Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2-Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 38

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of  The Bhagavad Gita, published b Ramakrishna Mission.

Transform karma into karma yoga - 38-41

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 2 - Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 38

Sukha dukha same kritva labha alabho jaya ajayau I

Tatah yuddhaya yujyasva na evam papam avapsyasi II  sloka 38

सुख दुख समे कृत्वा लभ अलभो जय अजयौ ।

ततः युद्दाय युजस्व न एवं पापं अवाप्स्यसि ।। श्लोक ३८

Treating alike pain & pleasure, gain & loss, victory & defeat, engage yourself in battle. Thus you will incur no sin. 

It is the way of the world to view gain and victory with pleasure and loss and defeat with pain. But different from that should be frame of mind of those who take to self culture. They are to disentangle the mind from likes and dislikes. All earthly events are fraught with consequences which are agreeable and disagreeable. By being favourably affected by the one and unfavourably by the other, the mind loses its stamina. By refusing to be tossed about by the pain and pleasure the mond becomes steady and strong. That karma  is called sin which brings in misery in its trail. But a man of string and balanced mind takes no note of any misery that comes to him. He is in that way free from sin. 

The very karma done by man of the world is also doen by the karma yogi. But there is a world of difference between the two in their attitudes. The one is attached and the other is detached. Both attachment and detachment are solely in the mind.

A weakling totters while carrying a small load to a short distance. But a strong man coming from a long distance with a heavy load of two maunds on his head stands by and sees a wrestling match, unmindful of the burden on his head. To the strong in body and mind problems are but few.

Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa