Bhagvad Gita

We will try to cover Chapter 1 and 2.

Chapter one introduces the scene, the setting, the circumstances and the characters involved determining the reasons for the Bhagavad-Gita's revelation. The scene is the sacred plain of Kuruksetra. The setting is a battlefield. The circumstances is war between Pandavas and Kauravas who are cousins. The main characters are the Supreme Lord Krishna (also known as Govinda, Madhusudana, Janardana and Vasudeva) and Prince Arjuna (also known as Partha, Dananjaya,Bharata and Son of Kunti) , witnessed by four million soldiers led by their respective military commanders.

After naming the principal warriors on both sides, Arjuna’s growing dejection is described due to the fear of losing friends and relatives in the course of the impending war and the subsequent sins attached to such actions. Thus this chapter is entitled: Lamenting the Consequence of War. We will present the translation of a few verses which depicts the conflict Arjuna is facing.

Arjuna says

"O Govinda, of what avail to us are a kingdom, happiness or even life itself when all those for whom we may desire them are now arrayed on this battlefield? O Madhusudana, when teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives are ready to give up their lives and properties and are standing before me, why should I wish to kill them, even though they might otherwise kill me? O maintainer of all living entities, I am not prepared to fight with them even in exchange for the three worlds, let alone this earth. What pleasure will we derive from killing the sons of Dhritarashtra?"

"Sin will overcome us if we slay such aggressors. Therefore it is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra and our friends. What should we gain, O Krishna, husband of the goddess of fortune, and how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?

"O Janardana, although these men, their hearts overtaken by greed, see no fault in killing one’s family or quarreling with friends, why should we, who can see the crime in destroying a family, engage in these acts of sin?"

Commentary

It may be argued to Arjuna that if he does not slay his enemies due to feeling compassion for them, then they out of greed for power will surely slay him; therefore it would be better for him to slay them and enjoy sovereignty. This is answered in a verse and a half beginning

with: I do not like etc. Even if they kill us I do not like to kill them even for attaining the sovereignty of all the three worlds much less for gaining only this earth.

The Vedic scriptures declare that those who commit the following six types of crimes being : arson, poisoning, assaulting with weapons, stealing ones wealth, usurping ones land or kidnapping one's wife are aggressors and Duryodhana and the Kauravas were definitely aggressors having committed all six offences against the Pandavas beginning with arson. The slaying of aggressors is justifiable and the Vedic scriptures state that one should slay an aggressor coming with the intention of committing a criminal act without hesitation and that the slayer of such an aggressor incurs no sin whatsoever. . The text which states one should kill belongs to what is called an Artha Sastra which is a scripture dealing with the rules and laws regarding wealth. Artha Sastra is considered less authoritative than Dharma Sastra which are scriptures dealing with righteousness. Dharma Sastra is superior to Artha Sastra.

As it is stated by the sage Yagnavalkya: when two scriptures differ the one whose conclusion is the most reasonable and most logical is to be considered superior. This is the understanding. Therefore by the slaying of the Kauravas although they are aggressors, Arjuna is stating that sin shall be incurred because such slaying is unwarranted and unrighteous.

There can be no happiness from this.

Although Duryodhana and the Kauravas being deprived of all discrimination are determined to fight; why should we who are not deprived of discrimination become degraded as well by such sinfulness?

We should resolve not to engage in this battle.

Then in the next verses he goes on to argue how destruction of a dynasty after war causes lack of moral values and decadence in the future generations of the destroyed.

In chapter 2 Arjuna accepts the position as a disciple of Lord Krishna and requests the Lord to instruct him in how to dispel his lamentation and grief. This chapter is often deemed as a summary to entire Bhagavad-Gita. Here many subjects are explained such as: karma yoga, jnana yoga, sankhya yoga, buddih yoga and the atma which is the soul.

Predominance has been given to the immortal nature of the soul existing within all living entities and it has been described in great detail.

Thus this chapter is entitled: The Eternal Reality of the Souls'

Immortality.

