Adhyāya 2 — Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ
The Concise, Well-Defined Yoga · 72 verses
Overview
from Q&A with KnASeeing his grief-stricken friend in despair, Kṛṣṇa replies with thundering words of raw truth. He says, in effect: “Death is certain for whatever is born, and birth for whatever dies; it is not that any of us truly ceases to be. Just as the perishable body passes through the stages of life, the indestructible, immutable, eternal, all-pervading, stable Dehin (the Indweller) passes from one body to another, as a man changes worn-out clothes. One who has realised this can neither kill nor be made to kill. Grieve, then, for nothing. If you shy from your duty and miss this rare, unfailing door to heaven that opens to a Kṣatriya, you will incur a disgrace worse than death. There is one Truth, told again and again in flowery words; knowing it, you cross the bondage of karma. Remaining equanimous in the ups and downs of life, expecting no fruit and craving nothing, do what you must.” Arjuna then asks where such a realised person is to be found and how he behaves. Kṛṣṇa answers: “He who, in any circumstance, can master his senses and mind, having wiped out desire, anger and greed, and remains wholly dispassionate — he is the Saint of Steady Intellect. Established in joy, he performs all action at its highest efficiency. When desires have turned away from him, and even all of them together cannot perturb him in the slightest, he lives forever in that joy. He sees day in night and night in day. This is the state of Brahman, reaching which there is no return; steady in it, even at the moment of death, he abides in that ineffable Bliss.”