BHAGAVAD GEETA: Chapter 1-16. Swami Advayanandaji.
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Arjuna Vishadha yogam (“Yoga of Arjuna’s Despondency”)
Sri Veda Vyasaji
Discourse – 1 (47 Slogas)
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Thursday, 20 Jul 2023. 07:40.
Post - 16.
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1.4 ONSET OF ARJUNA’S DESPONDENCY
(Slogas - 26-31A, 6 No.)
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SUDDENLY ARJUNA LOST the context of the war: Where he should be seeing a
righteous battle to look forward to, he saw reason only to retreat from it. Where he should
be seeing only the enemy armies, he saw only kinsmen, teachers and friends. Some switch
in his mind had clicked and his thoughts turned totally out of the war context. Something
happened to Arjuna at the eleventh hour which sapped from him all intellectual courage,
and plunged him into an emotional crisis.
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Slogam - 26: What Does Arjuna See?
1
Tatra apashyat sthitaan Paartha = Then Partha saw stationed there
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pitruun atha pitaamahaan; = fathers and also grandfathers;
3
aachaaryaan, maatulaan, bhraatruun = teachers, maternal uncles, brothers,
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putraan, pautraan, sakheem tathaa. = sons, grandsons, and friends were there.
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Slogas - 27, 28 A: Kinsmen All Around!
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Shvashuraan, suhridah cha eva Even fathers-in-law and benefactors, too,
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senayoh ubhayoh api; were there on both sides of the armies.
7
taan sameekshya sah kaunteyah When the son of Kunti saw these kith and kin,
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sarvaan bandhoon avasthitaan; his own relatives, standing arrayed before him,
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kripayaa parayaa aavishtah he was overcome by feelings of deep pity,
10
visheedan idam abraveet. and sorrowfully he spoke these words:
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This situation is quite common among common men, but exceptional among
exceptional men!
We hear of doctors refusing to do an operation on their own family members
because they do not trust their emotions. We hear of teachers refusing to mark the papers
of their own children because they do not feel they have the detachment to be fair. We hear
of politicians awarding contracts to undeserving bidders, simply because they are related to
them. These are human weaknesses.
1-8
In the verses to the end of this chapter, we see that Arjuna, too, has succumbed
to this weakness. Just one crucial word from the Lord – “Kurus” – has, as Swami
Krishnananda brilliantly expresses it, “stimulated a biological sentiment in Arjuna rather
than the rational military spirit with which he wanted to enter the battlefield.”
The result? – He saw relatives where he should have seen only deadly foes.
9-10
Seeing the whole field filled with his kith and kin, his vision blurred with
delusion and attachment. The morality of the battle receded as this new vision came to the
fore. Arjuna began to see the battle as a foolish, utterly demoralizing means to gain one’s
ends. He saw in it the destruction of people whom he revered, with whom he had grown up.
He considered it to be ingratitude beyond imagination to destroy those for whom erstwhile
he had the highest respect.
These thoughts, followed by a whole train of arguments in their support, flooded
Arjuna’s mind at this crucial moment. And it would have taken its toll, were it not for the
timeous intervention of his close friend and ally – Lord Krishna Himself.
*****
Next
Slogas - 28 B/29: Failing Limbs
To be continued
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