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Chapter 18
INTRODUCTION
The Lord, in the thirty-ninth verse of the second chapter referred to Sankhyayoga (the Discipline of Knowledge) and Konnayoga (the Discipline of Action). These two very disciplines were mentioned in the third verse of the third chapter as Samkhya Nistha and Yoga Nistha. Arjuna wanted to know these two paths (Disciplines). But, as Lord Krsna could not get an opportunity to explain divine nature and demoniac nature, from the seventh chapter to the fifteenth chapter, so Arjuna could not express his curiosity, from the third chapter to the seventeenth chapter.
Having mentioned the two paths, in the third verse of the third chapter, Lord Krsna in the first verse of the fourth chapter, explained that He taught the imperishable Yoga, to the sun-god. Arjuna asked Him, how he could believe, that He taught the Yoga to the sun-god because His birth, came later, while the birth of the sun-god was earlier. The Lord in response to his question talked of His divine births (incarnations) and the Tattva of Karmayoga. In the thirty-fourth verse of the fourth chapter, He directed him to gain, that knowledge from men of wisdom, by obeisance, by questions and by service to them. Again, in the forty-second verse of the fourth chapter, He commanded him to establish himself in Yoga viz., Karmayoga (in the form of even-mindedness). So Arjuna, at the beginning of the fifth chapter, asked Lord Krsna which of the two, the path of knowledge or the path of action (Karmayoga), was decidedly better, for him. The Lord, answered his question, in the fifth chapter and started the sixth chapter on his own.
In the thirty-third and the thirty-fourth verses of the sixth chapter, Arjuna put a question on restlessness (fickleness) of mind. The Lord, answered his question in brief. Arjuna, from the thirty-seventh to the thirty-ninth verses, put the question, "What fate does a striver, whose mind wanders away from Yoga (at the time of death), failing to attain perfection in Yoga, meet with?" The Lord, answered the question in the sixth chapter. In the last verse of the sixth chapter, the Lord declared his devotee the best Yogi among all the Yogis. The Lord, started the same topic in the seventh chapter, where he described devotion, in particular.
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