The Path of Analytic Knowledge

The second chapter begins with Sañjaya’s description of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s response upon observing Arjuna overwhelmed with grief. This chapter has seventy-two verses, three spoken by Sañjaya, eight by Arjuna, and sixty-one by Śrī Kṛṣṇa. First, Kṛṣṇa expresses surprise on witnessing Arjuna’s cowardly behavior. He shows no sympathy and commands Arjuna to rise and shake off his petty faint-heartedness (1–3). Arjuna defends his stance, saying, “It is better to live on alms in this world than to kill those great honorable men, because even after killing them, all my enjoyments here in the form of wealth and sense pleasures would be stained with their blood” (4–5). Although Arjuna declines to fight, he is evidently not very sure of his own decision. Seeing that Kṛṣṇa is not supportive of his unwillingness to fight and instead ridicules him, his mind becomes filled with doubt (6). He surrenders to Kṛṣṇa and asks Him to become his teacher (7). Ironically, immediately following his submission, Arjuna declares his determination not to fight (9).
Kṛṣṇa begins His instructions by first repudiating Arjuna for making a show of wisdom while yet overwhelmed by sorrow (11). Kṛṣṇa first clarifies that the body and the self are entirely distinct from each other. The body is transitory, limited, and perishable, while the self is eternal, real, and imperishable. Therefore, one should neither lament the destruction of the perishable nor aspire to maintain the imperishable — this is discernment. Discernment is needed in all three disciplines ( yogas) of action, knowledge, and devotion. When a person distinguishes between the self and the body, the desire for liberation (freedom from material bondage) is aroused. Even the desire for heaven assumes the knowledge of the difference between the self, which endures, and the physical body, which perishes. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa begins His instructions with a discussion of discernment, a topic that continues through verse 30.
Instead of using philosophical terminology, Kṛṣṇa uses simple words to enable people to understand the topic easily. The idea is that every person deserves the opportunity to realize God, because the human form has been bestowed upon us specifically for this purpose, which is the utter fulfillment of the self’s potential as an eternal conscious entity. Therefore, every human being can realize God by first understanding the importance of discernment.
In this section, the term “intellect” has not been used by Kṛṣṇa. In order to distinguish the real from the unreal, the imperishable from the perishable, the eternal from the transitory, and the self (spirit) from the body, discernment is all that is necessary. As both prakṛti (nature) and puruṣa (spirit) are beginningless (as Kṛṣṇa teaches in Chapter 13, verses 19–20), so is the faculty of discernment, which distinguishes the real from the unreal. Discernment has been bestowed upon all creatures by God and is revealed in the intellect. Even birds and beasts know instinctively what should and should not be eaten by them and can distinguish between heat and cold, yet they are devoid of discernment in the matter of spiritual intelligence. Human beings are especially endowed with this discernment, which can release them from the bondage of birth and death and lead them to eternal peace and bliss (liberation). When discernment is aroused, enabling individuals to distinguish between the self and the body, they renounce their affinity for the transitory objects of this world, including the senses, the mind, and the intellect. As a consequence, their intellect becomes purified and balanced.
After completing His exposition on the nature of the self, Kṛṣṇa tries to convince Arjuna to participate in the battle, because that is his duty as a kṣatriya. He argues that if Arjuna does not fight, his enemies will ridicule him. Thus, even for the sake of his honor, he should fight with a balanced state of mind (31–38).
Later in the chapter, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna, “I have spoken this wisdom to you in relation to sāṅkhya-yoga [the path of detachment based upon the discernment between the body and self]. Now hear the same in relation to karma-yoga [the path of selfless action offered to God]. Equipped with wisdom, you will be able to completely relinquish the shackles of karma” (39). In the discipline of action, the intelligence is fixed on a single goal (41). When people firmly resolve to attain liberation, favorable or unfavorable circumstances cause no obstacles, and thus they attain equanimity. When people resolve to attain realization of God, their attachment and attraction to the world begin to disappear. Attachment to pleasures, power, and prosperity is the main obstacle to the attainment of mental resolution (44). The problem is not with objects, power, prosperity, or relations, but with the attachment to them. Therefore, these things are not to be shunned in and of themselves, but the attachment to them should be. This theme is repeated throughout Bhagavad Gītā.
