Gita 01.46 The significance of our actions depends not just on the actions but also on the situations in which we do those actions

Thank you.

Prathopasta Upavishad Visrujya Sasaram Chapam Shokasambhujina Manasaha That in this way, when I have spoken thus, Sankhi, in the battlefield, Prathopasta Upavishad Arjuna sat down, Visrujya Sasaram Chapam He put aside Visrujya Sasaram along with the bow, he put aside his arrow. Why? Shokasambhujina Manasaha His mind was filled with grief. Grief because he realized that because he felt that there is no point in going on like this.

He lost his will to fight His heart was no longer in the fight and thus he decided he would not fight anymore. In the previous verse, he has made quite a firm declaration saying that it would be better for him to die being killed by the opponents than to stay over there doing nothing than to try to fight with them. He felt it would be better to die unarmed than to fight than to resist.

So in this mood, he continues over here and what does he say? What he essentially says is that he can't fight much. He sat down. Now, normally a battlefield is not a place to sit down.

It is a place to stand up and fight. So our actions have significances beyond those actions themselves. Sitting down or getting up are just ordinary actions that we do throughout the day dozens and dozens of times.

But certain actions done in certain contexts can have significances far beyond the specific actions themselves. This is what is being conveyed here when when Arjuna sits down that put aside his bow, put aside his arrow saying I will not his action is screaming that he will not fight his reluctance and his refusal to fight. As for example, say if if the head of state if a king or someone like that has come and everybody is meant to stand up and at that time if someone sits down then that sitting down is an expression can be seen as an expression of defiance, disrespect or at least dissidence.

So just the act of sitting down is an ordinary act. We may be seated when some guest comes in. But if we see that person is seated and stays seated even when some very big guest comes in then that indicates that it is actually improper etiquette and so somebody may do this improper etiquette because they deliberately want to disrespect someone or sometimes they just may not know that ok this is the etiquette to be followed but still even if they are not aware still that action may have certain significance which goes beyond and the other person may take offense.

So similarly on a war field for Arjun to sit down and not just sit down to put aside his bow and arrow it is a it is an unambiguous declaration which everybody on the war field can see that what has happened and what it means. So what has happened is that he is unable that he doesn't have the time that he is unwilling to fight. It's like if somebody on a cricket field today in today's world we are more familiar with sports so a batter in a cricket match or a baseball match puts aside the bat and just when they are standing ready to receive the ball so that they can hit it but if at that time they sit down that means through their actions they are screaming that they have no intention of of playing over there and that would be considered a very strange thing to do at the very least and if it's a top player in the team then it would be considered not just strange but alarming what is happening why is this player who is our top player no longer willing to fight what has gone wrong and how are we to deal with this situation So Arjun was the foremost archer on the battlefield Arjun was the key player on the Pandava's side Arjun was the one person who could not in any way get over who could not who had even bested the Gods who had even brought down who had at the Pandava he had defeated even the Gods and then in overcoming the Nivat Kavachas he had defeated those who they couldn't defeat even the Gods couldn't defeat he had defeated them so in this way he had got a phenomenal track record and much was to be expected of such a him and when he sat down refusing to fight it sent you can infer that it must have sent shockwaves among everybody who was assembled there how can a warrior of his caliber refuse to fight he is meant to fight and he should be fighting if he doesn't fight what will happen to our plans how will we survive what to speak of winning for an army to be suddenly unexpectedly be stripped of their best warrior is a shocking alarming reversal and how are we going to cope with this that was an obvious question which must have echoed through the minds of everyone on seeing Arjuna's action of sitting down on the war field putting and casting aside his bow and arrow.