Arjuna was quite sure that the conclusion he reached to not fight was noble. He thought that Shri Krishna would applaud his thought process when he gave various reasons to arrive at that conclusion. But Shri Krishna surprised Arjuna. He reprimanded him with strong words. Shri Krishna said that Arjuna’s behavior is not befitting a person of his stature as indicated in the earlier verses. From the reaction he received from Shri Krishna, Arjuna started doubting himself.
Chapter 2, Verse 7
कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः
पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः ।
यच्छ्रेयः स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे
शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ॥२.७॥kārpaṇyadoṣopahatasvabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharmasammūḍhacetāḥ,
yacchreyaḥ syānniścitaṁ brūhi tanme
śiṣyaste’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam. (2.7)2.7. I am confused about my duty in my heart and obliterated with anxiety and faint-heartedness. I am your disciple and surrender unto you. Please instruct me decisively as to what is best for me.
Arjuna, drowning in his sorrow, concluded that he was in delusion. That is when he sought guidance. He surrendered unto Shri Krishna as a disciple. He pleaded for Shri Krishna to tell him decisively what he should be doing. Arjuna had firm faith in Shri Krishna. With all humility, he accepted the confusion in his heart and sought guidance.
Chapter 2, Verse 8
न हि प्रपश्यामि ममापनुद्याद्
यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम् ।
अवाप्य भूमावसपत्नमृद्धं-
राज्यं सुराणामपि चाधिपत्यम् ॥२.८॥na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād
yacchokamucchoṣaṇamindriyāṇām,
avāpya bhūmāvasapatnamṛddhaṁ-
rājyaṁ surāṇāmapi cādhipatyam. (2.8)2.8. I do not see any means of driving this sorrow away that is burning my senses, even if I achieve an unrivaled kingdom on the earth, or gain sovereignty like the celestial gods.
Arjuna expresses the urgency to find the solution to his extreme grief, burning his senses. The sorrow that he felt was not because he wanted any material gains, as he indicates in this verse. That is beyond his intellectual capacity. Humbly, he surrenders to Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna patiently and compassionately deals with the root cause of the problem. He shares the knowledge to dispel Arjuna’s delusion in the upcoming discourses quite elaborately.
Chapter 2, Verses 9 and 10
सञ्जय उवाच
एवमुक्त्वा हृषीकेशं गुडाकेशः परन्तप ।
न योत्स्य इति गोविन्दमुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह ॥२.९॥sañjaya uvāca
evamuktvā hṛṣīkeśaṁ gudākeśaḥ parantapa,
na yotsya iti govindamuktvā tūṣṇīṁ babhūva ha. (9)2.9. Sanjaya said:
Having thus spoken to Hrishikesha (Sri Krishna), Gudakesha (Arjuna), the scorcher of enemies, said to Govinda (Sri Krishna): “I shall not fight,” and became silent.तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत ।
सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः ॥२.१०॥tamuvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasanniva bhārata,
senayorubhayormadhye viṣīdantamidaṁ vacaḥ. (2.10)2.10. O Bharata, amid both the armies, Shri Krishna smilingly spoke these words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.
Only Dhritarashtra had the power to call off the war. Sanjaya hoped that he would understand that Arjuna would be victorious because he surrendered to the Lord, Shri Krishna. Dhritarashtra was not only blind physically but he was also blind intellectually. He did not understand the warnings given by wise people, because of his extreme attachment to his children.
Here Sanjaya is addressing Dhritarashtra as Bharata, meaning descendant of Bharat. He symbolically highlights through this verse the Lord as the charioteer. The Lord, equipped with a subtle discerning intellect, controls the horses, which represent senses. He reassures Arjuna, who is dejectedly seated with a surrendered ego, with a smile. Then he starts speaking.
Kathopanishad explains the concept of human life and how to live life by comparing the body to a chariot. This concept is symbolically represented perfectly at this moment. Individual ego (Arjuna) sits in the body (chariot) after throwing down his egocentric activities (Gandiva). The sense organs (horses) are controlled/pulled back by the reins (mind). Then the intellect (charioteer, Shri Krishna) gives divine knowledge to guide the individual ego (Arjuna) to be free of sorrow.
Chapter 2, Verse 11
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे ।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥२.११॥śrī bhagavānuvāca
aśocyānanvaśocastvaṁ prajñāvādāṁśca bhāṣase,
gatāsūnagatāsūṁśca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. (2.11)2.11. The Lord said:
While you speak words of wisdom, you are grieving for those who are not worthy of grief. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
From this verse onward start the teachings of Shri Krishna.
Arjuna’s cause for grief seems like it is the challenge of war. Upon closer examination, we can see that was not the case as indicated in the earlier verses. He did not know if this grief would go away irrespective of whether he fought the war or not. Like a good doctor, Shri Krishna is removing the cause of the disease, which is the source of Arjuna’s delusion. He addresses the root of Arjuna’s confusion about his duty rather than just the symptom. This confusion is due to delusion caused by ignorance of his true nature.
The non-apprehension of reality causes the ego conditioned by the BMI (body, mind, and intellect) to rise. This leads to the misapprehension of one’s true nature. It creates the feeling of being bound by the limitations of the body, the emotions of the mind, and the ideas of the intellect. Shri Krishna starts his discourse by stating that the wise understand the truth from a spiritual level. They know that everyone is eternal. Thus, there is no need to grieve for either the living or the dead.
The same thing viewed from different levels gives different understanding and inspiration. Each of us has four personalities: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. When we appreciate something from an intellectual standpoint, we will not have any sorrow even if we are hurt physically or mentally. Similarly, when we look at something from a spiritual standpoint, one can be inspired to look beyond the dejection felt at physical, mental, and intellectual levels. And that is what the teacher Shri Krishna is trying to teach here by starting the lecture with this eternal truth.
Chapter 2, Verse 12
न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥२.१२॥na tvevāhaṁ jātu nāsaṁ na tvaṁ neme janādhipāḥ,
na caiva na bhaviṣyāmaḥ sarve vayamataḥ param. (2.12)2.12. There was never a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings. Nor in the future shall all of us cease to be.
Misconception about the Self is that we are the body, mind, and intellect. Shri Krishna is dealing with that misconception here. The body has got nothing to do with one’s existence. The body has birth and death, but the Self has no birth or death. Self temporarily identifies with different forms to gain different experiences. Shri Krishna states that neither he, Arjuna, nor all the kings there came from somewhere accidentally. They are the continuation of their past. They live the present and continue to the endless future, seemingly conditioned by different names and forms. They will live through different environments based on their karma. This is the basis for the theory of reincarnation in Hindu philosophy.
Chapter 2, Verse 13
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥२.१३॥dehino’sminyathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvnaṁ jarā,
tathā dehāntaraprāptirdhīrastatra na muhyati. (2.13)2.13. Just as the embodied soul continuously passes from childhood to youth to old age, so too, at the time of death, the soul passes into another body. The wise do not grieve at this.
As we grow, our body goes through various changes from childhood to youth to middle-aged to old age. As we pass through these stages, we consider the earlier dead while the new one takes its place. We do not grieve the death of the prior stage because we have gained so many experiences. Our current stage is possible because of the earlier one. Through all these different stages, our memory remains. This subjective experience remains constant. Shri Krishna asserts that wise men should not worry when the soul passes from one body to another. It’s just like a change of clothes. Hence one need not be fearful of death. Based on the vasanas (mental impressions) accumulated, the ego gets identified with physical equipment to express itself and seek fulfillment.
Bluishmuse 