Transcendental Knowledge

Shloka: BG 2.1

Sanjaya said: To him, who was thus overcome with pity, despondent, with eyes full of tears and agitated, Madhusudana (th...

Shloka: BG 2.2

The Blessed Lord said, "From whence has this perilous strait come upon you, this dejection which is unworthy of you, dis...

Shloka: BG 2.3

Do not yield to impotence, O Arjuna, son of Pritha. It does not befit you. Cast off this mean weakness of the heart! Sta...

Shloka: BG 2.4

Arjuna said, "O Madhusudana, how can I fight in battle with arrows against Bhishma and Drona, who are worthy of being wo...

Shloka: BG 2.5

Better it is, indeed, in this world to accept alms than to slay the most noble teachers. But if I were to kill them, eve...

Shloka: BG 2.6

I can hardly tell which would be better, that we should conquer them or that they should conquer us. Even the sons of Dh...

Shloka: BG 2.7

My heart is overpowered by the taint of pity; my mind is confused as to my duty. I ask Thee: Tell me decisively what is ...

Shloka: BG 2.8

I do not see that this sorrow that burns up my senses would be removed, even if I were to attain prosperous and unrivale...

Shloka: BG 2.9

Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, the Lord of the senses, Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and destroyer of...

Shloka: BG 2.10

To him who was despondent in the midst of the two armies, Krishna, smiling, O Bharata, spoke these words.

Shloka: BG 2.11

The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wi...

Shloka: BG 2.12

Nor, at any time, was I not, nor thou, nor these rulers of men; nor, verily, shall we ever cease to be hereafter.

Shloka: BG 2.13

Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too does it pass into another bo...

Shloka: BG 2.14

The contact of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which causes heat and cold, pleasure and pain, has a beginni...

Shloka: BG 2.15

That firm man, whom surely these afflictions do not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit f...

Shloka: BG 2.16

The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the real; the truth about both has been seen by the knowers of the tru...

Shloka: BG 2.17

Know that to be indestructible, by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the destruction of that, the Imperishabl...

Shloka: BG 2.18

These bodies of the embodied Self, which are eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable, are said to have an end. Therefo...

Shloka: BG 2.19

He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks it is slain, neither of them knows. It does not slay, nor is it...

Shloka: BG 2.20

It is not born, nor does it ever die; after having been, it again does not cease to be; unborn, eternal, changeless, and...

Shloka: BG 2.21

Whoever knows it to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and inexhaustible, how can that person slay, O Arjuna, or cause ...

Shloka: BG 2.22

Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so too the embodied Self casts off worn-out bodies and en...

Shloka: BG 2.23

Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it.

Shloka: BG 2.24

This Self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, nor dried up; it is eternal, all-pervasive, stable, immovable, and ancient.

Shloka: BG 2.25

This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing this to be so, you should not gr...

Shloka: BG 2.26

But even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed one, thou shoul...

Shloka: BG 2.27

For the born, death is certain, and for the dead, birth is certain; therefore, you should not grieve over the inevitable...

Shloka: BG 2.28

Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and unmanifest again in their end. W...

Shloka: BG 2.29

One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet, having hea...

Shloka: BG 2.30

This indweller in the body of everyone is ever indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, you should not grieve for any creatu...

Shloka: BG 2.31

Further, having regard to your duty, you should not waver, for there is nothing higher for a Kshatriya than a righteous ...

Shloka: BG 2.32

Happy are the Kshatriyas, O Arjuna! who are called to fight in such a battle that comes of its own accord as an open doo...

Shloka: BG 2.33

But if you will not fight this righteous war, then having abandoned your own duty and reputation, you will incur sin.

Shloka: BG 2.34

People will also recount your everlasting dishonor; and for one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death.

Shloka: BG 2.35

The great chariot-warriors will think that you have withdrawn from the battle out of fear, and you will be held in low e...

Shloka: BG 2.36

Your enemies, scoffing at your power, will speak many abusive words—what could be more painful than this?

Shloka: BG 2.37

Slain, you will obtain heaven; victorious, you will enjoy the earth; therefore, stand up, O son of Kunti, resolved to fi...

Shloka: BG 2.38

Having made pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat equal, engage in battle for the sake of battle; thus, y...

