Chapter 2 - Sānkhya Yog

Shloka सञ्जय उवाच | तं तथा कृपयाविष्टमश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम् | विषीदन्तमिदं वाक्यमुवाच मधुसूदनः ||२-१|| Transliteration sañjaya uvāca . taṃ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭamaśrupūrṇākulekṣaṇam . viṣīdantamidaṃ vākyamuvāca madhusūdanaḥ ||2-1|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.1. Sanjaya said To him (Arjuna) who was thus possessed by compassion, whose eyes were confused and filled with tears and who was sinking in despondency, Madhusudana told this [following] sentence. Shri Purohit Swami 2.1 Sanjaya then told how the Lord Shri Krishna, seeing Arjuna overwhelmed with compassion, his eyes dimmed with flowing tears and full of despondency, consoled him:...

Shloka श्रीभगवानुवाच | कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं विषमे समुपस्थितम् | अनार्यजुष्टमस्वर्ग्यमकीर्तिकरमर्जुन ||२-२|| Transliteration śrībhagavānuvāca . kutastvā kaśmalamidaṃ viṣame samupasthitam . anāryajuṣṭamasvargyamakīrtikaramarjuna ||2-2|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.2. The Bhagavat said O Arjuna ! At a critical moment, whence did this sinful act come to you which is practised by men of ignoble (low) birth and which is leading to the hell and is inglorious ? Shri Purohit Swami 2.2 “The Lord said: My beloved friend!...

Shloka क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते | क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ||२-३|| Transliteration klaibyaṃ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitattvayyupapadyate . kṣudraṃ hṛdayadaurbalyaṃ tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa ||2-3|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.3. Stoop not to unmanliness, O son of Kunti ! It does not befit you. Shirking off the petty weakness of heart, arise, O scorcher of the foes ! Shri Purohit Swami 2.3 O Arjuna! Why give way to unmanliness? O thou who art the terror of thine enemies!...

Shloka अर्जुन उवाच | कथं भीष्ममहं सङ्ख्ये द्रोणं च मधुसूदन | इषुभिः प्रतियोत्स्यामि पूजार्हावरिसूदन ||२-४|| Transliteration arjuna uvāca . kathaṃ bhīṣmamahaṃ saṅkhye droṇaṃ ca madhusūdana . iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi pūjārhāvarisūdana ||2-4|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.4. Arjuna said How shall I with arrows fight in battle against Bhisma and Drona, both being worthy of reverence ? O slayer of Mandhu, O slayer of foes ! Shri Purohit Swami 2.4 Arjuna argued: My Lord! How can I, when the battle rages, send an arrow through Bheeshma and Drona, who should receive my reverence?...

Shloka गुरूनहत्वा हि महानुभावान् श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके | हत्वार्थकामांस्तु गुरूनिहैव भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुधिरप्रदिग्धान् ||२-५|| Transliteration gurūnahatvā hi mahānubhāvān śreyo bhoktuṃ bhaikṣyamapīha loke . hatvārthakāmāṃstu gurūnihaiva bhuñjīya bhogān rudhirapradigdhān ||2-5|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.5. It is good indeed even to go about begging in this world without killing the elders of great dignity; but with greed for wealth, I would not enjoy, by killing my elders, the blood-stained objects of pleasures....

Shloka न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः | यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्- तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ||२-६|| Transliteration na caitadvidmaḥ kataranno garīyo yadvā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ . yāneva hatvā na jijīviṣāmaḥ te.avasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ ||2-6|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.6. Whether we should coner [in the battle], or they should coner us-we do not know this viz., ‘which [of those two] is better for us’. [For], having killed whom, we would not wish to live at all, the same persons stand before us as Dhrtarastra’s men....

Shloka कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः | यच्छ्रेयः स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ||२-७|| Transliteration kārpaṇyadoṣopahatasvabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṃ dharmasammūḍhacetāḥ . yacchreyaḥ syānniścitaṃ brūhi tanme śiṣyaste.ahaṃ śādhi māṃ tvāṃ prapannam ||2-7|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.7. With my very nature, overpowered by the taint of pity, and with my mind, utterly confused as to the right action [at the present juncture], I ask you: Tell me definitely what would be good [to me]; I am your pupil; please teach me, who am taking refuge in You....

