How our vision alters our perception – Gita study 01.24-36

[Bhakti Shastri Class at Krishna House, Gainesville, USA]

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Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
This chapter has two different sections. So chapters 1 to 26 talk about Arjuna’s observing the armies and from 27 to 46 talks about Arjuna’s lamentation. So we have these two sections and the two names can come accordingly based on that.
Now as far as the content is concerned, I’ll just recite the verse myself and I’ll focus on some important themes from the verses. So basically the Bhagavad Gita is a narration that is happening on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and that what is happening there is narrated by Sanjay to Dhritarashtra. So sometimes the camera focusses on the two characters and what Arjuna is speaking and what Krishna is speaking is described.
But when what they are doing is to be described, then the camera goes one step back. And then it is said that they are speaking and when they are speaking, who is reporting that speaking? At that point, it is described how Sanjay is speaking. So here the camera has gone back now and Sanjay So here Krishna says that or the Sanjay says that Krishna was told in the previous verses, please take our chariot between the two armies.
I want to know who is it that is fighting against us? Who is there who has come to fight against us? So Krishna accordingly, Rishikesh is unto that person Rishikesh, one who is the controller of the senses. So he is the controller of the senses. But in this case, he was obeying the in the request of his devotee.
And has a special significance over here. There are many different meanings of this word. Gura can mean sleep.
And Isha, Gura is deep sleep. Isha is controller. So one who has controlled sleep.
One who has conquered sleep. So Prabhupada explained that he was a great devotee that he had conquered sleep. Now conquered sleep does not necessarily mean that one is one doesn’t sleep at all.
What it means is that one is able to regulate one’s sleep according to one’s need. The word Gudakesha also refers to Arjuna when he was practising archery. At that time, once he would practise all day archery and at night when he would normally sleep normally rest.
So he was eating food and there was a lamp that was blowing. So suddenly because of a wind of a breeze going by, the lamp got extinguished. And Arjuna’s hand moved to the food and went to his mouth and he ate.
And it struck him at that time, if I can eat at night, then I can shoot at night also. So why am I not shooting? Why am I not practising right now? And that’s how he started practising at night. He started becoming adept at hitting targets simply based on his perception of the sounds.
And that also refers to his archery excellence. So for his service to Krishna, which was developing his archery skills so that he could serve Krishna as a martial guardian of society, he excelled by conquering sleep. So all day he would practise and even late in the night he would practise.
Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur, one of our great acharyas, who is also commented in the Bhagavad Gita, he says that gudakesha can have one more meaning also. He says guda means sweetness. Like jaggery is called as guda.
So sweetness. Ka refers to Brahma. Isha refers to Shiva.
So gudakesha refers to one who gives sweetness to Brahma and Shiva. That means his devotion is so great that seeing his devotion even the great gods, they are astounded. They become delighted.
So gudakesha in a Bharata. So unto that Rishikesha, gudakesha spoke. Then what happened? Senayor ubhayor madhe.
In between the two armies, the sthapaitva rathottamam, ratha uttama. He placed the chariot right in between the two armies. So Arjuna and Krishna were on one side, the Pandava side.
The other forces were on the Kaurava side and normally both fight from their sides. So later on when the match starts, say if there is a football match, a soccer match or whatever, then you have two teams on two sides. And then they merge as they are tackling each other.
Usually they are on the two sides. If right in the, before the match starts, if one player comes right in the middle, he will yell, Lord! So but Krishna, Arjuna requested and Krishna has brought him in now. Now after bringing him in, what happens? Bhishma drona pramuktah sarvesham jyamahikshitam vachaparthapashyaitan samavetan kuronite.
So senayor ubhayor madhe. In between the two armies, the chariot was bought. But where did he bring it in front of? Primarily Bhishma and Drona.
Bhishma was the grandsire of the Pandavas. Drona was their martial teacher. Pramuktah, they were the prominent people, the most prominent leaders on the Kaurava side.
They were the first two commanders also. The commander for 10 days and Drona for 5 days. So pramuktah, they were the primary warriors over there.
Sarvesham jyamahikshitam. All who were there were great rulers over there. Mahikshitam, they were rulers of the earth.
