Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 1 - Yoga of the Despondency of Arjuna

 

Arjuna Vishaada Yogah: The Yoga of the Despondency  of Arjuna

Contents

• INVOCATION OF ALMIGHTY
• PREAMBLE 
• The Question
• Two Armies
• Sounding  of the conch shells (Shankh Naad)
• Arjuna’s  desire to survey the two armies
• Sri Krishna enters the scene
• What did Arjuna see?
• Arjuna’s Reaction
• Arjuna’s Anguish
• Confounded and Distressed, Arjuna collapses
• Concepts and Issues
• Dhritarashtra
• Arjuna
• Arjuna Syndrome - Origin and Cure
• Krishna, the Master Strategist
• LIVE AS THE GITA TEACHES YOU TO LIVE
• FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
• POINTS TO PONDER

 

 

 

 

INVOCATION OF ALMIGHTY

Generally  before commencing the study of the Bhagavad Gita text, it is customary to study  the meditation verses on the Gita called Gita Dhyana Slokas. We do not  know who composed them. It is a set of 9 verses recited as invocation, dedication  and prayer to the Gita Knowledge and its glory. For our purposes let us take up  one of the verses and understand its meaning.

Prapanna paarijaataaya totra vetraika paanaye |
Jnaanamudraaya krishnaaya geetaamrita duhe namah ||

Salutations to Bhagvan Krishna, with His right hand in Jnana  Mudra, the bestower of all needs to those who surrender to Him completely, the  milker of the divine nectar of the Bhagavad Gita, the holder of the whip  in one hand for driving the cows.

This verse describes Sri Krishna with His right hand held  in Jnana Mudra - in knowledge posture - wherein the thumb is joined to  the forefinger and all the other three fingers are stretched out, the gesture  symbolizing knowledge. This is a remarkable concept in Indian Vedantic  philosophy and spirituality which indicates that our body postures have  psychological counter parts. As the mind is, so is the body; bodily expressions  being the manifestation of the working of the mind or the effect of psyche.  This is what we call ‘body language’ in the modern business school terminology.  It means that there is nothing in this world so purifying as Knowledge.

We offer our obeisance to Sri Krishna who is the  embodiment of Knowledge and who imparts such knowledge to all those who seek it  from Him. This is what Arjuna does in the Gita. That knowledge is the Supreme  Knowledge - the knowledge of the Absolute Reality, the knowledge of Dharma, the  knowledge of righteousness, the knowledge about the right way of living.

With this prayer let us start our journey in the Gita  Ganga and crave for Sri Krishna’s enlightenment.

 

PREAMBLE

The 1st Chapter in the Gita introduces the scene, the setting, the  circumstances and the characters involved determining the reasons for the  espousal of the Bhagavad Gita. The scene is the sacred plain of Kurukshetra.  The setting is a battlefield. The situation is that the war between the two  clans of brothers, the Kauravas and the Pandavas is about to begin.

The  main characters are Bhagavan Sri Krishna and the valiant Arjuna from the side  of Pandavas and Duryodhana from the side of Kauravas in the midst of large  armies on both the sides led by their respective commanders.

After  noticing the principal warriors on both the sides, Arjuna falls into the mood  of deep dejection and melancholy due to the fear of destruction of friends and  relatives in the course of the impending war leading to his resolve not to take  up arms against his kith and kin. This is the subject matter of this Chapter  and hence it is called “Arjuna Vishaada  Yogah: The Yoga of the Despondency of Arjuna

The  Question

dhritaraashtra  uvaacha
dharmakshetre  kurukshetre samavetaa yuyutsavah
maamakaah  paandavaashchaiva kimakurvata sanjaya  //  1 //

Dhritarashtra said
What did the sons of Pandu and also my people do  when they assembled together on the holy field of Kurukshetra, eager to fight,  O Sanjaya?

In  the entire Gita this is the only uttering of the blind king, Dhritarashtra. All  the remaining verses are Sanjaya`s report to him about the happenings at the  battlefield of Kurukshetra just before the war.

The  battlefield is called dharmakshetra or the sacred field because The Lord  who is the protector and embodiment of Dharma was actively present in it.  Kurukshetra means the field of the Kurus, a leading clan of that era. This  question of Dhritarashtra exhibits a  sense of anxiety in him on two counts. If Pandavas decide not to undertake the  war, his sons will automatically get the kingdom and in such an event, the  stigma of waging the unrighteous war might not stick to his covetous and  deceitful sons.  If his sons decide not  to wage the war they will lose the kingdom that was earlier acquired by them  through deceit, because of which they will be as good as dead. Such was the  anxiety in the king’s mind because of the greatness and spiritual atmosphere of  the field of battle.

Mamakaah: My people.  And ‘Pandu’s sons’. - This sort of divisive  reference to one and the same family members indicates the absence of the sense  of familiarity and closeness with regard to the Pandavas and thereby betrays  hostility towards them.

This  sense of a pair of opposites ‘mine-ness’ and ‘not mine-neness’ is the result of ahamkara or `I - ness' which is the source of all evil. The conflict  between the two cousin groups represents the clash between two sets of values  of life - one standing for virtue, justice and righteousness staking a  legitimate claim for the kingdom lost through deceit and treachery and the other  for vice, injustice, greed, hunger for power and the foul means  employed to justify the ends. It indirectly  indicates that life itself is a battle between good and evil.

Two  Armies

sanjaya  uvaacha
drishtwaa tu  paandavaaneekam vyoodham duryodhanastadaa
aachaaryam  upasamgamya raajaa vachanam abraveet  //  2 //

Sanjaya said
Having seen the army of Pandavas drawn up in battle  array, King Duryodhana then approached his teacher, Drona, and spoke these  words.

Duryodhana  was thinking all along that it might not be possible for the Pandavas to mobilize  forces strong enough to face his own huge army.   But what he saw on the battlefield unnerved his position and hence he rushed  to his teacher and exclaimed:

pashyaitaam  paanduputraanaam aacharya mahateem chamoom
vyoodhaam  drupadaputrena tava shishyena dheemataa   // 3 //

Behold, O Teacher, this mighty army of the sons of  Pandu, arrayed by the son of Drupada, your wise disciple.

atra shooraa  maheshwaasaa bheemaarjunasamaa yudhi
yuyudhaano  viraatashcha drupadashcha mahaarathah  //  4 //

Here are heroes, mighty archers, equal in battle to  Bhima and Arjuna, Yuyudhana, Virata and Drupada, the great chariot warrior.

dhrishtaketush  chekitaanah kaashiraajascha veeryavan
purujit  kuntibhojashcha  shaibhyashcha  narapungavah  // 5 //

Dhrishtaketu, Chekitana and the valiant king of  Kasi, Purujit,  Kuntibhoja and Saibya,  the best among men.

yudhaamanyushcha  vikraanta uttamaujaashcha veeryavan
saubhadro  draupadeyaashcha sarva eva mahaarathaah   // 6 //

