Chapter 2 - Sānkhya Yog

Shloka यावानर्थ उदपाने सर्वतः सम्प्लुतोदके | तावान्सर्वेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य विजानतः ||२-४६|| Transliteration yāvānartha udapāne sarvataḥ samplutodake . tāvānsarveṣu vedeṣu brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ ||2-46|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.46. What portion in a reservoir, flooded with water everywhere, is useful [for a man in thirst], that much portion [alone] in all the Vedas is useful for an intelligent student of the Vedas. Shri Purohit Swami 2.46 As a man can drink water from any side of a full tank, so the skilled theologian can wrest from any scripture that which will serve his purpose....

Shloka कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन | मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ||२-४७|| Transliteration karmaṇyevādhikāraste mā phaleṣu kadācana . mā karmaphalaheturbhūrmā te saṅgo.astvakarmaṇi ||2-47|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.47. Let your claim lie on action alone and never on the fruits; you should never be a cause for the fruits of action; let not your attachment be to inaction. Shri Purohit Swami 2.47 But thou hast only the right to work, but none to the fruit thereof....

Shloka योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय | सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ||२-४८|| Transliteration yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanañjaya . siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||2-48|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.48. O Dhananjaya ! Established in the Yoga, perform actions, abandoning attachment, remaining even-minded in success and failure; for, the even-mindedness is said to be the Yoga. Shri Purohit Swami 2.48 Perform all thy actions with mind concentrated on the Divine, renouncing attachment and looking upon success and failure with an equal eye....

Shloka दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय | बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः ||२-४९|| Transliteration dūreṇa hyavaraṃ karma buddhiyogāddhanañjaya . buddhau śaraṇamanviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phalahetavaḥ ||2-49|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.49. O Dhananjaya ! The inferior action stays away at a distance due to Yoga of (one’s contact with) determining faculty; in the determining faculty you must seek refuge; wretched are those who constitute the causes for the fruits of action. Shri Purohit Swami 2.49 Physical action is far inferior to an intellect concentrated on the Divine....

Shloka बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते | तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ||२-५०|| Transliteration buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte . tasmādyogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam ||2-50|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.50. Whosoever is endowed with determining faculty-he casts off both of these viz., the good action and the bad action. Therefore strive for Yoga; Yoga is proficiency is action. Shri Purohit Swami 2.50 When a man attains to Pure Reason, he renounces in this world the results of good and evil alike....

Shloka कर्मजं बुद्धियुक्ता हि फलं त्यक्त्वा मनीषिणः | जन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ताः पदं गच्छन्त्यनामयम् ||२-५१|| Transliteration karmajaṃ buddhiyuktā hi phalaṃ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ . janmabandhavinirmuktāḥ padaṃ gacchantyanāmayam ||2-51|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.51. By renouncing the fruit, born of action, the intelligent ones endowed with determining faculty and freed from the bond of birth, go to the place that is devoid of illness. Shri Purohit Swami 2.51 The sages guided by Pure Intellect renounce the fruit of action; and, freed from the chains of rebirth, they reach the highest bliss....

Shloka यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति | तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च ||२-५२|| Transliteration yadā te mohakalilaṃ buddhirvyatitariṣyati . tadā gantāsi nirvedaṃ śrotavyasya śrutasya ca ||2-52|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.52. When your determining faculty goes beyond the impregnable thicket of delusion, at that time you will attain an attitude of futility regarding what has to be heard and what has been heard. Shri Purohit Swami 2.52 When thy reason has crossed the entanglements of illusion, then shalt thou become indifferent both to the philosophies thou hast heard and to those thou mayest yet hear....

Shloka श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला | समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि ||२-५३|| Transliteration śrutivipratipannā te yadā sthāsyati niścalā . samādhāvacalā buddhistadā yogamavāpsyasi ||2-53|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.53. When your determining faculty, that had been [earlier] confused by your hearing [of scriptural declaration of fruits] shall stand stable in concentration, at that time you shall attain the Yoga. Shri Purohit Swami 2.53 When the intellect, bewildered by the multiplicity of holy scripts, stands unperturbed in blissful contemplation of the Infinite, then hast thou attained Spirituality....

