📿 Shloka Collection

Sukhaduhkhe Same Kritva

Gita 2.38 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga
सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥
Sukhaduhkhe same kritva labhalabhau jayajayau
Tato yuddhaya yujyasva naivam papam avapsyasi
सुखदुःखे
pleasure and pain
समे कृत्वा
treating as equal
लाभालाभौ
gain and loss
जयाजयौ
victory and defeat
ततः
then
युद्धाय
for battle
युज्यस्व
engage, prepare yourself
न एवम्
in this way, no
पापम्
sin
अवाप्स्यसि
you will incur

Something pivotal happens in this shloka. Krishna introduces the idea that will become the backbone of the Gita's teaching: equanimity. Treat pleasure and pain as equal. Treat gain and loss as equal. Treat victory and defeat as equal. Then engage in battle. Acted upon in this spirit, no sin will touch you.

Three pairs of opposites are listed — sukha-duhkha, labha-alabha, jaya-ajaya — and each pair captures a different dimension of human anxiety. We fear pain, we fear loss, we fear defeat. Krishna says: when you stop being pulled by these fears and their corresponding desires, your action becomes pure. The action itself does not change — you still fight the battle — but the inner quality of that action transforms completely.

A skilled musician on stage does not play differently based on whether the audience is large or small, friendly or indifferent. The music pours out with the same devotion regardless. Krishna is asking Arjuna to fight with that same quality of presence — fully committed, fully engaged, free from the swing of outcomes.

This shloka is the bridge between the kshatriya-dharma argument (2.31-2.37) and the formal teaching of Karma Yoga that begins at 2.39. The concept of equanimity (samatva) introduced here becomes the definition of yoga itself in 2.48.

Shlokas 2.47 (your right is to action alone) and 2.48 (equanimity is yoga) are direct expansions of the seed planted here.

Chapter 2 · 38 / 72
Chapter 2 · 38 / 72 Next →