Gita 02.10 – Change in the seeker’s mood evokes change in the teacher’s mood

Bhagavad Gita 2.10 tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ prahasanniva bhārata senayor upayor madhye hṛṣīdantamidam vachaha tam uvāca hṛṣīkeśaḥ So here tam refers to and to that person. Arjuna uvāca spokhu hṛṣīkeśaḥ So in general, in Sanskrit the words ending with M are the objects of action and the words ending in H are the subjects of action. They are the doers.

So here the doer is hṛṣīkeśaḥ and the person to whom it is done is tam. That is Arjuna. So unto Arjuna, Krishna spoke.

prahasanniva bhārata So bhārata, here bhārata refers to Dhritarashtra. Sanjaya is speaking. So he is drawing the attention of Dhritarashtra by referring to him by name.

You see, prahasanniva So actually this screen or rather the camera frame is drawn back and the most significant thing that is conveyed by drawing back that camera screen is this expression of Krishna. prahasanniva And that actually is as if smiling. And actually that is a great contrast.

That is not normally something that we expect a person to do when the person next to him is crying. The 2.1 is described taṁ tathaḥ krupaya aviṣṭhaṁ aśru-pūrṇāpulekṣaṇam His eyes were brimming with tears. So if one person's eyes are brimming with tears, we don't expect the other person to smile or laugh.

Generally we empathize with other people's miseries. And actually it is quite an offensive almost trivialization of another person's grief if we start crying at that time. If we start laughing at that time, sorry.

Just try to visualize if somebody has died and everybody is crying and somebody else goes there and starts laughing. You know, it will not only be inappropriate, it will be offensive. So of course here nobody has died but the prospect of, the horrifying prospect of dying is there.

And Arjuna is in tears. And Krishna is his dear friend and we wonder what kind of friend is Krishna when one friend is, that the friend is crying and the other friend is actually smiling. So prahasannivabhārataiva as if, like, he was like smiling.

And senayorubhayor madde, we will come back to that later. But the significance is senayorubhayor madde. So this contrast was something which actually was there for public view.

Senayorubhayor, they were in the middle of the two armies. This phrase has come twice in the first chapter. First in 1.20 when Arjuna requested senayorubhayor madde dhamsthāpane achita and then it has come again in 1.24 when senayorubhayor madde dhamsthāpane achita so in the middle of the armies.

So what is the significance of this phrase coming thrice? senayorubhayor madde So actually it is, first of all it was a call for action. Do take me there. So it's a normal, when we say take me to the railway station, take me somewhere else, that might seem to be a simple geographical direction.

But then when it comes twice more, actually it conveys some significance. So this whole exhibition of emotions of Arjuna, Arjuna's overwhelming lamentation happened in public view. Normally when people cry, of course there are professional criers, vidalis who may cry in public for everyone to see and they get paid for that.

Grief is a very private emotion quite often and people generally don't want the whole world to see them crying. There may be some people who want more and more attention, that is the exception. But generally there is not too much emotionalism culture, especially for Kshatriyas to show tears is very rare.

So Arjuna became overwhelmed and Arjuna spoke and cried in the middle of the battlefield. So it is a very unlikely setting for a discussion itself, in the middle of the battlefield. But along with the unlikeliness of the setting, the Senayor Upahir Madde emphasizes also the universality of the message.

That this knowledge was spoken in public view. That means it was meant for everyone. Of course not everyone was able to hear it because the conversation was happening between two people on a chariot and the two armies were facing off.

So when the major battle in Kurukshetra happened with arrows, so when arrows are shot, adversaries are not very close to each other. There is sword fight or feast fight or mage fight, adversaries are in touching distance. But in the arrow fight, the adversaries are sufficient distance.

Significant distance of time. So now the others may or may not have been able to hear it, but others could actually understand that something very significant is happening. That Arjuna is almost on the verge of tears and Arjuna has put aside his bow and then he has sat down and then he has folded his hands and surrendered to Krishna and now Krishna has begun to speak.

So what the rest of the army did is not clearly mentioned by Dacharya. Some people say that actually Krishna expanded time. But that's possible Krishna can do that but unless we have explicit quote from Dacharya saying that we don't have to necessarily invoke Krishna's capacity to do superhuman things at every occasion.

It's also explained by other authorities that Bhishma raised his hand. As long as Bhishma was the commander, in general both the armies were living quite virtuously, did fight more or less virtuously. And so they were able to they stuck to the principles of Dharma and that's how when he raised his hand indicating to his warriors to stop.

So his warriors stopped and Pandava warriors also stopped because their foremost warrior was in the middle not yet fighting. And that's how the army waited. And Bhagavad Gita if it is recited by people who are conversant and fluent in Sanskrit then doesn't take more than it may be finished in about an hour also.

For us if we recite it takes 3 hours or something like that, 4 hours depending on the speed at which we recite. But that much time the armies paused for the discussion to get over. So it was in the middle of the armies Vishidantam Arjuna was lamenting.

So Vishidantam further highlights the contrast of Prahasanya. So when the when one friend is lamenting for the other person to smile he is questioned like what's happening? He spoke these words. So actually the Acharya has described that the sudden change in Krishna's relationship to Arjuna was dramatic.

A friend has suddenly become a disciple. So Vishwanath Chakrathakur in his deeply realized devotional vision he envisions a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. When Krishna says to Arjuna but why are you surrendering to me? You can go to Vyasadev.

You can go to so many other sages. You can ask them. Arjuna says no.

I want only from you. You alone are competent to tell me. So a friend suddenly taking the position of a disciple is unexpected.

And this is what in one sense is amused in Krishna. How life can change things. How suddenly the position can change so drastically.

But is it that Krishna is insensitive in smiling? He is not concerned about Arjuna's suffering? No, Krishna is really concerned. It's not that when a patient is in pain the doctor will smile. So the prahasana eva indicates that he was as if smiling.

So what it means is that a patient is sick and the doctor is concerned about the sickness of the patient. Doctor wants the patient to be cured. But as long as the patient is filled with one's own ideas about okay maybe this is the problem and this is the cure maybe this is the problem and this is the cure then the doctor cannot really help much.

But when the patient submits at that time the doctor smiles because now the healing will begin. So the smile is not at the distress of the patient rather it is at the at the opening of the door which will lead to the end of the distress. So similarly Krishna is not happy that Arjuna is suffering.

Krishna is not insensitive to Arjuna's suffering. But Krishna is as if smiling because now he will be able to relieve Arjuna from his suffering and he will be able to share the timeless wisdom of the Gita to offer timely counsel to Arjuna. Prahasanga So Arjuna is as if smiling, Krishna is as if smiling but Krishna restrains himself and he felt like smiling to see this dramatic change but he contained his smile because it would be inappropriate you know when a disciple goes to a Guru and expresses some problem Guru just laughs at the problem and the disciple's heart will sink.

The disciple actually for the disciple the problem is very serious and the Guru also has to exhibit the appropriate level of gravity not frivolity. And Krishna will appropriately assume that grave grave posture and mood and will start speaking profound philosophy which will actually remove Arjuna's grief completely and reinstate him in his determination. So the dramatic dynamic change in the relationship with Arjuna brings a smile on Krishna's face but Krishna suppresses that smile and takes up the responsibility at hand of freeing a surrendered soul a dear devotee a close friend who has now become a surrendered soul freeing that soul from illusion.

How he frees him from illusion we will see in the narrative of the Gita which we will discuss in our future sessions. Thank you.