sāṃkhyayoga
atha dvitīyo'dhyāyaḥ
śloka 1
sañjaya uvāca |
taṃ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭamaśrupūrṇākulekṣaṇam |
viṣīdantamidaṃ vākyamuvāca madhusūdanaḥ ||2-1||
Translation
Sanjaya said: To Arjuna who was thus overcome with compassion and sorrow, his eyes filled with tears and distressed, Madhusudana spoke these words.
śloka 2
śrībhagavānuvāca |
kutastvā kaśmalamidaṃ viṣame samupasthitam |
anāryajuṣṭamasvargyamakīrtikaramarjuna ||2-2||
Translation
Shri Bhagavan said: O Arjuna! Whence has this delusion arisen in you at this critical moment? This is contrary to noble conduct; it is neither a means to attain heaven nor does it bring fame.
śloka 4
arjuna uvāca |
kathaṃ bhīṣmamahaṃ saṅkhye droṇaṃ ca madhusūdana |
iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi pūjārhāvarisūdana ||2-4||
Translation
Arjuna said: O Madhusudana! How shall I fight with arrows against Bhishma and Drona on the battlefield? O slayer of enemies, both of them are worthy of worship.
śloka 5
gurūnahatvā hi mahānubhāvān
śreyo bhoktuṃ bhaikṣyamapīha loke |
hatvārthakāmāṃstu gurūnihaiva
bhuñjīya bhogān rudhirapradigdhān ||2-5||
Translation
It would be more beneficial to subsist in this world on alms than to slay these noble teachers, for having slain the teachers I would enjoy only wealth and pleasures stained with blood in this world.
śloka 6
na caitadvidmaḥ kataranno garīyo
yadvā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ |
yāneva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas-
te'vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ ||2-6||
Translation
We do not know what is proper for us to do. We do not know whether we shall conquer or they shall conquer us. Those very sons of Dhritarashtra, whom we would not wish to survive after slaying, stand before us ready for battle.
śloka 7
kārpaṇyadoṣopahatasvabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṃ dharmasammūḍhacetāḥ |
yacchreyaḥ syānniścitaṃ brūhi tanme
śiṣyaste'haṃ śādhi māṃ tvāṃ prapannam ||2-7||
Translation
Overcome by the stain of compassion and bewildered on the path of duty, I ask you: please determine and tell me what is most beneficial for me, for I am your disciple; instruct me who have taken refuge in you.
śloka 8
na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād
yacchokamucchoṣaṇamindriyāṇām |
avāpya bhūmāvasapatnamṛddhaṃ
rājyaṃ surāṇāmapi cādhipatyam ||2-8||
Translation
Even having attained a prosperous kingdom on earth free from thorns and the sovereignty of the devas, I do not see any means that can remove this sorrow that afflicts my senses.
śloka 11
śrībhagavānuvāca |
aśocyānanvaśocastvaṃ prajñāvādāṃśca bhāṣase |
gatāsūnagatāsūṃśca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ ||2-11||
Translation
Shri Bhagavan said: You grieve for those for whom grief is not fitting, and you speak words of wisdom; but the wise do not grieve for either the dead (gatasoone) or the living (agatasoone).
śloka 14
mātrāsparśāstu kaunteya śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ |
āgamāpāyino'nityāstāṃstitikṣasva bhārata ||2-14||
Translation
O son of Kunti! The contact of the senses with their objects, which gives rise to cold and heat, pleasure and pain, has a beginning and an end; they are impermanent. Therefore, O Bharata! Endure them.
śloka 20
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ |
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato'yaṃ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ||2-20||
Translation
This Atman is never born nor does it ever die; nor having once been, does it cease to be. This Atman is unborn, eternal, everlasting and ancient; it is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
śloka 22
vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro'parāṇi |
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇā-
nyanyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī ||2-22||
Translation
Just as a person casts off worn-out garments and puts on new ones, so does the embodied soul cast off worn-out bodies and enter into new ones.
śloka 29
āścaryavatpaśyati kaścidena-
māścaryavadvadati tathaiva cānyaḥ |
āścaryavaccainamanyaḥ śṛṇoti
śrutvāpyenaṃ veda na caiva kaścit ||2-29||
Translation
Some behold it as a wonder; some speak of it as a wonder; and another hears of it as a wonder; and yet another, having heard, does not know it.
śloka 39
eṣā te'bhihitā sāṅkhye buddhiryoge tvimāṃ śṛṇu |
buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha karmabandhaṃ prahāsyasi ||2-39||
Translation
O Partha! The knowledge pertaining to Sankhya has been told to you; now hear the knowledge of this (Karma) Yoga, endowed with which you will be able to destroy the bondage of Karma.
śloka 42, 43, 44
yāmimāṃ puṣpitāṃ vācaṃ pravadantyavipaścitaḥ |
vedavādaratāḥ pārtha nānyadastīti vādinaḥ ||2-42||
kāmātmānaḥ svargaparā janmakarmaphalapradām |
kriyāviśeṣabahulāṃ bhogaiśvaryagatiṃ prati ||2-43||
bhogaiśvaryaprasaktānāṃ tayāpahṛtacetasām |
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ samādhau na vidhīyate ||2-44||
Translation
O Partha! The undiscerning who delight in the flowery words of the Vedas say that there is nothing beyond this (heaven). Full of desires, considering heaven as the highest, they speak of many actions that bestow enjoyment and prosperity, which in fact yield fruits in the form of rebirth. Those whose minds are carried away by this, who are attached to enjoyment and prosperity, do not have resolute intellect in their hearts—that is, they are not fit for the practice of meditation.