Lord Krishna said:

" My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy. O son of Pritha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O subjugator of the enemy”.

Arjuna said:

O (Madhusudana! How shall I counterattack arrows of warriors like Bhishma and Drona on the battlefield? Both of them are worthy of my worship. Better to live in this world begging than to live instead of killing these noble teachers. But after killing these elders (in the opponent army), who are desiring wealth and materialistic gains, definitely in this world we will enjoy only blood contaminated pleasures. We don’t know what is commendable for us, to fight or not to fight. We don’t know whether we will defeat them or they will conquer us. But the matter of grief is, the sons of Dhritarashtra, by killing whom we don’t even wish to live are now standing before us on the battlefield. Due to my weakness, my courageous nature is overwhelmed.

Now I am confused whether I should do my duty or I should live life begging. I ask You to show me the virtuous path that is best for me. I am Your disciple and completely surrender unto You. Instruct me. My mental state is such that even after I obtain unsurpassed kingdom free from enemies on this earth as well as lordship over the demigods in Heaven, I find no means to drive away this grief which shrivels my senses.

After having thus spoken, Arjuna, the Conqueror of Enemies, told Krishna, “I will not fight,” and became silent.

The Lord Krishna said:

Arjuna! You are grieving for those who should not be grieved at. You are mourning for what is not worthy of grief yet speak like a man of wisdom. Wise men lament neither for the living, nor for the dead. There was never a time when you, I and all of these kings did not exist. If you think that our souls will also die along with our bodies then you are wrong. We existed before our birth on this earth and we will remain even after our death. This is also not true that any of us will not be here in the future. As our body continuously passes from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body after death. The physical change in the body doesn’t affect the soul. Wise men do not get bemused by such a change. O Son of Kunti! The interaction of senses and the sense objects give pleasure, happiness, sorrows, cold and heat. These things are temporary like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. The attachment of the senses with these temporary wordly things disturbs mind. O scion of Bharata! Try to tolerate them without being disturbed Know that the abstract entity that pervades the whole body is indestructible as no one is able to cause destruction of that unceasing and eternal soul. This soul is indestructible incombustible. It can neither be wetted nor dried. It is eternal. It is all-prevading, stable, immovable and everlasting. The soul is imperceptible, inconceivable and immutable. You should not grieve after knowing this. Even if you think that the soul undergoes birth and death like a body, there is still no ground for grieving, O mighty-armed.

O Bharata! The souls in our body is not liable to become spoiled or damaged through time and wear. Therefore, you need not grieve, for any human individual.

Considering your obligation as a Kshatriya(warrior), you should know that you cannot deserve more honor and recognition when fighting in response to injustice and as strict observant of morality. So you should not hesitate.

O Partha! Lucky are those Kshatriyas(warriors) who get such an opportunity, which opens for them the doors of the heaven. If you don’t wage this righteous war, then for neglecting your duties, you will incur sin and lose your reputation.

All people will always talk of your infamy which surely is worse and painful than death for a respectable man. The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you insignificant. Your enemies will speak many spiteful and insulting words causing harm to your reputation discrediting your power. What could be more painful than that? So Arjuna! get up and fight.

Fight for the sake of fighting, treating victory and defeat, pleasure and distress, loss or gain alike. By so doing you will not incur any sin.

O Joy of the Kurus ! Ones who are in this blessed path are determined and focused whereas the intelligence of those who are hesitant is multifaceted and diverse.

O Arjuna! Men of less wisdom presume inquisitive anagoges of the Vedas and presume Heaven as the sovereign destination and argue that there is nothing beyond the heaven and the pleasures, they only gratify the statements of the Vedas according to pleasure of their senses.

Preoccupied by desires, they perform numerous rituals producing of good birth, wealth and power for the attainment of pleasure and prosperity.

Minds of those which are mislead by pondering towards sense enjoyment, pleasure and material sumptuousness, and who are amazed by such things don't attain the spiritual intelligence and can not concentrate in God.

