Chapter 2
Sankhya Yoga
The Yoga of Knowledge
- Verse 2.1To him, who was thus overcome with pity, and dejected, and whose eyes were full of tears and turbid, the destroyer of…
- Verse 2.2How (comes it that) this delusion, O Arguna! which is discarded by the good, which excludes from heaven, and occasions…
- Verse 2.3Be not effeminate, O son of Pritha! it is not worthy of you. Cast off this base weakness of heart, and arise, O terror…
- Verse 2.4How, O destroyer of Madhu! shall I encounter with arrows in the battle Bhishma and Drona--both, O destroyer of…
- Verse 2.5Not killing (my) preceptors--(men) of great glory--it is better to live even on alms in this world. But killing them,…
- Verse 2.6Nor do we know which of the two is better for us-whether that we should vanquish them, or that they should vanquish…
- Verse 2.7With a heart contaminated by the taint of helplessness, with a mind confounded about my duty, I ask you. Tell me what…
- Verse 2.8For I do not perceive what is to dispel that grief which will dry up my organs after I shall have obtained a…
- Verse 2.9Having spoken thus to Hrishikesa, O terror of (your) foes! Gudakesa said to Govinda, 'I shall not engage in battle;'…
- Verse 2.10To him thus desponding between the two armies, O descendant of Bharata! Hrishikesa spoke these words with a slight…
- Verse 2.11You have grieved for those who deserve no grief, and you talk words of wisdom. Learned men grieve not for the living…
- Verse 2.12Never did I not exist, nor you, nor these rulers of men; nor will any one of us ever hereafter cease to be.
- Verse 2.13As, in this body, infancy and youth and old age (come) to the embodied (self), so does the acquisition of another…
- Verse 2.14The contacts of the senses, O son of Kunti, which produce cold and heat, pleasure and pain, are not permanent, they…
- Verse 2.15For, O chief of men, that sensible man whom they (pain and pleasure being alike to him) afflict not, he merits…
- Verse 2.16There is no existence for that which is unreal; there is no non-existence for that which is real. And the (correct)…
- Verse 2.17Know that to be indestructible which pervades all this; the destruction of that inexhaustible (principle) none can…
- Verse 2.18These bodies appertaining to the embodied (self) which is eternal, indestructible, and indefinable, are said to be…
- Verse 2.19He who thinks it to be the killer and he who thinks it to be killed, both know nothing. It kills not, is not killed.
- Verse 2.20It is not born, nor does it ever die, nor, having existed, does it exist no more. Unborn, everlasting, unchangeable,…
- Verse 2.21O son of Pritha! how can that man who knows it thus to be indestructible, everlasting, unborn, and inexhaustible, how…
- Verse 2.22As a man, casting off old clothes, puts on others and new ones, so the embodied (self) casting off old bodies, goes to…
- Verse 2.23Weapons do not divide it (into pieces); fire does not burn it, waters do not moisten it; the wind does not dry it up.
- Verse 2.24It is not divisible; it is not combustible; it is not to be moistened; it is not to be dried up. It is everlasting,…
- Verse 2.25It is said to be unperceived, to be unthinkable, to be unchangeable. Therefore knowing it to be such, you ought not to…
- Verse 2.26But even if you think that it is constantly born, and constantly dies, still, O you of mighty arms! you ought not to…
- Verse 2.27For to one that is born, death is certain; and to one that dies, birth is certain. Therefore about (this) unavoidable…
- Verse 2.28The source of things, O descendant of Bharata! is unperceived; their middle state is perceived; and their end again is…
- Verse 2.29One looks upon it as a wonder; another similarly speaks of it as a wonder; another too hears of it as a wonder; and…
- Verse 2.30This embodied (self), O descendant of Bharata! within every one's body is ever indestructible. Therefore you ought not…
- Verse 2.31Having regard to your own duty also, you ought not to falter, for there is nothing better for a Kshatriya than a…
- Verse 2.32Happy those Kshatriyas, O son of Pritha! who can find such a battle (to fight)--come of itself--an open door to heaven!
