Gita 01.28 – To avoid being consumed by material emotions, cultivate spiritual emotions

Prishtve mam swajanam krishna yutsum samupastitam siddhanti mam ghatrani mokham japarishushyate this is Arjuna Arjuna is beginning to speak actually in the previous verse it was described how Arjuna saw a whole variety of relatives and that side petrified him now he is going to speak his reaction and while speaking his reaction he is also describing his emotional condition and his bodily condition this 27 to 48 is the second half of the first chapter is Arjuna the yoga the first half was yoga now Arjuna is going to speak his lamentation prishtve mam swajanam krishna I am seeing as I see swajanam krishna so these are all my own my own people swajanam those people may not think of Arjuna as swajanam Duryodhana definitely doesn't think of Arjuna and the Pandavas as swajanam he thinks of them as parajanam as my enemies in fact but Arjuna you see because of the compassion that is overwhelmed him and there are actually many people who really consider swajanam and who consider him also as swajanam so that is true this is the determined to fight my limbs are trembling they are quivering and my mouth is drying up trembling of bodily limbs and drying up of the mouth these are both symptoms of strong overpowering emotions they hear for Arjuna it is agony the agony that all these relatives are going to die, are going to kill each other and there will be few survivors but all the survivors will have to live with painful memories so the thought of the impending catastrophe makes him feel so devastated that he thinks what is the point of fighting this war at all and thus he decides that he is going to decide later that I will not fight I will not fight but here he is beginning his description and he states that they are all my swajanas and I can see them here and I may not see them in the future if I keep fighting and they become casualties in the fight and yet if I don't fight and kill them then they are going to kill me they are situated for fighting my limbs are quivering now the body is not the root of emotions nor is it the seat of emotions that is the heart the heart of course refers to the soul the soul is the source of consciousness and when you talk about my heart is broken that refers not so much to the any breakage in the biological organ called the heart it refers to the astrous pain the devastating pain that one experiences when one sees but actually there is so much distress that is impending as is going to happen with Arjuna he is going to feel so much distress so how what can I do now a heart is the locus of emotions and those emotions when they come to the body so for example we hear a joke and then that joke entering through our ears to our consciousness registers and then that registration of that joke and grasping of that humor sends some signals through the brain to the lips, to the mouth and the mouth starts laughing now all this happens so instantaneously with blinding speed if you don't even comprehend it but the fact is that there is a time lag between the arrival of a stimulus and the choosing of the action and that time lag can be very positively utilized by thoughtful people provided they don't let their thoughts go here and there in the intermediate period if intelligent people can hear some spiritual thoughts while they are passing along their journey that hearing of those thoughts may well in the future change their lives change the lives of those people who have never otherwise heard of Krishna so every person who is distributing Krishna's message has an opportunity to actually raise people above misery by enabling them to experience transcendental emotions in relationship with Krishna and when we understand that yes, at the bodily level suffering is unavoidable at the bodily level distress and death are unavoidable and they will cause pain but they don't have to but these bodily relationships they don't have to constrict all our emotions when we connect with Krishna when we relate with Krishna in a mood of devotion then our whole life becomes subsumed within that devotional inspiration and that will enable us to tolerate and transcend material affluence so here Arjuna is getting overwhelmed and the emotions which are coming from the self, from the heart the heart and the soul are practically non-different so the soul is the locus of consciousness, the heart is the locus of emotions and that heart is getting shaken and shattered and although Arjuna is not oblivious to spiritual knowledge but the gravity of the impending disaster the brutality of the upcoming battle the ghastliness of a whole dynasty with multiple generations of many dynasties in fact fighting to death as that all sinks in Arjuna feels is this really essential? that is such a fight essential? can it be avoided? and all that causes great emotional upheavals in him but by remembering that he is a soul and the soul has real relationship with Krishna and to the extent he will relate with Krishna to that extent he will not be overwhelmed by the material emotions that message of connection with Krishna will come later in the Bhagavad Gita and that will enable Arjuna to break free from this emotional overwhelming effect that is going on and that will enable him to become steady and strong firmly in the service of Krishna and the same principle applies to us in this world we may also face because of the unpredictableness of the world we may also face danger and disaster, we may also get overwhelmed by negative emotions but if we hear Krishna's message then by such hearing we will be able to find out the way to stay connected with Krishna and thereby keep material upheavals from taking up too much of our mental energy from causing too much disturbance knowing that material things will come and go knowing that we as our souls are eternal and we have an eternal relationship with Krishna, we will be able to stay steady in our duties, both material and spiritual. Thank you.