Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2: Saankya Yoga

Here in Chapter 2, Sri Krishna summarizes the entire Bhagavad Gita .

In Chapter 1, Arjuna expresses his wish not to fight the war. Sri Krishna starts with a brief yet impactful statement in the second and third shlokas of Chapter 2.
Sri Krishna chides Arjuna by saying "What has happened to you? This is not at all befitting your stature. You have been engulfed by क्लैब्यं (unmanliness or impotence)"

To this, Arjuna again gives a number of pseudo logical arguments (shlokas 4 to 8) like "Drona and Bhisma are my teachers and are worthy of my respect and by killing them, what would I gain?"
Shloka 7 is very important where Arjuna says "I have lost my mental composure" and totally surrenders to Sri Krishna and asks him to guide. (Pruchaami Tvam Sammudha Cetah yat Sreyah Syaat Niscitam Bruhi meh – My mind is confused, Tell me certainly which is the right thing to do?)
This is an important philosophical point that whenever our mind is overcome by negativity, we must surrender to the almighty and seek help. This is a necessary condition to help drive out the negativity in our own mind irrespective of the outcome. That's why it is told that God helps those who seek refuge in him.

From Shlokas 11 to 72, Sri Krishna summarizes the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. He talks about Soul and Rebirth (Shlokas 11 to 30). Then, He explains the duty of Arjuna as a warrior (also referred as Saankya yoga or the analytical understanding - Shlokas 31 to 38). He then explains the process of liberating ourselves from bondages of Karma i.e. the right way to lead our day to day life (Shlokas 39 to 53) . Finally, the concept of Stita Pragna or a person who has attained self-realization is explained in detail (Shlokas 54 to 72).

Shlokas 11 to 30 – Soul, Rebirth or Reincarnation:

Sri Krishna introduces the concept of Soul or Atma to Arjuna (the term 'Soul' or 'Atma' is not used in the shlokas verbatim, but I am using it for reader's understanding). He starts by saying the wise men or learned men neither lament for the living or the dead. The reason is "There was never a time where I (Sri Krishna), you (Arjuna) or any of the Kings (in the battlefield) DID NOT EXIST neither will there be a future time where any of us will CEASE to exist". For many many years, every soul passed from body to body just like we change clothes. Within a body, it will transform from birth, boyhood, old age and death . These are natural and hence not a cause for concern. Happiness and distress are temporary experiences and a person has to be steady or equanimous in both joy and sorrow. Soul is Sat (meaning permanent) and Body is asat (meaning impermanent). Soul is unborn, eternal, ever existing and primeval.

In shloka 26, Sri Krishna also says that if your mind does not accept the above concept of an eternal soul, still there is no reason to lament as anyway, life is assumed to be temporary. The simple point is dont lament on what is temporary.
Notice an important point of Vedas/Shastras/Sanatana Dharma (loosely called Hinduism). There is no force on the individual to accept the theory. The theory is laid out (for example, soul is there and is eternal) but it is every human's free will based on his analytical and practical experiences whether he wants to accept the theory or not. The assumption is that every human will eventually concur with these teachings as the permanent tenets do not change.

Shlokas 31 to 38 – Saankya Yoga:

Now that the concept of Aatma or soul (termed as 'Sat' or the permanent entity within each human) has been explained, Sri Krishna connects the dots to the present use case. Here, he says Arjuna is a Kshatriya (warrior) and he must perform his duty in this role as the cause is just (Sva Dharmam api avekshya – considering your own Dharma, Na Vikampitum arhasi - Don’t hesitate). The war is an opportunity for Arjuna to attain heavenly planets by doing his duty as a warrior. If he wins, he gets to enjoy as a King and if he loses the war, he attains heaven. So the right thing to do is to fight.

Shloka 38 goes one step further where Sri Krishna says "Fight as a duty and not considering happiness, sorrow, loss, gain, victory or defeat. This will not accrue any sin". This is the pinnacle of understanding Karma yoga i.e. how to remain unaffected by Karma or actions that we perform.

Shlokas 39 to 54 – Saankya Yoga's process details:

A brief interpretation of Karma Yoga's tenets is necessary here which will help understand these shlokas easily.

The tenet of Karma Yoga is that in our day to day life, we do actions which can be classified as

• Activities that are good and will lead to good results for the human in future.
• Activities that are bad and will lead to bad results for the human in future.
• Activities which are neutral – This is the recommended way and hence Sri Krishna says Fight without considering emotions or outcomes and do it just as duty (Shloka 38).

Sri Krishna explains the advantage of following a path of neutral Karma.

Vedas have multiple parts – 80% of Vedas are about Yagnas where a human desirous of some outcome, performs Yagna. Yagna means offering to please the perticular God - i.e say Varuna/Indra for rain, Chandra, Surya for other desires etc. Sri Krishna says do not think that this is the end of the journey, the yagnas performed are just intermediate milestones for a human.
Rather doing work or duty and surrendering the outcome to God is the ultimate wisdom. Essentially, Sri Krishna is summarizing the Vedanta (5% of Vedas which talks about the ultimate goal of liberation from misery). Sri Krishna goes on to say that we have to transcend the three material modes of nature (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas).

Shloka 47 is very important where Sri Krishna says every human has the right to perform his duty but is not entitled to the fruits of action (or outcome). This should not be misunderstood. What He is saying is that you should set goals, do your work according to your own nature and simply surrender the outcome to God. Surrendering means accept the outcome as God's will. It does not matter if outcome was favorable or unfavorable to our mind. The other way to explain is perform your duties in equanimity (equanimous to both success or failure). This is the only way to not inherit any Karmic bondages on one's own account and by doing action in complete devotion, God will absorb the Karmic reactions whether it's good or bad. When one's karmic account has come to NIL i.e. there is no good or bad debt in a particular human soul's Karmic account, the soul will become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain Mukti (Shloka 51).

Shlokas 54 to 72 - Stita Pragna – Man of steady consciousness:

Arjuna asks "What are the attributes of such a self-realized person – Stita Pragna? How does he behave?"

Lord Krishna answers "Stita Pragna is always satisfied in the self alone. He is free from all attachments like happiness, sorrow and is unaffected (mentally) whatever good or bad may happen. As mind is unstable, wavering or prone to distractions, Self-realized person keeps his mind engaged with devotion to God and hence restrains himself from sensual or activities of passion.

Emphasizing the importance of staying away from sensual pleasures, Sri Krishna says that is the seed which finally brings the human all miseries. He expands this by saying sensual pleasures leads to attachment (Sangah) or craving. From Attachment, lust (Kaama) or addiction develops.From this lust, anger (Kroda) develops. Anger leads to delusion (Sammoha), which leads to bewilderment of memory (Smriti Vibramaha). When memory is confused, intelligence is lost (Buddhi nasha) and person falls again to the material pool.

Thus a person should give up sensual pleasures, should act in devotion to God. Further, this means he should act with the understanding that he owns nothing permanently and become free from Ego (false identity that 'Ego' is everything and wants to own everything).

If one leads a life in this way and is situated in this mindset or understanding even while dying, he attains Brahma Nirvana (i.e. he becomes liberated).