Shloka: BG 2.39

This, which has been taught to you, is wisdom concerning Sankhya. Now listen to wisdom concerning Yoga, endowed with whi...

Shloka: BG 2.40

In this, there is no loss of effort, nor is there any harm produced, nor any transgression. Even a little of this knowle...

Shloka: BG 2.41

Here, O joy of the Kurus, there is only one single-pointed determination; many-branched and endless are the thoughts of ...

Shloka: BG 2.42

The unwise, taking pleasure in the eulogizing words of the Vedas, utter flowery speech, saying, "There is nothing else,"...

Shloka: BG 2.43

Full of desires, with heaven as their goal, (they speak words that are directed to ends) leading to new births as the re...

Shloka: BG 2.44

For those who are attached to pleasure and power, whose minds are drawn away by such teachings, their determinate reason...

Shloka: BG 2.45

The Vedas deal with the three attributes; be thou above these three attributes. O Arjuna, free yourself from the pairs o...

Shloka: BG 2.46

To the Brahmana who has known the Self, all the Vedas are of as much use as a reservoir of water would be in a place whe...

Shloka: BG 2.47

Your right is only to work, but not to its results; do not let the results of action be your motive, nor let your attach...

Shloka: BG 2.48

Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning attachment and balanced in success and failure; evenness o...

Shloka: BG 2.49

Far lower than the Yoga of wisdom is action, O Arjuna. Seek thou refuge in wisdom; wretched are those whose motive is th...

Shloka: BG 2.50

Endowed with wisdom and evenness of mind, one casts off in this life both good and evil deeds; therefore, devote yoursel...

Shloka: BG 2.51

The wise, possessing knowledge, having abandoned the fruits of their actions, and being freed from the bonds of birth, g...

Shloka: BG 2.52

When your intellect passes beyond the mire of delusion, then you will attain indifference to what has been heard and wha...

Shloka: BG 2.53

When your intellect, which is perplexed by the Vedic texts you have read, stands immovable and steady in the Self, then ...

Shloka: BG 2.54

Arjuna said, "O Krishna, what is the description of one who has steady wisdom and is merged in the superconscious state?...

Shloka: BG 2.55

The Blessed Lord said, "When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the S...

Shloka: BG 2.56

He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not long for pleasures, and is free from attachment, fear, and anger,...

Shloka: BG 2.57

He who is everywhere without attachment, upon encountering anything good or bad, neither rejoices nor hastens; his wisdo...

Shloka: BG 2.58

When, like the tortoise which withdraws all its limbs on all sides, he withdraws his senses from the sense-objects, then...

Shloka: BG 2.59

The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man, leaving the longing behind; but his longing also turns away ...

Shloka: BG 2.60

The turbulent senses, O Arjuna, can violently carry away the mind of a wise person, even though they are striving to con...

Shloka: BG 2.61

Having restrained them all, he should sit steadfast, intent on Me; his wisdom is steady whose senses are under control.

Shloka: BG 2.62

When one thinks of objects, attachment to them arises; from attachment, desire is born; from desire, anger arises.

Shloka: BG 2.63

Anger leads to delusion, which causes loss of memory; this, in turn, leads to the destruction of discrimination, resulti...

Shloka: BG 2.64

But the self-controlled man, moving among objects with the senses restrained and free from attraction and repulsion, att...

Shloka: BG 2.65

In that peace, all pains are destroyed; for the intellect of the tranquil-minded soon becomes steady.

Shloka: BG 2.66

There is no knowledge of the Self for the unsteady, and no meditation is possible for the unsteady, and no peace for the...

Shloka: BG 2.67

For the mind, which follows in the wake of the wandering senses, carries away his discrimination, as the wind carries aw...

Shloka: BG 2.68

Therefore, O mighty-armed Arjuna, his knowledge is steady whose senses are completely restrained from sense objects.

Shloka: BG 2.69

That which is night to all beings, in that the self-controlled man is awake; when all beings are awake, that is night fo...

Shloka: BG 2.70

He attains peace into whom all desires enter, just as waters enter the ocean which, filled from all sides, remains unmov...

Shloka: BG 2.71

That person attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing, without the sense of ownership, and ...

Shloka: BG 2.72

O son of Pritha, this is the eternal state, the Brahmic seat. Attaining this, one is not deluded. Being established in i...