CHAPTER 2 - TRANSCENDENTAL KNOWLEDGE 
Sanjaya said: Lord Krishna spoke these words to Arjuna whose eyes
were tearful and downcast, and who was overwhelmed with compassion and
despair. (2.01)
Lord Krishna said: How has the dejection come to you at this
juncture? This is not fit for a person of noble mind and deeds. It is
disgraceful, and it does not lead one to heaven, O Arjuna. (2.02)
Do not become a coward, O Arjuna, because it does not befit you.
Shake off this trivial weakness of your heart and get up for the
battle, O Arjuna. (2.03)
ARJUNA CONTINUES HIS REASONING AGAINST THE WAR
Arjuna said: How shall I strike my grandfather, my guru, and all
other relatives, who are worthy of my respect, with arrows in battle,
O Krishna? (2.04)
It would be better, indeed, to live on alms in this world than to
slay these noble personalities, because by killing them I would enjoy
wealth and pleasures stained with their blood. (2.05)
We do not know which alternative ¾ to fight or to quit ¾ is
better for us. Further, we do not know whether we shall conquer them
or they will conquer us. We should not even wish to live after killing
our cousin brothers, who are standing in front of us. (2.06)
My senses are overcome by the weakness of pity, and my mind is
confused about duty (Dharma). Please tell me what is better for me. I
am Your disciple, and I take refuge in You. (2.07)
I do not perceive that gaining an unrivaled and prosperous kingdom
on this earth, or even lordship over all the celestial controllers
will remove the sorrow that is drying up my senses. (2.08)
Sanjaya said: O King, after speaking like this to Lord Krishna, the
mighty Arjuna said to Krishna: I shall not fight, and became silent.
(2.09)
O King, Lord Krishna, as if smiling, spoke these words to the
distressed Arjuna in the midst of the two armies. (2.10)
THE TEACHINGS OF THE GITA BEGIN WITH THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF SPIRIT
AND THE PHYSICAL BODY
Lord Krishna said: You grieve for those who are not worthy of
grief, and yet speak words of wisdom. The wise grieves neither for the
living nor for the dead. (2.11)
There was never a time when these monarchs, you, or I did not
exist; nor shall we ever cease to exist in the future. (2.12)
Just as the soul acquires a childhood body, a youth body, and an
old age body during this life; similarly, the soul acquires another
body after death. This should not delude the wise. (See also 15.08)
(2.13)
The contacts of the senses with the sense objects give rise to the
feelings of heat and cold, and pain and pleasure. They are transitory
and impermanent. Therefore, one should learn to endure them. (2.14)
Because a calm person ¾ who is not afflicted by these sense
objects, and is steady in pain and pleasure ¾ becomes fit for
salvation. (2.15)
THE SPIRIT IS ETERNAL, BODY IS TRANSITORY
The invisible Spirit (Atma, Atman) is eternal, and the visible
physical body, is transitory. The reality of these two is indeed
certainly seen by the seers of truth. (2.16)
The Spirit by whom this entire universe is pervaded is
indestructible. No one can destroy the imperishable Spirit. (2.17)
The physical bodies of the eternal, immutable, and incomprehensible
Spirit are perishable. Therefore fight, O Arjuna. (2.18)
The one who thinks that the Spirit is a slayer, and the one who
thinks the Spirit is slain, both are ignorant. Because the Spirit
neither slays nor is slain. (2.19)
The Spirit is neither born nor does it die at any time. It does not
come into being, or cease to exist. It is unborn, eternal, permanent,
and primeval. The Spirit is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
(2.20)
O Arjuna, how can a person who knows that the Spirit is
indestructible, eternal, unborn, and immutable, kill anyone or causes
anyone to be killed? (2.21)
DEATH AND TRANSMIGRATION OF SOUL
Just as a person puts on new garments after discarding the old
ones; similarly, the living entity or the individual soul acquires new
bodies after casting away the old bodies. (2.22)
Weapons do not cut this Spirit, fire does not burn it, water does
not make it wet, and the wind does not make it dry. The Spirit cannot
be cut, burned, wetted, or dried. It is eternal, all pervading,
unchanging, immovable, and primeval. (2.23-24)
The Spirit is said to be unexplainable, incomprehensible, and
unchanging. Knowing the Spirit as such you should not grieve. (2.25)
Even if you think that the physical body takes birth and dies
perpetually, even then, O Arjuna, you should not grieve like this.
Because death is certain for the one who is born, and birth is certain
for the one who dies. Therefore, you should not lament over the
inevitable. (2.26-27)
All beings are unmanifest, or invisible to our physical eyes before
birth and after death. They manifest between the birth and the death
only. What is there to grieve about? (2.28)
THE INDESTRUCTIBLE SPIRIT TRANSCENDS MIND AND SPEECH
Some look upon this Spirit as a wonder, another describes it as
wonderful, and others hear of it as a wonder. Even after hearing about
it very few people know what the Spirit is. (See also KaU 2.07) (2.29)
O Arjuna, the Spirit that dwells in the body of all beings is
eternally indestructible. Therefore, you should not mourn for anybody.
