Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 — The Foundation

Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita, *Sankhya Yoga*, is the philosophical foundation on which every other chapter rests. Arjuna, paralysed by grief on the battlefield, finally surrenders and asks Krishna to be his teacher. ## Key themes 1. **The eternal Self** — the body dies, the Self does not. Krishna explains *atma* with three famous verses (2.13, 2.20, 2.22). 2. **Swadharma** — every person has a duty appropriate to their station; running from it is a betrayal of one's own nature. 3. **Action without attachment to fruit** — *karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana* (2.47). The seed of Karma Yoga. 4. **The Sthitaprajna** — the description of a person of steady wisdom (2.54-72). One who is not shaken by gain or loss, praise or blame. ## How to study it - Read slowly. One or two verses a day with commentary (Shankara, Adi Shankaracharya's bhashya, or a contemporary translator like Eknath Easwaran). - Memorise 2.47 and 2.62-63 — the verses on action and on the descent into desire. - Reflect daily on the Sthitaprajna verses. They are a portrait of the goal. ## A starting verse *"karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana | mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi"* You have a right to action alone, never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive; nor let your attachment be to inaction.