Gita 18.72 A philosophical conversation amidst emotional tribulation testifies to Arjuna’s sincerity and Krishna’s potency

Transcript

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Bhagavad Gita 18.72 Krishna is speaking here and he’s stating, This is the last verse that Krishna speaks to Arjuna.
And that’s the conversation that has begun with a question by Arjuna ends with a question by Krishna. Krishna demonstrates the characteristics of a good teacher who is very sincerely concerned, not just about communicating the message, but also about ensuring that the message is understood properly. And for that purpose, he states that actually he needs to, that he’s asking Arjuna, Arjuna, have you heard this message? With one pointed attention.
Ekagrata, that is concentration without distraction. Kachid agyana samoha And has your ignorance and illusion, Pranashtaste dhananjaya, has that been destroyed? So in this way, what Krishna is telling Arjuna is, there are two questions. First is, has the hearing been undistracted? And has the hearing produced the desired effect? Normally when we communicate, at that time, we have to try our best to communicate in a way that is effective for people.
At the same time, we also have to make sure that that is communicated in a way that people can be elevated, that people can understand, appreciate and apply. So, suppose somebody has been diagnosed with cancer, now they will be emotionally shaken by that. And the doctor explains the ramifications of the disease, the technicalities, this is how it is going to grow, this is what is going to happen after this.
Then, a natural question would be, doctor will have a concern that is the patient in emotionally stable enough condition to understand the message without getting distracted? That is a very important concern. So, Arjuna had broken down emotionally at the start of the Gita. He was in tears.
He was overwhelmed by tears. So, in that tearful condition, would Arjuna be in a position to concentrate? So, was he able to hear? It is testimony to both Arjuna’s sincerity in hearing and Krishna’s potency in speaking that from an emotionally overwhelmed condition with which the conversation started, they were both soon able to launch into a deeply philosophical conversation. In fact, their philosophical discussion ascends to heights that have been rarely seen before or after, such is the magic of their conversation.
And Krishna states here that it is important for each one of us. What he states, it is important for each one of us. When we are taking in some knowledge, we need to be undistracted.
If we are distracted, we cannot even enjoy illusion. What to speak of enlightening ourselves? When people want to watch movies, they spend money and go to theatres because they want to enjoy the illusion undistracted. So, what then to speak of if we are trying to learn profound philosophical knowledge which requires concentration? So, distraction is something which has to be avoided and obviously because it is a one-to-one conversation between Krishna and Arjuna, so Krishna could see if Arjuna was getting distracted.
Arjuna was paying attention. If there is a large audience, then everybody in the audience thinks that the class is for everyone else and thus everybody gets distracted. If there is a small audience, then everybody has to pay attention.
So, one-to-one conversation means it is very difficult for anyone to not pay attention because the other person is directly talking to us. Similarly, when we read the Gita, if we can get that understanding that Krishna is present in our heart and that same Krishna who spoke the Gita to Arjuna is speaking it to us now, then that conviction will help us to focus better, to not see the Bhagavad Gita as an abstract philosophical text but to see it as an affectionate personal dialogue, personal instruction that Krishna is giving to us. Moving ahead.
So, the second part is, Have you heard undistractedly? ekagrata And then, what is the desired effect of an undistracted hearing? ajnanasamohapanashtas That ignorance and illusion are destroyed. Anand Jaya Arjuna is famous as the accumulator of wealth, the winner of wealth and wisdom is the supreme wealth. Nowadays, people who have experience, who have knowledge, who have expertise, we live in an information economy and therefore, those who have information, they can earn a lot of money.
How to fix this computer? Even the information of how to fix a pump when it is not working. That also leads to earning money. But the greatest wealth is the knowledge that tells us not what to do in life but what to do with life.
Science tells us what to do in life. How to drive a car? How to fly a plane? How to communicate with someone far away through the email or the internet? But what to do in life is not as important as what to do with life. How to drive a car is important, of course, but where to drive a car? What is the purpose of our driving? What is the destination? That is extremely important.
So that knowledge is the greatest wealth and that knowledge is provided by Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita and through Arjuna to all of us. So, if Arjuna has understood this knowledge, then Arjuna has gained the supreme wealth and that indication of knowledge, of wisdom being the supreme wealth, that is given through the use of the word Dhananjaya which is in fact the last word that Krishna speaks in the Bhagavad Gita. And the result of hearing the Gita is ājñāna-sammoha-pranaśtas Ignorance and illusion are destroyed.
Ignorance means to not know the reality. Illusion means to misperceive the reality. So both are problematic and Krishna is helping Arjuna to give up both.
So to not know that we are spiritual beings, that we are souls who are meant to serve Krishna, that is ignorance. But to think we are bodies and we are meant to gratify each other’s bodies or we are to gratify our senses with the sense objects of the world, that is the illusion. So, illusion we could say is ignorance squared.
That when we don’t know what to do, that is ignorance. When we don’t know what to do but we think we know what to do, that is illusion. So the Bhagavad Gita helps to destroy both our ignorance and our illusion.
It helps us understand that we are souls who are parts of Krishna and our current roles are temporary, they are circumstantial. They are important as long as we are doing them. So Arjuna as a warrior has to do his Kshatriya responsibility.
Whatever particular roles we are in, we have to act according to those roles. But we don’t have to reduce our identity to those roles. But instead keep moving forwards, steadily using those roles, through those roles we continue serving Krishna and thus we ultimately steadily contribute in our roles here as well as attain life’s ultimate goal.
Thank you.