Transcendental Knowledge

Sanjaya said: To him, who was thus overcome with pity, despondent, with eyes full of tears and agitated, Madhusudana (the destroyer of Madhu) or Krishna spoke these words.

Material compassion, lamentation and tears are all signs of ignorance of the real self. Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization. The word “Madhusūdana” is significant in this verse. Lord Kṛṣṇa killed the…

The Blessed Lord said, "From whence has this perilous strait come upon you, this dejection which is unworthy of you, disgraceful, and which will close the gates of heaven upon you, O Arjuna?"

Kṛṣṇa and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are identical. Therefore Lord Kṛṣṇa is referred to as Bhagavān throughout the Gītā. Bhagavān is the ultimate in the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is realized in three…

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

Arjuna was addressed as the son of Pṛthā, who happened to be the sister of Kṛṣṇa’s father Vasudeva. Therefore Arjuna had a blood relationship with Kṛṣṇa. If the son of a kṣatriya declines to fight, he is a kṣatriya in…

Arjuna said, "O Madhusudana, how can I fight in battle with arrows against Bhishma and Drona, who are worthy of being worshipped, O destroyer of enemies?"

Respectable superiors like Bhīṣma the grandfather and Droṇācārya the teacher are always worshipable. Even if they attack, they should not be counterattacked. It is general etiquette that superiors are not to be offered…

Better it is, indeed, in this world to accept alms than to slay the most noble teachers. But if I were to kill them, even in this world, all my enjoyments of wealth and fulfilled desires would be stained with their blood.

According to scriptural codes, a teacher who engages in an abominable action and has lost his sense of discrimination is fit to be abandoned. Bhīṣma and Droṇa were obliged to take the side of Duryodhana because of his…

I can hardly tell which would be better, that we should conquer them or that they should conquer us. Even the sons of Dhritarashtra, whom we do not wish to slay, stand facing us.

Arjuna did not know whether he should fight and risk unnecessary violence, although fighting is the duty of the kṣatriyas, or whether he should refrain and live by begging. If he did not conquer the enemy, begging would…

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 good for me. I am Thy disciple; instruct me, who has taken refuge in Thee.

By nature’s own way the complete system of material activities is a source of perplexity for everyone. In every step there is perplexity, and therefore it behooves one to approach a bona fide spiritual master who can…

I do not see that this sorrow that burns up my senses would be removed, even if I were to attain prosperous and unrivaled dominion on earth or lordship over the gods.

Although Arjuna was putting forward so many arguments based on knowledge of the principles of religion and moral codes, it appears that he was unable to solve his real problem without the help of the spiritual master,…

Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus to Hrishikesha, the Lord of the senses, Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep and destroyer of foes, said, "I will not fight," and became silent.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra must have been very glad to understand that Arjuna was not going to fight and was instead leaving the battlefield for the begging profession. But Sañjaya disappointed him again in relating that Arjuna was…

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

The talk was going on between intimate friends, namely the Hṛṣīkeśa and the Guḍākeśa. As friends, both of them were on the same level, but one of them voluntarily became a student of the other. Kṛṣṇa was smiling because…

The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."

-- The philosophy of the Gita begins from this verse.Bhishma and Drona deserve no grief because they are eternal in their real nature and they are virtuous men who possess very good conduct. Though you speak words of…

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

-- Lord Krishna speaks here of the immortality of the Soul or the imperishable nature of the Self (Atman). The Soul exists in the three periods of time (past, present and future). Man continues to exist even after the…

Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so too does it pass into another body; the steadfast one does not grieve over this.

-- Just as there is no interruption in the passing of childhood into youth and youth into old age in this body, so also there is no interruption by death in the continuity of the ego. The Self is not dead at the…

The contact of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which causes heat and cold, pleasure and pain, has a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, O Arjuna.

-- Cold is pleasant at one time and painful at another. Heat is pleasant in winter but painful in summer. The same object that gives pleasure at one time gives pain at another time. So the sensecontacts that give rise to…

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

-- Dehadhyasa or identification of the Self with the body is the cause of pleasure and pain. The more you are able to identify yourself with the immortal, allpervading Self, the less will you be affected by the pairs of…

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 truth (or the seers of the essence).

