Gita 02.03 – Fight degrading temptation by remembering honoroble position

Hare Krishna Bhagavad Gita 2.3 kalyabhyam asmaga mahapartha nai tattva upapadhyate shudra mrdaya daurbalyam tattva tishta parantapa here Krishna is speaking to Arjuna the second verse in his current discussion in his current discourse talk kalyabhyam kalyabhyam is weakness but it is not just ordinary weakness it is actually much stronger importance unmanliness I should add to call a Kshatriya as unmanly is among the strongest reproaches to a Kshatriya's honour kalyabhyam asmaga mahapartha significantly it is not Krishna is not calling Arjuna a Kshatriya kalyabhyam he is saying that this kalyabhyatva this importance which has come upon you from somewhere don't succumb to it so previous Krishna is continuing the thought kutasthva kashmalamidam where has this contamination come from so the point of that is that means this does not belong to you this is not native to you this is foreign alien it is alien to your nature and it is intruding on you from somewhere else so don't succumb to it so just as you know if somebody comes to our house and starts overpowering us and making us do something which you don't want to do which we know we shouldn't do then we will fight back fight against that person similarly klaibyam maasmagam mahapartham Krishna is telling Arjuna oh Arjuna do not succumb to this degrading importance which will make you an honourable kshatriya behave in a dishonourable way that will as was mentioned in the previous verse will lead neither to heaven nor to fame asvargam akirtikaram so don't give in to this importance because nahi tattva yuppa pandyate this does not behoove you a person of your caligure oh Arjuna you are not meant to be defeated by such importance suppose there is a champion world champion tennis player and there is a ordinary club tennis player and the club tennis player starts defeating the champion tennis player then the coach of the champion will say come on you are not this is not going to behoove you your calibre is so much higher just play properly and defeat this club player so like that for a kshatriya who has strong viral character to give in to sentimentality which makes one abandon a fight that is naitatta yuppa pandyate so kshudram rudaya daurbalyam kshudram this is low grade now the word kshudra is itself not a caste slur the point is that the various varnas are all infused with a sense of honour and by that sense of honour they are inspired to act honourably so the point is that kshudra can refer to a class and kshudratva can also refer to a set of qualities so a kshatriya is not meant to exhibit kshudratva what is that rudaya daurbalyam rudaya daurbalyam the weakness of the heart it's an interesting phrase normally we think of strength in terms of say bodily muscles so we can understand say physical strength somebody can lift a huge weight now what exactly do we mean by strength of the heart or what does it converse weakness of the heart mean now just as strength of the body can enable us to lift huge weights big weights similarly strength of the heart can enable us to sustain big shocks and just as a weak body if a heavy weight is placed on it the weak body will crumble similarly a weak heart when a heavy shock is placed on that when that heart crumbles rudaya daurbalyam refers to the weakness of the heart which is unable to sustain strong emotional stimuli especially strong negative emotional stimuli in the case of Arjuna yes you know to be in a battle in which one has to fight against one's relatives is painful but we don't just make our decisions based on what is painful or what is not painful now we do our decisions on what is dutiful and what is undutiful that's how honourable people behave what is dutiful and what is undutiful just like for a mother to carry her baby it may be a burden but just because the burden is painful she doesn't give it up this is my duty I'll do it and do it do it with my chin up do it happily similarly yes Arjuna as a Kshatriya it's painful but you have to fight that's your duty and to cave in to abdicate one's duty because of inability to sustain the emotional shock involved in the execution of the duty that is actually unbecoming it is weakness of the heart and such weakness is actually a characteristic of shudratva shudram now the word shudra comes from a particular characteristic just as brahmana it is not just a caste although it is the name of a particular group of people in society but the characteristic of that group of people is brahma janati iti brahmana those who know brahma those who know spiritual truth they are brahmanas similarly so brahmana in that sense is a positive characteristic to know spiritual reality whereas shudra actually it comes from shochati iti shudra those who lament are called shudras that means that when difficulties come when adversities come those who given to lamentation and cannot think of any constructive solution they are said to have shudra characteristic so brahmana tries to use intelligence to deal with problems scriptural intelligence kshatriya tries to use power to solve problems a vaisya tries to use money to solve problems but shudra basically when faced with problems just laments so in this way krishna is telling arjuna don't give in to this shudra dourbalyam you are a kshatriya act like a kshatriya toyupapadyate act in a way that will behold you don't act in an unbecoming way and what you are calling as very thoughtful very compassionate emotions actually they are hrudaya dourbalyam they are weakness of the heart and tyakthva tistha parantapa tyakthva utthistha give it up fight it off so earlier actually krishna has said ma smagamaha partha that don't succumb to it and now he is saying tyakthva give it up so this indicates the paradoxical nature of inner enemies at one level inner enemies say last anger greed fear all these they are something from outside which come upon us suddenly people get a worry attack or people just get angry so when something is coming from outside to inside at that level krishna is telling arjuna klaibyam ma smagamaha partha do not succumb to it but actually what does succumbing mean the anarthas cannot hold us unless we hold them when anger comes anger can make us angry when we accept anger when we so the anarthas when we let them gain a hold on us then they start controlling us worrisome thoughts may come in our mind but when we dwell on those thoughts then they make us worried otherwise if we don't dwell on those thoughts if we direct our thinking somewhere else then those worrisome thoughts will come and they will go just as so many thoughts come in our mind and they stay at the periphery of our awareness and they go away so here when Krishna is using the word tyaktva so he is saying that it is not just that when something else external has come to you that claybhyatva but actually you are holding on to it you are rationalizing it so tyaktva give it up uttistha so Arjuna in 1.46 in the Gita it was explained that upavishad he was standing on a chariot ready to fight but he had sat down so Krishna is telling Arjuna here get up so get up is both in literal and metaphorical sense get rise that means physically rise and it also means rise in spirit become ready to fight and to exhort and encourage Arjuna Krishna uses the word parantapa parantapa means o chastiser of enemies para tapa one who gives tapa to the para to the other so those who challenge valour of Kshatriya Kshatriya warrior like Arjuna who has been celebrated by the name parantapa such a person punishes the foolhardiness of the opponent by overpowering them by tormenting them by causing them pain so the use of parantapa here means that you are the chastiser of your enemies so similarly chastise this enemy of chastise this enemy of and drive it out and therefore arise and fight so we all when we are overcome by weaknesses inner weaknesses we can remember and meditate on this verse and fight against those weaknesses and rise to the call of duty thank you.