Sanjaya said:
To him thus overwhelmed with pity, whose eyes were beclouded by tears and who was much depressed, Madhusudhana spoke these words.
2-1
Sri Bhagavan said:
Arjuna, where has this dejection come over you at such a crisis. It is ignoble and it does not lead to heaven and brings no fame to you.
2-2
Yield not to this faint-heartedness, O Partha, for it does not become you, cast off this paltry weakness of heart and arise, O vanquisher of enemies.
2-3
Arjuna said:
O Madhusudhana, how shall I in battle fight with arrows, Bhishma and Drona who are worthy of reverence, O Slayer of foes ?
2-4
It is better to live in this world by begging than to kill these gurus, worthy of reverence. If I kill gurus, albeit desirous of wealth, I shall be enjoying only blood stained pleasures.
2-5
We do not know which is just likely, whether we conquer them or they conquer us, these sons of Dhrtarastra after slaying whom we do not desire to live, are standing before us in battle array.
2-6
My essential nature being over powered by faint heartedness and my mind being confounded as to what is Dharma I ask you to tell me decisively what is good for me. I am your disciple, command me, I seek refuge in you.
2-7
I do not understand what will drive away my grief that withers my senses, a grief that must continue to haunt me, even if I should here obtain rich kingdom without any rival or even the ruler ship over Gods.
2-8
Sanjays said:
Having thus spoken to Hrishikesha, Arjuna, conqueror of enemies, said to Govinda, 'I will not fight' and became silent.
2-9
O Bharata! Hrishikesha, smiling as it were, addressed the following words to him who was sitting there sorrowing in the midst of two armies.
2-10
Sri Bhagavan said:
You grieve for those that should not be grieved for and speak seemingly wise words, reasoned in your own way. The wise do not grieve either for the actually living or for the dead.
2-11
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these princes. Not surely shall we all ever cease to exist here after.
2-12
Just as child hood, youth and old age, comes to the dweller of the body in one and the same body, So also one gets another body after death. The wise man is not perturbed by it.
2-13
O Kunti's Son the contact of sense objects with senses cause pleasure and pain through sensation of cold and heat. They come and go and are contingent on ego. Make them ineffectual.
2-14
O Chief of men, that brave and wise person who is not tormented by these and who reacts to pain and pleasure with the same equanimity becomes fit for salvation.
2-15
From bad deeds no happiness or good can ever result and from good deeds no misery or bad results either; in respect of both of these the truth has actually been perceived by seekers after truth.
2-16
Know that Brahman by whom all this is pervaded is absolutely indestructible; no one would be able to cause the destruction of this self which is imperishable.
2-17
These bodies of the embodied souls are perishable, while souls are eternal, being the reflected images of God, Who is omnipresent and immeasurable. There fore, O Bharata, do fight just as a way of worship to earn His Grace.
2-18
He who thinks a person to be killer and he who thinks another person as killed - both of them are ignorant. He does not kill nor does the other get killed.
2-19
The soul is neither born nor does he die; nor having been once in existence does he produce himself again, for he is unborn indestructible and eternal. He is not killed when his body is slain.
2-20
O Arjuna, how can he who knows this soul to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and unchangeable, think of killing or cause another to kill or to be killed?
2-21
Just as a person casts off worn out cloths and puts on others - new ones, so also the in-dwelling soul gives up worn out bodies and enters others that are new.
2-22
Weapons do not cut him, fire does not burn him, waters do not drench him nor wind dry him.
2-23
He is uncut, unburnable and not dryable. He is eternal, all pervading, stable, immovable and immutable.
2-24
Unmanifest, inconceivable and unchanging he is called. Therefore knowing him as such, you should not grieve.
2-25
O mighty armed, even if you regard him as inevitably born, and inevitably dying, it is not right for you to grieve.
2-26
Death is certain to one who is born and birth for one who dies, therefore, you should not grieve over what is unavoidable and inevitable.
2-27
O Bharata, bodies of creatures have their origin in the unmanifest, manifest between birth and death; they indeed have their end in the unmanifest. What is there for lamentation in respect of such bodies ?
2-28
Some one sees him as a marvel, likewise some one speaks of him as a marvel, some one else hears him as a marvel, yet even after such hearing, no one knows him at all.
2-29
This soul is ever invulnerable. O Bharata, in every body; therefore, you should not grieve for any creature.
2-30
Even from the view point of your own duty, you should not vacillate; for there is nothing more beneficial for a warrior than waging a righteous war.
2-31
O Partha, it is only the blessed among the warriors who come by a war like this, which has come unsought as an open door to heaven.
2-32
But, if you will not wage this righteous war, you will incur sin by abandoning your own duty and losing honor.
2-33
Besides, men will recount your ever lasting ill fame and for one who is highly esteemed ill-fame exceeds death.
2-34
Great warriors will think you have withdrawn from the battle out of fear and you will be slighted by the very person who had held you in high esteem.
2-35
Your enemies decrying your prowess will utter unmentionable words. Can anything be sadder than that ?
2-36
If killed, you will attain heaven; if victorious, you will enjoy the earth; therefore, O son of Kunti, rise up determined to fight.
2-37
Regarding pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat with equanimity, gird up for battle, there by you will not incur sin.
