Vyasa · a new plain-English translation from the Sanskrit
2.1 Sanjaya said: To him who was thus overcome with compassion, his eyes troubled and filled with tears, sunk in sorrow, Madhusudana spoke these words.
2.2 The Blessed Lord said: From where has this dejection come upon you at this critical moment, Arjuna? It is unworthy of the noble, it does not lead to heaven, and it brings disgrace.
2.3 Do not yield to weakness, Partha; it does not become you. Cast off this petty faintness of heart and rise up, scorcher of enemies.
2.4 Arjuna said: How shall I strike Bhishma and Drona with arrows in battle, Madhusudana? They are worthy of reverence, destroyer of foes.
2.5 It is better to live on alms in this world than to kill these great and honored teachers; for even should I kill them, though they be greedy of gain, the pleasures I enjoyed would be smeared with their blood.
2.6 Nor do we know which is better for us, that we conquer them or that they conquer us. The sons of Dhritarashtra, having killed whom we would have no wish to live, stand arrayed before us.
2.7 My very nature overcome by weakness born of pity, my mind bewildered as to duty, I ask you: tell me with certainty which is better. I am your pupil; instruct me, for I have come to you for refuge.
2.8 I see nothing that could dispel this grief which withers my senses, even if I won a prosperous and unrivaled kingdom on earth, or even lordship over the gods.
2.9 Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, Gudakesha, scorcher of enemies, said to Govinda, I will not fight, and fell silent.
2.10 To him, sitting dejected between the two armies, Hrishikesha, as if smiling, O descendant of Bharata, spoke these words.
2.11 The Blessed Lord said: You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, yet you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
2.12 Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these kings; nor will there ever be a time when we shall cease to exist, all of us, hereafter.
2.13 Just as the embodied self passes, in this body, through childhood, youth, and old age, so too it passes into another body. One who is steady of mind is not troubled by this.
2.14 The contacts of the senses with their objects, son of Kunti, give rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go, and are impermanent; endure them, descendant of Bharata.
2.15 The one whom these do not disturb, the one who is the same in pleasure and pain, the steady one, O bull among men, that one is fit for immortality.
2.16 Of the unreal there is no being; of the real there is no non-being. The finality of both has been seen by those who perceive the truth.
2.17 Know that to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. No one is able to bring about the destruction of this imperishable thing.
2.18 These bodies of the eternal, indestructible, immeasurable embodied self are said to come to an end. Therefore, fight, descendant of Bharata.
2.19 One who thinks this self to be a slayer, and one who thinks it slain, both fail to understand: it does not slay, nor is it slain.
2.20 It is never born, nor does it ever die; nor, having come to be, will it ever cease to be again. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting, and ancient; it is not slain when the body is slain.
2.21 One who knows this self to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and imperishable, how does that person cause anyone to be killed, Partha, or kill anyone?
2.22 Just as a man casts off worn-out garments and takes other new ones, so the embodied self casts off worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
2.23 Weapons do not cut this self, fire does not burn it, water does not wet it, and wind does not dry it.
2.24 This self cannot be cut, cannot be burned, cannot be wetted, and cannot be dried. It is eternal, all-pervading, unmoving, immovable, and everlasting.
2.25 This self is said to be unmanifest, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Knowing it to be thus, you should not grieve.
2.26 But even if you think of this self as constantly being born and constantly dying, still, mighty-armed, you should not grieve for it in this way.
2.27 For death is certain for one who is born, and birth is certain for one who has died. Therefore you should not grieve over the unavoidable.
2.28 Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, and unmanifest again in their end, descendant of Bharata. What is there in this to lament?
2.29 One person sees this self as a marvel, another speaks of it as a marvel, and another hears of it as a marvel; yet even having heard of it, no one truly knows it.
2.30 This self dwelling in the body is eternally beyond being killed, descendant of Bharata, in the body of every being. Therefore you should not grieve for any creature.
2.31 Moreover, considering your own duty, you should not waver; for there is nothing better for a warrior than a battle fought in accordance with duty.
2.32 Happy are the warriors, Partha, who obtain such a battle unsought, an open door to heaven.
2.33 But if you will not fight this battle in accordance with duty, then, having abandoned your own duty and your honor, you will incur wrong.
2.34 People will forever speak of your dishonor, and for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.
2.35 The great warriors will think you withdrew from battle out of fear, and you will be held lightly by those who once thought highly of you.
2.36 Your enemies will speak many unspeakable words about you, disparaging your strength. What could be more painful than that?
2.37 Either you will be killed and attain heaven, or you will conquer and enjoy the earth. Therefore rise up, son of Kunti, resolved upon battle.