Shloka अर्जुन उवाच | स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव | स्थितधीः किं प्रभाषेत किमासीत व्रजेत किम् ||२-५४|| Transliteration arjuna uvāca . sthitaprajñasya kā bhāṣā samādhisthasya keśava . sthitadhīḥ kiṃ prabhāṣeta kimāsīta vrajeta kim ||2-54|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.54. Arjuna said O Kesava ! What is the connotation of sthita-prajna (a man-of-stabilized-intellect), [applied] to a man fixed in concentration ? What would sthira-dhih (the fixed-minded) convey ? Where would the fixed-minded abide ?...

Shloka श्रीभगवानुवाच | प्रजहाति यदा कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् | आत्मन्येवात्मना तुष्टः स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते ||२-५५|| Transliteration śrībhagavānuvāca . prajahāti yadā kāmānsarvānpārtha manogatān . ātmanyevātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthitaprajñastadocyate ||2-55|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.55. The Bhagavat said O son of Prtha ! When a man casts off all desires existing in his mind and remains content in the Self by the self (mind), then he is called ‘a man-of-stabilized-intellect. Shri Purohit Swami 2.55 Lord Shri Krishna replied: When a man has given up the desires of his heart and is satisfied with the Self alone, be sure that he has reached the highest state....

Shloka दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः | वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ||२-५६|| Transliteration duḥkheṣvanudvignamanāḥ sukheṣu vigataspṛhaḥ . vītarāgabhayakrodhaḥ sthitadhīrmunirucyate ||2-56|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.56. He, whose mind is undisturbed in the midst of sorrows; who is free from desire in the midst of pleasures; and from whom longing, fear and wrath have totally gone-he is said to be a firm-minded sage. Shri Purohit Swami 2.56 The sage, whose mind is unruffled in suffering, whose desire is not roused by enjoyment, who is without attachment, anger or fear - take him to be one who stands at that lofty level....

Shloka यः सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभाशुभम् | नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ||२-५७|| Transliteration yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehastattatprāpya śubhāśubham . nābhinandati na dveṣṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||2-57|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.57. He, who has no desire in anything; and who neither rejoices nor hates on getting this or that, good or bad-his intellect is properly stabilized. Shri Purohit Swami 2.57 He who wherever he goes is attached to no person and to no place by ties of flesh; who accepts good and evil alike, neither welcoming the one nor shrinking from the other - take him to be one who is merged in the Infinite....

Shloka यदा संहरते चायं कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वशः | इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ||२-५८|| Transliteration yadā saṃharate cāyaṃ kūrmo.aṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ . indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyastasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ||2-58|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.58. When he withdraws all his sense-organs from sense-objects, just as a tortoise does all of its own limbs, then he is declared to be a man-of-stabilized-intellect. Shri Purohit Swami 2.58 He who can withdraw his senses from the attraction of their objects, as the tortoise draws his limbs within its shell - take it that such a one has attained Perfection....

Shloka विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः | रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते ||२-५९|| Transliteration viṣayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ . rasavarjaṃ raso.apyasya paraṃ dṛṣṭvā nivartate ||2-59|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.59. Leaving their taste [behind], the sense-objects retreat from the embodied who abstain from food; his taste too disappears when he sees the Supreme. Shri Purohit Swami 2.59 The objects of sense turn from him who is abstemious. Even the relish for them is lost in him who has seen the Truth....

Shloka यततो ह्यपि कौन्तेय पुरुषस्य विपश्चितः | इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाथीनि हरन्ति प्रसभं मनः ||२-६०|| Transliteration yatato hyapi kaunteya puruṣasya vipaścitaḥ . indriyāṇi pramāthīni haranti prasabhaṃ manaḥ ||2-60|| Translations Dr.S.Sankaranarayan 2.60. For, the turbulent sense-organs do carry away by force, the mind even of this person of discerning, O son of Kunti ! Shri Purohit Swami 2.60 O Arjuna! The mind of him, who is trying to conquer it, is forcibly carried away in spite of his efforts, by his tumultuous senses....