Your right is only to perform your prescribed duty, but you never are entitled to its fruits. Do not be motivated of the results of your activities, and do not have any attachment for not doing your duty

O Arjuna! Perform your duties being on the path of yoga leaving behind attachment and remaining even minded in success or failure. Such calm temperament is called yoga.

O Dhananjaya! Actions done with calm temperament are far above than the actions that are done for selfish motives. Remain established in the evenness of mind for those who desire for the fruits of their work are miserly.

By purifying the mind through religious performance, devotees and persons with high morality and wisdom free themselves from the fruits of work and cycles of birth and death and attain the blissful supreme state. When your intelligence, moves out the state of false beliefs then will become indifferent to all that has been heard and what next is yet to be heard.

Commentary

Arjuna was lamenting for his elders Bhishma and Drona whom he revered so much. But the great Bhishma let all the atrocities go by. Instead of intervening as a true Pithamaha ( patriarch) as he was referred to, looked the other way when Duryodana ordered Draupathi’s stripping of robes even though she begged Bhishma to intervene. Although Bhishma and Drona are both always to be respected, as they are superiors and father figures to both the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Why should Bhishma and Drona fight for the unlawful kingdom of the Kauravas on the side of the wicked Duryodhana? Bhisma told Yudhishtra that a man is slave to wealth but wealth is slave to no man; therefore due to accepting wealth he was controlled by the Kauravas. So this proves that killing those controlled by wealth and not righteousness(Dharma) incurs no sin according to Vedic scriptures. Bishma himself has stated that a superior who is degraded by these qualities deserves to be abandoned. The truth that we can derive from all these is, bad things happen when good people look the other way and not intervene for their own benefits or due to indifference. So many atrocities like abuse of kids, women and the downtrodden happen when the so called good people do not act against it. This fact has been stated by great people like Mahatma Gandhi.

Lord Krishna consoled Arjuna with His description of body and soul and how Arjuna will be only destroying the body and not the soul of the people he is lamenting about killing. Also the Lord makes it clear to Arjuna that he should do his duty as a warrior. Not doing so out of misplaced compassion will get him a bad reputation from people who have otherwise held him in high esteem. This is so true even today. Undue compassion to an adversary will be mocked at as being weak and timid.

The enemy is not going to hail such action as compassion.

It may be countered by Arjuna that he was not grieving for those who have died or are living but he was grieving for himself who would be miserable and forlorn by their loss. This is being perfectly answered by the Supreme Lord in this verse. The Lord brought up the subject of sense gratification. That by which the objects of the senses are perceived is called matra or the functions of the senses which are hearing, seeing, smelling, touching and tasting. Their contact with their appropriate objects produces the sensations of hot and cold, loud and soft, sweet and sour and the like. But as they are solely dependent upon external objects and these objects are always coming and going, they are known to be temporary and thus should be tolerated. Just as contact with the different elements of weather such as snow and sunlight by their very nature give rise to cold and heat. Similarly the contact with the objects of the senses gives rise to pleasure and pain for all living entities and as theses contacts are transitory being temporary, one being situated in spiritual knowledge should with fortitude tolerate them and not succumb to lamentation or exaltation because of them.

In summary Lord Krishna states that a man with wisdom and devotion performs his duties with a calm mind without being affected by undue emotions or expectation of any selfish rewards. He acts mainly to attain the target of his action. Lord Krishna advises Arjuna to take control of his senses and not let them prevent him from his duties for which as a warrior he should be thankful for the opportunity.

Modern organizations look for such great qualities in their valuable employees who are expected to handle pressure and stress. In order to do that one has to develop the qualities of being calm and keep the emotions under control. No wonder top business schools quote from Bhagvad Geeta for illustrations. To be continued….

References – Bhagvad-Gita online at http://www.bhagavad-gita.org <http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/> and Bhagvad gita as it is by Prabhupada, Maha Bharata by C. Rajagopalachari