2.38: Engage from your Heart

So Krishna's told Arjuna, once you know what you need to do, you've just got to get on with it. You've got to join the fray, you've got to enter the battle, the field of uncertainty. And so now he gives a little bit more guidance, an indication of how to do that. And he says, so he finishes this first by saying, so you might recognise that word, which we had previously, sin or that action which engenders suffering for the person who does the action and for others. So Krishna here says, in that way, you can fight without incurring sin.

So what does he say, sukadu ke, sukadu ke, and then the e is like the locative ke, so sukadu ke, in ease, in disease, sami, being even, being the same, being steady. La ba la ba, in gain, in loss, in getting what you want, in not getting what you want, jaya ajaya, jaya ajaya, in victory, in defeat, in all of these situations being the same. So getting what you want, not getting what you want, emerging victorious, not being victorious. When things are going easy, when things are difficult, in all these situations, staying steady, staying even, staying centred. If you can do that, if you can engage in that way, then you will not incur parpa.

You will not incur this thing which, for want of a better word to translate, people often use sin, but it's not really quite that. You will not incur this type of, let's say, residue, which is going to cause you to suffer. You'll be able to engage cleanly, and this is really kind of re-emphasising or restating this idea that has begun to introduce in these previous verses. When you heed the call of your heart, and you engage authentically, you're not going to suffer from that. If you emerge victorious, great, but equally, if you're not victorious, things will still be okay because you'll know that you did what you needed to do.

And so, enter into that field of uncertainty, enter into the challenges of life, from that place of steadiness, from that place of the centre, summon your centre as best you can and engage from there, and then, as far as possible, you will reduce or perhaps even eliminate unnecessary suffering.