SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
SlOkam – Original
sukha dhu:khE samE kruthvA lAbhAlAbhau jayAjayau |
thathO yuddhAya yujyasva naivam pApam avApsyasi ||
word-by-word meaning
sukha dhu:kE – joy and grief
samE – equal
kruthvA – think
lAbhAlAbhau – gain and loss of desired aspects (which are the cause of joy and grief)
jayAjayau – victory and defeat (that are the cause of gain and loss)
(samau kruthvA – considering them equal)
thatha: – subsequently,
yudhdhAya – to fight
yujyasva – engage;
Evam – if you fight like this
pApam – samsAram (material realm) which is filled with sorrows
na avApsyasi – you will not attain
Simple Translation
Consider joy and grief to be equal, gain and loss of desired aspects (which are the cause of joy and grief) and victory and defeat (that are the cause of gain and loss) to be equal; Subsequently, if you engage in the battle (with this thinking), you will not attain samsAram (material realm) which is filled with sorrows.
Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam
‘Making joy and grief equal, as also gain and loss, and, victory and defeat, then engage in war. Thus shall you incur no sin.’
Thus then, knowing ātmā to be that which is distinct from body, uncontaminated with qualities pertaining to bodies, and to be that which is eternal; keeping the mind imperturbable under the varying conditions of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat (etc.) caused by arrows pelting etc; and destitute of any wish for reward, such as gaining Svarga etc., fight as if it were a duty to be discharged.
In this-wise will you escape sin. Sin is what gives (or is seen as) suffering, consequent on matter-tied existence (samsāra[1. Lit: that which ‘runs or courses’; means the circuit or circle of wordly existence, mundane life, material existence, matter-tied or matter-consorting existence, conditioned secular career, or matter-soul existence, coursing through a transmigratory revolution of births and deaths alternating. In Indian terms, Purusha consorting with Prakriti (or spirit-matter combination).]). In other words, you will be liberated from the bondage of conditioned existence.
After thus imparting (to Arjuna) a knowledge of the real nature of ātmā, Śri Kṛishṇa now begins to expound Karma-yoga (the path or mode of works leading to moksha):
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