Chapter 2: Sankhya Yoga; The Yoga of Knowledge

Maa Radha Govind sharanam!

Maa Bhagavad Gita sharanam!

Verse 2.7: Arjuna says, I have become faint-hearted, my mind is confused about my duty and dharma (the right path). In this condition, I am asking You to tell me what is best for me.  Now, I am your disciple and have taken your refuge; please instruct me.

Verse 2.12: Shri Krishna says, never was there a time when I did not exist, or when you and these kings did not exist. Nor in the future will we cease to be.

Verse 2.13: As the embodied soul passes in his body from boyhood to youth to old age, similarly at the time of death the soul gets a new body. A wise person does not get deluded by this change.

Verse 2.15: The wise person to whom pleasure and pain are alike, and who tries to be same in them is eligible for divine peace and happiness.

Verse 2.20: We, jiva atmas (souls) are eternal spiritual beings and we do not die when the body dies. The soul is unborn and eternal, even though the body is slain, the soul is not.
Our true nature is divine sat-chit-ananda (divine truth-consciousness-happiness), and we are actually searching for our true nature of happiness in all our pursuits.

Verse 2.21: One who knows himself to be a jiva atma - eternal indestructible, can develop true love for his Dear Lord and fellow beings. How will such a person kill, or cause to kill anyone?

Verse 2.22: As a person sheds his old worn out clothes, similarly the soul leaves its old body behind at the time of death and gets another opportunity in next life to strive for his true nature of sat-chit-ananda, i.e. pure divine happiness and love.

Verse 2.38: One must fight the battle of life by treating alike success and failure, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, by remembering ones Dear Lord in all situations.

Verse 2.47&48: You have the right to perform your karma (righteous duties), but don't be attached to the karma phala (results/rewards/fruits of action). Never should the results of karma be your motivation, nor should you be attached to inaction. Perform your righteous duty equipoised, abandoning attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity of mind is called yoga.

Verse 2.49: Dear Arjuna, perform your karma without selfish motives. Try not to do your karma with the motivation to enjoy its fruits. Weak persons work for rewards/fruits.

Verse 2.55: We should try to limit seeking the pleasure of our body's senses and find satisfaction in the self by serving our Dear Lord with our body, mind, intellect, heart, and soul. When we experience satisfaction and joy in self, our mind and intellect experience stable divine happiness and peace.

Verse 2.59: One can turn away from sense objects by not enjoying them, but the taste for them will persist. When we experience spiritual happiness then desire for the transient happiness of our body's senses reduces.

Verse 2.60: The senses of our body are very strong and we can easily get carried away by them unless we develop a higher taste for spiritual happiness.

Verse 2.62: When we keep thinking about objects of our senses, we develop attachment for them. Too much thinking about objects of our senses leaves a very deep imprint on our mind, intellect and causal body.

Verse 2.71: A person who gives up material/selfish desires, who is free from attachment and false ego, and who does not hanker for sense objects, attains divine peace and happiness.

Maa Bhagavad Gita sharanam!

Shri Ganesh Vedavyasa sharanam!