BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:48

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:48

 

yoga-sthah kuru karmani

sangam tyaktva dhananjaya

siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

samatvam yoga ucyate

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

yoga-sthah--equipoised; kuru--perform; karmani--your duties;

sangam--attachment; tyaktva--giving up; dhananjaya--O Arjuna;

siddhi-asiddhyoh--in success and failure; samah--equipoised;

bhutva--becoming; samatvam--equanimity; yogah--yoga; ucyate--is

called.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Perform your duty equipoised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to

success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.

 

PURPORT

 

Krsna tells Arjuna that he should act in yoga. And what is that yoga?

Yoga means to concentrate the mind upon the Supreme by controlling the

ever-disturbing senses. And who is the Supreme? The Supreme is the

Lord. And because He Himself is telling Arjuna to fight, Arjuna has

nothing to do with the results of the fight. Gain or victory are

Krsna's concern; Arjuna is simply advised to act according to the

dictation of Krsna. The following of Krsna's dictation is real yoga,

and this is practiced in the process called Krsna consciousness. By

Krsna consciousness only can one give up the sense of proprietorship.

One has to become the servant of Krsna, or the servant of the servant

of Krsna. That is the right way to discharge duty in Krsna

consciousness, which alone can help one to act in yoga.

 

Arjuna is a ksatriya, and as such he is participating in the

varnasrama-dharma institution. It is said in the Visnu Purana that in

the varnasrama-dharma, the whole aim is to satisfy Visnu. No one

should satisfy himself, as is the rule in the material world, but one

should satisfy Krsna. So unless one satisfies Krsna, one cannot

correctly observe the principles of varnasrama-dharma. Indirectly,

Arjuna was advised to act as Krsna told him.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.