|| 2.38 ||

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

sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi

sukha (happiness) duḥkhe (in distress) same (equal) kṛtvā (making) lābha-alābhau (loss and profit) jaya-ajayau (victory and defeat) tataḥ (thereafter) yuddhāya (for the sake of fighting) yujyasva (engage in battle) na (never) evam (in this way) pāpam (sin) avāpsyasi (you will gain)

Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat— and by so doing you shall never incur sin.

Having exhausted the social and worldly arguments, Kṛṣṇa introduces the secret of Yoga—how to act without being entangled. He tells Arjuna to treat happiness and distress, loss and gain, and victory and defeat as the same. If Arjuna fights with this consciousness—fighting simply because it is his duty, without any personal desire for the result—he will never incur sin. This is the foundation of Karma-yoga. Sin lies not in the act of fighting, but in the attachment to the selfish outcome. Kṛṣṇa is teaching Arjuna how to remain pure while performing a violent task. By neutralizing his mind toward the dualities of life, Arjuna can become an instrument of the divine will. This internal detachment transforms a mundane struggle into a spiritual sacrifice.