The courageous Yudhamanyu, the brave Uttamauja,  Saubhadra and the sons of Draupadi - all great chariot-warriors.

asmaakam tu  vishishtaa ye taan nibodha dwijottama
naayakaa mama  sainyasya samjnaartham taan braveemi te   // 7 //

Know  also, O the best among the twice born, the names of those who are most  distinguished amongst ourselves, the leaders of my army.  These I relate to you for your information.

bhavaan  bheeshmashcha karnashcha kripashcha samitinjayah
ashwatthaamaa  vikarnashcha saumadattis tathaiva cha  //  8 //

Yourself and Bhishma and Karna and Kripa, the  victorious in war, Aswatthama and Vikarna and Jayadratha, the son of Somadatta.

anye cha  bahavah shooraa madarthe tyaktajeevitaah
naanaashastrapraharanaah  sarve yuddhavishaaradaah  // 9 //

And many other heroes also, well-skilled in warfare  and armed with many kinds of weapons are here; ready to lay down their lives  for my sake.

aparyaaptam  tad asmaakam balam bheeshmaabhirakshitam
paryaaptam  twidam eteshaam balam bheemaabhirakshitam   // 10 //

Our army defended by Bhishma is insufficient but  the army of theirs defended by Bhima is sufficient.

ayaneshu cha  sarveshu yathaabhaagam avasthitaah
bheeshmam  evaabhirakshantu bhavantah sarva eva hi   // 11 //

Now all of you being stationed in your respective  positions in the divisions of the army guard Bhishma alone by all means.

By  using the words `your talented pupil' Duryodhana sarcastically told Drona that  he was a mere simpleton to teach the art of warfare to the son of Drupada  [Drstadyumna] who was standing before him to kill no other person than his  teacher himself.

Duryodhana  perceived the army of Pandavas as formidable because of his own guilty  consciousness and doubts about the loyalty of his chief warriors. A list of all  the names of the mighty warriors in the Pandava army was given.

Dwijottama  means ‘twice born' which refers to the Brahminical background of Drona.  Duryodhana implied that Drona, a Brahmin and therefore being timid by nature  and given to peaceful life, might be soft towards his students no matter to  whichever side they may belong to.

Receiving  no response from Drona despite his long speech and to make amends for his  censuring him, Duryodhana enumerated the names of the warriors of his side also  exaggerating their qualities in order to look self-confident and hide his  nervousness. Duryodhana felt that his army led by Bhishma was insufficient  because of the latter's softness towards Pandavas and the other led by Bhima as  sufficient because of its high morale and efficiency.  He ordered full protection to Bhishma from  all sides and by all means not only to please him but to emphasize his  important place in the entire Kaurava army.   He was fully aware that once Bhishma were to be eliminated his whole  edifice would collapse.

Sounding of the conch shells (Shankh Naad)

tasya  sanjanayan harsham kuruvriddhah pitaamahah
simhanaadam vinadyocchaih  shankham dadhmau prataapavaan // 12 //

Then the powerful Bhishma, grandsire and oldest of  the Kauravas, roared like a lion and blew his conch in order to cheer up  Duryodhana.

tatah  shankaashcha bheryashcha panavaanakagomukhaah
sahasaivaabhyahanyanta  sa shabdastumulo bhavat  // 13 //

Then (following Bhishma) conches, kettle drums,  tabors, trumpets and cow-horns suddenly blared forth from the Kaurava side  creating a tumultuous noise.

tatah shvetair hayair yukte mahati syandane sthitau
maadhavah paandavashchaiva divyau shankhau pradadhmatuh  // 14 //

Then stationed in their magnificent chariot, yoked  with white horses, Madhava (Krishna) and the son of Pandu (Arjuna) also blew  their divine conches with a furious noise.

paanchajanyam  hrisheekesho devadattam dhananjayah
paundram  dadhmau mahaashankham bheemakarmaa vrikodarah   // 15 //

Hrishikesha (Krishna) blew the conch, Panchajanya,  Dhananjaya (Arjuna) blew the Devadatta and Bhima, the doer of terrible deeds,  blew the great conch, Paundra.

anantavijayam  raajaa kunteeputro yudhishthirah
nakulah  sahadevashcha sughoshamanipushpakau  //  16 //

King Yudhishtira, the son of Kunti, blew the  Anantavijaya, Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosha and Manipushpaka conches  respectively.

kaashyashcha  parameshwaasah shikhandee cha mahaarathah
dhrishtadyumno  viraatashcha saatyakishchaaparaajitah // 17 //

The king of Kasi, an excellent archer, Sikhandi,  the mighty chariot-warrior, Dhrshtadyumna, Virata and Satyaki, the unconquered.

drupado  draupadeyaashcha sarvashah prithiveepate
saubhadrashcha  mahaabaahuh shankhaan dadhmuh prithak prithak //18 //

Drupada and the sons of Draupadi, O Lord of the  earth, and the son of Subhadra, the mighty armed, blew their respective  conches.

sa ghosho  dhaartaraashtraanaam hridayaani vyadaarayat
nabhashcha  prithiveem chaiva tumulo vyanunaadayan   // 19 //

The tumultuous sound of the conches pierced the  hearts of the members of the Dhritarashtra's side, making both the sky and  earth resound.

Bhishma  understood the mental agony of Duryodhana. In order to cheer him up he roared  like a lion and blew his conch which was misunderstood as a signal for  commencement of war.  The Kaurava army  blared forth their various conches and martial musical instruments signifying  the declaration of war from the side of Kauravas.

In  these verses Sanjaya had given the reaction of Pandavas to the war-cry raised  from the opposite side and the names of various conches blown by the respective  heroes.   The most famous among them is the conch  `Panchajanya' blown by Krishna.  The  uproar seemed to penetrate the hearts of Kauravas deeply and abnormally because  of their guilty conscience.

Metaphorically,  the chariot represents the human gross body, the horses are the senses and  their reins are the mind that controls the senses. The charioteer is the  guiding spirit or the Self or Atman in the human beings.  Bhagavan Sri Krishna, the divine charioteer,  is the Self in all of us.

By  addressing Dhritarashtra as the lord of the earth (Verse 18) and hinting about  the superiority of the Pandava side Sanjaya implied that as the ruling monarch  he would take a decision even at that catastrophic moment to preserve the  integrity of the country from the impending ruinous warfare. But that was not  to be.

Arjuna’s desire to survey the two armies

atha  vyavasthitaan drishtwaa dhaartaraashtraan kapidhwajah
pravritte  shastrasampaate dhanurudyamya paandavah   // 20 //

hrisheekesham  tadaa vaakyamidamaaha maheepate - 21

Then, O Lord of the earth, seeing Dhritarashtra's men  being positioned and discharge of weapons about to begin, Pandava (Arjuna),  whose ensign was Hanuman, raising his bow, spoke the following words to  Krishna.

