Verse 2.50

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.50:

बुद्धि-युक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृत-दुष्कृते ।
तस्माद् योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ॥ ५० ॥

buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte |
tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam || 50 ||

buddhi-yuktaḥ–an intelligent person connected to Bhagavān (through selfless action); jahāti–gives up; iha–in this birth; ubhe–both; sukṛta-duṣkṛte–virtue and vice; tasmāt–therefore; yogāya–(being equipoised) in niṣkāma-karma-yoga; yujyasva–just engage; yogaḥ–equipoised selfless action; karmasu–in (both fruitive and selfless) actions; kauśalam–the art.

One who is fixed in buddhi-yoga (pure intelligence) relinquishes both virtue and vice in this very life. Therefore, strive to worship the Supreme Lord through performing selfless action (niṣkāma-karma-yoga). Working under the shelter of buddhi-yoga with equanimity in both success and failure is indeed the art of all action.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

Here, the word yogāya means ‘for that yoga which possesses the characteristics mentioned above’ (in Gītā 2.48). Yujyasva means ‘make an endeavour’. More specifically, it means, ‘being equipoised, endeavour for niṣkāma-karma-yoga, selflessly offering the fruit of one’s work to Bhagavān’. This is because karmasu means ‘among all fruitive (sakama) and selfless (niṣkāma) actions’. Yoga refers to the performance of karma while being indifferent to the results. This indeed is kauśalam, expertise.