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The first chapter titled Arjuna Visada Yoga, concluded with a sad and
dejected Arjuna throwing down his weapons and kneeling down in the
battlefield, Kurukshetra. Arjuna’s grief-stricken and
distraught state had arisen due to his lack of knowledge about his duty-dharma. His unwillingness to fight the war
was due to his grief- shoka and
delusion-moha caused by
improper thinking. His fear
of incurring sin as a result of killing his kith and kin led him to a sad
state of desperation. Bhagwan
patiently listens to Arjuna’s various arguments about why he should not
fight the war and responds in the next chapter with Sankhya Yoga or the Yoga of
Knowledge.
It is in the second
chapter that for the first time, we hear the Lord speak. Until then, it was Arjuna’s
monologue that we heard, while a smiling Lord Krishna waited patiently
until his friend had vented his emotions. The Lord is referred to as Bhagwan
here. This word is very
special because it indicates all the qualities of Ishwara. Bhagwan is the
one who possesses six fortunes or Bhagas.
1.
Aishwarya-Lordship, total control 2.
Dharmasya-righteousness 3.
Yash-fame 4.
Shrihi-material and spiritual
wealth 5.
Vairagya-total dispassion 6.
Moksha or Jnanam- knowledge of who am I? Bhagwan is also the one who knows the births and
dissolution of all beings. He
is the knower and giver of all actions-Karmas, and fruits of actions-Karma phalas. He is the knower of knowledge and
ignorance in all beings. He
is none other than VASUDEV, LORD
In this second chapter
Bhagwan introduces the three paths to attaining liberation and shows how
these paths are interconnected.
Verses 1 through 11
describe Arjuna’s complete surrender to Lord Shri Krishna. Accepting Bhagwan as his teacher,
Arjuna requests the Lord for advice about what he should do in this
situation. The Lord imparts the Knowledge of the Self from the highest
standpoint-Paramarthik Drishti,
in verses 11 to 46. Verses 47 to 60 describe the Yoga of Action-Karma Yoga. In Verses 61 to 70, the Lord
covers the Path of Love -Bhakti
Yoga. And finally in
verses 71 and 72 the path of renunciation is indicated. Since it deals
with all paths to liberation, the second chapter is like a summary of the
entire Geeta. Verse 1 In the first stanza, Sanjaya paints a complete
picture of Arjuna’s sad and pitiable state at the physical and mental
level. In spite of Arjuna
being the greatest archer of his time he had become a victim of his
circumstances. Overwhelmed by
his emotions due to his identification with his family, his head
(intellect) is taken over by his heart (emotion). He is unable to discriminate right
from wrong. Addressing the
Lord as Madhusudhana, Arjuna asks the Lord to help him decide what his
duty is.
(Madhusudana is the killer of the demon,
Madhu. Madhu also means soft
attachments that lead us to bondage, which are difficult to break, fogging
our intellect and misleading us in doing what is incorrect. Thus, Madhusudana is the one who
breaks these soft attachments). Verse 2 Appalled at Arjuna’s perilous condition, the Lord
tells Arjuna that his behavior is most un-Aryan like. A true Aryan is intelligent with
dexterity. He is balanced and
equipoise in all situations of life.
An Aryan is righteous and noble, both in thought and action. The Lord cautions Arjuna that this
un-Aryan mind-set will bring him infamy and he will not enjoy the Heaven
of the Heroes – Veera
Swarga. Verse 3 Lord Krishna chastises Arjuna and using critical
words he asks Arjuna not to yield to helplessness. The Lord accuses Arjuna of being
Klaibyam-one who looks like a
man but dresses like a woman, talks like a man but feels like a woman,
physically strong but mentally weak!
Such strong words are an insult to Arjuna, a Kshatriya. Bhagwan needed to use such harsh
stinging words in order to revive Arjuna’s valor. The Lord asks Arjuna to get rid of
his unreasonable emotions and to get up and act. Verse 4 Responding to Lord Madhusudana’s appeal to get up
and act, Arjuna puts forth his argument to support his reasoning of not
getting engaged in the war.
Arjuna questions the Lord, “how can I fight my teacher Drona and my
grandfather Bhishma? They are
worthy of worship. Even a
verbal combat with them is inappropriate. How could I even raise an
arrow? This would bring about
unrighteousness-adharma. I will be known as a slayer of
my teacher and grandfather”. Arjuna’s moral confusions and misconceptions were due to his identification with his individual ego-aham. Identifying himself with a little ‘I’-aham, he was unable to discriminate between his good and the good of all.