(2.30)
LORD KRISHNA REMINDS ARJUNA OF HIS DUTY AS A WARRIOR
Considering also your duty as a warrior you should not waver like
this. Because there is nothing more auspicious for a warrior than a
righteous war. (2.31)
Only the fortunate warriors, O Arjuna, get such an opportunity for
an unsought war that is like an open door to heaven. (2.32)
If you will not fight this righteous war, then you will fail in
your duty, lose your reputation, and incur sin. (2.33)
People will talk about your disgrace forever. To the honored,
dishonor is worse than death. (2.34)
The great warriors will think that you have retreated from the
battle out of fear. Those who have greatly esteemed you will lose
respect for you. (2.35)
Your enemies will speak many unmentionable words and scorn your
ability. What could be more painful to you than this? (2.36)
You will go to heaven if killed on the line of duty, or you will
enjoy the kingdom on the earth if victorious. Therefore, get up with a
determination to fight, O Arjuna. (2.37)
Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, and victory and defeat
alike, engage yourself in your duty. By doing your duty this way you
will not incur sin. (2.38)
IMPORTANCE OF KARMA-YOGA, THE SELFLESS SERVICE
The science of transcendental knowledge has been imparted to you, O
Arjuna. Now listen to the science of selfless service (Seva), endowed
with which you will free yourself from all Karmic bondage, or sin.
(2.39)
No effort is ever lost in selfless service, and there is no adverse
effect. Even a little practice of the discipline of selfless service
protects one from the great fear of repeated birth and death. (2.40)
A selfless worker has resolute determination for God-realization,
but the desires of the one who works to enjoy the fruits of work are
endless. (2.41)
THE VEDAS DEAL WITH BOTH MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF LIFE
The misguided ones who delight in the melodious chanting of the
Veda ¾ without understanding the real purpose of the Vedas ¾ think,
O Arjuna, as if there is nothing else in the Vedas except the rituals
for the sole purpose of obtaining heavenly enjoyment. (2.42)
They are dominated by material desires, and consider the attainment
of heaven as the highest goal of life. They engage in specific rites
for the sake of prosperity and enjoyment. Rebirth is the result of
their action. (2.43)
The resolute determination of Self-realization is not formed in the
minds of those who are attached to pleasure and power, and whose
judgment is obscured by ritualistic activities. (2.44)
A portion of the Vedas deals with three modes — goodness,
passion, and ignorance — of material Nature. Become free from pairs
of opposites, be ever balanced and unconcerned with the thoughts of
acquisition and preservation. Rise above these three modes, and be
Self-conscious, O Arjuna. (2.45)
To a Self-realized person the Vedas are as useful as a small
reservoir of water when the water of a huge lake becomes available.
(2.46)
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF KARMA-YOGA
You have control over doing your respective duty only, but no
control or claim over the results. The fruits of work should not be
your motive, and you should never be inactive. (2.47)
Do your duty to the best of your ability, O Arjuna, with your mind
attached to the Lord, abandoning worry and selfish attachment to the
results, and remaining calm in both success and failure. The selfless
service is a yogic practice that brings peace and equanimity of mind.
(2.48)
Work done with selfish motives is inferior by far to the selfless
service. Therefore be a selfless worker, O Arjuna. Those who work only
to enjoy the fruits of their labor are verily unhappy, because one has
no control over the results. (2.49)
A Karma-yogi or the selfless person becomes free from both vice and
virtue in this life itself. Therefore, strive for selfless service.
Working to the best of one’s abilities without becoming selfishly
attached to the fruits of work is called Karma-yoga or Seva. (2.50)
Karma-yogis are freed from the bondage of rebirth due to renouncing
the selfish attachment to the fruits of all work, and attain blissful
divine state of salvation or Nirvana. (2.51)
When your intellect will completely pierce the veil of confusion,
then you will become indifferent to what has been heard and what is to
be heard from the scriptures. (2.52)
When your intellect, that is confused by the conflicting opinions
and the ritualistic doctrine of the Vedas, shall stay steady and firm
on concentration of the Supreme Being, then you shall attain union
with the Supreme in trance. (2.53)
Arjuna said: O Krishna, what are the marks of an enlightened person
whose intellect is steady? What does a person of steady intellect
think and talk about? How does such a person behave with others, and
live in this world? (2.54)
MARKS OF A SELF-REALIZED PERSON
Lord Krishna said: When one is completely free from all desires of
the mind and is satisfied with the Supreme Being by the joy of Supreme
Being, then one is called an enlightened person, O Arjuna. (2.55)
A person whose mind is unperturbed by sorrow, who does not crave
pleasures, and who is completely free from attachment, fear, and
anger, is called an enlightened sage of steady intellect. (2.56)
The mind and intellect of a person become steady who is not
attached to anything, who is neither elated by getting desired
results, nor perturbed by undesired results. (2.57)
When one can completely withdraw the senses from the sense objects
as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into the shell for protection from
calamity, then the intellect of such a person is considered steady.