-- The changeless, homogeneous Atman or the Self always exists. It is the only solid Reality. This phenomenal world of names and forms is ever changing. Hence it is unreal. The sage or the Jivanmukta is fully aware that…

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

That which pervades this entire universe is imperishable. No one can destroy the eternal Self. Bodies perish, but the indwelling Reality does not. Knowing this, grief over what seems lost loses its force.

These bodies of the embodied Self, which are eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable, are said to have an end. Therefore, fight, O Arjuna.

-- Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna the nature of the allpervading, immortal Self in a variety of ways and thus induces him to fight by removing his delusion, grief and despondency which are born of ignorance.

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 slain.

-- The Self is nondoer (Akarta) and as It is immutable, It is neither the agent nor the object of the act of slaying. He who thinks I slay or I am slain with the body or the Ahamkara (ego), he does not really comprehend…

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

This Self (Atman) is destitute of the six types of transformation or BhavaVikaras such as birth, existence, growth, transformation, decline and death. As It is indivisible (Akhanda). It does not diminish in size. It…

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

The enlightened sage who knows the immutable and indestructible Self through direct cognition or spiritual Anubhava (experience) cannot do the act of slaying. He cannot cause another to slay also.

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 enters others that are new.

Change of body by the atomic individual soul is an accepted fact. Even the modern scientists who do not believe in the existence of the soul, but at the same time cannot explain the source of energy from the heart, have…

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

The Self is indivisible. It has no parts. It is extremely subtle. It is infinite. Therefore, sword cannot cut It fire cannot burn It water cannot wet It wind cannot dry It.

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

The Self is very subtle. It is beyond the reach of speech and mind. It is very difficult to understand this subtle Self. So Lord Krishna explains the nature of the immortal Self in a variety of ways with various…

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

The Self is not an object of perception. It can hardly be seen by the physical eyes. Therefore, the Self is unmanifested. That which is seen by the eyes becomes an object of thought. As the Self cannot be perceived by…

But even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed one, thou shouldst not grieve.

Lord Krishna here, for the sake of argument, takes up the popular supposition. Granting that the Self is again and again born whenever a body comes into being, and again and again dies whenever the body dies, O…

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

Birth is sure to happen to that which is dead death is sure to happen to what which is born. Birth and death are certainly unavoidable. Therefore, you should not grieve over an inevitable matter.

Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and unmanifest again in their end. What is there to grieve about?

The physical body is a combination of the five elements. It is seen by the physical eyes only after the five elements have entered into such combination. After death, the body disintegrates and the five elements go back…

One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of it as a wonder; yet, having heard, none understands it at all.

The verse may also be interpreted in this manner. He that sees, hears and speaks of the Self is a wonderful man. Such a man is very rare. He is one among many thousands. Thus the Self is very hard to understand.

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

The body of any creature may be destroyed but the Self cannot be killed. Therefore you should not grieve regarding any creature whatever, Bhishma or anybody else.

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

Lord Krishna now gives to Arjuna wordly reasons for fighting. Up to this time, He talked to Arjuna on the immortality of the Self and gave him philosophical reasons. Now He says to Arjuna, O Arjuna Fighting is a…

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

The scriptures declare that if a Kshatriya dies for a righteous cause on the battlefield, he at once goes to heaven.

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

The Lord reminds Arjuna of the fame he had already earned and which he would now lose if he refused to fight. Arjuna had acired great fame by fighting with Lord Siva. Arjuna proceeded on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas. He…

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

The world also will ever recount thy infamy which will survive thee for a long time. Death is really preferable to disgrace to one who has been honoured as a great hero and mighty warrior with noble alities.

The great chariot-warriors will think that you have withdrawn from the battle out of fear, and you will be held in low esteem by those who have held you in high regard.

Duryodhana and others will certainly think that you have fled from the battle from fear of Karna and others, but not through compassion and reverence for elders and teachers. Duryodhana and others who have shown great…

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

There is really no pain more unbearable and tormenting that that of slander thus incurred.

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

In either case you will be benefited. Therefore, stand up with the firm resolution I will conquer the enemy or die.

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.

