Bhagavad Gita 2.38
सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ । ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥
sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau | tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaṃ pāpam avāpsyasi ||
Translation
Holding pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as the same, then engage yourself in the battle. Thus you will not incur sin.
Reflection
When have you done the right thing from the wrong inner posture, and felt it bind you?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Two
The bridge verse. Three pairs flattened: pleasure/pain, gain/loss, victory/defeat. Same kṛtvā. Make them the same. Then engage. This is the first time in the chapter the technique of karma yoga appears in plain instruction. Act, but bring the act through evenness, not through the swing of mood and outcome. Naivaṃ pāpam avāpsyasi. In this way you will not incur sin. The action that comes with equanimity does not bind the way the action that comes with appetite does. The sentence Aurobindo calls the doorway: from the question of self into the question of work.