The  critical situation prevailing just at that moment when the war was about to  begin was described.  The hero of  Mahabharata war, Arjuna, arrived at the battlefield.  Tension prevailed everywhere.  Crisis was at its zenith.

Arjuna  appeared impatient to fire the shot.  He  raised his bow to position it and at that crucial juncture he spoke to Krishna  the following words which turned out to be historic as the starting point for  the dialogue between them in the form of the great Srimad Bhagavad Gita.

Arjuna  uvaacha

senayor  ubhayormadhye ratham sthaapaya me'chyuta   // 21 //

yaavad etaan  nireekshe'ham yoddhukaamaan avasthitaan
kair mayaa  saha yoddhavyam asmin ranasamudyame  //  22 //

Arjuna said
O Achyuta (Krishna) place my chariot in between  both the armies so that I may survey those who stand here eager to fight.  Let me know on the eve of this battle with  whom I have to fight.

yotsyamaanaan  avekshe'ham ya ete'tra samaagataah
dhaartaraashtrasya  durbuddher yuddhe priyachikeershavah // 23 //

For, I desire to have a glance at those who are  assembled here to fight, wishing to please the perverted son of Dhritarashtra.

Arjuna  thus expressed his bravery, readiness, impatience, gallantry and determination  to face the battle.  This is an important  stage in the story because up to this time Arjuna was an invincible hero full  of self-confidence and enthusiasm with no signs of mental aberrations. However,  a little later he became a completely changed personality.

 

 

Sri Krishna enters the scene

 

 

 
  sanjaya  uvaacha
  evamukto hrisheekesho gudaakeshena bhaarata
  senayor ubhayormadhye sthaapayitwaa rathottamam // 24 //

  bheeshma drona pramukhatah sarveshaam cha maheekshitam
  uvaacha paartha pashyaitaan samavetaan kuroon iti   // 25 //

Sanjaya said
O Bharata (Dhritarashtra), thus requested by  Gudakesha (Arjuna), Hrishikesha  placed  the magnificent chariot between the two armies in front of Bhishma and Drona  and the other rulers of the earth and said `O Partha (Arjuna), behold all these  Kurus assembled here'.

Gudakesha,  one who has controlled sleep i.e. Arjuna. It implies that once a goal is set by  him he will not rest contended till it is achieved.  Partha means the son of Prtha (Kunti) i.e.  Arjuna. Krishna placed his chariot with sagacity at such a point wherefrom  Arjuna could see clearly his kinsman, Bhishma and preceptor, Drona and other  kings and warriors of Kaurava side.

As  a dutiful driver Krishna told Arjuna `Behold, O Arjuna, all the Kauravas  gathered here'.  These are the only words  spoken by Krishna in the first chapter of the Gita which proved to be a spark  to ignite the process of burning down the false perceptions of the mighty  Arjuna.

What  did Arjuna see?

tatraa  pashyat sthitaan paarthah pitrin atha pitaamahaan
aacharyaan  maatulaan bhraatrun putraan pautraan sakheemstathaa //26 //

Then Arjuna saw stationed there in the armies, uncles,  grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons and friends  too.

shvashuraan  suhridashchaiva  senayorubhayorapi
taan  sameekshya sa kaunteyah sarvaan bandhoon avasthitaan //27 //

kripayaa  parayaa'vishto visheedannidam abraveet - 28

He saw fathers-in-law and friends also in both  armies.  Kaunteya (son of Kunti) i.e.  Arjuna seeing all these relatives arrayed there, became overwhelmed by supreme  compassion and said this sorrowfully.

Arjuna  seeing his elders and other relations, teachers, friends and well wishers  arrayed in the battle ready to fight suddenly developed extreme self-pity and  compassion.  His manliness gave way to  faint-heartedness thinking about consequences that will follow in waging the  war with his kinsmen which will result in destroying his own race.

The  valiant hero, Arjuna, transformed himself into a kinsman of the opposite side  i.e. as a son, a brother, a student etc.  This change of disposition was verily  spontaneous. It was not due to any discrimination, but on account of the very  absence of it and because of an erroneous understanding called delusion and  mental confusion called grief which prevents right perception of the situation.

Arjuna’s  Reaction

 

arjuna  uvaacha
drishtwe mam  swajanam krishna yuyutsum samupasthitam // 28 //

Arjuna said
O Krishna, seeing these relatives and friends gathered  here eager to fight,

seedanti mama  gaatraani mukham cha parishushyati
vepathushcha  shareere me romaharshashcha jaayate  //  29//

My limbs fail me and my mouth gets parched up, my  body trembles and my hairs stand on end.

gaandeevam  sramsate hastaat twak chaiva paridahyate
na cha  shaknomyavasthaatum bhramateeva cha me manah // 30 //

The Gandiva (bow) slips from my hand and my skin  burns all over; I am unable even to stand steady and my mind is reeling.

nimittaani  cha pashyaami vipareetaani keshava
na cha  shreyo'nupashyaami hatwaa swajanam aahave // 31 //

And I see evil omens, O Kesava (Krishna), I do not  see any good in killing my own people in this battle.

Arjuna's  attention to omens indicates that his mental strength had gone down.  It started showing its weakness and  instability. The world he was seeing till a short while ago, now presented him  with a different picture on account of his change of perception. Subjectivity  replaced objectivity on account of his mental confusion.  Losing self-control, he landed in the abyss  of ignorance. His words make us think of the loneliness of man oppressed by  doubts and emptiness from whom the comforts of human life are slipping away.  This sadness is the first experience of those who aspire for the vision of the  Reality.

Arjuna’s  Anguish

na kaangkshe  vijayam krishna na cha raajyam sukhaani cha
kim no  raajyena govinda kim bhogair jeevitena vaa // 32 //

For, I do not desire victory, O, Krishna, or pleasures  or kingdoms.  Of what avail is kingdom to  us O, Govinda (Krishna), or pleasures or even life?

Indifference  to acquisition of worldly pleasures is a sign of ethical and spiritual  progress.  However, Arjuna was far from  it.  It is only his delusion which is masquerading  as mental achievement. It is nothing but a momentary temptation to adopt the  method of renunciation in times of great sorrow and crisis bordering on escapism  from the reality.

yeshaam arthe  kaangkshitam no raajyam bhogaah sukhaani cha
ta  ime'vasthitaa yuddhe praanaams tyaktwaa dhanaani cha // 33 //

Those for whose sake we desire kingdoms, enjoyments  and pleasures, stand here in battle staking their life and wealth.

aachaaryah  pitarah putraastathaiva cha pitaamahaah
maatulaah  shwashuraah pautraah shyaalaah sambandhinas tathaa // 34 //

Teachers, fathers, sons and also grandfathers,  uncles and fathers-in-law, grandsons and brothers-in-law and other relatives

etaan  na hantum icchaami ghnato'pi madhusoodana
api trailokya  raajyasya hetoh kim nu maheekrite // 35 //

O, Madhusudana (Krishna), though these were to kill  me, I do not wish to kill them even for the sake of dominion over the three  worlds, leave alone killing them for the sake of the earth.

nihatya  dhaartaraashtraan nah kaa preetih syaaj janaardana
paapam  evaashrayed asmaan hatwaitaan aatataayinah // 36 //

By killing these sons of Dhritarashtra, what  pleasures can be ours O, Janardana (Krishna)?   Only sin will accrue by killing these felons.