This is the Yoga of equanimity 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…

This, which has been taught to you, is wisdom concerning Sankhya. Now listen to wisdom concerning Yoga, endowed with which, O Arjuna, you shall cast off the bonds of action.

In this, there is no loss of effort, nor is there any harm produced, nor any transgression. Even a little of this knowledge protects one from great fear.

If a religious ceremony is left uncompleted, it is a wastage as the performer cannot realise the fruits. But it is not so in the case of Karma Yoga because every action causes immediate purification of the heart.In…

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

Here, in this path to Bliss there is only one thought of a resolute nature there is singleminded determination. This single thought arises from the right source of knowledge. The student of Yoga collects all the…

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

Unwise people who are lacking in discrimination lay great stress upon the Karma Kanda or the ritualistic portion of the Vedas, which lays down specific rules for specific actions for,the attainment of specific fruits and…

Full of desires, with heaven as their goal, (they speak words that are directed to ends) leading to new births as the result of their works, and prescribe various methods abounding in specific actions, for the attainment of pleasure and power.

People in general are not very intelligent, and due to their ignorance they are most attached to the fruitive activities recommended in the karma-kāṇḍa portions of the Vedas. They do not want anything more than sense…

For those who are attached to pleasure and power, whose minds are drawn away by such teachings, their determinate reason is not formed which is steadily bent on meditation and Samadhi (superconscious state).

Those who cling to pleasure and power cannot have steadiness of mind. They cannot concentrate or meditate. They are ever busy in planning projects for the acisition of wealth and power. Their minds are ever restless.…

The Vedas deal with the three attributes; be thou above these three attributes. O Arjuna, free yourself from the pairs of opposites and ever remain in the quality of Sattva, freed from acquisition and preservation, and be established in the Self.

Guna means attribute or quality. It is substance as well as quality. Nature (Prakriti) is made up of three Gunas, viz., Sattva (purity, light or harmony), Rajas (passion or motion) and Tamas (darkness or inertia). The…

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 where there is a flood.

Only for a sage who has realised the Self, the Vedas are of no use, because he is in possession of the infinite knowledge of the Self. This does not, however, mean that the Vedas are useless. They are useful for the…

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

When you perform actions have no desire for the fruits thereof under any circumstances. If you thirst for the fruits of your actions, you will have to take birth again and again to enjoy them. Action done with…

Perform action, O Arjuna, being steadfast in Yoga, abandoning attachment and balanced in success and failure; evenness of mind is called Yoga.

Dwelling in union with the Divine perform actions merely for Gods sake with a balanced mind in success and failure. Eilibrium is Yoga. The attainment of the knowledge of the Self through purity of heart obtained by doing…

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

Action done with evenness of mind is Yoga of wisdom. The yogi who is established in the Yoga of widdom is not affected by success or failure. He does not seek fruits of his actions. He has poised reason. His reason is…

Endowed with wisdom and evenness of mind, one casts off in this life both good and evil deeds; therefore, devote yourself to Yoga; Yoga is skill in action.

Work performed with motive towards fruits only can bind a man. It will bring the fruits and the performer of the action will have to take birth again in this mortal world to enjoy them. If work is performed with evennes…

The wise, possessing knowledge, having abandoned the fruits of their actions, and being freed from the bonds of birth, go to the place which is beyond all evil.

Clinging to the fruits of actions is the cause of rirth. Man takes a body to enjoy them. If anyone performs actions for the sake of God in fulfilment of His purpose without desire for the fruits, he is released from the…

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

The mire of delusion is the identification of the Self with the notself. The sense of discrimination between the Self and the notSelf is confounded by the mire of delusion and the mind runs towards the sensual objects…

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

When your intellect which is tossed about by the conflict of opinions regarding the Pravritti Marga (the path of action) and the Nivritti Marga (the path of retirement or renunciation) has become immovable without…

Arjuna said, "O Krishna, what is the description of one who has steady wisdom and is merged in the superconscious state? How does one of steady wisdom speak, how do they sit, and how do they walk?"