Having emphasized stability of mind in the discipline of action, Kṛṣṇa requests Arjuna to perform his duty with evenness of mind. He declares, “Your eligibility pertains exclusively to the fulfillment of action, but never to the fruits thereof. Do not become the cause of the results of your actions [by claiming independent doership] nor, as a consequence, should you be attached to the non-performance of action (47). Perform your duties being steadfast in yoga” (48). Kṛṣṇa also declares that action performed for its fruits is inferior to the yoga of wisdom: “Duty performed with motive is verily far inferior to this yoga of wisdom (i.e., niṣkāma-karma-yoga). Take refuge in this wisdom. Those who act for results are pitiable” (49). He then declares, “Being endowed with this equanimity of mind, one abandons in this life both pious and impious deeds. Therefore, strive for yoga. Yoga [or equanimity in selfless action] is dexterity in the execution of action” (50). The essence of these verses is that one should be mindful of one’s actions and not be attached to the result and its aftermath.
It should be noted that in jñāna-yoga, discrimination between the body and self is predominant; in bhakti-yoga, surrender and faith are predominant; while in karma-yoga, resolute intellect is predominant. Arjuna then asks about the characteristics of a person of resolute intellect: How does such a person function in the world and how does he act when he is alone (54)? Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s reply to Arjuna’s question makes up the remainder of the chapter (55–72).
Kṛṣṇa explains that when a person’s mind becomes free of all material desires, the intellect becomes fixed. One who meditates on sense objects becomes attached to them, which leads to the desire to attain them, which further results in anger. Anger makes one deluded, resulting in loss of memory, which destroys one’s intelligence. Following such a course, a person is utterly ruined. Kṛṣṇa lays great stress on control of the senses. A person who has mastered his senses is like an ocean that remains within its bounds in spite of being filled by the numerous rivers that enter it. Such a person attains supreme peace and freedom from bondage to material nature.

All Verses

  1. Verse 1Sañjaya said: Madhusūdana spoke the following words to Arjuna, who was despairing, being thus overcome by pity, with eyes full of tears and grief.
  2. Verse 2Śrī Bhagavān said: O Arjuna, how has this impurity [dejection] befallen you* at such a critical moment? It is unbefitting a person of nobility, unconducive to the attainment of heaven, and it leads to social disgrace.
  3. Verse 3Yield not to impotency, O Pārtha (Arjuna), it does not behoove you. Cast away this petty weak-heartedness, O scorcher of enemies (Parantapa), and arise for battle.
  4. Verse 4Arjuna said: O destroyer of enemies, Madhusūdana, how shall I counterattack with arrows in battle, Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy of my worship?
  5. Verse 5It would be better to live in this world even by begging alms without killing those honorable and wise men. Otherwise, by killing our superiors, the wealth and coveted items of enjoyment that we will partake of in this world will surely be tainted with their blood.
  6. Verse 6And we do not know which would be better for us — whether to conquer them or for them to conquer us. Those very sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, whom if we killed we would not wish to live, are standing now directly in front of us.
  7. Verse 7My nature being overpowered by the defect of weakness of heart and my mind being confused about my duty, I ask You to please tell me decisively which course of action is most beneficial for me. I am Your disciple and have taken refuge in You. Please instruct me.
  8. Verse 8Indeed, even if we obtain an unrivalled and prosperous kingdom on this earth and even sovereignty over the suras (gods), I cannot at all see that which might drive away this grief which is afflicting my senses.
  9. Verse 9Sañjaya said: After speaking thus to Hṛṣīkeśa, Guḍākeśa, the scorcher of enemies, said to Govinda, “I will not fight,” and became silent.
  10. Verse 10O descendant of Bharata, then Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as if smiling, spoke the following words to the grieving Arjuna in the midst of both armies.
  11. Verse 11Śrī Bhagavān said: You are grieving for those who are unworthy of grief, and yet speaking as though learned. Those who are truly wise lament neither for the dead nor for the living.
  12. Verse 12There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor any of these kings. Nor in the future shall any of us cease to exist.
  13. Verse 13Just as childhood, youth, and old age pertain only to the body of the embodied self, so also the self attains another body [after death]. A wise person is not bewildered by this.
  14. Verse 14O son of Kuntī, the contact of the senses with their objects generates feelings of heat and cold, happiness and misery. They are transitory, having a beginning and an end. Therefore, O descendant of Bharata, tolerate them.
  15. Verse 15O best of men, the wise person who is not disturbed by these sense contacts, who is equally disposed in pleasure and pain, is certainly eligible for immortality.
  16. Verse 16The unreal has no existence, and the real never ceases to exist. The conclusion regarding these two [principles] has been directly apperceived by seers of the truth.
  17. Verse 17That, however, by which this entire body is pervaded you should know to be indestructible. Nobody can destroy this imperishable [self].
  18. Verse 18All these bodies of the eternal, imperishable, and immeasurable embodied [self] are said to have an end. Therefore, O descendant of Bharata, fight!
