Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 38
भगवद् गीता अध्याय 2 श्लोक 38

सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि।।2.38।।



हिंदी अनुवाद - स्वामी रामसुख दास जी ( भगवद् गीता 2.38)
।।2.38।।जयपराजय लाभहानि और सुखदुःखको समान करके फिर युद्धमें लग जा। इस प्रकार युद्ध करनेसे तू पापको प्राप्त नहीं होगा।


English Translation of Sanskrit Commentary By Sri Shankaracharya's
2.38 As regards that, listen to this advice for you then you are engaged in battle considering it to be your duty: Krtva, treating; sukha-duhkhe, happiness and sorrow; same, with eanimity, i.e. without having likes and dislikes; so also treating labha-alabhau, gain and loss; jaya-ajayau, conest and defeat, as the same; tatah, then; yuddhaya yujyasva, engage in battle. Evam, thus by undertaking the fight; na avapsyasi, you will not incur; papam, sin. This advice is incidental. [The context here is that of the philosophy of the supreme Reality. If fighting is enjoined in that context, it will amount to accepting combination of Knowledge and actions. To avoid this contingency the Commentator says, incidental. That is to say, although the context is of the supreme Reality, the advice to fight is incidental. It is not an injunction to combine Knowledge with actions, since fighting is here the natural duty of Arjuna as a Ksatriya.].
The generally accepted argument for the removal of sorrow and delusion has been stated in the verses beginning with, Even considering your own duty (31), etc., but this has not been presented by accepting that as the real intention (of the Lord).
The real context here (in 2.12 etc.), however, is of the realization of the supreme Reality. Now, in order to show the distinction between the (two) topics dealt with in this scripture, the Lord concludes that topic which has been presented above (in 2.20 etc.), by saying, This (wisdom) has been imparted, etc. For, if the distinction between the topics of the scripute be shown here, then the instruction relating to the two kinds of adherences   as stated later on in, through the Yoga of Knowledge for the men of realization; through the Yoga of Action for the yogis (3.3)  will proceed again smoothly, and the hearer also will easily comprehend it by keeping in view the distinction between the topics. Hence the Lord says:


English Translation of Commentary  - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan
2.38 Sukha-duhkhe etc.  For you, performing actions as your own duty, never there is any connection with sin.


English Translation of Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary
2.38 Thus, knowing the self to be eternal, different from the body and untouched by all corporeal alities, remaining unaffected by pleasure and pain resulting from the weapon-strokes etc., inevitable in a war, as also by gain and loss of wealth, victory and defeat, and keeping yourself free from attachment to heaven and such other frutis, begin the battle considering  it merely as your own duty. Thus, you will incur no sin. Here sin means transmigratory existence which is misery. The purport is that you will be liberarted from the bondage of transmigratory existence.

Thus, after teaching the knowledge of the real nature of the self, Sri Krsna begins to expound the Yoga of work, which, when preceded by it (i.e., knowledge of the self), constitutes the means for liberation.


Transliteration Bhagavad Gita 2.38Sukhaduhkhe same kritwaa laabhaalaabhau jayaajayau;
Tato yuddhaaya yujyaswa naivam paapamavaapsyasi.


Word Meanings Bhagavad Gita 2.38sukha—happiness; duḥkhe—in distress; same kṛitvā—treating alike; lābha-alābhau—gain and loss; jaya-ajayau—victory and defeat; tataḥ—thereafter; yuddhāya—for fighting; yujyasva—engage; na—never; evam—thus; pāpam—sin; avāpsyasi—shall incur