- Verse 2.33But if you will not fight this righteous battle, then you will have abandoned your own duty and your fame, and you…
- Verse 2.34All beings, too, will tell of your everlasting infamy; and to one who has been honoured, infamy is (a) greater (evil)…
- Verse 2.35(Warriors who are) masters of great cars will think that you abstained from the battle through fear, and having been…
- Verse 2.36Your enemies, too, decrying your power, will speak much about you that should not be spoken. And what, indeed, more…
- Verse 2.37Killed, you will obtain heaven; victorious, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore arise, O son of Kunti! resolved to…
- Verse 2.38Looking alike on pleasure and pain, on gain and loss, on victory and defeat, then prepare for battle, and thus you…
- Verse 2.39The knowledge here declared to you is that relating to the Sankhya. Now hear that relating to the Yoga. Possessed of…
- Verse 2.40In this (path to final emancipation) nothing that is commenced becomes abortive; no obstacles exist; and even a little…
- Verse 2.41There is here, O descendant of Kuru! but one state of mind consisting in firm understanding. But the states of mind of…
- Verse 2.42The state of mind consisting in firm understanding regarding steady contemplation does not belong to those, O son of…
- Verse 2.43The state of mind consisting in firm understanding regarding steady contemplation does not belong to those, O son of…
- Verse 2.44The state of mind consisting in firm understanding regarding steady contemplation does not belong to those, O son of…
- Verse 2.45The Vedas (merely) relate to the effects of the three qualities; do you, O Arguna! rise above those effects of the…
- Verse 2.46To the instructed Brahmana, there is in all the Vedas as much utility as in a reservoir of water into which waters…
- Verse 2.47Your business is with action alone; not by any means with fruit. Let not the fruit of action be your motive (to…
- Verse 2.48Having recourse to devotion, O Dhananjaya! perform actions, casting off (all) attachment, and being equable in success…
- Verse 2.49Action, O Dhananjaya! is far inferior to the devotion of the mind. In that devotion seek shelter. Wretched are those…
- Verse 2.50He who has obtained devotion in this world casts off both merit and sin. Therefore apply yourself to devotion;…
- Verse 2.51The wise who have obtained devotion cast off the fruit of action; and released from the shackles of (repeated) births,…
- Verse 2.52When your mind shall have crossed beyond the taint of delusion, then will you become indifferent to all that you have…
- Verse 2.53When your mind, confounded by what you have heard, will stand firm and steady in contemplation, then will you acquire…
- Verse 2.54What are the characteristics, O Kesava! of one whose mind is steady, and who is intent on contemplation? How should…
- Verse 2.55When a man, O son of Pritha! abandons all the desires of his heart, and is pleased in his self only and by his self,…
- Verse 2.56He whose heart is not agitated in the midst of calamities, who has no longing for pleasures, and from whom (the…
- Verse 2.57His mind is steady, who, being without attachments anywhere, feels no exultation and no aversion on encountering the…
- Verse 2.58A man's mind is steady, when he withdraws his senses from (all) objects of sense, as the tortoise (withdraws) its…
- Verse 2.59Objects of sense draw back from a person who is abstinent; not so the taste (for those objects). But even the taste…
- Verse 2.60The boisterous senses, O son of Kunti! carry away by force the mind even of a wise man, who exerts himself (for final…
- Verse 2.61Restraining them all, a man should remain engaged in devotion, making me his only resort. For his mind is steady whose…
- Verse 2.62The man who ponders over objects of sense forms an attachment to them; from (that) attachment is produced desire; and…
- Verse 2.63From anger results want of discrimination; from want of discrimination, confusion of the memory; from confusion of the…
- Verse 2.64But the self-restrained man who moves among objects with senses under the control of his own self, and free from…
- Verse 2.65When there is tranquillity, all his miseries are destroyed, for the mind of him whose heart is tranquil soon becomes…
- Verse 2.66He who is not self-restrained has no steadiness of mind; nor has he who is not self-restrained perseverance in the…
- Verse 2.67For the heart which follows the rambling senses leads away his judgment, as the wind leads a boat astray upon the…
- Verse 2.68Therefore, O you of mighty arms! his mind is steady whose senses are restrained on all sides from objects of sense.
- Verse 2.69The self-restrained man is awake, when it is night for all beings; and when all beings are awake, that is the night of…
- Verse 2.70He into whom all objects of desire enter, as waters enter the ocean, which, (though) replenished, (still) keeps its…
- Verse 2.71The man who, casting off all desires, lives free from attachments, who is free from egoism, and from (the feeling that…
- Verse 2.72This, O son of Pritha! is the Brahmic state; attaining to this, one is never deluded; and remaining in it in (one's)…