Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2: The Yoga of Knowledge

All 72 verses of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit, with English translation, per-word meanings, and Adi Shankara's commentary.

• Verse 2.1 — To him who was thus overcome with pity and afflicted, and whose eyes were full of tears…
• Verse 2.2 — Whence in (this) perilous strait has come upon thee this weakness cherished by the…
• Verse 2.3 — Yield not to unmanliness, O son of Pṛthā. It does not become thee. Cast off this base…
• Verse 2.4 — O Madhusūdana, how shall I assail in battle with arrows Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy…
• Verse 2.5 — Better indeed in this world to live even upon alms than to slay the teachers of high…
• Verse 2.6 — And we know not which is the better alternative for us; nor do we know whether we shall…
• Verse 2.7 — My heart contaminated by the taint of helplessness, my mind confounded about Dharma, I…
• Verse 2.8 — I do not indeed see what can dispel the grief which burns up my senses, even after…
• Verse 2.9 — Having spoken thus to Hṛṣīkeśa, Guḍākeśa, the tormentor of foes, said to Govinda, "I will…
• Verse 2.10 — To him who was grieving in the midst of the two armies, O descendant of Bharata…
• Verse 2.11 — For those who deserve no grief thou hast grieved, and words of wisdom thou speakest. For…
• Verse 2.12 — Never did I not exist, nor thou, nor these rulers of men; and no one of us will ever…
• Verse 2.13 — Just as in this body the embodied (Self) passes into childhood and youth and old age, so…
• Verse 2.14 — The sense-contacts it is, O son of Kuntī, which cause heat and cold, pleasure and pain…
• Verse 2.15 — That wise man whom, verily, these afflict not, O chief of men, to whom pleasure and pain…
• Verse 2.16 — Of the unreal no being there is; there is no non-being of the real. Of both these is the…
• Verse 2.17 — But know that to be imperishable by which all this is pervaded. None can cause the…
• Verse 2.18 — These bodies of the embodied (Self) who is eternal, indestructible and unknowable, are…
• Verse 2.19 — Whoever looks upon Him as the slayer, and whoever looks upon Him as the slain, both these…
• Verse 2.20 — He is not born, nor does He ever die; after having been, He again ceases not to be; nor…
• Verse 2.21 — Whoso knows Him as indestructible, eternal, unborn and inexhaustible — how, O son of…
• Verse 2.22 — Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on others which are new, so the…
• Verse 2.23 — Him, weapons cut not; Him, fire burns not; and Him, water wets not; Him, wind dries not.
• Verse 2.24 — He cannot be cut, nor burnt, nor wetted, nor dried up. He is everlasting, all-pervading…
• Verse 2.25 — He, it is said, is unmanifest, unthinkable and unchangeable. Wherefore, knowing Him to be…
• Verse 2.26 — But even if thou thinkest of Him as ever being born and ever dying, even then, O…
• Verse 2.27 — To that which is born, death is indeed certain; and to that which is dead, birth is…
• Verse 2.28 — Beings have their beginning unseen, their middle seen, and their end unseen again. Why…
• Verse 2.29 — One sees Him as a wonder; and so also another speaks of Him as a wonder; and as a wonder…
• Verse 2.30 — He, the embodied (Self) in every one's body, can never be killed, O descendant of…
• Verse 2.31 — Having regard to thine own duty also, thou oughtst not to waver. For, to a Kṣatriya…
• Verse 2.32 — Happy Kṣatriyas, O son of Pṛthā, find such a battle as this, come of itself, an open door…
• Verse 2.33 — Now if thou wouldst not fight this lawful battle, then, having abandoned thine own duty…
• Verse 2.34 — People, too, will recount thy everlasting infamy; and, to one who has been esteemed…
• Verse 2.35 — The great car-warriors will think thou hast withdrawn from the battle through fear; and…
• Verse 2.36 — Thy enemies, too, scorning thy power, will talk many abusive words. What is more painful…
• Verse 2.37 — Killed, thou wilt reach heaven; victorious, thou wilt enjoy the earth. Wherefore, O son…
• Verse 2.38 — Then, treating alike pleasure and pain, gain and loss, success and defeat, prepare for…
• Verse 2.39 — This, which has been taught to thee, is wisdom concerning Sāṅkhya. Now, listen to wisdom…
• Verse 2.40 — There is no loss of effort here, there is no harm. Even a little of this devotion…
• Verse 2.41 — Here, O son of Kuru, there is one thought of a resolute nature. Many-branched and endless…
• Verse 2.42 — No conviction of a resolute nature is formed in the mind of those who are attached to…
• Verse 2.43 — No conviction of a resolute nature is formed in the mind of those who are attached to…
• Verse 2.44 — No conviction of a resolute nature is formed in the mind of those who are attached to…
• Verse 2.45 — The Vedas treat of the triad of the guṇas. Be, O Arjuna, free from the triad of the…
• Verse 2.46 — What utility there is in a reservoir (as compared) with an all-spreading flood of water…
• Verse 2.47 — Thy concern is with action alone, never with results. Let not the fruit of action be thy…
• Verse 2.48 — Steadfast in devotion do thy works, O Dhanañjaya, casting off attachment, being the same…
• Verse 2.49 — Verily action is far inferior to devotion in wisdom (buddhi-yoga), O Dhanañjaya. In…
• Verse 2.50 — He who is endued with wisdom casts off here both good deeds and bad deeds. Wherefore…
• Verse 2.51 — For, men of wisdom cast off the fruit of action; possessed of knowledge (and) released…
• Verse 2.52 — When thy mind shall cross beyond the mire of delusion, then wilt thou attain to a disgust…
• Verse 2.53 — When thy mind, perplexed by what thou hast heard, shall stand firm and steady in the…
• Verse 2.54 — What, O Keśava, is the description of one of steady knowledge, who is constant in…
• Verse 2.55 — When a man, satisfied in the Self alone by himself, completely casts off all the desires…
• Verse 2.56 — He whose heart is not distressed in calamities, from whom all longing for pleasures has…
• Verse 2.57 — Whoso, without attachment anywhere, on meeting with anything good or bad, neither exults…
• Verse 2.58 — When he completely withdraws the senses from sense-objects, as the tortoise (withdraws)…
• Verse 2.59 — Objects withdraw from an abstinent man, but not the taste. On seeing the Supreme, his…
• Verse 2.60 — The dangerous senses, O son of Kuntī, forcibly carry away the mind of a wise man, even…
• Verse 2.61 — Restraining them all, a man should remain steadfast, intent on Me. His knowledge is…
• Verse 2.62 — When a man thinks of objects, attachment for them arises. From attachment arises desire…
• Verse 2.63 — From wrath arises delusion; from delusion, failure of memory; from failure of memory…
• Verse 2.64 — He attains peace, who, self-controlled, approaches objects with senses devoid of love and…
• Verse 2.65 — In peace there is an end of all his miseries; for, the reason of the tranquil-minded soon…
• Verse 2.66 — There is no wisdom to the unsteady, and no meditation to the unsteady, and to the…
• Verse 2.67 — For, the mind which yields to the roving senses carries away his knowledge, as the wind…
• Verse 2.68 — Therefore, O mighty-armed, his knowledge is steady whose senses have been entirely…
• Verse 2.69 — What is night to all beings, therein the self-controlled one is awake. Where all beings…
• Verse 2.70 — He attains peace, into whom all desires enter as waters enter the ocean, which, filled…
• Verse 2.71 — That man attains peace, who, abandoning all desires, moves about without attachment…
• Verse 2.72 — This is the Brāhmic state, O son of Pṛthā. Attaining to this, none is deluded. Remaining…