  19. Verse 19One who considers the self to be the slayer, and one who believes it to be slain, are both ignorant, for the self neither slays nor is slain.
  20. Verse 20The self never takes birth, nor does it die, nor having once come into being will it ever be subject to further becoming. It is birthless, eternal, changeless, and primordial. It is not killed when the body is killed.
  21. Verse 21O Arjuna, how can a person who knows the self to be imperishable, eternal, birthless, and immutable, cause anyone to be slain or kill anyone?
  22. Verse 22As a person giving up worn-out garments puts on new ones, so the embodied self, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into other new bodies.
  23. Verse 23Weapons cannot cut the self nor can fire burn it; water cannot wet the self nor can wind dry it.
  24. Verse 24The self cannot be cut or burnt; it cannot be moistened or dried. It is indestructible, omnipresent, stable, immovable, and eternal.
  25. Verse 25The self is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable, and immutable. Therefore, knowing the self in this way, you should not grieve.
  26. Verse 26But, O mighty-armed one, if you consider the self to be subject to constant birth and death, even then, you should not grieve on this account.
  27. Verse 27For one who is born, death is certain, and for one who dies, birth is certain. Therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable.
  28. Verse 28O descendant of Bharata, all beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest in the interim period between birth and death, and unmanifest again at death. In this matter, what is there to grieve about?
  29. Verse 29Some consider the self as amazing, some speak of it as amazing, and some hear of it as amazing, while others, even after hearing of it, cannot comprehend it at all.
  30. Verse 30O descendant of Bharata, the embodied self, dwelling in the bodies of all living beings, is ever indestructible; therefore, you should not grieve for anyone.
  31. Verse 31Moreover, considering your own duty (dharma), you should not waver, for there is nothing more beneficial for a kṣatriya than a righteous battle.
  32. Verse 32O Arjuna, happy are those kṣatriyas who gain an opportunity for battle such as this. Having arisen of its own accord, such fortune is an open gate to heaven.
  33. Verse 33If, however, you do not engage in this righteous battle, then forsaking your duty and reputation, you will incur sin.
  34. Verse 34Moreover, people will speak of your infamy for all time to come, and for a man of honor infamy is worse than death.
  35. Verse 35The great warriors will think that you have run away from battle out of fear. Indeed, those for whom you were so highly regarded will belittle you.
  36. Verse 36And your enemies, disparaging your prowess, will speak many abusive words. Indeed, what could be more painful than this?
  37. Verse 37If you are killed [while fighting], you will attain heaven, or if you are victorious, you will enjoy dominion over the earth. Therefore, stand up, O son of Kuntī, having firmly resolved to fight.
  38. Verse 38Considering pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, engage in battle. Thus, you will not incur sin.
  39. Verse 39O son of Pṛthā, I have spoken this wisdom to you in relation to sāṅkhya-yoga [the path of detachment based upon the discernment between the body and self]. Now hear the same in relation to karma-yoga [the path of selfless action offered to God]. Equipped with wisdom, you will be able to completely relinquish the shackles of karma.
  40. Verse 40On this path [of karma-yoga], there is no loss of progress undertaken, nor is there any chance of obtaining a contrary result. Even a little practice of this dharma protects one from the great fear [of repeated birth and death].
  41. Verse 41O descendant of Kuru, on this path, the intellect is resolutely determined, being one-pointed in its intent, whereas the intellectual determinations of the irresolute are innumerable and many-branched.
  42. Verse 42-43O Arjuna, the unwise, who are attached to the evanescent goals described in the Vedas, who claim that the Vedas are concerned with nothing other than this, who are full of material desires, and who are intent upon the attainment of heaven, utter the flowery words of the Vedas concerning various special rites that are directed toward the acquisition of pleasure and power and which result in rebirth and perpetuation of the cycle of karma.
  43. Verse 44For those whose minds are carried away by such flowery words and who are firmly attached to pleasure and worldly powers, the intellect cannot become resolutely established in transcognitive awareness* [of Parameśvara].
  44. Verse 45The Vedas are [predominantly] concerned with the three guṇas. O Arjuna, be free from the triad of guṇas, situated beyond dualities, and free from concerns for acquisition and preservation. Become established in the eternal existence and self-situated.
  45. Verse 46Whatever purpose [can be accomplished] by a small reservoir of water is entirely [fulfilled] by a large body of water. Similarly, whatever purpose [is obtainable] through all the Vedas is entirely [fulfilled] by a self-realized person.
  46. Verse 47Your eligibility pertains exclusively to the fulfillment of action*, but never to the fruits thereof. Do not become the cause of the results of your actions [by claiming independent doership**] nor, as a consequence, should you be attached to the non-performance of action.
