ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन ।
तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ।।
व्यामिश्रेणेव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयसीव मे ।
तदेकं वद निश्चित्य येन श्रेयोऽहमाप्नुयाम् ॥ ३.१-२ ॥

jyāyasi cet-karmaṇas-te matā buddhir-janārdana|
tat-kim karmaṇi ghore mām niyojayasi kesava ||
vyāmisreṇeva vākyena buddhim mohayasiva me |
tad-ekam vada niscitya yena sreyo’ham-āpnuyām ||

The theme of the 2nd chapter is sāṅkhya-yoga. Sāṅkhya means the Upanishadic wisdom. It is to be imparted and imbibed with a keen intelligence by those who are engaged constantly in sublimating the mind and its functions. Sāṅkhya is so called because it is to be learnt repeatedly and well (samyak khyāyate), by constant reflection and rumination, by those who want to free themselves from the hold of kāma (desire and passion) and krodha (hate and enmity) and gain purity. Purity means redemption from kāma and krodha. Sāṅkhya has the singular effect of eliminating impurity and cultivating the excellence based on wisdom.

Sāṅkhya wisdom revolves around the pivotal concept of the Soul, the immortal content in the mortal body. This Soul creates the body by virtue of its own power. It is the same Soul that has similarly shaped the entire universe. In bringing about the illusion of transitoriness the Soul displays its own power, supremacy and imperishability. The mind given to the Sāṅkhya pursuit will inevitably become pure and stable. The intelligence too will likewise become resolute. The depth of vision, unassailability, sense of sufficiency and completeness – in short the sense of wholesome fulfilment – it brings to the seeker are exemplary. Sāṅkhya introspection is meant to eliminate all kinds of dvandva notions from the seeker. It rules out birth and death, and also frees one from the holds of sukha and duhkha. The Soul-reflection is the sole redress for all problems and afflictions of worldly life. The seeker taking to sāṅkhya pursuit very soon becomes a sthita-prajna, and then subsequently grows into a sthita-dhi, the model Knower described by Krishna.

The sthita-dhi does not resent or grumble about interactions with the world. In fact, his readiness and skill to take up any challenge in life becomes intensified by the sāṅkhya vision and depth. All constrictions of the common mind vanish in the sthita-dhi and the expanse and loftiness that fill him make him a totally different person – free, joyful and wise. Instead of feeling mentally tired or afflicted by activity, he feels enriched and enlightened by whatever comes his way. The world is a complement to the Soul, and interactions with it act as a beautiful ornament to the Knower.

Krishna’s enunciation, in a way, has concluded with the words “Eshā brāhmi sthitih pārtha (2.72)” (this is the expansional braahmic state, as different from the absorptional ātmic state). Normally the dialogue could have ended here and Arjuna would have proceeded to act on Krishna’s instructions. But Arjuna’s mind still yearned for clarity on a crucial point. He expresses his doubt and thus we enter the 3rd chapter of Bhagavadgitā:

If sāṅkhya buddhi is considered by you as superior to karmayoga, why do you exhort me to do the most fierce act of fighting this war? By making seemingly contradictory propositions, you are as though confusing my mind. Tell me therefore precisely what I should do so that I may attain everlasting good.

Krishna has clearly explained that the Soul never dies, nor can it ever be killed. It is ever existing, present everywhere, unchanging, birthless and deathless. Where is then any scope for grief due to any one’s death? Armed with this wisdom about the Soul, Arjuna should proceed to do whatever he had resolved to do. The doubts and resistance of the buddhi and mind must have their resolution in the clarity that the Soul-wisdom bestows. “Tasmāt yudhyasva bhārata” (Therefore, do fight, O Bhārata!), exhorted Krishna again and again. For the buddhi, which was in doubt, Krishna revealed the body-different Soul and how to view one’s life in its light and for the mind, which often puts up its emotional resistance, he provides sufficient inspiration from various angles of vision.

But because of the strange delusion working in the mind of man, the Soul-concept does not become easily graspable. Doubts naturally arise.

Sāṅkhya buddhi is the one insight Krishna exposed and explained throughout the 2nd chapter. In sthita-prajnatā it gets actualized. Following sthita-prajnatā the sādhaka will rise to be a sthitadhi. The sthita-dhi can live and move about freely in the world, doing whatever necessary, enriching himself and the world by such interactions. But in between, there must be a clear spell of withdrawal from activity to get absorbed into the Self within. The first task then for any one seeking the Soul wisdom is to resort to and facilitate this spell of withdrawal. This means shunning activity.

If this is the course of sāṅkhya pursuit, why does Krishna exhort Arjuna to fight? Is not the fierce activity of fighting an outward pursuit? The effort to gain sthita-prajnatā is obviously an inward one. How can there be any blending of the two? Arjuna’s doubt is thus quite relevant and grave too.

But in expressing it, he is very careful and humble this time. Whatever pride and self-evaluation he had earlier, when he lifted his Gāndiva and commanded his ‘charioteer’ Krishna to drive, had subsided and in its place is a sense of surrender and sublimity. Krishna’s words, says Arjuna, are seemingly confusing. But, he does not assert that they are so. He only submits that they appear to be so. Therefore he wants Krishna to instruct him in unambiguous terms the right course of action – be it withdrawal from activity or intense involvement in it. But the course advised, he insists, must bring him sreyas, everlasting welfare. This is the manner in which a disciple or a seeker should present his doubts before the Teacher. With the Teacher it is not a discussion, as between friends and equals. Instead, it is always a submission – may be about one’s seeking, yearning or doubt. Such an attitude makes the seeker receptive and sensitive to what is advised. Pride or prestige is always an obstruction in the path of wisdom and enlightenment.