śloka 45
traiguṇyaviṣayā vedā nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna |
nirdvandvo nityasattvastho niryogakṣema ātmavān ||2-45||
Translation
O Partha! The undiscerning who delight in the flowery words of the Vedas say that there is nothing beyond this (heaven). Full of desires, considering heaven as the highest, they speak of many actions that bestow enjoyment and prosperity, which in fact yield fruits in the form of rebirth. Those whose minds are carried away by this, who are attached to enjoyment and prosperity, do not have resolute intellect in their hearts—that is, they are not fit for the practice of meditation.
śloka 49
dūreṇa hyavaraṃ karma buddhiyogāddhanañjaya |
buddhau śaraṇamanviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phalahetavaḥ ||2-49||
Translation
Action with desire for fruition (sakama) is far inferior to this Buddhi Yoga. Therefore, O Dhananjaya! Take refuge in Buddhi; those who desire fruits are pitiable (wretched).
śloka 50
buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte |
tasmādyogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam ||2-50||
Translation
Action with desire for fruition (sakama) is far inferior to this Buddhi Yoga. Therefore, O Dhananjaya! Take refuge in Buddhi; those who desire fruits are pitiable (wretched).
śloka 54
arjuna uvāca |
sthitaprajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhisthasya keśava |
sthitadhīḥ kiṃ prabhāṣeta kimāsīta vrajeta kim ||2-54||
Translation
Arjuna said: O Keshava! What are the marks of a man whose intellect is steady and established in samadhi? How does the man of steady intellect speak, how does he sit, how does he walk?
śloka 55
śrībhagavānuvāca |
prajahāti yadā kāmānsarvānpārtha manogatān |
ātmanyevātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthitaprajñastadocyate ||2-55||
Translation
Shri Bhagavan said: O Partha! When a man casts away all desires that dwell in the mind and is content in the Atman by the Atman alone, then he is called a man of steady wisdom (sthita-prajna).
śloka 56
duḥkheṣvanudvignamanāḥ sukheṣu vigataspṛhaḥ |
vītarāgabhayakrodhaḥ sthitadhīrmunirucyate ||2-56||
Translation
He whose mind is not disturbed in sorrow, whose desire has ceased in pleasure, from whose mind attachment, fear and anger have been destroyed—that sage is called a man of steady wisdom (sthita-prajna).
śloka 57
yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehastattatprāpya śubhāśubham |
nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||2-57||
Translation
He who is free from excessive attachment everywhere, who neither rejoices nor hates when he obtains the auspicious or inauspicious—his wisdom is established (steady).
śloka 59
viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ |
rasavarjaṃ raso'pyasya paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate ||2-59||
Translation
From the embodied person who abstains from food, the objects of sense withdraw; but the taste (raga) for them remains. For this (person), even that taste ceases upon beholding the Supreme Reality.
śloka 62 and 63
dhyāyato viṣayānpuṃsaḥ saṅgasteṣūpajāyate |
saṅgātsañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmātkrodho'bhijāyate ||2-62||
krodhādbhavati sammohaḥ sammohātsmṛtivibhramaḥ |
smṛtibhraṃśād buddhināśo buddhināśātpraṇaśyati ||2-63||
Translation
In the man who dwells on the objects of sense, attachment to them arises; from attachment arises desire, and from desire arises anger. From anger arises delusion, and from delusion arises loss of memory. When memory is bewildered, the intellect is destroyed, and when the intellect is destroyed, the man is ruined.
śloka 64
rāgadveṣavimuktaistu viṣayānindriyaiścaran | (or viyuktaistu)
ātmavaśyairvidheyātmā prasādamadhigacchati ||2-64||
Translation
The self-controlled man (vidheyatma), free from attachment and aversion, with his senses under his control (atma-vashyair), enjoys the objects and attains tranquility.
śloka 67
indriyāṇāṃ hi caratāṃ yanmano'nuvidhīyate |
tadasya harati prajñāṃ vāyurnāvamivāmbhasi ||2-67||
Translation
The undisciplined (unrestrained) man has no (Atman) knowledge, and the undisciplined has no capacity for contemplation and meditation. The man without contemplation finds no peace. Where is happiness for the restless man?
śloka 68
tasmādyasya mahābāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ |
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyastasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||2-68||
Translation
As the wind carries away a boat on the water, so among the senses wandering among their objects, whichever sense the mind follows, that single sense carries away his wisdom.
śloka 70
āpūryamāṇamacalapratiṣṭhaṃ
samudramāpaḥ praviśanti yadvat |
tadvatkāmā yaṃ praviśanti sarve
sa śāntimāpnoti na kāmakāmī ||2-70||
Translation
As the waters (of many rivers) flow into the ocean which is full and established and unmoved (without disturbing it), so into that man into whom the objects of desire enter (without producing agitation), he attains peace—not the man who craves enjoyments.
śloka 72
eṣā brāhmī sthitiḥ pārtha naināṃ prāpya vimuhyati |
sthitvāsyāmantakāle'pi brahmanirvāṇamṛcchati ||2-72||
Translation
O Partha! This is the Brahmic state. Having attained it, the man is not deluded. Established in this even at the hour of death, he attains Brahmanirvana (union with Brahman).
More than just reading—
Create your own meditative videos.
Transform sacred verses into beautiful, cinematic videos to share with the world. Choose your background, add chanting audio, and spread the light of the Gita in a modern format.
Download the app for these features
- High-quality background artwork
- Synced Sanskrit & Meaning text
- Immersive Chanting & Music
.jpg)
experience the deep immersion
Embark on a cinematic spiritual journey with the full version of Nitya Gita. High-quality chanting, authentic translations, and a peaceful meditation sanctuary in the palm of your hand.
