Chapter 2 Overview
Verse 2.38
सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ। ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि।।2.38।।
sukha-duḥkhe same kṛitvā lābhālābhau jayājayau tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi
Sanskrit Chant Recitation
Chapter 2, Verse 38
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Scripture Translation Room
Sanskrit to English Translation
Translator:
Having made pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat equal, engage in battle for the sake of battle; thus, you shall not incur sin.
A Reading - Rantideb
Why: treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as equal, then acting anyway, is the chapter's first real definition of yoga, a stance toward outcomes, not a posture.
In life: the anxiety before a big decision is usually about the outcome, not the action itself.
Teaching: before you act, try consciously setting the outcome aside for a moment and ask only whether the action itself is right. Act from that answer.
sukhahappiness
duḥkhein distress
same kṛitvātreating alike
lābha-alābhaugain and loss
jaya-ajayauvictory and defeat
tataḥthereafter
yuddhāyafor fighting
yujyasvaengage
nanever
evamthus
pāpamsin
avāpsyasishall incur
Deep Classical Commentary (Bhashya)
Author:
2.38 सुखदुःखे pleasure and pain? समे same? कृत्वा having made? लाभालाभौ gain and loss? जयाजयौ victory and defeat? ततः then? युद्धाय for battle? युज्यस्व engage thou? न not? एवम् thus? पापम् sin? अवाप्स्यसि shalt incur.Commentary This is the Yoga of eanimity or the doctrine of poise in action. If anyone does any action with the above mental attitude or balanced state of mind he will not reap the fruits of his action. Such an action will lead to the purification of his heart and freedom from birth and death. One has to develop such a balanced state of mind through continous struggle and vigilant efforts.