Gita 02.05 Deliberation is desirable, but depth of deliberation is decisive

Bhagavad Gita 2.5 Guru Nath Tvahi Mahan Bhavan Shreyo Bhoktum Bhiksham Apih Loke Hathvartha Kamams Guru Nihaiva Bhunjiya Bhogan Rudhir Pradigdhan so here Krishna is speaking rather Arjuna is speaking and giving his understanding of why he is not going to fight Guru Nath Tvahi after killing my spiritual teachers Guru Nath Tvahi Mahan Bhavan those are great people Mahan Bhavan they have great experience they are very wise they are great souls Guru Nath Tvahi Shreyo Bhoktum Bhiksham Apih Loke and then after that when I enjoy the kingdom better than that Bhoktum rather than such enjoyment Apih Loke what will happen by that Hathvartha Kamams Guru Nihaiva better that I be killed by them even if they are not acting like Gurus now Guru Kamams because they are driven by desire Bhunjiya Bhokan Rudhir Pratik Dham if I have been a kingdom in this way it will be that I will be enjoying the fruits of labour that is I will be enjoying things which are unhealthy I will be enjoying the fruits of stuff that is got by that is got by the blood of my loved ones So Shreyo he is also thinking of long term Shreyo Anupashyami earlier also Arjuna used the word Shreya Shreya is I don't think this is beneficial even in the long term we discussed how Arjuna's long term is not long enough so what is long term depends on the term of our vision the terms with which we process things to the extent we understand that life is temporary to that extent we process things differently each one of us processes things based on the situations we find ourselves in and not the situations we find ourselves in but also the dispositions that we have cultivated before that possibly throughout our lives so essentially Arjuna is saying that these are my gurus and they remain my gurus even if they don't behave in a guru like way even if they are right now contaminated by worldly desires so even if I ascribe the motive that they are bound by the desire for a wealth then even then that doesn't necessarily mean that they forfeit the position of being gurus I cannot afford to alienate them I cannot afford to attack them because they are for my veneration so Arjuna acknowledges he is not white washing his opponents but he is refusing to black wash them either white wash means deny any fault of them that they are my gurus always no matter what they do but black wash means that because they have done this so they are no longer worthy of my attention gurus therefore are rejected in his vision at this stage the fact that they are gurus is most important for him and in everything that we do we evaluate either consciously or subconsciously and either with intention or without either means objectively or subjectively based on what is the best course of action for us in a particular situation so the Bhagavad Gita is describing Arjuna's deliberation for making a decision so deliberation is essential for making a good decision now the word deliberate has a negative connotation deliberately done means knowingly intentionally done it is a deliberately done fraud deliberately done mistake so the word deliberation has a better connotation deliberations means discussions contemplation so conscious intentional focus on a subject to analyze it so deliberation alone does not guarantee good decision the depth the quality of the deliberation also matter so Arjuna's deliberation is going on but his deliberation is not going deep enough in the deliberation he is seeing ok I don't want the kingdom I want to respect my elders we could say that respecting elders is a deeper value than seeking a kingdom but in establishing dharma is an even deeper value and for establishing dharma what is needed one has to understand what is dharma and act accordingly so he is thinking that seeking kingdom at the cost of killing loved ones will be adharma Krishna will take the discussion deeper and tell him that not doing his duty as a martial guardian of society as a kshatriya to establish dharma in society to protect his citizens from adharmic rulers that will be adharma so Krishna takes him to an identity which is deeper if he identifies himself as a Kuru prince who is rightfully meant to get a kingdom he will feel that I deserve a kingdom if he sees himself as a prince deserving a kingdom he may want to fight but if he sees himself as a Kuru descendant and opponents as all from the same dynasty he may feel that what is the point of fighting against my own loved ones the cost is too much for this but beyond that Krishna takes him deeper and he says that you are as a soul as will be revealed a few verses later and as a soul you are meant to act in harmony with the whole the whole which is Krishna himself is all benevolent that whole acts for everyone's well-being and while acting does everyone has their role in assisting the whole and if they don't play that role it becomes a problem so here he is being told that he played the role of the whole and by playing the role of the whole playing the role in harmony with the whole not the role that is assigned by the whole that's what you will be able to do good for everyone so thus Krishna will counter Arjuna's reasoning but the principle of deliberating before deciding is demonstrated by Arjuna here and Krishna too does similar deliberation but Krishna's deliberation goes much deeper and as the result is also a very deep and evolved discussion for all people to contemplate and benefit from that will result Thank you.