Arjuna wants to know from Lord Krishna the characteristic marks of one who is established in the Self in Samadhi how he speaks, how he sits, how he moves about.The characteristic marks of the sage of steady wisdom and…

The Blessed Lord said, "When a man completely casts off, O Arjuna, all the desires of the mind and is satisfied in the Self by the Self, then he is said to be one of steady wisdom."

In this verse Lord Krishna gives His answer to the first part of Arjuna's question.If anyone gets sugarcandy will he crave for blacksugar Certainly not. If anyone can attain the supreme bliss of the Self, will he thirst…

He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not long for pleasures, and is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.

Lord Krishna gives His answer to the second part of Arjuna's question as to the conduct of a sage of steady wisdom in the 56th, 57th and 58th verses.The mind of a sage of steady wisdom is not distressed in calamities. He…

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

The sage possesses poised understanding or evenness of mind. He does not rejoice in pleasure nor is he averse to pain that may befall him. He is ite indifferent as he is rooted in the Self. He has no attachment even for…

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

Withdrawal of the senses is Pratyahara or abstraction. The mind has a natural,tendency to run towards external objects. The Yogi again and again withdraws the mind from the objects of the senses and fixes it on the Self.…

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

Knowledge of the Self alone can destroy in toto the subtle Vasanas (latent tendencies) and all the subtle desires, all subtle attachments and even the longing for objects. By practising severe austerities, by abandoning…

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

The aspirant should first bring the senses under his control. The senses are like horses. If you keep the horses under your perfect control you can reach your destinaton safely. Turbulent horses will throw you down on…

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

He should control the senses and sit focussed on Me as the Supreme, with a calm mind. The wisdom of the Yogi who thus seated has brought all his senses under subjugation is doubtless ite steady. He is established in the…

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

When a man thinks of the beauty and the pleasant and alluring features of the senseobjects he becomes attached to them. He then regards them as something worthy of acisition and possession and hankers after them. He…

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

From anger arises delusion. When a man becomes angry he loses his power of discrimination between right and wrong. He will speak and do anything he likes. He will be swept away by the impulse of passion and emotion and…

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

The mind and the senses are naturally endowed with the two currents of attraction and repulsion. Therefore, the mind and the senses like certain objects and dislike certain other objects. But the disciplined man moves…

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

When the mental peace is attained, there is no hankering after senseobjects. The Yogi has perfect mastery over his reason. The intellect abides in the Self. It is ite steady. The miseries of the body and the mind come to…

There is no knowledge of the Self for the unsteady, and no meditation is possible for the unsteady, and no peace for the unmeditative, and how can there be happiness for one who has no peace?

The man who cannot fix his mind in meditation cannot have knowledge of the Self. The unsteady man cannot practise meditation. He cannot have even intense devotion to Selfknowledge nor can he have burning longing for…

For the mind, which follows in the wake of the wandering senses, carries away his discrimination, as the wind carries away a boat on the waters.

The mind which constantly dwells on the sensual objects and moves in company with the senses destroys altogether the discrimination of the man. Just as the wind carries away a boat from its course, so also the mind…

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

When the senses are completely controlled, the mind cannot wander wildly in the sensual grooves. It becomes steady like the lamp in a windless place. The Yogi is now established in the Self and his knowledge is steady.…

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

That which is real for the wordlyminded people is illusion for the sage, and vice versa. The sage lives in the Self. This is day for him. He is unconscious of the wordly phenomena. They are night for him, as it were. The…

He attains peace into whom all desires enter, just as waters enter the ocean which, filled from all sides, remains unmoved; but not the man who is full of desires.

Just as the ocean filled with waters from all sides remains unmoved, so also the sage who is resting in his own Svarupa or the Self is not a bit affected though desires of all sorts enter from all sides. The sage attains…

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

That man who lives destitute of longing, abandoning all desires, without the senses of I and mine, who is satisfied with the bare necessities of life, who does not care even for those bare necessities of life, who has no…

O son of Pritha, this is the eternal state, the Brahmic seat. Attaining this, one is not deluded. Being established in it, one attains oneness with Brahman even at the end of life.

The state described in the previous verse -- to renounce everything and to live in Brahman -- is the Brahmic state or the state of Brahman. If one attains to this state one is never deluded. He attains Moksha if he stays…