Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2: Contents of the Gita Summarized In English

Chapter 2, Verse 1 Sanjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion and very sorrowful, his eyes brimming with tears, Madhusudana, Krsna, spoke the following words. Chapter 2, Verse 2 The Supreme Person [Bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy. Chapter 2, Verse 3 O son of Prtha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy. Chapter 2, Verse 4 Arjuna said: O killer of Madhu [Krsna], how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhisma and Drona, who are worthy of my worship? Chapter 2, Verse 5 It is better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though they are avaricious, they are nonetheless superiors. If they are killed, our spoils will be tainted with blood. Chapter 2, Verse 6 Nor do we know which is better—conquering them or being conquered by them. The sons of Dhrtarastra, whom if we killed we should not care to live, are now standing before us on this battlefield. Chapter 2, Verse 7 Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me. Chapter 2, Verse 8 I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to destroy it even if I win an unrivalled kingdom on the earth with sovereignty like that of the demigods in heaven. Chapter 2, Verse 9 Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Krsna, Govinda, I shall not fight, and fell silent. Chapter 2, Verse 10 O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krsna, smiling, in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna. Chapter 2, Verse 11 The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead. Chapter 2, Verse 12 Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. Chapter 2, Verse 13 As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change. Chapter 2, Verse 14 O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed. Chapter 2, Verse 15 O best among men [Arjuna], the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation. Chapter 2, Verse 16 Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both. Chapter 2, Verse 17 Know that which pervades the entire body is indestructible. No one is able to destroy the imperishable soul. Chapter 2, Verse 18 Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata. Chapter 2, Verse 19 He who thinks that the living entity is the slayer or that he is slain, does not understand. One who is in knowledge knows that the self slays not nor is slain. Chapter 2, Verse 20 For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain....