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This page tells the second installment of an amazing story occurring in the midst of a battle field, long long ago. I am only re-writing (the translation of) this wonderful story on this blog. Originally written in Sanskrit, the Bhagavad Gita, even though conceived as a religious text, is an entire coded system in itself for any human being (irrespective of cast, creed, sex and religion) to become perfect. While the Bhagavad Gita has been been translated into English by many great authors, I have mostly referred to the version of Swami Chinmayanada Ji. This page - and the 17 others in this series/story - are dedicated, with great respect, to the author of the most amazing book (according to me) ever written, Sage Vyasa.
2.
Sankhya Yoga
1)
Then Madhusudhana (Sri Krishna) spoke these
words to him who was overcome with pity, agitated eyes filled with tears and
despondend.
2)
From where at this periliious time, comes this
dejection, un-aryan-like, weakness that does not lead to heaven, Arjuna?
3)
Do not become impotent, Partha (Arjuna), for
this is ill fitting in you. Abandon weakness of heart and get up Parantapa
(Arjuna – Scorcher of foes)
4)
ARJUNA:
How shall I fight Bhishma and
Drona with arrows in battle, Madhusudhana (Sri Krishna), who are worthy of
veneration, Arisudana (Sri Krishna – Destroyer of enemies)?
5)
Instead of slaying these most noble teachers, it
is better to beg here in the world. Having slain the teachers, enjoyment of
wealth and pleasures would be stained with blood.
6)
We do not know which is better for us, that we
should conquer them or they should conquer us. By slaying those very sons of
Dhritarashtra, standing before us, we should not wish to live.
7)
My heart is overpowered by the taint of pity; my
mind is confused as to duty. I ask Thee. Tell me decisively, what is good for
me? I am thy disciple. Instruct me who has taken refuge in thee.
8)
I do not see that it would remove this sorrow
that burns up my senses, even if I should attain prosperous and unrivalled
dominion on earth, or even lordship over the gods.
9)
SANJAYA:
Having spoken thus to
Hrishikesha (Sri Krishna), Gudakesha – the destroyer of foes (Arjuna), said to
Govinda (Sri Krishana): “I will not Fight” and became silent.
10)
Then Bharata (Arjuna) between the 2 armies,
Hrishikesha (Sri Krishna), with a faint smile, spoke these words to the
despondent man.
11)
SRI KRISHNA:
You have grieved for those that
should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve
neither for the living nor for the dead.
12)
There was never a time when I did not exist, nor
you, nor any of these rulers of men; nor will we ever cease to be hereafter.
13)
Just as in this body, the embodied self (passes
through) childhood, youth and old age, so too, it transfers to another body.
The wise are not distressed by this.
14)
Contacts of the senses with objects, Kaunteya
(Arjuna), produces cold and heat, pleasure and pain. They come and go and are
impermanent. Bear with them Bharata (Arjuna).
15)
The person whom these cannot afflict, O chief
among men (Arjuna), to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for
realizing the immortality of the self.
16)
The unreal has no being; the real never ceases
to be. The final truth about both of these is seen by seers of the essence of
things (knowers of truth)
17)
Know THAT by which all this is pervaded to be
indestructible. No one can bring about the destruction of the Imperishable.
18)
The bodies of the everlasting, indestructible,
immeasurable, embodied Self, are said to have an end. Therefore, fight Bharata
(Arjuna)
19)
Anyone who believes the SELF is the slayer or
who thinks HE is slain, both do not know. It slays not, nor is slain.
20)
HE is not born, nor does HE ever die; after
having been, HE again ceases not to be; Unborn, Eternal, Changeless and
Ancient, HE is not killed when the body is killed
21)
He who knows HIM to be Indestructible, Eternal,
Unborn and Inexhaustible, whom does he slay, O Partha (Arjuna), or cause others
to be slain?
22)
Just as a man casts off his worn out cloths and
puts on new ones, so also the Embodied SELF, casts off its worn out bodies and
enters others which are new.
23)
Weapons cleave IT not, fire burns IT not, water
moistens IT not, wind dries IT not
24)
This SELF cannot be cut, nor burnt, nor
moistened, nor dried up. It is eternal, all pervading, stable, immovable and
ancient.
25)
This SELF is said to be Unmanifest, Unthinkable
and Unchangeable. Therefore, knowing THIS to be such, you should not grieve.
26)
But even if you think of HIM as being constantly
born and constantly dying, even then, O Mahabaho (Arjuna – mighty armed), you
should not grieve.
27)
Death is certain for those who are born; Birth
is certain for those who are dead. Therefore, you ought not to grieve over a
thing that’s inevitable.
28)
Beings are unmanifest in the beginning, manifest
in the interim state and unmanifest again in the end, O Bharata (Arjuna). So
why lament?
29)
One Sees THIS as a wonder, Another speaks of
THIS as a wonder, Another hears of THIS as a wonder, having heard none
understands THIS at all!
30)
This Embodied SELF in every body is eternally
indestructible, O Bharata (Arjuna), therefore you should not grieve for any
living being.
31)
And considering your Sva-Dharma also, you ought
not to waver, for there is nothing better to a kshatriyatha than a righteous
war.
32)
Happy indeed are the Kshatriyas, O Partha
(Arjuna), who are called to fight in such a battle that comes of itself as an
open-door to heaven.
33)
But if you do not wage this righteous warfare,
then having abandoned your Sva-Dharma, and honor, you will incur sin.
34)
And people will forever tell of your dishonor.
