Gita 01.14 The Gita’s audio-visual camera starts with the character of the questioner’s interest, but shifts now to the central characters

Bhagavad Gita 1.4 Bhagavad Gita 1.4 so as the Bhagavad Gita narration is going on now it is describing further how the events are happening till now the events on the Kaurava side were being described and now the events shift to the Pandava side most of the Bhagavad Gita happens neither on the Kaurava side nor on the Pandava side but in between the two forces between the two armies of course it describes the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna who are on the Pandava side Krishna is of course transcendental but Krishna’s transcendental just because Krishna is transcendental doesn’t mean that he is he is uncaring, uninvolved Krishna is transcendental means that he is impartial but still he is reciprocal he is not simply unfeeling or uncaring so here the event that is described therefore situated on white horses the beautiful chariot that was there magnificent chariot, great chariot Madhava, Pandava, Shiva this Madhava and there is Pandava both of them the divine conch that appeared over there so this is something eminently significant which the Bhagavad Gita indicates speaks to indicate the divinity of Krishna of course the divinity of Krishna will be indicated by the usage of Shri Bhagavan Vacha and also later by Krishna’s statements as well as Krishna’s revelations of the universal form but right in the beginning the divinity the transcendence of Krishna is indicated through the usage of the word Divya, it’s not ordinary so at one level we could go to the history of each of these conches and talk about how they have some story behind them and that makes them transcendental but more importantly it is because they are in contact with Krishna that they are transcendental we’ll talk about the specifics of these conches in the next verse but at this point let’s look at the way the Bhagavad Gita introduces Krishna normally if we are watching a movie the beginning of the movie is very important it is meant to catch people’s attention nowadays with people not going to a physical theater to watch movies watch them in their homes or other places then they can always turn off the TV or on internet watch something else, shift to some other channel some other program starting is very important to catch people’s attention and that starting point is what we need to focus on so that starting focusing on means that it is important for each one of us to take steps forward in making the starting most interesting if we are giving a talk, so the Bhagavad Gita is also a book, it begins from before the actual conversation of Krishna and Arjuna but the angle with which it begins is interesting the angle begins with this first Duryodhana’s actions are described and then after that the action is shifting to Krishna and Arjuna so why is that at one level we can understand from the contextual narrational perspective that the Bhagavad Gita is a part of the Mahabharata and within the Mahabharata the Kurukshetra war and its immediately preceding and succeeding events are narrated by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra now Dhritarashtra’s primary interest is in his own son he has quoted the antagonism of the Pandavas and the displeasure of the sages and the displeasure of his own well wishers just because he wanted to pander to Duryodhana’s desire so in the war what happened to Duryodhana is of his foremost interest and therefore his conversation begins with him focusing on Duryodhana with Sanjaya focusing on Duryodhana and then as the events transpire then that becomes the focus of the narration say if a cricket match is going on and if a particular player is the favorite player in a particular country say in India has its favorite cricketer then when the cricket match broadcast will start the broadcasters who are broadcasting in India will begin with the person who most interests their Indian audience, so that particular cricketer say in the past it could have been Tendulkar, now it can be Kohli or whoever else for whichever country but the point is that although the broadcast may start with that particular player eventually what is to be reported is the match and the action will happen elsewhere if that player is neither the bowler nor the batsman, it is just one fielder the camera may start with that player but then it will focus on where the action is happening and similarly the Bhagavad Gita’s camera could say Sanjay’s mystical vision it starts with Duryodhana and what Duryodhana is doing and thereafter it shifts to Duryodhana is talking about the various warriors and then as his conversation is about to end Bhishma’s blowing of conch is described and then the other Kauravas blowing their conch is described after that the action shifts to the side of the Pandavas and there the most prominent members are Sanjay Krishna and Arjuna therefore naturally the focus goes to Krishna and Arjuna and by focusing on Krishna and Arjuna the narrative stresses that actually these are the two most important people in the Kurukshetra war field and these are the two people who are going to dominate and determine the subsequent chapters. So this is shifting of the camera to Krishna and Arjuna first indicates their importance both for the Kurukshetra wars eventual course as well as for the present ensuing discussion So Krishna and Arjuna are on their magnificent chariot with white horses and both of them also blow their conches in response to Bhishma and the Kauravas blowing their conches the Pandavas also blow their conches that is the how the narration of the Bhagavad Gita and its camera so narration is audio camera is visual so the audio visual focus now has shifted to the central characters of the Mahabhag of the Bhagavad Gita and of the Kurukshetra war also.