The  term `felon' refers to the one who sets fire to the house of another, runs with  a sword to kill, poisons others, plunders the wealth and land of others or  usurps the wife of somebody else. Duryodhana committed all these crimes against  the Pandavas. According to Artha Sastra no sin is committed if such felons are  killed.  But Arjuna overwhelmed with a  sense of sentimental sympathy for his near and dear ones takes the help of the  general principle of Dharma Sastra which forbids the sin of killing one  another. He is talking in terms of enlightened selfishness.

tasmaan  naarhaa vayam hantum dhaartaraashtraan swabaandhavaan
swajanam hi  katham hatwaa sukhinah syaama maadhava // 37 //

Therefore, we should not kill the sons of  Dhritarashtra, our relatives; for, how can we be happy by killing our own  people, O, Madhava (Krishna)?

yadyapyete na  pashyanti lobhopahatachetasah
kulakshayakritam  dosham mitradrohe cha paatakam  // 38 //

katham na jneyam  asmaabhih paapaad asmaan nivartitum
kulakshayakritam  dosham prapashyadbhir janaardana // 39 //

O Janardana, though with their intelligence  overpowered by greed they do not see any evil or sin in the destruction of  families or hostility towards friends, why should not we who clearly see evil  in the destruction of a family, learn to turn away from this sin.

Arjuna  was reinforcing his arguments for saving the Kaurava desperadoes due to his  attachment for his relatives and friends by putting forward a philosophy of  non-resistance to evil.  Krishna in his  discourses that will follow proved the hollowness of these arguments and their  dangerous implications.

kulakshaye  pranashyanti kuladharmaah sanaatanaah
dharme nashte  kulam kritsnam adharmo'bhibhavatyuta // 40 //

In the destruction of a family, its ancient  religious traditions perish; on the destruction of spirituality, lawlessness  overtakes the whole family.

Dharma  or spirituality means the duties, rites and ceremonies practiced by the family  in accordance with the injunctions of the scriptures. War tends to tear us away  from our natural home surroundings and uproot us from social traditions which  are the essence of the mature will and experience of the people.

adharmaabhibhavaat  krishna pradushyanti kulastriyah
streeshu  dushtaasu vaarshneya jaayate varnasankarah // 41 //

And when lawlessness prevails, O Krishna, the women  of the family become corrupt and when women become corrupted it results in intermingling  of castes O, Varshneya (Krishna- the descendent of Vrshni clan). The idea is  that when women are associated with their husbands who flouted their family  traditions of righteousness, they may also feel emboldened to commit  transgressions.

sankaro  narakaayaiva kulaghnaanaam kulasya cha
patanti  pitaro hyeshaam luptapindodaka kriyaah   // 42 //

Admixture of castes leads the family and the  slayers of the family to hell because the spirits of their ancestors fall,  deprived of the offerings of rice and water.

doshair etaih  kulaghnaanaam varnasankarakaarakaih
utsaadyante  jaatidharmaah kuladharmaashcha shaashwataah // 43 //

By these evil deeds of the destroyers of the  family, which cause confusion of castes, the traditional duties of the caste  and the family are destroyed.

utsannakuladharmaanaam  manushyaanaam janaardana
narake  niyatam vaaso bhavateetyanushushruma  //  44 //

O, Janardana, we have heard that dwelling in hell  for an infinite period is inevitable for those people whose family duties have  been destroyed.

Arjuna  argued that impiety will predominate in the families because the death of the  experienced persons in the battle field will leave none to control and guide  them in good conduct and right behavior. This would lead to the womenfolk of  these families going astray causing intermingling of castes.

The  word `caste' meant a division of society based on one's mental tendencies and  qualifications for taking up a particular type of work or avocation in the  community. The division of society was never intended to be based on mere  accident of birth. Therefore admixture of castes implies people choosing their avocations  not suitable to their own inherent aptitude and tendencies resulting in the loss  of  professional ethics and excellence.

With  the intermingling of castes, progeny would not perform `Sraaddha' ceremonies to  their deceased ancestors which would cause them a downfall in the other  world.  It was feared that the traditions  of the individual families called Kula Dharma and those of a social  group called Jati Dharma or Varna Dharma might get disturbed due to  social upheaval as a consequence of war.

The  import of Arjuna’s arguments was that when the fundamental harmony of the  domestic life gets broken, when purity of living and sanctity of thought were  destroyed, when the ideals enshrined in immemorial traditions were shattered,  when the social equilibrium is disturbed, chaos alone will reign supreme in the  world..

aho bata  mahat paapam kartum vyavasitaa vayam
yadraajya  sukhalobhena hantum swajanam udyataah  //  45 //

yadi maam  aprateekaaram ashastram shastrapaanayah
dhaartaraashtraa  rane hanyus tanme kshemataram bhavet // 46 //

Alas, what a pity that we  have resolved to commit a great sin by being eager to kill our own kith and kin  out of greed for the pleasures of a kingdom !  It would, indeed be better for me if the sons of  Dhritarashtra, armed with weapons, were to kill me in the battle while I remain  unarmed and unresisting.

The idea is that instead of committing the heinous  sin of killing his own relatives and friends, Arjuna feels that purification from  even such a thought itself will come from the amends in the form of an end to  his own life itself.

Arjuna,  exhibiting lack of self- confidence, became a victim of emotions instead of a  master of the situation.  In his weak  state of mind he was imputing ulterior motives to a righteous war which he  himself was stoutly defending up to the very day it was to start. He went to  the extent of telling Krishna that non-injury was a virtue preferable to  defending oneself against other's attacks. He was not aware that his  attachment, selfishness and delusions were responsible for his  faint-heartedness and cold-feet in the face of a crisis. His despondency  ultimately culminated in meek pulling out from the situation in which he finds  himself.

Confounded and Distressed, Arjuna collapses

sanjaya  uvaacha
evamuktwaa'rjunah  sankhye rathopastha upaavishat
visrijya  sasharam chaapam shokasamvignamaanasah // 47 //

Sanjaya said
Having spoken thus in the midst of the battlefield,  Arjuna, throwing away his bow and arrows, sank into the seat of the chariot, with  his mind afflicted by sorrow.

Arjuna  finally decided not to fight.  He threw  away his arms and sank into his seat. This is really strange for a warrior of  Arjuna's caliber.  For all these  outpourings, Krishna did not respond. The Lord allowed him to exhaust himself  so that the message He was going to deliver shortly to Arjuna and through him  to the entire humanity would be fully effective.

om tat sat
iti srimad bhagavadgeetaasu upanishatsu brahma  vidyaayaam yogashaastre
sri krishnaarjuna samvaade arjuna vishaada yogo  naama prathamo'dyaayah||

Thus  in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal,  the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the  first discourse entitled: The  Yoga   of the Despondency of Arjuna

When the Gods deal defeat to a person, they first take his mind away,  so that he sees things wrongly. Time does not raise a stick and hit a man's  head; the power of Time is just this topsy-turvy view of things.
  -- Dhritarashtra (Mahabharata - The Book of the  Assembly Hall)

Concepts and Issues

We  have studied the text of the 1st Chapter last time. We shall now  have a critical look at it. As we take up our seats in the comfortable opera  house at Kurukshetra, the panorama unfolding before us on the stage is the  gigantic field of the battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. While the  text mentions the names of a number of characters about to play their roles on  both the sides, we are concerned with only three of them for our critical  evaluation. They are 1. King Dhritarashtra 2. The valiant Arjuna and 3.  Bhagavan Sri Krishna, who assumed the role of a charioteer to Arjuna.

If  we analyze their mindsets we automatically understand the concepts and issues involved  and their complexity. The immortal appeal of the Gita lies in the guided tour  the Jagad Guru, Sri Krishna, takes us through the annoying wide-spread pot-holes  of ignorance (lack of right knowledge, avidya in Sanskrit) on the road and  who ultimately makes it possible for us to reach the destination of  enlightenment, free from the shackles of bondage. This journey from darkness to  light is definitely exasperating at times but yet manageable.

Dhritarashtra

Dhritarashtra  already heard several reasons for the likely victory of the Pandavas. He was  afraid of the possibility of loss of kingdom for his own sons, the Kauravas. He  therefore asks Sanjaya “what did my sons, Duryodhana and others, as well as  Pandu's sons, Yudhishthira and others, actually do on the battlefield at  Kurukshetra? Did they undertake the war according to their earlier plan for  fighting or did they act otherwise or do something else as a result of sagging  of the will to fight due to some reason?

Apart  from the inbuilt fear complex in the mind of Dhritarashtra, a significant  aspect of his question is his making a distinction between his own sons and the  sons of Pandu. Although the question in the form ‘What did my sons do?’ would  have been sufficient, he, by separately mentioning his sons and Pandu’s sons  exhibits an absence of family homogeneity and harmony in his mind.

The  image of the King here is that he is not only physically blind but also is  deprived of the vision of personal kindness and a human touch and inclusiveness.  He is engrossed totally in his affection exclusively towards his sons.

In the entire Gita  this is the only verse which the old king Dhritarashtra gives out. All the rest  of the seven hundred stanzas are Sanjaya's report on what happened on the  Kurukshetra battlefield, just before the war.

The old king is  certainly conscious of the palpable injustices that he had done to his nephews,  the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra knew the relative strength of the two armies, and  therefore, was fully confident of the larger strength of his son's army. And  yet, the viciousness of his past and the consciousness of the crimes  perpetrated seem to be weighing heavily upon his heart, and so he has his own misgivings  on the final outcome.

Dhritarashtra is  physically blind. But passion and desire do not disappear with the absence of  sight. Even if all the sense organs were lost, the desires hidden within the  mind would not vanish and so his mind is curious, eager and troubled to know  what is happening on the battlefield.

Arjuna

Arjuna  is intelligent and where there is intelligence there is doubt and where there  is doubt there is dilemma. Arjuna is rational and where there is rationality,  there lies the capacity to think from a totally different perspective. Where  one has these qualities, it is difficult to enter into a dangerous situation  like war with closed eyes.

Remember  that life does not end the same way as it begins; the end is always unknown and  invisible. In this war Duryodhana’s focus was entirely on Bheema. He overlooked  the fact that Krishna was on the side of Pandavas and particularly as the  charioteer of Arjuna. He could not visualize that Krishna would retrieve Arjuna  from his shortcomings and consequently the whole story took a different turn  and Duryodhana lost.

Arjuna  requested Krishna to place his chariot between the two armies so that he can  observe with whom he has to fight. The points to be noted here are:

Once  observation starts, analysis is not far too behind and analysis always leads to  wavering of mind. So Arjuna analyses the question to fight or not to fight and  comes to the conclusion that he should not fight. In all his arguments in  support of that conclusion he puts forward several pleadings which apparently  look valid and very wise but in fact are very hollow as Krishna proves them to  be subsequently.

At  this stage although it looks that Arjuna is not obsessed with war, he is not  against war either and has no aversion to violence. All his life he fought many  wars and his whole life’s education and training and his lifelong conditioning  is all violence and war. Then why he turns his face against war? We have to  understand this paradoxical situation very clearly because this is the very  seed for all the teachings contained in the Bhagavad Gita. Had there not been  this ironical situation, the Bhagavad Gita would not have come into existence.

Arjuna  Syndrome - Origin and Cure

Arjuna  was overpowered by an emotional upheaval. He suddenly started exhibiting  several symptoms of weakness both physically and psychologically. He was  afflicted with great depression of mind masquerading as compassion. Arjuna  himself described his physical symptoms in graphic terms. It was of the nature  of a Fever of Unknown Origin (F.U.O.) or a Bhava-roga in Sanskrit. This  disease is the oldest known to human kind. Its origin is traced to ajnana or avidya or ignorance in the Vedanta of Hinduism. The divine potion or  elixir (amrita) that cures this disease is Jnana or Knowledge,  grace of God, issuing from self-surrender, prayer and freedom from desire (bhakti,  sharnagati, prapatti, nirvasana) and so on.

What  makes the Gita, a unique medicine of bhava-roga is that it contains all  the ingredients stated above, fit to be consumed by peoples of all ages,  climes, genders - monastic or lay. The Arjuna syndrome, analyzed and diagnosed  by the master physician Sri Krishna is the starting point of the preparation of  this unique brew.

Adi  Shankaracharya’s description of the Arjuna syndrome is simple and remarkable.  It is not that Arjuna was unwilling to do his duty as the Army General when he  came for war. Arjuna is a picture of courage and self-confidence before the  war. In the verses 21 and 22 of the 1st chapter he roars like an  impatient lion waiting to pounce on its prey.

Afterwards,  Arjuna’s mood suddenly changes. At what point of time and for what reasons did  he become a victim of the Arjuna syndrome?

Verses  28-46 of the 1st Chapter, if properly analyzed word for word, give  us the clue. Arjuna saw in the huge armies his own people, (svajana)-fathers,  grandfathers, brothers, teachers, friends etc., and was overcome with pity. The  key word here is svajana, people who are one’s very own. It may  be noted that Arjuna uses the word ‘svajana’ four times in these verses.  Arjuna’s lament and depression are rooted in this feeling of svajanatva - one’s own-ness. Arjuna’s ego that strongly felt this attachment engendered by  possessiveness - own ness or svajanatva- plunged him into the abyss of sorrow  and delusion (shoka and moha)

This  pathological aberration of Arjuna can be traced to psychological roots that  define the Arjuna syndrome. Arjuna displayed feelings of grief and delusion  caused by ignorance and confused understanding and his attachment for and the  sense of separation from dominion, the elders, sons, friends, kinsmen,  relatives - all these arising from the notion that ‘I am theirs and they  are mine’. It was when discriminative faculty (knowledge) was thus over  powered by grief and delusion that Arjuna, who had of himself naturally and  spontaneously been engaged in battle as warrior’s duty, abstained from fighting  and prepared to lead a mendicant’s life which was a duty alien to him.

It  is thus that in the case of all creatures whose minds come under the sway of  the defects of sorrow, delusion, etc. there verily follows, as a matter of  course, abandoning their own duties and resorting to prohibited ones.

Even  when they engage in their own duties their conduct in speech, thought and deed  is certainly motivated by hankering for rewards, and is accompanied by egoism.  Egoism consists in thinking that one is the agent of some work and therefore the  enjoyer of its reward.

Such  being the case, the cycle of births and deaths, characterized by passing  through desirable and undesirable births, and meeting with happiness, sorrow,  etc. from the accumulation of virtue and vice, continues unendingly. Thus,  sorrow and delusion are the sources of the cycles of births and deaths. Their  cessation comes from nothing other than the knowledge of the Self which is  preceded by the renunciation of all attachment to duties. Hence, wishing to  impart that (knowledge of the Self) for the welfare of the whole world, Lord  Vasudeva, making Arjuna the medium, said, 'You grieve for those who are not to  be grieved for,' etc. (Chapter 2)

Thus  the Arjuna syndrome analyzed could be reduced to the following flow-chart. Ignorance --> confused understanding --> feeling of I and Mine (ahamkara and mamakara) --> sorrow and delusion (shoka and moha) --> overpowering of discriminative faculty --> abandoning one’s own duty (svadharma) and  adopting alien duty (para dharma), even in own duty craving for reward  and egoism -->accumulation of merit and demerit ( dharma and adharma) --> endless cycle of birth and death, samsara, consisting  of  getting the experiences of the  desirable and the undesirable, pleasure and pain.

The  remedy prescribed by Krishna is Self-Knowledge (atma jnana) which He  starts unfolding from the verse 11 of the 2nd chapter. This is the greatest  relevance of the Bhagavad Gita for the modern world particularly to the youth -  stress filled, strife torn, panic stricken, and conflict ridden, modern world. Atma  jnana is the source of strength, infinite power, eternal knowledge and  wisdom.

Like  Arjuna we too are weak, we too have no will. The will has been lost in our  never-ending debate ‘What to do and what not to do? What is proper and what is  improper?’  All the ground beneath our  feet is slipping like quick-sand. The Arjuna in us is in suspended animation,  is in limbo. We too require a shock treatment.

Krishna  is holding Arjuna’s hands and starting to resolve his problems from the very  place where Arjuna is. That is why the Gita is very dynamic psychological  system. As Arjuna evolves step by step the Gita also rises and unfolds  gradually. Krishna reforms Arjuna at Arjuna’s level. All the time in the Gita,  Arjuna is the focus and not Krishna.

Krishna, the Master Strategist

It  is better to quote Swami Vivekananda here. He says: “I have heard about  Krishna’s life. I take it for granted there must have been a man called  Krishna, and his Gita shows he has left a wonderful book. He is the most  rounded man I know of, wonderfully developed, equally in brain, heart and hand.  Every movement of his is alive with activity, either as a gentleman, warrior,  minister or something else. Great as a gentleman, as a scholar, as a poet. This  all-rounded and wonderful activity and combination of brain and heart you see  in the Gita and other books. Most wonderful heart, exquisite language and  nothing can approach it anywhere.

In  Krishna we find two ideas stand supreme in his message. The first is the  harmony of different ideas and the second is non-attachment. A man can attain  to perfection, the highest goal, sitting on a throne, commanding armies,  working out big plans for nations. In fact, Krishna’s great sermon was preached  on the battlefield!

How  hard it is to arrive at this sort of non-attachment? Therefore Krishna shows us  the lower ways and methods. The easiest way for every one is to do his or her  work and not take the results. It is our desire that binds us. If we take the  results of actions, whether good or evil, we will have to bear them. But if we  work not for ourselves, but all for the glory of the Lord, the results will  take care of themselves. To work you have the right, but not to the fruits thereof.  The soldier works for no results. He does his duty. If defeat comes, it belongs  to the General and not to the soldier. We do our duty for love’s sake-love for  the General, love for the Lord”.

With  such a kind of the Charioteer guiding the eminent soldier Arjuna, let us see  what strategy Krishna adopted in the very first scene of the Gita to achieve  the purpose of his avatar, his descent from the Vaikuntha.

When  Arjuna asked Krishna to place his chariot between the two armies, Krishna  placed it with his sagacity, at such a point from where his kinsmen such as  Bhishma, teachers like Drona and other chief kings and warriors of the Kaurava  army, could be clearly seen. After keeping the chariot at a crucial spot he  told Arjuna, “O Partha (the son of Prtha, Kunti, and Krishna’s aunt) behold all  these Kurus, assembled here”. This statement has got a deep significance.

In  the word ‘Kuru’, the sons of both Dhritarashtra and Pandu are included because  of both of them belong to the Kuru lineage.. Krishna by saying ‘behold all  these Kurus assembled here’ means that they are all one, whether they are on  his side or opposite side and whether they are good or bad and thus a feeling  of kinship may develop in Arjuna.  This  feeling of kinship may lead to attachment and make him inquisitive. Thus, by  making Arjuna an instrument, Krishna wants to preach the gospel of the Gita for  the humanity as a whole. Therefore, Krishna instead of using the word  ‘Dhartarashtran’ used the word ‘Kurun’. Had he used the former word, Arjuna  would have become enthusiastic (as could be observed from Arjuna’s dialogues  using this word) and there would not have been any chance to expound the Gita.
 
Krishna  considered his duty to destroy Arjuna’s delusion by first arousing it and then  destroying it as in the case of certain medical procedures for achieving his  avowed purpose of establishing and protecting Dharma in the world through his several  incarnations.

The  relationship between Arjuna and Krishna in this scene is that of a car owner  and his driver. The driver just drives the car to the place where its owner  wants him to go. The driver does not question the owner or pass any comments on  the owner’s instructions or wish. But here Krishna tells or directs Arjuna  “Behold these Kurus”. There is no need for these remarks as Arjuna will see the  assembled warriors anyway and Krishna could have placed the chariot without  uttering any words. But he intentionally used the words ‘Kurun Pasya’ to  arouse attachment in Arjuna.

The  main reason of Arjuna’s grief is that when Krishna placed the chariot between  the two armies and asked Arjuna to behold the Kauravas, he saw his relatives,  teachers and friends etc. and thus his sense of attachment was aroused. He  perceives good in turning away from war and overwhelmed with grief he sinks  into the chariot laying down his arms. Thus we see that it is delusion which  changes a hero’s great courage into anxiety and worry state neurosis.

Dr.S.Radhakrishnan  says that Arjuna’s cry or demand was simple yet tremendous and damaging one,  “significant of the tragedy of man, which all, who can see beyond the actual  drama of the hour, can recognize. The mood of despair in which Arjuna is found  in the 1st Chapter of the Gita is what the mystics call the dark  night of the soul, an essential step in the upward path. Krishna stands for the  voice of God, delivering the message in the thrilling notes, warning Arjuna  against dejection of spirit. As the dialogue proceeds, the dramatic element  disappears. The echoes of the battlefield die away and we have only an  interview between God and man”.

LIVE AS THE GITA TEACHES YOU TO LIVE

The  core teaching of Krishna in the Gita is that where there is virtue there is the  prospect of victory and glorious life, both in this world and hereafter and  wherever there are vice, unrighteousness, injustice and immorality, there is  destruction, physical, moral and spiritual.

The  senses of ‘I’, ‘Me’, and ‘Mine’ are the root of all evils and bondages in the  world and the senses of ‘you’ and ‘your’ bring freedom to the soul. A wise man  is the one who goes beyond the sense of ‘I’, and knows the secret of ‘you’ by  which he gets rid of the senses of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’. As long as we remain selfish  we are caught in the net of desires and the world, so long we shall not be able  to realize the real essence of the Gita. So Krishna says detachment is freedom  and attachment is bondage. Therefore he instructs everybody to perform work  disinterestedly without asking for results thereof because desire for the  result of works is the chain that binds men and drags them into the den of  delusion or maya.

Krishna  represents the realized soul free of all conditioning, capable of seeing the  truth as it is. He is the Self in a state of sat-chit-ananda. Arjuna is  consciousness crumpled by conditioning. The chariot he rides is the body. The  horses are the senses. The two wheels are the desire and destiny. As a  charioteer, Krishna does two things - 1. He helps Arjuna to realize the true  nature of life and 2. He overpowers the forces that threaten social order.

He  classifies all actions into two viz. reaction and response; the former is  guided by one’s ego, motivated by one’s desires and the latter is guided by  one’s intellect motivated by one’s duty. The former focuses on result while the  latter focuses on action. Krishna proves that by responding rather than by  reacting, by maintaining equanimity and not getting provoked by worldly  stimuli, it is possible to satisfy the demands of worldliness, fulfill one’s  obligation to the society, repay one’s debts to ancestors and still attain moksha,  liberation.

The varnashrama dharma categorizes life into four stages to be lived sequentially  viz., brahmacharya, grihasta, vanaparstha and sanyasa. Krishna’s  suggestion is that simultaneous rather than sequential achievement of material  joy and spiritual bliss is possible.

FREQUENTLY  ASKED QUESTIONS

 

1.  Is the Gita a scripture that propagates war?

The  answer is that it is concerned neither with violence nor with non-violence. It  neither condones nor condemns war. The point it makes is to look at the root of  any action. What is the yardstick that makes one war noble and the other ignoble?  It is the motivation behind it - is it the ego or the common welfare based on  justice that distinguishes the two.

Before the battle of Kurukshetra begins, Arjuna asks  Krishna to drive their chariot into the open space between the two armies, so  that he may see the men he must fight with. When Krishna does this, Arjuna recognizes  many of his kinsmen and old friends among the ranks of the enemy. He is  appalled by the realization that he is about to kill those whom he loves better  than life itself. In his despair, he exclaims: ‘I will not fight!’

Krishna’s reply to Arjuna occupies the rest of the book.  It deals not only with Arjuna’s immediate personal problem, but with the whole  nature of action, the meaning of life, and the aims for which man must struggle  here on earth. At the end of their conversation, Arjuna has changed his mind.  He is ready to fight. And the battle begins to fight the evil on the clear  understanding that non-resistance to evil is as good as committing evil.

To understand the Gita, we must first consider what it is  and what it is not. We must consider its setting. Krishna and Arjuna are on a  battlefield. Arjuna is not a dedicated monk but a householder and a warrior by  birth and profession. His problem is considered in relation to the  circumstances of the moment.

In the background of Gita is a war, between two families,  ready to start. Arjuna the main hero on one side looks at the family members,  elders and friends on the other side and experiences a strong sense of  frustration for infighting in the family. Although he was a great warrior, he  merely broke-down by thinking on the utter futility of this war and in that  moment of depression he asks his mentor about what he should do.

 

 The answer given by Shri Krishna is equally unexpected.  He says “your present reluctance to fight is illusion. Your problem is not  regarding the fight as such but the fight against what you call my relatives,  my brothers, my friends”. Krishna says that “your real fight has to be against  ‘I' and 'My’ rather than the fight outside”. It is in this context of how to  come out of our ego i.e. ‘ I ‘ and the result of the ego ‘My' that all the  other seventeen chapters have been strung into one garland..

In teaching Arjuna, Krishna employs two sets of values,  the relative and the absolute. He begins by dealing with Arjuna’s feelings of  revulsion, on general grounds. Arjuna shrinks from the act of killing. Krishna  reminds him that, in the absolute sense, there is no such act called killing.  The Atman, the indwelling Godhead (soul) is the only reality. This body is  simply an appearance; its existence, its destruction, is likewise, illusory.

Having said this, Krishna goes on to discuss Arjuna’s  individual problem. For Arjuna, a member of the warrior caste, the fighting of  this battle is undoubtedly ‘righteous’. His cause is just. To defend it is his  duty. Running away from the battle is avoiding duty and escapism.

Socially the caste system is graded, but spiritually,  there are no such distinctions. Everyone, says Krishna, can attain the highest  sainthood by following the prescribed path of his own caste duty. There have  been instances of men everywhere who grew into spiritual giants while carrying  out their duties as merchants, peasants, doctors, priests, or kings.

In the purely physical sphere of action, Arjuna is,  indeed, no longer a free agent. The act of war is upon him; it has evolved out  of his previous actions. It is his svadharma. At any given moment in  time, we are what we are; and we have to accept the consequences of being  ourselves. Only through this acceptance can we begin to evolve further. We may  select the battleground. We cannot avoid the battle.

Arjuna is bound to act, but he is still free to make his  choice between two different ways of performing that action. In general,  mankind almost always acts with attachment; that is to say, with desire and  fear. Desire for a certain result and fear that this result will not be  obtained. Actions with attachments bind us to the world of appearances; to the  continual doing of more actions.