Bhagwad Geeta, Ch2 Verse 5 Continuing with his argument to not fight the war
with the Kauravas, Arjuna describes his teachers as Mahanubhavah - those noble men who
have had great accomplishments. With courage of conviction and broad
mindedness, these great souls are symbols of the finest in our
culture. Arjuna feels that it
is nobler to beg for bread than kill any of his teachers. Even if he did fight the war and
win, he would not be able to enjoy the wealth attained as it would be
tainted with their blood.
Arjuna, as portrayed in the first chapter is shown
to always seek Shreyas -actions
that are noble, which would lead to liberation-moksha. He now feels that engaging himself
in the war would lead him to murder his kith and kin. This would take him away form
liberation.
Verse 6 This verse indicates the state of hysteria that
has incapacitated Arjuna at his intellectual level. His ego-created intense anxieties
for the fruits of the actions have rendered him perplexed and
confused. Unable to think or
decide, victimized by his own mental agitations, Arjuna finds himself
powerless to evaluate whether the Pandavas should conquer the Kauravas or
allow themselves to be defeated. Verse 7 Overpowered by self-pity, Arjuna owns up to his
baffled intellect. He finds himself to be Karpanya- unable to differentiate
rationally between right duties- dharma from forbidden
duties- adharma. Admitting to his extreme confusion
and panic, Arjuna completely surrenders to Bhagwan. Taking refuge in Lord
Krishna as his teacher, Arjuna poses a question to the Lord, “Tell me that
doing which I will attain the supreme good –liberation.” With complete faith Arjuna asks
Lord Krishna to instruct him, as he is now His disciple. This verse is important because it
demonstrates that when surrender is complete, knowledge takes
place. Verse 8 Arjuna realizes that even if he were to attain
prosperity and unrivalled dominion on earth or even lordship over the
Gods, the innermost sorrow that has dried up all his senses would not be
removed. Arjuna is unable to
even vaguely identify the source of all his pain continues to refuse to
fight the war. This verse indicates Arjuna’s inability for proper
discrimination-Viveka
buddhi. Verse 9 In this verse and the next, Sanjaya reports the
scene of the battlefield to Dritarashtra-the blind father of
the Kauravas. Sanjaya
who has been given divine eyesight conveys Arjuna’s reluctance to fight
the war and his complete surrender to Lord Krishna - Govinda.
Having said this, Sanjaya keeps silent hoping that
Dritarashtra would understand the futility of fighting against Arjuna who,
as his name Gudakesha – the scorcher of foes suggests, would certainly
conquer the Kaurava forces. Here Sanjaya uses the names Hrishikesha and Govinda for Lord
Krishna. Hrishikesha is
the Lord of the senses.
Govinda is the winner of the world. He is also the indicator of the
Vedas, he is indicated through the Vedas, and is the creator and knower of
the Vedas. All these are the
attributes or Lakshanas of Ishwara. Verse 10 Continuing with his reporting of the battle scene
to Dhritarashtra, Sanjaya describes the grief-stricken, dejected Arjuna-Jeeva, the ego who has completely
surrendered to Lord Krishna-the subtler discriminative intellect. The Lord here with all
smiles is holding the five horses sitting in his chariot under perfect
control in the middle of the battlefield. Arjuna’s despairing condition was due to 1) not
knowing what his true nature is and 2) not being able to decide what his
duty- dharma is. Arjuna’s identification with the
physical-sthulaha, causal-karya and subtle bodies-sukshma shariraha, the limiting
adjuncts- upadhis led him to a
total state of hopelessness. (Upadhi means something,
when in close proximity to an object, takes up the property of that
object. In our case, we are
that Supreme Consciousness in close proximity to the physical, subtle and
causal bodies. These bodies superimpose their attributes onto this Supreme
Consciousness; therefore, causing us to become identified with these
bodies). This verse signifies that when the confused ego is
deluded and overpowered by grief, it loses its discriminative power, the
intellect-viveka buddhi. But, when this ego-Jeeva is in control, the mind well
in command borrows divine strength from the Pure Intellect and is guided
towards proper discrimination -viveka and duty-dharma. |