2.38 Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, engage in battle; thus you will not incur wrong.
2.39 This understanding has been declared to you according to Sankhya; now hear it according to yoga. Endowed with this understanding, Partha, you shall cast off the bondage of action.
2.40 In this endeavor no effort is lost, nor is there any harm; even a little of this dharma protects one from great fear.
2.41 Here, joy of the Kurus, the resolute understanding is single; the thoughts of the irresolute are many-branched and endless.
2.42 The unwise utter this flowery speech, delighting in the letter of the Veda, saying there is nothing else, Partha.
2.43 Their nature is desire, their goal is heaven; they proclaim rebirth as the fruit of action, and speak in many particular rites aimed at the attainment of enjoyment and power.
2.44 For those whose minds are carried away by such words, who are attached to enjoyment and power, the resolute understanding is not established in deep contemplation.
2.45 The Vedas have as their concern the three gunas; be free from the three gunas, Arjuna, free from the pairs of opposites, ever grounded in truth, indifferent to gain and safekeeping, possessed of self.
2.46 As much use as there is in a well when water is overflowing everywhere, so much use is there in all the Vedas for a knowing man of learning.
2.47 Your right is to action alone, never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, and do not become attached to inaction.
2.48 Perform action, Dhananjaya, established in yoga, abandoning attachment, and remaining the same in success and failure. This evenness of mind is called yoga.
2.49 Action performed alone, far inferior, Dhananjaya, is far beneath action joined with understanding. Seek refuge in this understanding; pitiful are those whose motive is the fruit of action.
2.50 One joined with understanding casts away, even in this life, both good deeds and bad. Therefore devote yourself to yoga; yoga is skill in action.
2.51 For the wise, joined with understanding, having abandoned the fruit born of action, freed from the bondage of birth, go to the place beyond affliction.
2.52 When your understanding crosses beyond the thicket of delusion, then you will become indifferent to what has been heard and what is yet to be heard.
2.53 When your understanding, confused by conflicting scriptural teachings, stands unmoving and steady in deep contemplation, then you will attain yoga.
2.54 Arjuna said: What is the description of one whose understanding is steady, who is established in deep contemplation, Keshava? How does one of steady wisdom speak, how does he sit, how does he move?
2.55 The Blessed Lord said: When a man casts away all the desires that arise in the mind, Partha, and is content in the self through the self alone, then he is said to be one of steady understanding.
2.56 One whose mind is not troubled in sorrows, who is free of longing amid pleasures, from whom passion, fear, and anger have departed, that sage of steady wisdom is called one who is silent within.
2.57 One who is unattached everywhere, who neither rejoices nor is repelled upon obtaining this or that, whether good or bad, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.58 And when, like a tortoise drawing in its limbs from every side, this person withdraws the senses from their objects, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.59 The objects of the senses turn away from the embodied self that abstains from feeding them, save for the taste for them; but even that taste turns away once the self has seen the highest.
2.60 For even in the case of a wise person who strives, son of Kunti, the turbulent senses can forcibly carry away the mind.
2.61 Having restrained all of them, one should sit disciplined, devoted to me as the highest; for one whose senses are under control, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.62 In a man dwelling on the objects of the senses, attachment to them arises; from attachment arises desire, and from desire arises anger.
2.63 From anger comes delusion, and from delusion, confusion of memory; from the confusion of memory, the ruin of understanding; and from the ruin of understanding, the man perishes.
2.64 But one who moves among the objects of the senses with senses under one's own control, free from attraction and aversion, self-governed, attains clarity of mind.
2.65 In that clarity, all his sorrows come to an end; for the understanding of one whose mind is clear soon becomes steady.
2.66 There is no understanding for the undisciplined, and no power of concentration for the undisciplined; for one without concentration there is no peace, and for one without peace, how can there be happiness?
2.67 For when the mind runs after the wandering senses, it carries away one's understanding, just as the wind carries away a ship upon the water.
2.68 Therefore, mighty-armed, that person whose senses are wholly restrained from their objects, that person's understanding is firmly established.
2.69 What is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled one is awake; and what is waking for all beings, that is night for the sage who sees.
2.70 As the waters enter the ocean, which remains full and unmoved in its depths, so too the one whom all desires enter in like manner attains peace, not the one who longs for desires.
2.71 The man who abandons all desires and moves without longing, without the sense of mine and without egotism, attains peace.
2.72 This is the state of being grounded in brahman, Partha; having attained it, one is no longer deluded. Standing in it, even at the hour of death, one reaches the extinction that is brahman.