Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2: Sankhya Yoga – The Yoga of Contemplation on the Self
Introduction: Where the Gita's Wisdom Truly Begins
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 - Sāṅkhya Yoga marks the turning point of the entire Gita. After Arjuna's emotional collapse in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 is where Lord Krishna steps in as a teacher not just a friend or charioteer and begins the transmission of the Gita's deepest spiritual truths.
Containing 72 verses, this chapter is often described as the seed of the entire Bhagavad Gita. Nearly every major theme that unfolds across all 18 chapters the immortal Self, the philosophy of karma, the nature of equanimity, the vision of the wise is first introduced here.
As Poojya Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha explains in his commentary, Sāṅkhya Yoga is not the Sāṅkhya of the philosopher Kapila. Here, the word Sāṅkhya points to the Upanishadic knowledge of the inner Self that imperishable presence which is the true identity of every human being.
The Setting: Arjuna's Crisis at Kurukshetra
The chapter opens with Arjuna immobilized by grief on the battlefield. His bow has slipped from his hands. Tears cloud his vision. The sight of beloved teachers, elders, and kinsmen arrayed against him on the opposing side has shattered his resolve.
Sanjaya narrates to the blind king Dhritarashtra: "To the grieving Arjuna, who was overpowered thus by sympathy, with tears dimming his vision, Madhusudana (Krishna) spoke thus" (Gita 2.1).
Arjuna gives voice to his paralysis he questions how he can raise weapons against revered teachers like Bhishma and Drona, and concludes that begging on the streets would be preferable to victory stained by their blood. Finally, in one of the most significant moments in the scripture, he surrenders:
"I am your disciple. Instruct me, who has taken refuge under you, my Teacher." (2.7)
This is the moment of real surrender not just emotional but intellectual and spiritual surrender. It is this surrender that makes the Gita's teaching possible.
The Core Teaching: The Immortal Self (Ātma)
Krishna's very first response to Arjuna's grief cuts through the surface of emotion to its root cause ignorance of the true Self.
"There was no time when I was not, you were not, or these kings were not. Nor shall all of us ever cease to be." (2.12)
This is the foundational insight of Vedantic wisdom: the Self (Ātma) is eternal, birthless, and deathless. Krishna unfolds this truth across multiple verses with mounting clarity:
The Self passes through childhood, youth, and old age and then transitions to another body just as one changes clothes. (2.13, 2.22)
Weapons cannot pierce It, fire cannot burn It, water cannot wet It, and wind cannot dry It. (2.23)
It is eternal, all-pervading, unchanging, ancient, and everpresent. (2.24)
"Whoever knows this Soul as killer and whoever knows It as killed, both of them do not know the truth. The Soul neither kills nor can be killed." (2.19)
This is not a poetic consolation it is a precise description of reality. The grief Arjuna feels is real, but it rests on a mistaken identity. He has confused the mortal body with the immortal Self. Krishna's teaching is not to suppress the grief, but to dissolve the ignorance that gives rise to it.
From Sāṅkhya to Yoga: Bridging Wisdom and Action
After presenting the philosophy of the eternal Self, Krishna pivots. He says: "This, as told, is the wisdom of the Self. Hear now the wisdom of yoga, equipped with which, O Partha, you will cut asunder the bondage of karma." (2.39)
This is where the chapter introduces the concept of Buddhi Yoga the yoga of purified intelligence. Rather than renouncing action, Krishna urges Arjuna to act with an evenness of mind, unattached to results.
The celebrated verse 2.47 arrives here:
"Your fitness is only to pursue activities. Never to their fruits at any time. Let not the fruit of action be your motive. Nor let there be any attachment to inaction."
This is not fatalism it is the science of right inner orientation. When actions are performed without clinging to outcomes, the burden of karma falls away. The yogi acts fully but remains inwardly free.
