Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥३८॥
sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā
lābhālābhau jayājayau
tato yuddhāya yujyasva
naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi
Word for word (synonyms)
- sukha
- happiness
- duḥkhe
- in distress
- same
- in equanimity
- kṛtvā
- doing so
- lābhālābhau
- both in loss and profit
- jayājayau
- both in defeat and victory
- tataḥ
- thereafter
- yuddhāya
- for the sake of fighting
- yujyasva
- do fight
- na
- never
- evam
- in this way
- pāpam
- sinful reaction
- avāpsyasi
- you will gain
Translation
Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat—and, by so doing, you shall never incur sin.
Defined in the Gītā
Happiness
What is real happiness?
O best of the Bhāratas, now please hear from Me about the three kinds of happiness which the conditioned soul enjoys, and by which he sometimes comes to the end of all distress. That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa now directly says that Arjuna should fight for the sake of fighting because He desires the battle. There is no consideration of happiness or distress, profit or gain, victory or defeat in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That everything should be performed for the sake of Kṛṣṇa is transcendental consciousness; so there is no reaction to material activities. He who acts for his own sense gratification, either in goodness or in passion, is subject to the reaction, good or bad. But he who has completely surrendered himself in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is no longer obliged to anyone, nor is he a debtor to anyone, as one is in the ordinary course of activities. It is said:
devarṣi-bhutāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ
na kiṅkaro nāyamṛṇī ca rājan
sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam
(Bhag. 11.5.41)
"Anyone who has completely surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, giving up all other duties, is no longer a debtor, nor is he obliged to anyone—not the demigods, nor the sages, nor the people in general, nor kinsmen, nor humanity, nor forefathers." That is the indirect hint given by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna in this verse, and the matter will be more clearly explained in the following verses.
What this verse teaches
Dutifully fight with equanimity → no sin
- Gita for Life
- Success and failure
In thematic compilations 1
- By being equipoised in dualities, one shall never incur sin (2.38 sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā...)
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 1
- Bhagavad-gītā 2.27-38 1968-12-11 · Los Angeles
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.