2-38
This teaching so far imparted to you is the one relating to Soul. Listen now to the exposition of Yoga, the means of obtaining that knowledge equipped with which, O Partha, you will cast away the bonds of all action good and evil.
2-39
In this path there is no loss of attempt once made nor sin engendered by lapses; even a little of this protects from the great fear.
2-40
O Joy of Kurus, the teaching which forms the true conclusion is but one, be it of the worldly, or Vedic topics. The teachings of those who are devoid of true knowledge are naturally conflicting, many directional and endless.
2-41
O Partha, the ignorant who rejoices in the superficial sense of the vedas and who are devoted to worldly pleasures and think that heaven is the highest goal, say that there is nothing beyond these and proclaim these flowery words which promise birth, action and rewards and prescribe ceremonies which bring on joys and wealth.
2-42,43
To people who are lured by such wealth and pleasure and whose minds are captivated by the flowery language in the Vedas, the knowledge of true conclusions will be unattainable for concentration of the mind on the Lord.
2-44
The vedas seem to treat of matters relating to the three qualities, O Arjuna, but rise above them. Being free from the pairs of opposites, let your mind be steady always in the eternal pure Lord; do not endeavor to acquire or safeguard what is forbidden; be ever devoted to Him.
2-45
That purpose realized in a pond of water is more than served by the vast; similarly what is realized through all the vedas, is obtained by the learned man who has vision of God.
2-46
You have a right in respect of action alone never in respect of its fruits. Let not the fruit of action be your motive and let there be no attachment to inaction either.
2-47
O Dhananjaya, renouncing attachment and being unmoved alike in success and failure, do your duties firmly entrenched in yoga. This state of equanimity is called Yoga.
2-48
O Dhananjaya, action with a lower motive is far inferior to knowledge leading to salvation. Take therefore, refuge in knowledge. Pitiable are those who have such motive for their action.
2-49
Possessed of knowledge of God, he casts off here both good and evil. Therefore, exert yourself for yoga. Skill in the performance of duties done for the sake of the grace of the Lord without any desire for the fruits is Yoga.
2-50
Those who renounce the fruits of karma surely become possesses of God and get liberated from the bondage of birth, reach the goal free from suffering.
2-51
When your mind gets over the barrier of delusion, then you attain to the full benefit of what has been already heard and what yet remains to be heard.
2-52
When your mind first in conflict with the vedas shall stand unshaken and remain unperturbed and steady in deep meditation, then you will attain yoga.
2-53
Arjuna said:
O Keshava, What is the description of him who has this firmly founded wisdom and who is in deep meditation ? How will that person of steadfast perception speak, and what are the characteristics of his movements ?
2-54
The Lord said:
O Partha, when one gives up all the desires of the mind and by the grace of the God, is content in him, then he is called God centered sage.
2-55
He whose mind remains unperturbed in sorrow and he who is devoid of pleasures and is free from passion, fear and anger, is called a Sage of steadfast wisdom.
2-56
He who has no attachment anywhere and who neither welcomes nor abhors when he meets with good or evil, has steadfast wisdom.
2-57
When he withdraws his senses from their objects, as a tortoise, does its limbs, on all sides effortlessly, his wisdom is firmly established.
2-58
The objects of senses, but not the relish for them turn away from the person who fasts, and even this relish disappears on the realization of the Supreme Brahman.
2-59
O Son of Kunti, even of the Wiseman who strives hard, the overpowering and turbulent senses forcibly carry away the mind.
2-60
Having restrained them all, he should sit in contemplation meditating that I am his Supreme Lord. Of him, who has verily senses under his control, wisdom is steadfast.
2-61
Whoever muses on the objects of senses, develop attachment to them; from attachment springs up desire; and from desire arises anger; from anger results delusion or error of judgment; from delusion, loss of memory such as scriptural commandments and injunctions; from shattered memory there will be loss of good sense and understanding and he perishes from the loss of good sense and understanding.
2-62,63
On the other hand, he who with the senses free from likes and dislikes and kept under perfect control and whose mind is disciplined attains purity of mind and peace or tranquility.
2-64
In that tranquility all his miseries become extinct and the knowledge of him who is of serene mind becomes firmly established.
2-65
One who is not able to restrain his mind from being distracted, is not able to concentrate and one who is not able to contemplate on God with concentration is incapable of divine meditation that leads to direct perception of God. He who has no such perfectly practiced perfection cannot get liberated; and without liberation where is happiness or bliss ?
2-66
When the mind goes after the senses that rove among objects, his understanding and the conclusions arrived at by a study of vedas are lost, as a ship carried away by wind on the waters.
2-67
Therefore, O mighty armed, he whose senses are completely restrained from the sense objects, has his knowledge firmly established.
2-68
That which is night for all beings therein the man of self-restraint is wide awake. Where other beings keep awake, it is night for the sage contemplating on God.
2-69
Just as water flows into the ocean which, though being filled on all sides, yet remain steady, all objects of desire enter him who is steady and it is he who attains salvation; not he who goes hunting after pleasure.
2-70
He who gives up all desires and experiences all the sense objects without any attachment is the one who finally attains salvation.
2-71
O Partha, this is the state of Brahman realization and having attained it one is not deluded. If he should manage to continue thus even at the moment of death, he reaches the Supreme Being.
2-72
