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Chapter 2: Contents of the Gita Summarized

Bg 2.38
TEXT 38
sukha-duhkhe same krtva
labhalabhau jayajayau
tato yuddhaya yujyasva
naivam papam avapsyasi
SYNONYMS
sukha—happiness; duhkhe—in distress; same—in equanimity; krtva—doing so; labhalabhau—both in loss and profit; jayajayau—both in defeat and victory; tatah—thereafter; yuddhaya—for the sake of fighting; yujyasva—do fight; na—never; evam—in this way; papam—sinful reaction; avapsyasi—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.
PURPORT
Lord Krsna 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 Krsna consciousness. That everything should be performed for the sake of Krsna 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 Krsna 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:
devarsi-bhutapta-nrnam pitrnam
na kinkaro nayamrni ca rajan
sarvatmana yah saranam saranyam
gato mukundam parihrtya kartam
(Bhag. 11.5.41)
"Anyone who has completely surrendered unto Krsna, 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 Krsna to Arjuna in this verse, and the matter will be more clearly explained in the following verses.

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Copyright (c) 1972 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada