A Study of the Bhagavadgita : 2-6: Swami Krishnananda.

================================================================

Friday, 08  Dec 2023 06:40.

Chapter 2: The Background of the Bhagavadgita - 6.

================================================================

Now comes the context of the Bhagavadgita, which is on the very first day, when the forces on both sides were arrayed on the field of Kurukshetra. Arjuna, the leader of the Pandavas, having been placed in the midst of the two forces to survey who were there, saw something in front of him. This is the seed sown for the Bhagavadgita. The dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna was occasioned by this peculiar thing which Arjuna saw before him.

What did he see? He saw exactly what we see when we open our eyes and see the world – a dual, conflict-ridden feeling of love and hatred. He was there to see the end of all the Kurus, for which he had raised his Gandiva bow and arrows. He was not there to take pity on the Kauravas. An army does not enter the field of action to show mercy to the other side. That is not the purpose of engagement in war at all. It is not a place for pity, compassion, tender feelings. They are all abolished completely in a battlefield, and bitterness reigns supreme. “These ill-willed, wretched Kauravas, let me have a look at them!” thought Arjuna, who asked Sri Krishna, his charioteer, to place him in the midst of the army so that he may have a perfect survey of his opponents. But Arjuna did not see merely the opponents. He saw with his eyes the opposing army, but saw with his mind another thing altogether. He began to feel that they were Kurus, and not opposing forces. Paśyaitān samavetān kurūn (Gita 1.25), said Sri Krishna himself. I do not know why the word 'Kuru' was used by Sri Krishna when he referred to the opposing forces before Arjuna. That word was enough to catch fire.

“Kuru! They are my own people. I am also a member of the family of the Kurus. The great king Kuru was the grand ancestor of us all. The blood of the ancient master, the king Kuru, flows through our veins, the veins of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. We are blood relations, biologically bound up into a single family. Whom am I seeing in front of me? It is my grandsire, my beloved master, my loved one, the great Bhishma. Who do I see in front of me? My venerable teacher Drona, who has taught me archery; and if I know anything today, it is because of him. Am I against him? Is he against me? Am I to direct an arrow against Bhishma and Drona? What a sin! This is not for me. I put my bow down. Even if I am unarmed and the Kaurava forces attack me and I die, it is good for me. And if the war does not take place and I become a beggar asking for alms from people and live like a poor man, even that is blessedness. I shall not ask for even heaven if that is to be gained by bloodshed.” Saying this, Arjuna threw down his bow and arrow. Here is the entire picture of the First Chapter.

Both Duryodhana and Arjuna had gone to Krishna for help, wanting war to take place. They had been to Dvarka because they knew that Sri Krishna was a powerful person with a large army behind him, and both wanted assistance from this Yadava hero. One got the army, and the other got nothing except Sri Krishna himself alone, a single individual who said, “I shall do nothing. Whoever wants the army called Narayani Sena, which is invincible, can take it; and whoever wants me, unarmed and doing nothing, may take me.” Duryodhana did not want an unarmed individual who was only going to be a liability to him. He said, “I want the army.” Arjuna said, “I want you.” Anyway, the idea of war was in their minds even at the beginning. It is not that Arjuna suddenly changed his mind in the battlefield. Something psychologically unexpected took place. His emotions were stirred up by feelings connected with certain relationships which should not be the guiding principles in a battlefield.

Here is a briefly stated historical background of the commencement of the Bhagavadgita as located in the Mahabharata context. But it has also a spiritual connotation, and it is meant for each one of us. We take to spiritual life, the way of Yoga, by which we mean that we are after union with reality. What kind of reality? Each one of us has his own or her own concept of it. You leave your house or office, or whatever it is, and go to an ashram or a Yoga centre and say, “I shall learn the art of union with reality – Yoga practice.”