"Such evenness is defined as yoga." (2.48)
Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha emphasizes that this verse is not just an instruction for warriors it is a universal prescription for how every human being can live and act in the world with intelligence, freedom, and grace.
The Portrait of the Sthitaprajña: A Blueprint for Inner Mastery
One of the most celebrated sections in all Vedantic literature, verses 2.54–2.72 describe the Sthitaprajña the one of steady wisdom.
Arjuna asks: "What is the description of one of steady wisdom, who is absorbed in the Self? How does such a person speak, sit, and walk?" (2.54)
Krishna's answer paints a portrait not of a recluse withdrawn from the world, but of a fully engaged human being whose inner life has been completely transformed:
One who has abandoned all desires arising in the mind (2.55)
Who is free from attachment, fear, and anger (2.56)
Who is not agitated in sorrow, nor elated by joy (2.56)
Whose senses are withdrawn from their objects like a tortoise draws in its limbs (2.58)
Whose intelligence is unwavering, established in the Self (2.61)
The Sthitaprajña is not someone who has escaped life they have mastered the inner landscape from which all actions and reactions arise. This is the summit toward which all yoga practice leads.
The Danger of an Undisciplined Mind
In a vivid sequence that functions almost as a psychological map, Krishna describes what happens when the senses are left unguarded:
"Contemplating the sense objects, attachment to them is born. From attachment arises desire. From desire arises anger. From anger comes delusion. From delusion, loss of memory. From loss of memory, destruction of intelligence. From the destruction of intelligence, one perishes." (2.62–63)
This chain is not merely ancient wisdom it is a precise description of how mental agitation escalates into destructive action. Recognizing this chain is the first step to interrupting it. The antidote is mastery of the senses not suppression, but a trained, willing withdrawal from reactive indulgence.
The Vision of Brahma-Sthiti: Abiding in the Absolute
The chapter closes with a profound promise. Krishna describes the Brahmic state Brahma-sthiti - the condition of one who is firmly established in the truth of the Absolute:
"This is the Brahmic state, O Partha. Having attained this, one is no longer deluded. Being established in it even at the hour of death, one attains Brahmanirvāna, liberation in the Absolute." (2.72)
What begins as a response to Arjuna's grief ends as a vision of the highest human possibility. Sankhya Yoga is not just a chapter in a book it is a complete map of the inner journey from sorrow to wisdom, from confusion to clarity, from bondage to liberation.
Why Chapter 2 Matters Today
Centuries after it was first spoken on the banks of the Kurukshetra, the teachings of Sankhya Yoga remain strikingly relevant:
For those overwhelmed by loss or grief: Krishna's teaching on the eternal Self offers not a denial of pain but a deeper perspective that holds pain without being shattered by it.
For those paralysed by ethical dilemmas: Arjuna's confusion is the confusion of every sensitive human being who must choose a difficult path. Krishna's answer is not to avoid difficulty, but to act from clarity.
For those seeking balance in a busy world: The teaching of action without attachment is perhaps the most practical philosophy for modern life full engagement with work, relationships, and responsibility, without the crushing weight of anxiety over outcomes.
For sincere spiritual seekers: The portrait of the Sthitaprajña offers a living ideal someone who has not withdrawn from life but has transformed their relationship with it from the inside out.
Study Chapter 2 with Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
The verses, transliterations, and commentaries presented on this page are drawn from Poojya Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha's authoritative work Insights Into Bhagavad Gita. Swamiji's approach to the Gita is rooted in the living Vedantic tradition of Narayanashrama Tapovanam, emphasizing that these teachings are not merely for study but for direct inner transformation.
Each verse has been rendered in Sanskrit with precise transliteration and commentary that brings out the experiential dimension of the text not just what Krishna said, but what it means for how you live, think, and respond to the world.
Continue your study:
← Chapter 1: Arjuna-viṣāda-yoga – Transforming Grief into Yoga
→ Chapter 3: Karma-yoga – Transforming All Activities into Yoga
