Sankhya Yoga 2.32

Verse 2.32

यदृच्छया चोपपन्नं स्वर्गद्वारमपावृतम् |

सुखिन: क्षत्रिया: पार्थ लभन्ते युद्धमीदृशम् || 32||

yadṛichchhayā chopapannaṁ swarga-dvāram apāvṛitam

sukhinaḥ kṣhatriyāḥ pārtha labhante yuddham īdṛiśham

yadṛichchhayā—unsought; cha—and; upapannam—has come upon; swarga—celestial abodes; dvāram—door; apāvṛitam—wide open; sukhinaḥ—happy; kṣhatriyāḥ—warriors; pārtha—Arjun, the son of Pritha; labhante—obtain; yuddham—war; īdṛiśham—such

O Partha, happy are the warriors to whom such opportunities to defend righteousness come unsought, opening for them are the doors to the celestial abodes.

The fruits of doing one’s duty

As per the Dharma shastra, one meets with the results of either his right or wrong actions. Based on the vision of shastra, there are two kinds of results of any action . Drushta phalam is the result of action that is visible to everyone. The invisible action is called the adrushta phalam. This kind of invisible result is promised by the shastra and one can only trust its words as there is no way to prove them. One has to simply perform his duties with trust and the invisible result follows. One such trust is, if one performs his duty properly he will enter heaven after death.

Yadruchaya means unexpected, unsought. Krishna says, for Arjuna the doors of heaven have been unexpectedly open by way of this war. Only fortunate kshatriyas will get this kind of an opportunity. 

For everyone, very rarely in their lives, this kind of unexpectedly good time will come knocking  at their doors. One must make use of it in order to be successful in life. Only those who know how to use these opportunities attain fame and name. Krishna further explains what would happen if this golden opportunity is not used properly.

Sankhya Yoga 2.31

Verse 2.31 One must not deviate from his Swadharma (one’s own duty)

स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि |

धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते || 31||

swa-dharmam api chāvekṣhya na vikampitum arhasi

dharmyāddhi yuddhāch chhreyo ’nyat kṣhatriyasya na vidyate

swa-dharmam—one’s duty in accordance with dharma; api—also; cha—and; avekṣhya—considering; na—not; vikampitum—to waver; arhasi—should; dharmyāt—for righteousness; hi—indeed; yuddhāt—than fighting; śhreyaḥ—better; anyat—another; kṣhatriyasya—of a warrior; na—not; vidyate—exists

Besides, considering your duty, you should not waver. Indeed, for a kshatriya, there is no better engagement than fighting for upholding righteousness.

From this verse onwards, Krishna talks about the absolute necessity of fulfilling one’s own duty. This is called swadharma. Dharma is of two kinds. Samanya dharma and visesha dharma or swadharma. Samanya Dharma is common to one and all. The examples of Samanya Dharma are cleanliness, non-violence, speaking truth etc.

But the vishesha dharma or swadharma changes from time to time and person to person. In our culture, a person’s life is divided into four ashramas, parts namely Brahmacharya, Grihasta, Vanaprastha and Sanyasa. The person has duties to fulfill in each of these ashramas. In Brahmacharya ashrama, which lies in the first twenty four years of one’s life, one has to dedicate his time for studies. He is not supposed to earn money for himself during this period. He should lead a simple lifestyle and serve his parents and teacher. Next comes Grihastha ashram in which a person marries and leads a family life. During this stage, he will work and earn to sustain his family. He is allowed to enjoy family life provided he attains them through proper and rightful means. The primary duty of a grihastha is to look after his family, raise children and help those around him. It is the duty of a grihastha to take care of people from other ashramas since they do not work to earn their means. After fulfilling the duties of grihastha a person enters vanaprastha. The word literally means living in the forest. The couple leave all their responsibilities to their grown up children who now are in their grihastha stage and choose to live a life of seclusion. They would dedicate their entire time for the study of shastra. Once their study is over, the couple either part or live under the same roof not as a couple but as two sanyasis. This sanyasa ashrama is the final stage of one’s life. The person spends his entire time in meditation and contemplation of the higher truth and lives until his prarabdha continues. 

Based on the vision of shastra, people are divided into four categories, not by birth but by their profession and nature (gunas). The four (varnas) categories are brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra.

These are not only not based on people’s birth but no category is higher or none is lower to the other three. Each one has its place in the scheme of things. It is just that by nature each one chooses a different profession. A brhamana’s job is to learn and teach and not earn money for his living. A kshatriya’s job is to protect and save, a vaishya’s job is to run businesses and create wealth and a shudra’s job is to work and serve. One will be in any of these professions irrespective of the caste he is born into. Even children of the same parents could differ in their varnas based on their nature. Within the family one might choose to be a teacher while one might do business, hence it is possible to have a brahmana and a shudra within the same family based on their nature and chosen profession.

