Gita 02.08 – Outer success can’t remove inner distress

Thank you.

Krishna is reinforcing the surrender that is expressed in the previous verse by stating that he doesn't see any alternative apart from Krishna. नहीं प्रपश्यामी, I am not able to see anything. So here, of course, seeing is used in a metaphysical sense to refer to unable to comprehend.

नहीं प्रपश्यामी, ममापनुद्याद, ममापनुद्याद. Actually, आपनुद्याद is to counter, to drive away. ये चोकं उच्छों शन्मिन्द्रियाणां, ये चोकं.

The choker, choker is a transformed form of, inflected form of choker. उच्छों शन्मिन्द्रियाणां, there is a rhyme over there, choker and choker. This is a figure of speech which is used in poetry to enhance the beauty of the poetry.

चोकं उच्छों शन्मिन्द्रियाणां, so the grief which is drying up my senses. So, earlier Arjuna has talked about, when he is describing the symptoms in 1.28 and 1.29 that, he has talked about how my skin is burning. जीवन्ति ममगात्राणि मुखम्च परिशुष्यति My mouth is drying up.

मुखम्च परिशुष्यति वे पतुस्च शरीरे में रोमहर्षिष जायते, गान्दीवं स्रंसते हस्ता तोक्चैव परिधायते Skin is burning. So, essentially grief is compared to a fire. It is compared in one sense to an inner storm and inner fire.

So, inner storm is what is causing my limbs to quiver, my body to tremble, my bodily hair to stand up and my gandhi to slip. And the inner fire is causing my throat to dry up, my skin to burn. And now he is saying actually my senses are all getting dried up.

So, now fire is often used as a metaphor to refer to something that causes pain. Now, the drying up of the senses. Now, what do we mean by that actually? Again, it's poetic usage.

It's not that all the senses are wet. You could say the mouth is wet and with saliva. But the wetness here refers to the fluidity, the capacity for functioning.

So, when the senses are dried up, whatever is dried up cannot flow, cannot function. So, my senses are basically no longer able to function. Chokam, choshanam indriyanam.

The senses are burning. The inner heat of grief is burning up my senses, leaving me with not the capacity to do anything. Awap pe bhumao.

And this inner agony cannot be countered by outer possession. Now, inner tribulation cannot be mitigated by outer possession. So, he is saying outer possession even if to the level of the gods.

Awap pe bhumao asaptanam ruddham. So, awap pe bhumao, if I achieve a kingdom, every profession has some landmark or some parameter, some standard by which success is determined. For a student, it is marks.

For a batsman, it may be the cricket score. For a ruler, it is kingdom. How big is the kingdom that a Kshatriya possesses? So, he is saying that asaptanam, if I have a huge kingdom.

So, one is how big is the kingdom and second is how many rivals I have. So, even if I have no rivals, asaptanam ruddham, and not only there is no rivals, it is also a flourishing kingdom. So, there is a largeness of the kingdom, there is a wealth of the kingdom and there is a threat to the kingdom.

All these determine whether a king will be successful, considered successful or not. So, rajyam suranam. So, even if I get the kingdom of the God, that means the heavens, apichadi patyam.

So, if I get the earth, that was mentioned bhumao and suranam rajyam, that refers to the heavenly kingdom. So, he is saying that no matter how much I possess externally, my inner confusion, my inner tribulation is not going to go away. And therefore, I need, I desperately need spiritual guidance.

So, often, you know, a wrong prescription, no matter how right it may be in its own place, still stays wrong. If somebody has got pneumonia and the doctor prescribes something for some other disease, then that won't be cured. So, not only do we need to have the right cure, but rather, now the cure has to be right in the sense that, okay, for pneumonia itself, there can be different cures and some of them may be quack and some of them may be correct.

So, the right cure has to be there to cure the disease, but when the disease is present, the doctor may prescribe a right cure for pneumonia, but if the person has got diabetes, the cure for pneumonia won't work. So, similarly, Arjuna is saying that he has, for a Kshatriya to fight and to expand the kingdom, so as to expand the rule of dharma, that is a virtuous duty. But he is saying that, that is not going to solve my problem because my problem is not external, it is internal.

My inner confusion, inner indecision, inner depression, it cannot be removed by outer gratification in terms of outer increased possession. So, this is often the problem of people in this world. We are all given certain definitions of success.

Success means you have to get good marks in exams, success means you have to get a high paying job, success means you have to go to America, success means you have to have a big house and all such things like that. And now, in one sense, there is nothing wrong per se with the career chart. It's not that we are meant to live miserably as failures in material life.

But this, following this career chart is not the solution to our inner emotional issues. Ultimately, all emotional issues arise from the disconnection of our emotions with Krishna. So, unless that disconnection is resolved, unless we actually redirect our heart's central emotion towards Krishna, we are not going to find emotional enrichment and fulfillment no matter what we do.

So, material success is not going to be the counter for inner emptiness because inner emptiness comes because of a lack of a loving connection, a loving relationship. And that loving relationship we need not just with some other people in the world, ultimately we need a loving relationship with Krishna. So, only when we have that relationship can we be lastingly satisfied, can we be truly happy.

So, here Arjuna is conveying to Krishna that no other solution is going to work for me. So, the normal definition of success for a Kshatriya, get a bigger kingdom, eliminate your rivals and make your kingdom prosperous, that definition of success is not going to solve my problem. And therefore, I need a deeper, fuller understanding of life.

It is in response to such a fervent existential query that Krishna reveals the wisdom of the Gita. So, Arjuna says that no material success will work for me, therefore I need an understanding of the meaning and purpose of life. What is my dharma? Dharma is not, we should not think of dharma simplistically as religion or for that matter just some religious codes which are given in some book.

Yes, the scriptures do contain dharma, but then ultimately we have to live life in our modern day context and how the dharmic codes will translate into our modern day context. That is something which is quite challenging to understand. And for that we need to internalize the principles of dharma with the association of those devotees who are living the principles and then we can apply, see how they can be applied for our and others benefit.

So, Arjuna is asking this question and Krishna will illumine him and through him illumine the whole world about how to counter and eliminate the existential crisis, the distress which success will not remove. Thank you.