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Chapter 2: Sankhya Yoga

Sankhya Yoga is the second chapter of the Gita, and it is often called the essence of the whole book. Overcome by grief on the battlefield, Arjuna becomes Shri Krishna’s disciple, and Krishna teaches him that the Self is immortal, what his own duty (svadharma) is, how to act with evenness of mind, and the marks of a person of steady wisdom. 72 verses, each with the Sanskrit, word meanings, translation and explanation.

Verses 1–10

Arjuna’s grief and surrender

Arjuna refuses to fight, then becomes Shri Krishna’s disciple and asks for guidance.

  1. 2.1तं तथा कृपयाविष्टमश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम्…Sanjaya: To Arjuna, thus overcome with pity, his troubled eyes filled with tears and sinking in grief, Madhusudana spoke these words.
  2. 2.2कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं…The Blessed Lord said: Arjuna, where has this weakness come upon you from, at so critical an hour?
  3. 2.3क्लैब्यं मा…Do not yield to unmanliness, son of Pritha; it does not become you.
  4. 2.4कथं भीष्ममहं…Arjuna: How shall I strike at Bhishma and Drona with arrows in battle, Madhusudana?
  5. 2.5गुरूनहत्वा…Arjuna: Better to live on alms in this world than to slay these noble teachers.
  6. 2.6न चैतद्विद्मः…Arjuna: Nor do we know which is better for us, that we should conquer them or that they should conquer us.
  7. 2.7कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः…Arjuna: My nature is overcome by weakness and my mind is confused about my duty.
  8. 2.8न हि प्रपश्यामि…Arjuna: I see nothing that could drive away this grief which dries up my senses, even if I were to win an unrivalled, prosperous kingdom on earth, or even lordship over the gods.
  9. 2.9एवमुक्त्वा…Sanjaya: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, O King, Gudakesha said to Govinda, "I will not fight," and fell silent.
  10. 2.10तमुवाच हृषीकेशः…Sanjaya: O Bharata, there between the two armies, Hrishikesha, as if smiling, spoke these words to the grieving Arjuna.
Verses 11–30

The Self is immortal

The body changes, the Self does not: it is never born and never dies. So grieving over death is misplaced.

  1. 2.11अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं…The Blessed Lord said: You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, and yet you speak words of wisdom.
  2. 2.12न त्वेवाहं…Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these kings; nor will any of us ever cease to be hereafter.
  3. 2.13देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा…Just as the embodied self passes through childhood, youth and old age in this body, so too it passes into another body; the wise are not deluded by this.
  4. 2.14मात्रास्पर्शास्तु…Contacts of the senses with their objects, son of Kunti, bring cold and heat, pleasure and pain.
  5. 2.15यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते…The steady person whom these do not disturb, best of men, who remains the same in pain and pleasure, is fit for immortality.
  6. 2.16नासतो विद्यते…The unreal has no being, and the real never ceases to be.
  7. 2.17अविनाशि तु…Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded.
  8. 2.18अन्तवन्त इमे…These bodies of the eternal, indestructible and immeasurable embodied self are said to have an end.
  9. 2.19य एनं वेत्ति…One who thinks this self a slayer, and one who thinks it slain, both fail to understand: it neither slays nor is slain.
  10. 2.20न जायते म्रियते…The self is never born, nor does it ever die; having come to be, it does not cease to be.
  11. 2.21वेदाविनाशिनं…One who knows this self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn and unchanging, how can such a person, son of Pritha, cause anyone to be slain, or slay anyone?
  12. 2.22वासांसि जीर्णानि…As a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on others that are new, so the embodied self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
  13. 2.23नैनं छिन्दन्ति…Weapons do not cut it, fire does not burn it, water does not wet it, and the wind does not dry it.
  14. 2.24अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य…It cannot be cut, burnt, wetted or dried.
  15. 2.25अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते…This self is said to be unmanifest, beyond thought and unchanging.
  16. 2.26अथ चैनं नित्यजातं…Even if you think of the self as constantly born and constantly dying, mighty-armed one, even then you should not grieve.
  17. 2.27जातस्य हि ध्रुवो…Death is certain for one who is born, and birth is certain for one who dies.
  18. 2.28अव्यक्तादीनि…Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle, and unmanifest again in their end, O Bharata.
  19. 2.29आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति…Some see the self as a wonder, another speaks of it as a wonder, another hears of it as a wonder; yet even having heard, no one truly knows it.
  20. 2.30देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं…The self dwelling in every body is eternal and can never be slain, O Bharata.
Verses 31–38

Svadharma

Arjuna’s duty as a warrior, and what giving it up would mean.

  1. 2.31स्वधर्ममपि…Considering your own duty too, you should not waver; for a warrior there is nothing better than a righteous battle.
  2. 2.32यदृच्छया चोपपन्नं…Happy are the warriors, son of Pritha, who get such a battle that comes of its own accord, an open door to heaven.
  3. 2.33अथ चेत्त्वमिमं…But if you do not fight this righteous battle, then, having abandoned your duty and your honour, you will incur sin.
  4. 2.34अकीर्तिं चापि…People will speak of your disgrace for ever, and for one who has been honoured, disgrace is worse than death.
  5. 2.35भयाद्रणादुपरतं…The great warriors will think you withdrew from battle out of fear, and you will be lowered in the eyes of those who held you in high esteem.
  6. 2.36अवाच्यवादांश्च…Your enemies will say many unspeakable things, deriding your strength.
  7. 2.37हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि…If you are slain you will attain heaven; if you win you will enjoy the earth.
  8. 2.38सुखदुःखे समे…Treating alike pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, prepare for battle.
Verses 39–53

Buddhi yoga: action with evenness

You have a right to action, not to its fruits; staying even in success and failure is yoga.