Once one has chosen a profession, he needs to adhere to all the guidelines for that varna. Here Arjuna is a kshatriya. As a kshatriya, Arjuna’s duty is to protect the dharma by fighting against Duryodhana. Krishna says if you consider swadharma of a kshatriya, which is protecting his own people by fighting enemies, there is no better engagement than the war that has come about.

Sankhya Yoga 2.30

Verse 2.30 Closing comments on atma anatma viveka (the descrimination of what is self and nonself)

देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत |

तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि || 30||

dehī nityam avadhyo ’yaṁ dehe sarvasya bhārata

tasmāt sarvāṇi bhūtāni na tvaṁ śhochitum arhasi

dehī—the soul that dwells within the body; nityam—always; avadhyaḥ—immortal; ayam—this soul; dehe—in the body; sarvasya—of everyone; bhārata—descendant of Bharat, Arjun; tasmāt—therefore; sarvāṇi—for all; bhūtāni—living entities; na—not; tvam—you; śhochitum—mourn; arhasi—should

O Arjuna, the atma that dwells within the body is immortal; therefore, you should not mourn for anyone.

Krishna concludes by saying there is no reason to grieve

Krishna wants to summarize his teaching he started at verse 11 and concludes by saying the dehi which is the atma that dwells in all bodies (sarvasya dehe) can never be destroyed. He had presented his arguments and justification on the same in all possible ways. The physical body is transient. Hence no one can prevent it from being destroyed. The dehi, atma is eternal and hence it can never be destroyed. So both at the paramarthika (absolute) and at the vyavaharika (transactional) levels one does not have any reason to grieve. Krishna says due to these reasons you do not need to grieve about all these beings (sarvani bhutani). The word sarvani has a significance here. One need not grieve at all for ANY.

Sankhya Yoga 2.29

Verse 2.29 The Praise of Self Knowledge

आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन

माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्य: |

आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः शृणोति

श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् || 29||

āśhcharya-vat paśhyati kaśhchid enan

āśhcharya-vad vadati tathaiva chānyaḥ

āśhcharya-vach chainam anyaḥ śhṛiṇoti

śhrutvāpyenaṁ veda na chaiva kaśhchit

āśhcharya-vat—as a wonder; paśhyati—see; kaśhchit—someone; enam—this soul; āśhcharya-vat—as amazing; vadati—speak of; tathā—thus; eva—indeed; cha—and; anyaḥ—other; āśhcharya-vat—similarly amazing; cha—also; enam—this soul; anyaḥ—others; śhṛiṇoti—hear; śhrutvā—having heard; api—even; enam—this soul; veda—understand; na—not; cha—and; eva—even; kaśhchit—some

Some see atma as a wonder, some describe it as a wonder, and some hear of atma as a wonder, while others, even on hearing, cannot understand it at all.

Krishna explains a point mentioned in one of the mantras from Kathopanishad. He wants to establish two things here. Atmana: durbodhatvam - It is not easy to absorb the reality of atma. Guru shishya durlabathvam - It is also rare to come across a qualified guru and a disciple. 

The word ascharyam can mean wonder, abnormal, rare and difficult to achieve.

In any cognition, there will be a distinct difference between the knower and the knowable objects. But atma is not an object to be known; it is the knower himself. One knows atma as himself and not as an object apart from himself. That is why self knowledge is ascharyam, wonder. 

After the thorough enquiry with the shastra, one gains the knowledge that nothing needs to be known. Whosoever has claimed so far that he knows things, is the same person, the person that is the meaning of the word I is also the meaning of the word atma. Hence it is a wonder that one has not attained any new knowledge in obtaining self knowledge. The knower of the self, atma janani  is ascharyam.

The nature of only those things which have any quality, basis for action or a relation to something else can be explained with use of meaningful words. But atma has no quality nor does it engage in any action. It does not have any relation to anything else. But still our teaching tradition has a way of explaining the nature of atma and is able to transfer the self knowledge to the qualified student. Hence the teaching of the self also is ascharyam.

Atma is a wonder in all aspects. The atma that is sat-chit-ananda, existence, consciousness and limitlessness has created this entire universe of names and forms without itself undergoing any transformation. All names and forms are nothing but brahman. The teacher tells the student that the atma that is you is nothing but the brahman. But a qualified teacher is also ascharyam, rare.

By nature, all living beings in this world are born with self ignorance and a bondage due to duality. They also have a desire for freedom from this bondage by nature. But not many know that the only way to attain complete freedom is to listen to shastras, that is to attain self knowledge. Hence people who would listen (shravanam) are ascharyam, rare. 