Firstly, the notion of reality is not clear in the mind. Whatever your consciousness encounters and believes to be real should be regarded as real for you. It is difficult to define what reality is. That which is subject to transmutation or change is not supposed to be absolutely real, but is perhaps relatively so. But as far as consciousness is concerned, it will certainly cling even to relative realities because though they are relative, for the time being they appear to be real. We see a continuity in the flow of a river, though we are told a thousand times that every minute new water is flowing; so is also the case with the burning of a flame in a lamp. Though everything is transitory and everything is moving and we are today totally different from what we were when we were little children – we have changed completely and are not static entities – yet we cling to our own selves as something which is relatively perceptible as a workable reality. So anything that consciousness accepts to be worthwhile, of some utility, will be regarded by it as real, and cannot be rejected. The world is unreal in some sense, but it is real in some other sense. Whatever be the sense in which it is real or unreal, that sense is important to us.

Now, we cannot mix up issues when we take to the path of spirituality, or Yoga. Communion with reality is the purpose of Yoga. The Bhagavadgita will try to disillusion the mind of Arjuna as to what is proper for him, because the propriety of a thing depends upon its relatedness to reality. A thing that is connected to unreal things, or phantoms, is not proper. That which is related to reality is proper. But what is reality? This was a confusing issue before Arjuna's mind, and he fell down totally helpless psychologically, asking for redress of his woes: “I am here before you, Krishna, the great Master. I do not know what is good and proper for me.”

Thus the disciple approaches the Guru. He moves towards the Guru in a state of distress and confusion of mind, sometimes looking back at the world as being not so bad as he thought, and at other times feeling that the world is worth nothing – that it is a vale of tears. This circumstance caught hold of Arjuna; and with this, the First Chapter of the Gita closes.

*****

Next

Chapter 3: The Transmigration of the Soul

To be continued

================================================================

OPINION: 

NEEDS OF THE PRESENT:

1. #ABOLISH COUNTLESS NUMBER OF MAN MADE CASTES AND THIS SYSTEM USED AS A TOOL FOR POLITICS BY I.N.D,I.A. ALLIANCE SHORT CUT TO THE DOOR OF POWER .

2.# FOLLOW THE SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GITA AND LORD KRISHNA BHAGWAN SAID VARNSRAMAM WHICH PROVIDE THE PERSON A CHANCE HIS/HER OWN MAKING !

3.#HERE SUDRA CAN UPLIFT HIM/HER SELF TO FIRST CATEGORY BRAHMANA.!!

4.#AND ANYONE WISH TO CHANGE HIS/HER PROFESSION CAN EITHER GO UP OR DOWN!!!

5.#THUS A FREEDOM AND MAKE THEIR INTERESTD CHOICE AND MAKING THEMSELVES!!!!

6#THIS WAY POLITICIANS MISUSE AND MISREPRESENTATION, VOTE BANK POLITICS, AND ANTI PEOPLE ANTI NATION MINDSET CAN BE PREVENTED!!!!!

7.DK,DMK,AIADMK AND NUMBER CASTE BASED POLITICAL PARTIES OF TAMILNADU,AND LIKE STATES POWER GREEDY CORRUPTED POLITICANS AND PARTIES , CAN BE ERADCATED AS WE ERADCATE DENGU, MALERIA ETC, SO THAT UDAYANIDHI LIKES WILL NOT UTTER FOOLISH STATEMENTS ON SANATANA DHARMAM. 

NOTE: 

DK,DMK,AIADMK, ++++CASTE BASED FAMILY DYNASTY TAMIL NADU POLITICS WHEN THE CASTE ATTEMPT FAILED, NEW THEORY OF NORTH SOUTH DIVIDE POLITICS :

WARNING:

1. KICK THESE TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTIES OUT OF THE POLITICS

2. DESTROY THE DK,DMK,AIADMK AND SILLY CASTE BASED OF POLITICAL PARTIES .

3.THESE POWER HUNGRY,CORRUPTED PEOPLE NOT FIT IN THE SOCIETY, ERADICATE THEM AS WE DO WITH DENGU AND MALERIA..

================================================================