Gita 01.25 – Over-reliance on visual perception ends in illusion

Thank you Bhagavad Gita 1.25 so here Sanjay is speaking and he is reporting the action that is happening on the war field so as per Arjuna's request Krishna has taken the chariot in between the two armies and what is happening there has been described so in the Kaurava army Bhishma and Drona are the pramukha, they are the most prominent warriors and they were the commanders of the Kaurava army for the longest time, Bhishma was for 10 days Drona was for 5 days now Karna despite his much wanted prowess lasted only for 2 days and Shalya lasted for 1 day Ashwathama for 1 night so by far Bhishma and Drona were the most formidable warriors, so Bhishma Drona pramukhta so they are pramukha in terms of their being the most foremost warriors, additionally they are pramukha also in the eyes of Arjuna you know among all the warriors on the Kaurava side against whom he does not want to fight although the Kauravas have previously incited them, incited him and the Pandavas and they deserve to be punished, still Arjuna doesn't Arjuna also actually joined Krishna's peace initiative but he doesn't have much reluctance to kill Duryodhana and his party because he knows that they are evil and for the sake of Dharma unless they change they need to be killed but he does have a lot of reluctance apprehension about killing Bhishma and Drona, Bhishma is his beloved grandfather and he has been like a virtual father also for him because Pandu departed when the Pandavas were quite young and thereafter it was Bhishma who acted as their father and Drona was of course their teacher and the relationship between Drona and Arjuna went far deeper than just a relationship between a formal teacher and student so Arjuna became the favorite student of Drona because Arjuna was so eager to learn, so submissive and so expert and Arjuna also was profoundly grateful to Drona not just for the lessons in archery that he had taught but also for the blessings that Drona had given and also for having been an overall counselor mentor so they were pramukha in the eyes of Arjuna so Bhishma Drona Pramukh as he came in the middle of the battlefield he saw them prominently now it could also be that when Krishna placed the chariot in the middle of the two armies where did he place it? he could have placed it in front of Bhishma and Drona Krishna also knew the heart of Arjuna, Krishna wanted them not to be killed Arjuna did not want to hurt especially those two venerable elders and knowing that Arjuna would want to see them at least so Krishna placed them sarvesham jmahishitam they were chief but along with that there were many other warriors mahishitam so there are many many mahishitam refers to kings there were many soldiers also in the warrior in the army but they were not prominent they would be handled in the past the kings would lead their armies right in the front so the kings were assembled right in the front sarvesham all of them mahishitam great kings great formidable warriors and then uvachaparthapashaitan uvachaparthapashaitan so who spoke this? it was actually Krishna so Krishna is referred to as Rishikeshu in the previous words he is the doer of the action the first action is that he brought the chariot in between the two armies and now the next action is that he is bringing to attention Arjuna and the armies uvachaparthapashaitan pashaitan Arjuna see this is what you want to say samavetan kuruniti see all the kurus who are assembled here this is what you wanted to see you see so actually in the first chapter of the Gita Krishna does not speak any full words there is no Sri Bhagavan uvacha in the first chapter the first time Sri Bhagavan uvacha will occur in the second chapter 2.2 and 3 and that will also be a pep talk the serious philosophical instruction of Bhagavan in the position of Bhagavan will begin from 2.11 and here there is only one fragment of a verse it is almost like one eighth of a verse one sixth or one eighth of a verse where uvachaparthapashaitan so oparthasi pashyam etan samavetan kuruniti just see all the upakuk all the kavravadhara assembly of course it is almost like half a verse not one sixth or one eighth from uvacha onwards parthapashaitan oparthasi samavetan kuruniti so Krishna is fulfilling the request of Arjuna and is getting and has got them in front got their chariot in front of the kavravadhara and he is going to display he is going to see what is happening here one important point is the word pashyam will come again and again in fact it has already come in 1.21 Arjuna uses the word nirikshe which is also related to the eyes I want to see and then again in 3.23 it has come yotsamanalaveksheham I want to see and then Krishna is telling Arjuna you wanted to see so 21,23,25 and then again in 2.26 also atrapashyat Arjuna will see all those warriors and then it's in this way repeatedly then the next verse also it will come talsameeksha so 27th also a verse is coming eeksha and then again the word 30th also nimittani chapashyami I am not able to see that see of course refers not to literal physical visual seeing but refers to metaphorical seeing but I am not able to see any way ahead we will come to that when we come to 1.30 just like sometimes in a conversation somebody explains a point then we say I see that see doesn't refer to visual seeing it refers to intellectual comprehension so that pashyami refers to I cannot intellectually comprehend any way ahead but although the word pashya comes many times but majority of the times it refers not to metaphorical understanding but to a physical seeing and what is the significance of this emphasis, repeated emphasis on physical seeing actually while we are in material existence quite often the eyes are the way to illusion and the ears are the way out of illusion when we see something with our eyes in general in this world we can't see the soul we can't see Krishna their spiritual reality then our senses are caught in the material level of perception so because we can't see these higher realities so therefore we get caught in what we see and we get caught in material realities material things are also real but they are temporary and when they consume our vision completely and they consume our thinking completely then we act divorced from our spiritual interests and thus we go deeper into illusion so an over emphasis on seeing at the expense of hearing can be disastrous from the perspective of our ability to choose the right course of action and this is what happens to Arjuna as the narrative of the Bhagavad Gita will unfold Arjuna's eyes take him into illusion and it is his ears that will take him out of the illusion it is only when Krishna speaks the Bhagavad Gita then Arjuna sees the spiritual truths underlying the material perceptions that he is having the visual perceptions that he is having and thereby Arjuna becomes reinstated in his determination to act virtuously, act boldly so in our case also if we give too much emphasis on seeing then we will start feeling that oh there is so much to enjoy in this world and we may also feel oh life as a devotee is so deprived there are so many things I can't do, what is the point of all this but when we hear we understand that actually what promises enjoyment in this world only there is a very pathetically negative enjoyment followed by a lot of suffering and what seems to be deprivation at the material level is actually the process for elevation to the spiritual level where one can experience unlimited happiness so being to hear we certainly can't live with closed eyes and it is not that Arjuna as a warrior is expected to have closed eyes he certainly has to have his eyes alert open and alert to fight the war but over reliance on the eyes at the expense of her wisdom especially her spiritual wisdom that takes us to things deeper than what the eye can see such over reliance on the eyes at the expense of the ears can be the cause of disaster, of disastrous wrong choices and that is what will happen with Arjuna and that is what is signified by the repeated uses of the words like Pashya and Krishna himself uses Pashyata now Krishna facilitates our desires, if we want to see then Krishna will facilitate us to see if we want to hear, Krishna will facilitate our desire to hear and that is what he does to Arjuna first Arjuna says I want to see, Krishna facilitates later on Arjuna says please tell me I want to hear and Krishna will allow us to hear also so whenever we start seeing things which seem to delude us then we should immediately pray to Krishna Krishna please guide me please remind me of your spiritual wisdom please remind me of your message let me hear your words and by that let me see things properly in truth and not as I am seeing presently under illusion.