(2.58)
The desire for sensual pleasures fades away if one abstains from
sense enjoyment, but the craving for sense enjoyment remains in a very
subtle form. This subtle craving also completely disappears from the
one who knows the Supreme Being. (2.59)
DANGERS OF UNRESTRAINED SENSES
Restless senses, O Arjuna, forcibly carry away the mind of even a
wise person striving for perfection. (2.60)
One should fix one’s mind on God with loving contemplation after
bringing the senses under control. One’s intellect becomes steady
when one’s senses are under complete control. (2.61)
One develops attachment to sense objects by thinking about sense
objects. Desire for sense objects comes from attachment to sense
objects, and anger comes from unfulfilled desires. (2.62)
Delusion or wild idea arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by
delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One
falls down from the right path when reasoning is destroyed. (2.63)
ATTAINMENT OF PEACE AND HAPPINESS THROUGH SENSE CONTROL AND
KNOWLEDGE
A disciplined person, enjoying sense objects with senses that are
under control and free from attachments and aversions, attains
tranquillity. (2.64)
All sorrows are destroyed upon attainment of tranquillity. The
intellect of such a tranquil person soon becomes completely steady and
united with the Supreme. (2.65)
There is neither Self-knowledge, nor Self-perception to those who
are not united with the Supreme. Without Self-perception there is no
peace, and without peace there can be no happiness. (2.66)
Because the mind, when controlled by the roving senses, steals away
the intellect as a storm takes away a boat on the sea from its
destination ¾ the spiritual shore of peace and happiness. (2.67)
Therefore, O Arjuna, one’s intellect becomes steady whose senses
are completely withdrawn from the sense objects. (2.68)
A yogi, the person of self-restraint, remains wakeful when it is
night for all others. It is night for the yogi who sees when all
others are wakeful. (2.69)
One attains peace, within whose mind all desires dissipate without
creating any mental disturbance, as river waters enter the full ocean
without creating any disturbance. One who desires material objects is
never peaceful. (2.70)
One who abandons all desires, and becomes free from longing and the
feeling of 'I' and 'my', attains peace. (2.71)
O Arjuna, this is the superconscious state of mind. Attaining this
state, one is no longer deluded. Gaining this state, even at the end
of one’s life, a person becomes one with the Absolute. (2.72).
CHAPTER 3 PATH OF SERVICE
Arjuna asked: If You consider that acquiring transcendental
knowledge is better than working, then why do You want me to engage in
this horrible war, O Krishna? You seem to confuse my mind by
apparently conflicting words. Tell me, decisively, one thing by which
I may attain the Supreme. (3.01-02)
Lord Krishna said: In this world I have stated a twofold path of
spiritual discipline in the past. The path of Self-knowledge for the
contemplative ones, and the path of unselfish work (Seva, Karma-yoga)
for all others. (3.03)
One does not attain freedom from the bondage of Karma by merely
abstaining from work. No one attains perfection by merely giving up
work, because no one can remain actionless even for a moment. Everyone
is driven to action ¾ helplessly indeed ¾ by the forces of Nature.
(3.04-05)
Anyone, who restrains the senses but mentally dwells upon the sense
objects, is called a pretender. (3.06)
WHY ONE SHOULD SERVE OTHERS?
The one who controls the senses by the trained and purified mind
and intellect, and engages the organs of action to selfless service is
considered superior. (3.07)
Perform your obligatory duty, because working is indeed better than
sitting idle. Even the maintenance of your body would not be possible
without work. (3.08)
Work other than those done as a selfless service (Seva) binds human
beings. Therefore, becoming free from selfish attachment to the fruits
of work, do your duty efficiently as a service to Me. (3.09)
TO HELP EACH OTHER IS THE FIRST COMMANDMENT OF THE CREATOR
In the beginning the creator created human beings together with
selfless service (Seva, sacrifice) and said: By serving each other you
shall prosper and the sacrificial service shall fulfill all your
desires. (3.10)
Nourish the celestial controllers with selfless service, and they
will nourish you. Thus nourishing one another you shall attain the
Supreme goal. (3.11)
The celestial controllers, served by selfless service, will give
you all desired objects. One who enjoys the gift of celestial
controllers without sharing with others is, indeed, a thief. (3.12)
The righteous who eat after feeding others are freed from all sins,
but the impious who cook food only for themselves ¾ without first
offering to God, or sharing with others ¾ verily eat sin. (3.13)
The living beings are born from food grains, grains are produced by
sacrificial work or duty performed by farmers and other field workers.