  47. Verse 48O Dhanañjaya, perform your duties, being steadfast in yoga, while renouncing desire for the fruits and remaining equipoised in success and failure. This equanimity of mind is called yoga.
  48. Verse 49O Dhanañjaya, action performed with motive is verily far inferior to this yoga of wisdom [niṣkāma-karma-yoga]. Take refuge in this wisdom. Those who act for results are pitiable.
  49. Verse 50Being endowed with equanimity of mind, one abandons in this life both pious and impious deeds. Therefore, strive for yoga [niṣkāma-karma]. The yoga of equanimity is dexterity in action*.
  50. Verse 51Because the wise, who are endowed with this wisdom [of niṣkāma-karma-yoga], having renounced the fruits born of their actions, are thus freed from the shackles of birth, they attain the state beyond all misery.
  51. Verse 52When your intellect crosses over the mire of delusion, you will become indifferent to [the temporal pleasures expounded in the Vedas] that you have previously heard of and those that you have yet to hear about.
  52. Verse 53When your intellect, which has been confused by conflicting scriptural and worldly opinions, becomes unoscillating and thus immovably fixed in transcognitive awareness [of Parameśvara], then you will attain the state of yoga.
  53. Verse 54Arjuna inquired: O Keśava, what are the symptoms of a [God-realized] person, whose wisdom faculty is firmly fixed and who is established in transcognitive awareness? How does the person of stable intelligence speak, how does he sit, and how does he walk?
  54. Verse 55Śrī Bhagavān said: O Pārtha, when a person completely casts away all the cravings of the mind and is satisfied in the self alone by virtue of the self’s intrinsic joy, then he is said to be of steady wisdom.
  55. Verse 56One whose mind remains undisturbed in the midst of sorrows, who does not hanker after happiness, and who is free of material attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of stable wisdom.
  56. Verse 57One who remains without attachment in the midst of all things, who neither rejoices at the attainment of good fortune nor detests the befalling of misfortune — such a person is of stable wisdom.
  57. Verse 58When the sage completely withdraws all his senses from the sense objects, as a tortoise draws its limbs within its shell, his wisdom becomes stable.
  58. Verse 59Although the sense objects may be given up by an embodied being who is practicing abstinence, the attachment for them persists. When, however, there is immediate realization of the Supreme [i.e., Bhagavān] even this attachment of his disappears.
  59. Verse 60O son of Kuntī, certainly the turbulent senses forcibly snatch away the mind even of a wise person who is striving for liberation.
  60. Verse 61The yogī who is united with Me [in devotion] and who is intent exclusively upon Me should sit, having regulated all his senses. One whose senses are under control is certainly of steady wisdom.
  61. Verse 62By dwelling on sense objects, a person develops attachment for them. From attachment, desire ensues, and from [unfulfilled] desire anger arises.
  62. Verse 63From anger comes delusion, and from delusion memory is distorted. From distortion of memory discernment is lost, and when discernment is lost, one perishes.
  63. Verse 64But a self-controlled person, even while experiencing the sense objects through the senses, which are under the regulation of the self and hence devoid of attraction and aversion for their objects, attains tranquility of mind.
  64. Verse 65After a person attains tranquility of mind, all of his sorrows are destroyed. Certainly, the intellect of a person whose mind is serene becomes firmly established [in God] without delay.
  65. Verse 66A person whose mind and senses are uncontrolled cannot develop proper discernment nor can he be God-conscious*. Moreover, one who is not God-conscious cannot attain peace, and without peace of mind, how can a person attain true happiness?
  66. Verse 67Indeed, the mind that follows in the wake of the wandering senses carries away the discernment of such a person, just as the wind carries from its course a boat on the water.
  67. Verse 68Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the intellect of a person whose senses are completely restrained from their objects is steady.
  68. Verse 69The integrated self remains awake to that [awareness of the Self] which is night* for all conditioned beings. [Similarly,] all conditioned beings remain awake to that [phenomenal awareness] which is night for the realized sage.
  69. Verse 70Just as various rivers flow into the ocean, which, although completely full, remains immovably fixed within its boundaries, so the sage in whom all enjoyments merge [without causing any mental modification] attains peace, but not a person who hankers after such enjoyments.
  70. Verse 71The person who, having abandoned all desires, lives devoid of hankering and free from the notions of “I” and “mine,” attains perfect peace.
  71. Verse 72O Pārtha, this is the God-realized state. Having reached it, one is never deluded. Being established in this state, even at the time of death, one attains liberation in Brahman [i.e., the state of unconditional being in association with Parabrahman*].