To one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.
35)
The great warriors will think you have withdrawn
from the battle from fear. You, who have been much thought, much of will be
looked down upon.
36)
Your enemies will vilify your power and many
will say words unfit to be spoken. What could be more painful than that?
37)
Slain, you will obtain heaven, or having
conquered, you will enjoy Earth. Therefore stand up, resolve to fight, Kauteya
(Arjuna)
38)
Making pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory
and defeat, the same, engage yourself for battle, then you will not incur evil.
39)
This declared to you is the wisdom of Sankhya.
Hear now the wisdom concerning Yoga, with which, O Partha (Arjuna), you shall
wash off the bonds of karma (action)
40)
In this there is no loss of effort or adverse
results. Even a very little of this (knowledge, dharma, yoga) protects one from
the great fear.
41)
Here, O kuru-nandana (Joy of the kurus) there is
but a single pointed determination; many branched and endless are thoughts of
the irresolute.
42)
The
unwise who utter flowery speech and take pleasure in praising the words of the
vedas, Partha (Arjuna), say that there is nothing other than this.
43)
Full of desires, having heaven as their goal,
they utter flowery words, which promise new birth as the reward of their
actions, and prescribe various specific actions for the attainment of pleasure
and lordship.
44)
For those who cling on to joy and lordship,
whose minds are drawn away by such teachings, are neither determinate and
resolute nor are they fit for steady meditation and Samadhi
45)
The Vedas deal with the 3 attributes; be you
above these attributes (Gunas), O Arjuna, free yourself from the pairs of
opposites and ever remain in the Satva (goodness), freed from all thoughts of acquisition and preservation,
and be established in the self.
46)
To the Bramhana who has known the self, all the
Vedas are of so much use, as is a reservoir of waterin a place where there is
flood everywhere.
47)
Thy right is to work only, but never to its
fruits; let not the fruit of action by thy motive, nor let thy attachment be to
inaction.
48)
Perform Action, O Dhananjaya (Arjuna),
abandoning attachment, being steadfast in Yoga, and balanced in success and
failure. Evenness of mind is called Yoga.
49)
Far lower than the Yoga-of-wisdom is action
alone, O Dhananjaya (Arjuna). Seek thou refuge in wisdom; wretched are those
whose motive is the ‘fruit’
50)
Endowed
with the wisdom of evenness of mind, one casts off in this life both good deeds
and evil deeds; therefore, devote yourself to Yoga, Skill in action is Yoga.
51)
The wise, possessed of knowledge, having
abandoned, the fruits of their actions, freed from the fetters of birth, go to
the state which is beyond all evil.
52)
When your intellect crosses beyond the mire of
delusion, then you shall attain to indifference as to what has been heard and
what is yet to be heard.
53)
When your intellect though perplexed by what you
have heard, shall stand immovable and steady in the self, then you shall attain
self-realization.
54)
ARJUNA:
What, O Keshava is the
description of him who has steady wisdom and who is merged in the
superconscious state? How does one of steady wisdom speak, how does he sit, how
does he walk?
55)
SRI KRISHNA:
When a man completely casts off,
O Partha (Arjuna) all the desires of the mind, and is satisfied in the Self by
the Self, then he is said to be one of steady wisdom.
56)
He, whose mind is not shaken by adversity, and
who in prosperity does not hanker after pleasures, who is free from
attachments, fear and anger, is called a sage-of-steady Wisdom.
57)
He who is everywhere without attachment, on
meeting with anything good or bad, who neither rejoices nor hates, his Wisdom
is fixed.
58)
When, like the tortoise, which withdraws its
limbs from all sides, He withdraws His senses from the sense objects, then His
wisdom becomes Steady.
59)
The objects of the senses turn away from the
abstinent man, leaving the longing (behind); But his longing also leaves him,
on seeing the supreme.
60)
The turbulent senses, O son of Kunti (Arjuna) do
violently carry away the mind of a wise-man, though he be striving (to control
them)
61)
Having restrained them all, he should sit
steadfast, intent on me; His wisdom is steady, whose senses are under control.
62)
When a man thinks of objects, “attachment” for
them arises; from attachment, “desire” is born, from desire arises “anger”…
63)
From anger comes “delusion”; from delusion,
“loss of memory”; from loss of memory, the “destruction of discrimination”;
from destruction of discrimination, he perishes.
64)
But the self-controlled man, moving among
objects, with his senses under restraint, free from both attraction and
repulsion, attains peace.
65)
In that peace, all pains are destroyed; for the
intellect of the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady.
66)
There is no Knowledge (of the Self) to the
unsteady; and to the unsteady, no meditation; and to the unmeditative, no
peace; to the peace-less, how can there be happiness?
67)
For the mind which follows in the wake of the
wandering senses, carries away his discrimination, as the wind carries away a
boat on the waters.
68)
Therefore, O Mahabaho (Arjuna), his knowledge is
steady whose senses are completely restrained from sense objects.
69)
That which is night to all beings, I that the
self-control man keeps awake; where all beings are awake, that is the night for
the Sage who sees.
70)
He attains peace into whom all desires enter as
waters enter ocean, which filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the
“desirer of desires”
71)
That man attains peace who, abandoning all
desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of I-ness and My-ness
72)
This is the Brahmic-state, O son of Pritha
(Arjuna). Attaining this, none is deluded, Being established therein, even at
the end of life, one attains to oneness with BRAMHAN.
Thus ends the 2nd chapter of Bhagavad Gita.
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