Chapter 2 - Sankhya Yoga


Transcendental Knowledge



The second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is Sankhya Yoga. This is the most important chapter of the Bhagavad Gita as Lord Krishna condenses the teachings of the entire Gita in this chapter. This chapter is the essence of the entire Gita. Sankhya Yoga can be categorized into 4 main topics - 1. Arjuna completely surrenders himself to Lord Krishna and accepts his position as a disciple and Krishna as his Guru. He requests Krishna to guide him on how to dismiss his sorrow. 2. Explanation of the main cause of all grief, which is ignorance of the true nature of Self. 3. Karma Yoga - the discipline of selfless action without being attached to its fruits. 4. Description of a Perfect Man - One whose mind is steady and one-pointed.


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Verse 13


As are boyhood, youth and decay to an embodied being in this (present) body, similar is the acquisition of another body. This being so, an intelligent person does not get deluded.

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Verse 14


But the contacts of the organs with the objects are the producers of cold and heat, happiness and sorrow. They have a beginning and an end, (and) are transient. Bear them, O descendant of Bharata.

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Verse 15


O (Arjuna, who are) foremost among men, verily, the person whom these do not torment, the wise man to whom sorrow and happiness are the same he is fit for Immortality.

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Verse 16


Of the unreal there is no being; the real has no nonexistence. But the nature of both these, indeed, has been realized by the seers of Truth.

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Verse 17


But know That to be indestructible by which all this is pervaded. None can bring about the destruction of this Immutable.

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Verse 18


These destructible bodies are said to belong to the everlasting, indestructible, indeterminable, embodied One. Therefore, O descendant of Bharata, join the battle.

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