28. Balance is the Key
K rishna tells Arjuna that he would incur no sin when he fights (read as performing any karma ) by treating sukh (pleasure) and dukh (pain); labh (gain) and hani (losses); and jaya (victory) and parajay (defeat) with equipoise (2.38). This is an important verse and captures the entire essence of the Gita. This verse lays the foundation for equanimity. This verse simply says that all our karmas are motivated and this motivation makes karma impure or sinful. But we hardly perform any karma without being motivated by pleasure, profit or victory or to avoid pain, loss or defeat. From sankhya and karma yoga point of view, any karma can be divided into three parts viz. karta (doer), karma (action) and karma-phal (fruit of action). Krishna divided karma-phal into pleasure/pain, profit/loss and victory/defeat. Krishna is indicating in this verse to separate these three to achieve equanimity. One way is to drop kartapan (feeling of doership) and become a sakshi...