Shloka न हि प्रपश्यामि ममापनुद्याद् यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम् | अवाप्य भूमावसपत्नमृद्धं राज्यं सुराणामपि चाधिपत्यम् ||२-८|| Transliteration na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād yacchokamucchoṣaṇamindriyāṇām . avāpya bhūmāvasapatnamṛddhaṃ rājyaṃ surāṇāmapi cādhipatyam ||2-8|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.8. I do not clearly see what would drive out my grief, the scorcher of my sense-organs, even after achieving, a prosperous and unrivalled kingship in this earth and also the overlordship of the gods [in the heaven]. Shri Purohit Swami 2.8 For should I attain the monarchy of the visible world, or over the invisible world, it would not drive away the anguish which is now paralysing my senses....

Shloka सञ्जय उवाच | एवमुक्त्वा हृषीकेशं गुडाकेशः परन्तप | न योत्स्य इति गोविन्दमुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह ||२-९|| Transliteration sañjaya uvāca . evamuktvā hṛṣīkeśaṃ guḍākeśaḥ parantapaḥ . na yotsya iti govindamuktvā tūṣṇīṃ babhūva ha ||2-9|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.9. Sanjaya said O scorcher of foes (O Dhrtarastra) ! Having spoken to Hrsikesa (the master of sense-organs), Govinda (Krsna) in this manner, and having declared ‘I will not fight’, Gudakesa (Arjuna), became silent !...

Shloka तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत | सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः ||२-१०|| Transliteration tamuvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasanniva bhārata . senayorubhayormadhye viṣīdantamidaṃ vacaḥ ||2-10|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.10. O descendant of Bharata (O Dhrtarastra) ! Hrsikesa, as if [he was] smiling, spoke to him who was sinking in despondency in between two armies. Shri Purohit Swami 2.10 Thereupon the Lord, with a gracious smile, addressed him who was so much depressed in the midst of the two armies....

Shloka श्रीभगवानुवाच | अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे | गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ||२-११|| Transliteration śrībhagavānuvāca . aśocyānanvaśocastvaṃ prajñāvādāṃśca bhāṣase . gatāsūnagatāsūṃśca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ ||2-11|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.11. While lamenting for those who cannot be lamented on and those who do not reire to be lamented on, you do not talk like a wise man ! The learned do not lament for those of departed life and those of non-departed life. Shri Purohit Swami 2....

Shloka न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः | न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ||२-१२|| Transliteration na tvevāhaṃ jātu nāsaṃ na tvaṃ neme janādhipāḥ . na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayamataḥ param ||2-12|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.12. Never indeed at any time [in the past] did I not exist, nor you, nor these kings; and never shall we all not exist hereafter. Shri Purohit Swami 2.12 There was never a time when I was not, nor thou, nor these princes were not; there will never be a time when we shall cease to be....

Shloka देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा | तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ||२-१३|| Transliteration dehino.asminyathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā . tathā dehāntaraprāptirdhīrastatra na muhyati ||2-13|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.13. Just as the boyhood, youth and old age come to the embodied Soul in this body, in the same manner is the attaining of another body; the wise man is not deluded at that. Shri Purohit Swami 2.13 As the soul experiences in this body infancy, youth and old age, so finally it passes into another....

Shloka मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः | आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ||२-१४|| Transliteration mātrāsparśāstu kaunteya śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ . āgamāpāyino.anityāstāṃstitikṣasva bhārata ||2-14|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.14. O son of Kunti ! But the touches with the matras cause the [feelings of] cold and heat, pleasure and pain; they are of the nature of coming and going and are transient. Forbear them, O Descendent of Bharata ! Shri Purohit Swami 2.14 Those external relations which bring cold and heat, pain and happiness, they come and go; they are not permanent....

Shloka यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ | समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ||२-१५|| Transliteration yaṃ hi na vyathayantyete puruṣaṃ puruṣarṣabha . samaduḥkhasukhaṃ dhīraṃ so.amṛtatvāya kalpate ||2-15|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.15. O the best among persons ! That wise person becomes immortal whom these (situations) do not trouble and to whom the pleasure and pain are eal. Shri Purohit Swami 2.15 The hero whose soul is unmoved by circumstance, who accepts pleasure and pain with equanimity, only he is fit for immortality....