But there is another way of performing action, and this  is without desire and without fear. The doer of the non-attached actions is the  most conscientious of men. Freed from desire and fear, he offers everything he  does as a sacrament of devotion to his duty (surrenders all his actions to the  Lord). All work becomes equally and vitally important. It is only toward the  results of work- success or failure, praise or blame- that he remains  indifferent. When action is done in this spirit, Krishna teaches, it will lead  to the knowledge of what is behind action, behind all life; the ultimate  Reality. And, with the growth of this knowledge, the need for further action  will gradually fall away from us. We shall realize our true nature, which is God, sat-chit-ananda.
  It follows, therefore, that every action, under certain  circumstances and for certain people, may be a stepping-stone to spiritual  growth – if it is done in the spirit of non-attachment. All good and all evil  is relative to the individual point of growth. For each individual, certain  acts are absolutely wrong. Indeed, there may well be acts that are absolutely  wrong for every individual alive on earth today. But, in the highest sense,  there can be neither good nor evil. Krishna, therefore speaking as God Himself,  advises Arjuna to fight. The Gita thus neither sanctions war nor condemns it.  Regarding no action as of absolute value, either for good or for evil, it  cannot possibly do either. (Swami Prabhavananda).

Dharma and satya were at stake in Kurukshetra. So,  preventing adharma from gaining victory over dharma was the  purpose of Mahabharata war and fighting for dharma against adharma is the message of Gita.

However, we have forgotten this message of Gita and have  distorted it in the name of ahimsa as our dharma unconditionally.  Our dharma was satya (truth), and our duty was to fight and protect dharma and  satya from every enemy. Dharmao rakshati rakshitah - dharma protects  those who protect it - is our creed. And violence was not prohibited in this  fight for satya and dharma. Otherwise Rama would not have killed Vali or  Ravana. Actually, violence committed for ensuring dharma by a kshatriya is no  violence. That is why Krishna asks Arjuna  in each and every chapter of the Gita “Arise Arjuna, pick up your weapon and fight to defeat  adharma”. So, we will have to hear the teachings of Krishna if we want to  prevent the down sliding of the humanity.

To sum up, war is justified only when it is meant to  fight evil and injustice and not for the purpose of self aggrandizement.

2.  How such a long discourse like the Gita took place in the midst of two  impatient armies ready to fight it out?

The  rules of time and space as we understand them today were not applicable to the  age when the Mahabharata war took place during which the discourse was delivered  by God. What seems to us a long dialogue must have taken place in the blink of  an eye on the battlefield!  We come  across many stories indicating that silence is more powerful and penetrating  than speech and a teacher taught his students by maintaining silence - thought  transference or telepathy. These instances might be a pre-cursor to the modern developments  in the field of information technology.

3.  This chapter is entitled “Arjuna Vishaada Yogah: The Yoga of Arjuna’s  despondency”. How despondency or grief can be yoga?

The  word Yoga means to join. Any conscious attempt on the part of an individual to lift his  present personality and attune it to a higher, perfect ideal is called Yoga.  The title of this chapter is  self-contradictory. It is named as the Vishaada Yoga or Yoga of  Arjuna's grief, depression.   If 'grief'  could be Yoga, everybody on the earth would be Yogins. It cannot be so  for obvious reasons.

Arjuna’s  condition of utter despair is the most appropriate mental attitude wherein the  seeds of the Gita can be ideally sown for their glorious flowering. The  scriptural texts by themselves cannot help any one unless the seeker’s mental  condition is prepared to absorb their teachings. Therefore, even the initial  mental condition of Arjuna is called as Yoga as this darkness of the  soul is an essential step in the progress to spiritual life.

“Most of us go  through life without facing the ultimate questions. It is in rare crises, when  our ambitions lie in ruins at our feet, when we realize in remorse and agony  the sad mess we have made of our lives, we cry out “Why we are here? What does  all this mean? Where do we go from here? My God, why have you forsaken me?”  Draupadi cries “I have no husbands, no sons, no kinsmen, no brothers, and no  father, not even You, O Krishna”.  Arjuna  passes through great spiritual tension. When he detaches from his social  obligations and asks why he should carry out the duty expected of him by  society, he gets behind his socialized self and has full awareness of himself  as an individual alone and isolated. He faces the world as a stranger thrown  into a threatening chaos. The new freedom creates a deep feeling of anxiety,  aloneness, doubt and insecurity. If he is to function successfully, these  feelings must be overcome”. - Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

Thus for  learning and living the Gita, the Arjuna-Syndrome is the initial Sadhana,  a pre-requisite and hence his grief is considered as Yoga.

4. Why in the  courts of law in India does one take the oath by putting one’s hand on the Gita  and not on the other scriptures like the Ramayana?

The main reason  for this practice is that the avatar of Krishna is considered as Purnavatar i.e. a complete and perfect incarnation.   Krishna is multi-dimensional, touching all aspects of human personality  while Rama is a maryada purushottam. The dictionary meanings of the word maryada are mark, landmark, boundary, limit,  end, goal, strictly defined relation, bounds of morality, moral law. Thus maryada  purushottam implies a uni-dimensional nature possessing one note and  hence its appeal is bound by the limits of such nature while Krishna’s appeal is  universal. A thief, a dancer, a Gopika, a cow-herd, a warrior, an enemy, a rakshasa and of course a jnani, a saint uniformly are crazy about him from their  own points of view.

Krishna is like  an orchestra where many instruments are simultaneously played and each one is  bound to fall in love with the note emanating from the instrument he likes.  That is the reason why all people like some part of Krishna and nobody knows  the whole of Him as the Gita itself says. To put it in terms of music  performances, Rama tattva is like a solo performance while Krishna  tattva is like a jugalbandi with a bout of sawal-jawab.

Generally only  disputants go to the courts of Law. If anybody really swears by or believes in  Rama he would never go there. For him courts are redundant. But a person coming  before a court can love Krishna because Krishna is accessible even to the sinners  and opens the doors for criminals also as the Gita puts it. Therefore it is the  practice to use the Gita text for the purpose of taking oath. However, opinions  on this point may differ.

POINTS  TO PONDER

1.  Explain the significance of the background in which the message of Gita was  delivered by Sri Krishna.
2.  Explain the psychological condition of Duryodhana in the battlefield.
3.  What was the reason for Arjuna's grief and despondency?
4.  What were the arguments put forward by Arjuna to support his view for not  fighting the battle?
5.  Explain the central philosophy of the Gita.
6.  Short notes on:

• 1. Dharmakshetra- Kurukshetra
• 2. Panchajanya
• 3. Devadatta
• 4. Significance of Arjuna's chariot and its charioteer
• 5. Arjuna syndrome and Krishna cure.

HARIH OM