Duty is prescribed in the scriptures. Scriptures (such as the Vedas,
the Holy Bible, the Holy Koran) come from the Supreme Being. Thus the
all-pervading Supreme Being or God is ever present in selfless
service. (3.14-15)
The one who does not help to keep the wheel of creation in motion
by sacrificial duty (Seva), and rejoices sense pleasures, that sinful
person lives in vain. (3.16)
The one who rejoices the Supreme Being, who is delighted with the
Supreme Being, and who is content with the Supreme Being alone, for
such a Self-realized person there is no duty. Such a person has no
interest, whatsoever, in what is done or what is not done. A
Self-realized person does not depend on anybody, except God, for
anything. (3.17-18)
LEADERS SHOULD SET AN EXAMPLE
Always perform your duty efficiently and without any selfish
attachment to the results, because by doing work without attachment
one attains Supreme. (3.19)
King Janaka and others attained perfection of Self-realization by
selfless service (Karma-yoga) alone. You should also perform your duty
with a view to guide people, and for the welfare of the society.
(3.20)
Because whatever noble persons do, others follow. Whatever standard
they set up, the world follows. (3.21)
O Arjuna, there is nothing in the three worlds — heaven, earth,
and the lower regions — that should be done by Me, nor there is
anything unobtained that I should obtain, yet I engage in action.
(3.22)
Because, if I do not engage in action relentlessly, O Arjuna,
people would follow My path in everyway. These worlds would perish if
I do not work, and I shall be the cause of confusion and destruction
of all these people. (3.23-24)
WHAT SHOULD THE WISE DO TO THE IGNORANT
As the ignorant work with attachment to the fruits of work, so the
wise should work without attachment, for the welfare of the society.
(3.25)
The wise should not unsettle the mind of the ignorant ones who are
attached to the fruits of work, but the enlightened one should inspire
others by performing all works efficiently without selfish attachment.
(See also 3.29) (3.26)
ALL WORKS ARE THE WORKS OF NATURE
The forces of Nature do all works. But due to delusion of ignorance
people assume themselves to be the doer. (See also 5.09, 13.29, and
14.19) (3.27)
The one who knows the truth about the role of the forces of Nature
in getting work done does not become attached to the work. Such a
person knows that it is the forces of Nature that get their work done
by using our organs as their instruments. (3.28)
But those who are deluded by the illusive power (Maya) of Nature
become attached to the works done by the forces of Nature. The wise
should not disturb the mind of the ignorant whose knowledge is
imperfect. (See also 3.26) (3.29)
Do your duty dedicating all works to God in a spiritual frame of
mind free from desire, attachment, and mental grief. (3.30)
Those who always practice this teaching of Mine ¾ with faith and
are free from cavil ¾ become free from the bondage of Karma. But
those who carp at this teaching and do not practice it, consider them
ignorant, senseless, and lost. (3.31-32)
All beings follow their nature. Even the wise act according to
their own nature. What, then, is the value of sense restraint? (3.33)
TWO MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCKS ON THE PATH OF PERFECTION
Attachments and aversions for the sense objects remain in the
senses. One should not come under the control of these two, because
they are two major stumbling blocks, indeed, on one’s path of
Self-realization. (3.34)
One’s inferior natural work is better than superior unnatural
work. Death in carrying out one’s natural work is useful. Unnatural
work produces too much stress. (See also 18.47) (3.35)
LUST IS THE ORIGIN OF SIN
Arjuna said: O Krishna, what impels one to commit sin as if
unwillingly and forced against one’s will? (3.36)
Lord Krishna said: It is the lust born out of passion that becomes
anger when unfulfilled. Lust is insatiable and is a great devil. Know
this as the enemy. (3.37)
As the fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an
embryo by the amnion; similarly, Self-knowledge gets covered by
different degrees of this insatiable lust, the eternal enemy of the
wise. (3.38-39)
The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be the abode of
lust; with these it deludes a person by veiling the Self-knowledge.
(3.40)
Therefore, O Arjuna, by controlling the senses first, kill this
devil of material desire that destroys Self-knowledge and
Self-realization. (3.41)
HOW TO CONTROL LUST
The senses are said to be superior to the body, the mind is
superior to the senses, the intellect is superior to the mind,
transcendental knowledge is superior to the intellect, and the Self is
superior to transcendental knowledge. (3.42)
Thus, knowing the Self to be superior to the intellect, and
controlling the mind by the intellect that is purified by spiritual
practices, one must kill this mighty enemy, lust, O Arjuna. (3.43)
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