Gita 11.33 Harmonizing with the divine will is the perfection of human expertise

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then you will also attain a glorious destiny, that we will discuss in our next class. Mayai vaite nihitahapurvameva nimittamatram bhavasau vyasaachi This is one of the most direct and inspiring calls for action in the Bhagavad Gita and it comes after a very dramatic revolution, tasmat, therefore, therefore means something has been told in the past and this is being told as a conclusion of that. What was told in the previous verses, actually Krishna has spoken only one verse that Kaalo Smiloka Kshetra Vruddho, that time I am the destroyer of all the worlds, Nukansamahartunih Rtepitvamna Bhavishyanti Sarve, Tevastha Patilikeshu Yodha, that except for you, Arjuna and your brothers Pandavas, everyone else is going to be killed in this battlefield.

Although, therefore, so that means Krishna is saying that Krishna has demonstrated the omnipotence, His omnipresence is the Vishwaroopa. Krishna has also demonstrated the formidable power of the Viratroopa in which all the warriors are entering into the mount and being destroyed. So, after showing all this, now Krishna is saying that tasmat, therefore, tasmat tamuttistha yashola bhaswa, therefore, oh Arjuna, rise and what should you do? Attain victory.

Yashola bhaswa, chittva kshatrun, after defeating your enemies, bhumshva rajyam samruddham, attain, enjoy a flourishing kingdom. Mayai vaithe, by my arrangement already, they have already been destroyed. Mayai vaithe niyataha poorvameva.

Niyataha, they have already been destroyed, poorvameva, already, the past itself, it has been ordained. Nimitta matram, and therefore, oh Arjuna, you become an instrument. That s all that is true.

Arjuna's indecision about whether he should fight or not, and especially whether it is right for him to kill his elders, his grandsire and his martial teacher. And Krishna replies here by saying that, actually, mayai vaithe niyataha poorvameva, by my arrangement, they are all already destroyed. Therefore, whatever you do, you will not be able to protect them.

Whatever you do, that is not going to prevent their death because this has already been ordained, this is already decided. The word rute, which is there in the previous verse, can mean two things. It can refer to except for you or even without you.

Except for you means, except for you, everyone else will be killed. And even without you, that means even if you don't fight, still everyone will be killed. So, but if you do, if you fight, then you can get the credit.

Therefore, oh Arjuna, just become an instrument, become a nimitta. So, here it is being asked that, please, that is it said that sauve saci, sauve saci means, oh, ambidextrous one. So, now to be a great archer itself is a great achievement.

And to be an equally great archer, to be ambidextrous, that means to be able to fight with having equal competence with both hands, that is an extraordinary, a stupendous achievement. In cricket, you know, there are batsmen who are say right handers or left handers. Now, if you tell a left hander to buy a bat right hand, they will be severely handicapped.

And if you tell a right hander to buy a bat left hand, that will also be very difficult for them. But suppose a batsman were ambidextrous and depending on the situation, the batsman changed their way of batting. Sometimes that same batsman batted left hand and sometimes that same batsman batted right hand.

Then they could just throw the opponents off, the bowler and the bowling team's captain and the fielders. They just not know, they will be thrown off. What strategy do we have with this person? So, now practically no batsman has that level of skill to bat both right hand and left hand as per choice and with nearly equal competence.

But Arjuna was so expert at that. And yet, despite being so expert, Arjuna is told that the perfection of his expertise is in cooperation with the divine, divine plan. So, as a Savyasachi or Arjuna who are ambidextrous, even you will not be able to stop the will of the divine.

But by cooperating with that will, you will attain perfection, you will attain success, you will attain prosperity in this world. Now, this is not simply a call at a Karmakanda level to say that, that you can enjoy a kingdom. Rather, it is not actually, it is not a allurement offered to, it is not an inducement offered to get Arjuna to cooperate with Krishna.

No, Krishna does not need Arjuna's cooperation. Krishna can defeat the Kauravas by himself. So, rather, it is not just Krishna's will that Arjuna fight the war, it is also Krishna's will that Arjuna rule the world.

Arjuna along with his brothers, they all rule the world. And just as Arjuna has some apprehension about doing Krishna's will here in terms of fighting the war, later on Yudhishthira will have some apprehension about ruling the world. And in both cases, Krishna, it is Krishna's will that is to be followed.

Here, Krishna himself tells Arjuna that, just surrender to me, sarva-dharmad bharata, jyama ekam sharanam vraja. And later, in the Bhagavatam first canto, it is Bhishma who tells Yudhishthira that just do Krishna's will. His plan is not understandable, but what is for us to do is to do his will.

So, we can see that the call to enjoy a kingdom, that is not an inducement, but that is also an instruction. So, in that sense, when Krishna, Arjuna has told earlier that, better that I live as a beggar, Krishna is saying, no, that is not what my will is. This is what you should do, Arjuna.

This is Krishna's statement that, oh, actually the enemies are already killed. Somebody may say that, does this mean that the whole suspense from the story has been taken away? That, oh, the villains are going to be killed, that is ordained by God. Well, many times when people go to watch movies, they know that certain movies are, say, rom-com, they're romantic comedies, there's going to be laughter, there's going to be some complications, there's going to be some romance, and at the end, there's going to be happily ever after.

Now, just because they know that it's a rom-com, that doesn't mean that they don't want to watch it, because still the action, still the complications, still the interactions, all of them are enjoyable. So, even when we know the end, we can predict the end, still, how we get to the end can be intriguing. What to speak of, that is just a fictional movie, what to speak of when the Lord is enacting his plan and a devotee is executing that plan.

So, the subsequent events are also fascinating. So, that something is ordained, it doesn't take away the role for human initiative or the role for human creativity, it actually, it simply, that something is ordained is meant to infuse confidence in the humans who are cooperating, that although the odds may seem to be stacked against us, although victory may seem difficult, but still, it's ordained. So, then let us fight wholeheartedly, let us use all our intelligence, let us use all our expertise and let us fight wholeheartedly and victory will be ours.

So, this is meant to this assurance that this is meant to encourage, not discourage and that indeed is the effect.