Krishna starts off by saying only some see this atma as a wonder and then lists out in how many ways atma is a wonder or a rare phenomenon. Here the word seeing must be taken as knowing. We can understand his statement in two ways. We can say people look upon knowing atma as a wonder or we can say people only rarely know atma. In the same manner teachers who are qualified to teach this self knowledge, students who are qualified to listen to the teaching and teaching of atma itself are wonders and are rare to find. Also, very rarely there are people who do not know atma even after going through traditional teaching. He means to say that if one subjects himself to the traditional teaching, there is no way that he will not know the nature of atma.

Sankhya Yoga 2.28

Verse 2.28

अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत |

अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना || 28||

avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata

avyakta-nidhanānyeva tatra kā paridevanā

avyakta-ādīni—unmanifest before birth; bhūtāni—created beings; vyakta—manifest; madhyāni—in the middle; bhārata—Arjun, scion of Bharat; avyakta—unmanifest; nidhanāni—on death; eva—indeed; tatra—therefore; kā—why; paridevanā—grieve

O scion of Bharat, all created beings are unmanifest before birth, manifest in life, and again unmanifest on death. So why grieve?

The definition of birth and death is given in this verse.

Everything that is created must have a cause for its creation. The cause of the creation of a pot is clay. The causal state is the state before the appearance of a thing. This state is called avyaktam, the unmanifest form. The cause undergoes a change to produce objects out of it. This state is called the manifest state (vyaktam). If seed is the cause, the appearance of roots, branches and leaves is called manifest state. This manifest state can be experienced by the sense organs. 

The five elements are the cause for the manifestation of the physical body. After death the physical body goes back into the five elements. The appearance, sustenance and the dissolution happen in the five elements. The subtle body goes back into the causal body.

In the same manner, the dissolution of the universe into the lord is called avyaktam. In reality, nothing undergoes destruction in this world. Everything oscillates between the manifest and the unmanifest states. When something comes into manifest state we say it is born and when it goes back to the unmanifest form we say it is dead. No one can create anything that is not already present. What came into existence was already present in a different form. Then it goes back to where it came from. Hence There is no birth nor is there death. Knowing this one must not grieve.

Sankhya Yoga 2.27

Verse 2.27

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च |

तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि || 27||

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛityur dhruvaṁ janma mṛitasya cha

tasmād aparihārye ’rthe na tvaṁ śhochitum arhasi

jātasya—for one who has been born; hi—for;

dhruvaḥ—certain; mṛityuḥ—death; dhruvam—certain; janma—birth;

mṛitasya—for the dead; cha—and; tasmāt—therefore;

aparihārye arthe—in this inevitable situation; na—not;

tvam—you; śhochitum—lament; arhasi—befitting

Death is certain for one who has been born,

and rebirth is inevitable for one who has died.

Therefore, you should not lament over the inevitable.

In this verse, Krishna talks about those who die before attaining self realization. It is natural for a jeeva to be born and die as long as he is bound by false identifications such as desires. No one can stop death that comes due to one’s karma. Even the avataras like Rama and Krishna had to meet with their death. If a body is born it is destined to die after a certain period of time. Krishna states this universal law and asks Arjuna not to grieve about something that cannot be altered (apariharyerte). If a situation has the possibility to be changed, it is wise for one to make an effort to alter the course of the situation or try to prevent it from happening. But if one realizes that a situation cannot be prevented from happening, the wisest thing to do is to wholeheartedly accept the result that the situation brings forth upon oneself. Hence one should understand that the reason for sorrow is not the unalterable situation itself, but the mindset that does not accept the situation.

Sankhya Yoga 2.26

 Verse 2.26

अथ चैनं नित्यजातं नित्यं वा मन्यसे मृतम् |

तथापि त्वं महाबाहो नैवं शोचितुमर्हसि || 26||

atha chainaṁ nitya-jātaṁ nityaṁ vā manyase mṛitam

tathāpi tvaṁ mahā-bāho naivaṁ śhochitum arhasi

atha—if, however; cha—and; enam—this soul; nitya-jātam—taking constant birth; nityam—always; vā—or; manyase—you think; mṛitam—dead; tathā api—even then; tvam—you; mahā-bāho—mighty-armed one, Arjun; na—not; evam—like this; śhochitum—grieve; arhasi—befitting

Those who root for charvaka religion say that there is no such thing as eternal. Krishna has taken their claim for argument’s sake and explains even if atma is taken upon as an entity that is being born all the time, there is no reason to be sad about it. After their death at the battlefield, Bhishma and Drona will be born again in different forms. If atma has the nature of dying, one cannot change the very nature of a thing. If a thing is destined to die, it will eventually die. Even with regards to the death of the physical bodies Bhishma and Drona one is not qualified to grief.