Lee Harbaugh

Intro

This marks the beginning of the section of the Bhagavad Gita that I had ChatGPT help me translate. As a short reminder, I discovered the Gita several years ago and was so impacted by its words that I memorized part of the second chapter. After becoming curious about the way different translators treated certain passages differently, I decided to ask ChatGPT to help me translate these verses into my own understandable English.

There are two key ideas in this passage that I want to focus on in this post. One is the term "yoga", and the other is the term "karma." Both of these terms will be familiar to just about any westerner, but they have taken on connotations in the modern world that were not intended in the ancient world. I want to help clarify them in this post.

Yoga

Yoga means something very different in today's Western culture than it does here in this passage of the Gita. If you are like I was before delving into the Bhagavad Gita, you probably hear the word "yoga" and think about a fitness or stretching class at your local YMCA. In the latter part of the 1st millennium BCE, yoga referred to a way of living. It was, and still is, a school of philosophy of ancient India. When Krishna talks about yoga in these pages, he is referring to a spiritual practice that leads one to God - to the Divine within.

To be sure, the word "yoga" evolved over time. Through the centuries and millennia, the word began to incorporate poses and ideas that went beyond the simple "oneness with God" concept that it meant in the days of the Gita. When I refer to yoga in these pages, I am talking about the philosophy and practice of union with God. If I ever intend to address yoga from the perspective of YMCA classes, I will be very clear about it.

Karma

The other term I wish to address is "karma." As with yoga, most westerners will be familiar with the word karma. But most people understand karma in a negative light. In American culture, karma most often means "getting what one deserves" - as in "she did that, and it serves her right that this happened to her." "Karma is a bitch" is another popular phrase in our culture.

But here in the Bhagavad Gita, karma isn't necessarily always bad. Yes, doing wicked things can lead to bad results, but the opposite is also true. Doing good things can lead to good or pleasant results.

The Gita teaches that one can rise above karma altogether, and that is the point of these two verses. At some point, one reaches a union with God in which there is no longer striving of any kind. At this stage, one is in complete union with God - bliss. And in this state, all the striving and working that is so common to man gets left behind.

One especially interesting nuance of this translation is the phrase "leave behind the bonds of karma." One of the other English translations I am familiar with says "break through the bonds of karma." As I began to work with ChatGPT on this passage, it kept suggesting that "break through" - or any phrasing that suggested force - was not quite accurate. The original Sanskrit implies that walking away from the bonds of karma is easy once one achieves a deep understanding of yoga. It is not necessary to fight karma or try to force one's way out of it. Simply allowing oneself to be united with God leads to the bonds of karma falling away. This is so beautiful to me.

Conclusion

One of the most reassuring phrases in all of scripture - any scripture - occurs right here in verse 40. "There is never any harm in following these principles, and your effort is never wasted." The Easwaran translation says, "On this path, effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure." I personally like the "no failure" translation. But according to ChatGPT, the Sanskrit conveys the idea that no harm will come from pursuing yoga, so I went with a more literal translation. Either way, I think you can see the beauty of this verse.

The invitation is always open to pursue oneness with God. This is a personal and deeply experiential opportunity for every human on the planet. Following this path always results in good, and no amount of effort is ever wasted!