Gita 02.07 Seek first to understand the question to best understand the answer

The great wisdom of the Bhagavad-Gita will be revealed.

Thank you. Krishna is now being told by Arjuna that I surrender to you. This verse defines the crux the core content the essence of what the Bhagavad-Gita is going to tell us because if we want to if say somebody is giving the answer to a question and if it's a comprehensive answer which is going over various points then we need to focus on knowing first what the question was suppose we join a class in a question-answer session or suppose we are passed on a QA recording by someone but the question is not recorded clearly somehow we are not heard the question and you start hearing the answer first and if you overlook the question then then we will not be able to really know what the answer was all about for us to know the answer properly to know the essence of the answer to know what was the essential point at the answer was referring to or that we need to know very much what the question was about without knowing the question we just can't go about knowing the answer it's not going to work yeah we may understand the points and we may like this point also that point also but to put it all together as one whole we will have to move towards understanding where the answer is what question is being answered also if say somebody has asked a complex question and we not understood the question then straining to understand the answer will not really help us much you may get some knowledge from the answer no doubt all that but you won't be able to gain a proper understanding of what exactly is going on in the question unless what unless we understand first the questions therefore it's vital for each one of us to know what is the question being answered to the extent we focus on the question get the question clearly and then go towards the answer to that extent we will be able to move forward and gain a proper understanding of things so that is the moon with which the Gita approaches us here it tells us that this is the question that defines the conversation the question that defines the conversation is the charm Dharma some mood I'm asking you what is Dharma so to the extent you understand the question Oh is Dharma that Arjun wants to know then we can move forward and discuss the whole Bhagavad Gita is about Dharma that the whole Bhagavad Gita is all about how can we know what is Dharma how can we know what it is that we are seeking in our lives what it is that we are wanting to know we all want to know that which is actually our greatest prerogative as well as our responsibility it's a privilege and responsibility that what am I to do in life and what am I what is it life meant for what is it that will help me to live in harmony with my place and purpose in life here we don't know that if we are recruited into a big company but we're not given a job over there then you just don't know what to do similarly if we are placed in a particular position in life but we don't really know what that position is all about we don't know what we are to where we are to move forwards we can't move forwards so Prachyamitam Dharmasamudha Gita and Arjun says that please tell me what is Dharma that means essentially he's asking please tell me what it is that I am meant to do as we discussed in the first chapter Arjun's question was what is my Dharma he has a Kshatriya Dharma that is to fight against aggressors he has a Kula Dharma which is to protect his dynasty and he's caught between those two Dharmas not knowing what to do so Prachyamitam Dharmasamudha Gita I'm asking you what is Dharma and the whole Gita will be giving various level various frames for analyzing ultimately to help us understand Dharma so Arjun is finding his life has become seriously catastrophically disordered just doesn't know how is he going to get back some order into his life now that things are gone so wrong whatever action he does it seems as if that action will cause him trouble and thus he doesn't know what action should he do that will actually protect him from trouble that will enable him to move forwards without becoming negatively overwhelmed without being disturbed or distressed without getting caught in too many temporary superficial things he needs to recognize so he needs to know and he recognizes that he needs to know that what is my fundamental foundational duty and what is my identity based on which I can discern this duty because ultimately we can't discern our duty unless we have a proper sense of identity without identity after all how will we define duty isn't it it's after all the only thing we can have is the only knowledge we can have is a knowledge of who we are and what we are meant to do but how can we have that knowledge if we don't have that knowledge that means knowledge of lack of knowledge is also knowledge knowledge of lack of knowledge is also a level of knowledge if somebody doesn't even somebody's blind and they don't know they're blind then they will get into dangerous situations and get themselves into big trouble because of that but if they understand that they are in a particular situation in their lives and they need to move forwards in a particular way in their lives then if they're blind they know they're blind and they can move forwards but if they don't even know they're blind then they can't move forwards to do anything constructive so similarly for each one of us when we don't know what we are meant to do in our lives that begins for us the process of inquiry by which we can come to know what we are meant to do and that is the knowledge that the.