated and the soul assumes another body.

This we can understand by observing the physical elements around us. The physical body can be seen and it is tangible and once we observe a dead body all the physical attributes are there in it but the body does not move. There is something that has made the body move is missing. This aspect is being dealt in further stanzas.

Chapter 2, Verse 14

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the feelings of sorrow and happiness are only due to perception and are impermanent. The feelings of sadness and happiness are due to our perceptions. Suppose there is one kid who goes to another country in search of a job and it is not successful, then he feels sad and he loses hope of getting a job and comes back. On the other hand, the same kid can take the failure as an opportunity to learn and experience the reality of life and move on in search of another job. So here the feeling of sorrow and happiness is not permanent and it is perceptive. It depends upon the person’s nature and upbringing. How we are perceived as children about the sorrows and happiness has a profound effect on how we will face the difficulties in future.

Lord Krishna tells that they are impermanent like winter and summer. So he tells Arjuna to tolerate them without being disturbed.

Chapter 2, Verse 15

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the person who is not disturbed by such feelings and remains balanced in all the situations can only attain liberation.

Here in this stanza Lord Krishna says that any person who is not disturbed by such dualities (good/Bad) will become fit for liberation.

Chapter 2, Verse 16

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the nature of things which are impermanent (which have no existence) is nothing and the nature of things which are permanent is eternal.

This in a way says that life is nothing in the long run and the soul is everything in the long run. Because life has a beginning and an end, and the soul is permanent and it is eternal.

Chapter 2, Verse 17

The embodied soul is imperishable and can never be destroyed. No one can destroy the soul.

Chapter 2, Verse 18

The bodies are perishable but the embodied soul is eternal, indestructible and impenetrable. Therefore fight.

Chapter 2, Verse 19

The soul neither kills anyone nor can it be killed by anyone. This is a very good management principle where we say the blame is not on the person but the process.

Chapter 2, Verse 20

The soul is never born and never dies. It has no past, present and future. The soul is eternal and is not destroyed even after the destruction of the body.

Chapter 2, Verse 21

The soul neither kills nor is killed. This has a far reaching concept. When we say we killed someone, in essence it means we kill the body but not the soul. This is the fundamental principle to be understood. This also means that the soul is detached from the body and it does not take any ownership of the body. Only for humans the soul resides in their body and it passes away from one body to another in the cycle of birth and death.

Chapter 2, Verse 22

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the body is like cloth and the soul is like a person who wears it. Whenever the cloth becomes old we will change the cloth. In the same way the soul changes the body after death.

This concept is very easy to understand. We all can relate to it. As the clothes are changed when they are torn, the body is also changed when it becomes old. In the same way, soul changes the body.

Chapter 2, Verse 23

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that no weapon can destroy the soul. The soul can never be burnt by fire, water cannot wet it and air cannot dry it. No one can destroy the soul. There is no energy in this universe that can affect the soul.

Here lord krishna tells that soul cannot be destroyed by any of the pancha bhootas and soul is the only entity which can keep the panchabhootas together. Whenever a body is destroyed the panchabhootas disintegrate and soul moves on to another body.

Chapter 2, Verse 24

Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the soul cannot be destroyed by any means. The soul cannot be cut into pieces, it cannot be burnt, it cannot be moistened and it cannot be dried. The soul is everlasting, present everywhere, unchanging, immovable and eternally the same.

Lord Krishna uses this sentence to drive home the importance of soul to Arjuna because his sorrow is due to the destruction of the body of his kinsmen. He explains him how the soul is detached from the body.

Chapter 2, Verse 25

The soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. Knowing this you should not grieve for the body.

Here Lord Krishna goes a step ahead in explaining that the soul is beyond comprehension, it cannot be seen and it cannot be changed. With this knowledge, one should not grieve about the death of the body.

The concept of the soul and body is being described in the further stanzas also.

Chapter 2, Verse 26

Even if you think that the soul is born and it dies, even then you should not grieve like this.

Chapter 2, Verse 27

For one who has taken birth, death is certain and for one who is dead, birth is certain. So you should not lament over the inevitable.

Chapter 2, Verse 28

All created beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest in life and again unmanifest on death. Then what is the need for lamentation?

Chapter 2, Verse 29

Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe it as amazing, some hear of it as amazing while others, even after hearing about it, cannot understand it at all.

Chapter 2, Verse 30

The soul that resides in the bodies of all beings can never be slain. Therefore you should not grieve for any living being.

Chapter 2, Verse 31

Considering your duty as a warrior, you should not waver. For a warrior, there is nothing more honourable than a war against evil.

Chapter 2, Verse 32

Only fortunate warriors get such an opportunity for an unsought war that is like an open door to heaven.

Chapter 2, Verse 33

But if you do not participate in this war, then you will incur sin for neglecting your duty and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.

Chapter 2, Verse 34

People will speak of your disgrace forever. To the honoured, dishonour is worse than death.

Chapter 2, Verse 35

The great chariot warriors will think that you have abstained from the battle out of fear. Those who have thought highly of you will lose respect for you.

Chapter 2, Verse 36

Your enemies will ridicule your strength and speak many unmentionable words. What could be more painful than this?

Chapter 2, Verse 37

If you are killed, you will obtain heaven and if you are victorious, you will enjoy the kingdom on earth. Therefore, arise, O son of Kunti, and be determined to fight.

Chapter 2, Verse 38

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

So far, I have explained this knowledge to you through analytical study. Now listen as I explain it in terms of working without fruitive results. O son of Prtha, when you act in such knowledge 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

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 43

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 for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

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 for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.

Chapter 2, Verse 45

The Vedas deal mainly 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 duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.

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, keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service, and in that consciousness surrender unto the Lord. 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

By thus engaging in devotional service to the Lord, great sages or devotees free themselves from the results of work in the material world. In this way they become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain the 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: O Krsna, 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 desire for sense gratification, 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 mind even amidst the threefold miseries or 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

In the material world, one who is unaffected by whatever good or evil he may obtain, neither praising it nor despising it, 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 firmly fixed in perfect consciousness.

Chapter 2, Verse 59

Though the embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, 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 endeavouring to control them.

Chapter 2, Verse 61

One who restrains his senses, keeping them under full control, 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, complete 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

But a person free from all attachment and aversion and able to control his senses through regulative principles of freedom can obtain the complete mercy of the Lord.

Chapter 2, Verse 65

For one who thus satisfied (in Krishna consciousness), the threefold miseries of material existence exist no longer; in such satisfied consciousness, one’s intelligence is soon well established.

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 roaming 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. If one is thus situated even at the hour of death, one can enter into the kingdom of God.