Sankhya Yoga
Seeing Arjuna paralyzed by grief, Krishna begins the teaching that will occupy the rest of the poem. He first rebukes Arjuna's despondency as unworthy, then lays out the foundational metaphysics of the Gita: the true self (atman) is eternal, unborn and indestructible, merely passing from body to body as a person passes from childhood to old age or changes worn-out clothes for new. Because the self cannot really die, Krishna argues, grief over the body is misplaced, and Arjuna should fight as his duty (dharma) as a warrior demands. From here Krishna introduces karma yoga — acting without attachment to results, since one has a right to action but never to its fruits — as the practical discipline for a life that cannot avoid engagement in the world. The chapter closes with one of the Gita's most quoted portraits, the sthitaprajna, the person of steady wisdom who is undisturbed by pleasure or pain, and a description of how uncontrolled desire spirals into anger, delusion and ruin.
“Krishna said: You grieve 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.”
“Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor these kings — nor shall any of us ever cease to exist hereafter.”
“The contact of the senses with their objects gives rise to heat and cold, pleasure and pain. These are impermanent, Arjuna; they come and go — learn to endure them.”
“The soul is never born, nor does it ever die; it does not come into being, nor does it ever cease to be. Unborn, eternal, everlasting and ancient, it is not slain when the body is slain.”
“As a person casts off worn-out garments and puts on new ones, so the embodied soul casts off worn-out bodies and enters into others that are new.”
“You have a right to your actions, but never to the fruits of those actions. Do not let the fruit of action be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction.”
Karmanye vadhikaraste — perhaps the single most quoted verse in the Gita, the core statement of karma yoga.
“Perform your duty established in yoga, Arjuna, abandoning attachment, remaining even-minded in success and failure — this evenness of mind is called yoga.”
“Brooding on sense-objects gives rise to attachment; from attachment springs desire, and from desire arises anger. From anger comes delusion, from delusion the loss of memory, from loss of memory the ruin of reason, and from the ruin of reason one perishes.”
The chapter's closing chain of downfall, immediately following the description of the sthitaprajna, the person of steady wisdom.
Chapter summaries composed for MyBrahman; verse translations from the public-domain Kashinath Trimbak Telang translation (1882, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 8) where directly checkable, and/or widely-attested traditional renderings of famous verses, cited by standard chapter.verse numbering.