Bhagavad Gītā – Chapter 2 Notes
This chapter is a kind of overview of subsequent chapters, since it touches on nearly
all the main themes and concepts.
Krishna says Arjuna is a coward for it is his dharma as a kshatriya to fight. A
person’s choice is always between action and inaction. The battlefield represents
the world, in which every day we have new battles to fight, the greatest being the
battle with our lower nature.
In 2.7, Arjuna asks Krishna for advice, thereby establishing himself as disciple
and Krishna as his spiritual teacher.
Krishna explains two things:
1. samsara – reincarnation: there is no such thing as death; our bodies die but our
bodies are not our true selves. The Atman is indestructible, eternal. Rebirth in
a new body is like changing clothes.
2. karma yoga – work without attachment to the fruit of one’s labour, not caring
whether the outcome is success or failure. Actions performed in a spirit of detachment
don’t generate new karma. (N.B. Krishna does not advocate inactivity – he advocates
selfless service. See especially 2. 47-48.) You learn detachment by being always
aware that your true self (i.e. Atman) is unlimited and divine.
Verses 55-72 are very important – almost a “mini-Gita”. They describe the basic
theory and method of spiritual practice – renounce attachment and egotism. By doing
this one can gain tranquillity.
2 In his attempt to release Arjuna from his doubts, Krishna refers to the doctrine
of the indestructibility of the Self, and appeals to his sense of honour and martial
traditions, reveals to him God’s purpose and points out how action is to be undertaken
in the world.
7 To realize one’s unreason is to step towards one’s development to reason. The
consciousness of imperfection indicates that the soul is alive. So long as it is
alive, it can improve even as a living body can heal, if it is hurt or cut to a point.
Weighed down by wretchedness, confused about what is right and wrong, Arjuna seeks
light and guidance from his teacher, the Divine within him, within his self. … As
a man of action he asks for the law of action, for his dharma, for what he has to
do in this difficulty.
9 Arjuna, without waiting for the advice oft the teacher, seems to have made up
his mind. While he asks for the teacher to advise him, his mind is not open. The
task of the teacher becomes more difficult.
In verses 11-38 we are given an outline of the Samkhya philosophy (as it is given
in the Upanishads).
15 Eternal life is different from survival of death which is given to every embodied
being. It is the transcendence of life and death. To be subject to grief and sorrow,
to be disturbed by the material happenings, to be deflected by them from the path
of duty that has to be traversed … shows that we are still victims of avidya or ignorance.
16 The “real” is our consciousness; the “unreal” is the transient world of which
the body is a part.
25 It is the purusha of Samkhya philosophy that is described here, not the Brahman
of the Upanishads. [For more on Samkhya, refer to Chapter 5 in Tigunait, Seven Systems
of Indian Philosophy, which I have summarised in in “Yoga Phil”.] The purusha is
beyond the range of form or thought and the changes that affect mind, life and body
do not touch him. Even when it is applied to the Supreme Self, which is one in all,
it is the unthinkable and immutable Self that is meant. Arjuna’s grief is misplaced
as the self cannot be hurt or slain. Forms may change; things may come and go but
that which remains behind them all is for ever.
30 Man is a compound of Self which is immortal and body which is mortal. Even if
we accept this position that body is naturally mortal, still as it is the means of
furthering the interests of the Self it has to be preserved. This is not by itself
a satisfactory reason. So Krishna refers to Arjuna’s duty as a warrior.
31 His svadharma or law of action requires him to engage in battle. Protection of
right by the acceptance of battle, if necessary, is the social duty of the Kshatriya,
and not renunciation. His duty is to maintain order by force and not to become an
ascetic by “shaving off the hair”.
32 Contrast this with the central teaching of the Gita that one should be indifferent
to praise and blame.
39 Samkhya in the Gita does not mean the system of philosophy known by that name;
nor does Yoga mean Pata¤jalayoga. The scholastic version of the Sàükhya is a frank
dualism of purusha (self) and prakriti (not-self) which is transcended in the Gita,
which affirms the reality of a Supreme Self who is the Lord of all. Samkhya gives
an intellectual account of the intuition of the unchanging One. It is the yoga of
knowledge. The yoga of action is karma yoga. See III.3. The knowledge hitherto
described is not to be talked about and discussed academically. It must become an
inward experience. In the Gita, Samkhya lays stress on knowledge and renunciation
of desire and Yoga on action. How is one who knows that the self and body are distinct,
that the self is indestructible and unmoved by the events of the world, to act? The
teacher develops buddhiyoga or concentration of buddhi or understanding. Buddhi
is not merely the capacity to frame concepts. It has also the function of recognition
and discrimination. The understanding or buddhi must be trained to attain insight,
constancy, equal-mindedness. The mind (manas), instead of being united to the senses,
should be guided by buddhi which is higher than mind. III.42. It must become united
to buddhi.
47 This famous verse contains the essential principle of disinterestedness. When
we do our work, plough or paint, sing or think, we will be deflected from disinterestedness,
if we think of fame or income or any such extraneous consideration.
63 When the soul is overcome by passion, its memory is lost, its intelligence is
obscured and the man is ruined. What is called for is not a forced isolation from
the world or destruction of sense life but an inward withdrawal. To hate the senses
is as wrong as to love them. The horses of senses are not to be unyoked from the
chariot but controlled by the reins of the mind.
72 Wisdom is the supreme means of liberation, but this wisdom is not exclusive of
devotion to God and desireless work. Even while alive, the sage rests in Brahman,
and is released from the unrest of the world. The sage of steady wisdom lives a
life of disinterested service.