  1. 2.39एषा तेऽभिहिता…This is the wisdom of Sankhya that has been taught to you; now hear the wisdom of Yoga, endowed with which, son of Pritha, you will cast off the bondage of action.
  2. 2.40नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति…On this path no effort is ever lost and no harm is done.
  3. 2.41व्यवसायात्मिका…On this path the resolute intellect is one-pointed, O joy of the Kurus; but the thoughts of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.
  4. 2.42यामिमां पुष्पितां…Unwise people, delighting in the letter of the Vedas and saying "there is nothing else", speak flowery words.
  5. 2.43कामात्मानः…Full of desires, with heaven as their highest goal, they speak words full of elaborate rites aimed at pleasure and power, which lead only to rebirth as the fruit of action.
  6. 2.44भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां…For those attached to pleasure and power, whose minds are carried away by such words, the resolute intellect is not established in contemplation.
  7. 2.45त्रैगुण्यविषया…The Vedas deal with the three gunas; rise above them, Arjuna.
  8. 2.46यावानर्थ उदपाने…As much use as there is in a small well when there is water flooding everywhere, so much is there in all the Vedas for a knower of Brahman.
  9. 2.47कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते…Your right is to action alone, never to its fruits.
  10. 2.48योगस्थः कुरु…Established in yoga, perform your actions, Dhananjaya, abandoning attachment and remaining the same in success and failure.
  11. 2.49दूरेण ह्यवरं…Action done for its fruit is far inferior to action done with the yoga of wisdom, Dhananjaya.
  12. 2.50बुद्धियुक्तो…One endowed with this wisdom casts off here both good and evil deeds.
  13. 2.51कर्मजं बुद्धियुक्ता…The wise, endowed with this wisdom, having given up the fruits born of action, are freed from the bondage of birth and reach the state beyond all sorrow.
  14. 2.52यदा ते मोहकलिलं…When your intellect crosses the mire of delusion, you will become indifferent to all that has been heard and all that is yet to be heard.
  15. 2.53श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना…When your intellect, now confused by conflicting teachings, stands firm and unshaken in contemplation, then you will attain yoga.
Verses 54–72

The marks of steady wisdom

What a person of steady wisdom is like, and the ladder from anger to ruin.

  1. 2.54स्थितप्रज्ञस्य…Arjuna: What are the marks of one whose wisdom is steady, who is established in contemplation, Keshava?
  2. 2.55प्रजहाति यदा…The Blessed Lord said: When one gives up all the desires that arise in the mind, son of Pritha, and is content in the self by the self alone, then one is called steady in wisdom.
  3. 2.56दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः…One whose mind is not shaken in sorrow, who has no longing for pleasures, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.
  4. 2.57यः सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य…One who is without attachment everywhere, who neither rejoices on meeting good nor hates on meeting evil, has wisdom that is firmly established.
  5. 2.58यदा संहरते…When, like a tortoise drawing in its limbs from every side, one withdraws the senses from their objects, then one's wisdom is firmly established.
  6. 2.59विषया विनिवर्तन्ते…Sense objects fall away from one who abstains from them, but the taste for them remains; even the taste falls away when the Supreme is seen.
  7. 2.60यततो ह्यपि…The turbulent senses, son of Kunti, forcibly carry away the mind even of a wise person who is striving.
  8. 2.61तानि सर्वाणि…Restraining them all, one should sit in yoga, intent on Me as the Supreme.
  9. 2.62ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः…When a person dwells on the objects of the senses, attachment to them arises; from attachment desire is born, and from desire arises anger.
  10. 2.63क्रोधाद्भवति…From anger comes delusion, from delusion loss of memory, from loss of memory the destruction of reason, and with the destruction of reason one perishes.
  11. 2.64रागद्वेषविमुक्तैस्तु…But the self-controlled person, moving among sense objects with senses free from attachment and aversion and under his own control, attains serenity.
  12. 2.65प्रसादे सर्वदुःखानां…In that serenity all sorrows come to an end, for the intellect of one whose mind is serene soon becomes steady.
  13. 2.66नास्ति बुद्धिरयुक्तस्य…For one who is not disciplined there is no wisdom, and no meditation; without meditation there is no peace, and for one without peace, where is happiness?
  14. 2.67इन्द्रियाणां…For the mind that follows the wandering senses carries away one's wisdom, as the wind carries away a boat on the water.
  15. 2.68तस्माद्यस्य…Therefore, mighty-armed one, one whose senses are completely restrained from their objects has wisdom that is firmly established.
  16. 2.69या निशा सर्वभूतानां…What is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled one is awake; and that in which all beings are awake is night for the sage who sees.
  17. 2.70आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं…As waters enter the ocean, which is ever being filled yet remains still and unmoved, so one into whom all desires enter in the same way attains peace; not the one who craves desires.
  18. 2.71विहाय कामान्यः…One who gives up all desires and moves about free from longing, without the sense of "mine" and without ego, attains peace.
  19. 2.72एषा ब्राह्मी…This is the state of Brahman, son of Pritha; having attained it, one is no longer deluded.

Frequently asked questions

How many verses are there in chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita?

72 verses: 63 spoken by Shri Krishna, 6 by Arjuna and 3 by Sanjaya.

Why is chapter 2 called Sankhya Yoga?

Its first part (2.11–2.38) teaches sankhya, the knowledge of the Self as distinct from the body, and from 2.39 it teaches yoga, the way of acting without attachment.

Which are the best-known verses of chapter 2?

2.20 (na jayate mriyate va), 2.22 (vasamsi jirnani), 2.23 (nainam chhindanti shastrani), 2.47 (karmanye vadhikaraste), 2.48 (samatvam yoga uchyate) and 2.62–63 (the ladder from anger to ruin).