Vachaparthapashyaitan. Partha, just see. Krishna told Arjuna, just see.
Samavetankuronite, just see all the Kurus are assembled over here. Pashyaitan, just see this. So it’s interesting here what is happening.
That Arjuna said to Krishna, I want to know who is there on that side. I want to see who has come to assist Duryodhana, that evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra. But it is not that he did not know who was there on their side.
It is, say suppose, if there is a sports match and the team there are say 14 players and 11 get selected. So 3 are reserved. So till the match starts, you may not know who is actually playing 11.
And so then you may want to see who is there actually in the team. So you will be eager to see the team. But it is not like that.
The full army had assembled and the allies had been formed for a long time before the war started also. Allies had been being formed. So everybody in Arjuna knew who was on the opposite side.
So what was it that he wanted to see? Actually, this was a very painful war for Arjuna. Because his venerable elders were on the opposite side. And when he says, I want to see who is there, basically he wanted to see how bitter, how severe was the fighting spirit.
And he wanted to see, is this war really going to happen? Sometimes we have a close relationship with someone and then that relationship becomes bitter and then there is practically a war between two people. We cannot believe it is going to happen like this. But that is what is happening.
So he wants to see what is happening. And as he wants to see, so Krishna says, just see. What do you want to see? You know all of it.
You know who are the warriors over there. So what do you want to see actually? Bhishma, Drona, Pramukhata, Bhishma, Drona. He saw Bhishma and Drona prominently over there.
But there is a special significance over this. We will see how this vision changes conception. Vision changes conception.
Now, generally speaking, the eyes are the way to illusion and the ears are the way to reality. So Arjuna, before this is aware, before he comes in the middle of the two armies, he is aware that these are Dhritarashtra, Sindhu, Buddha. They are people who have assisted the evil minded son of Dhritarashtra.
They are the evil party. This his understanding is clear. But when he sees, his whole conception will change.
So thinking of them as people who are on the side of the evil, who have to be curbed, he starts thinking of all of them as my relatives. So one of the themes of the Bhagavad Gita is that the eyes will put us into illusion. All of us, you know, we may, there are different ways in which eyes put us into illusion.
Sometimes we may look at the world and say, there’s so much pleasure there. I’m missing out so much in pleasure. Why here? But when we hear, the ears bring us to reality.
The ears make us aware what is the actual reality. So Arjuna in the first chapter is described how I, by his seeing, by his desire to see, he had come to the war, ready to battlefield, ready to fight. But by his desire to see, he goes into illusion.
And fortunately for him, when he goes into illusion, he desires to hear. And by that hearing, he will come out of illusion. So that is what we described in the narrative of the Bhagavad Gita over the next 17 chapters.
But here it is said that Krishna, now when we desire to go into illusion, then Krishna often puts us into illusion, which is according to our desire. That means that in Arjuna, if he had seen Drona, sorry, if he had seen Duryodhana, if he had seen Dushyasana, if they had been focused on him, these are my enemies. But he saw primarily Bhishma and Drona.
And because he saw Bhishma and Drona, these were his venerable elders. And he became soft hearted because of that. And he started becoming sentimental.
So when we take one step towards illusion, it is when we take one step towards Krishna, Krishna takes one step, 10 step towards us. But similarly, when we take one step towards illusion, illusion also take 10 step towards us. It is said in the Chaitanya Charita Amrit that, that when we forget Krishna and desire to enjoy, then maya, the force of illusory energy, is right next to us.
Nikatastha, she is situated close by, just pounces and catches the living entity. So that is how the best time to win the battle against temptation is before it begins. Before it begins.
That means when the temptation starts coming in, no, I am not going to get involved in this. We can resist the temptation afterwards also. But it becomes more and more difficult.
It is like if somebody is riding a horse and they have the horse under control and the horse sees the fruit of the road and starts going in that direction. Now when the horse starts making its first movement, pull it back. It will come back on track.
But if we let the horse move forward, forward, forward, forward, the more it moves, the more momentum it gains. And after it has gained momentum, then pulling it back requires far greater energy. And it becomes almost impossible to stop it.
We just get, we get knocked off the road, thrown off the horse sometimes. So Arjuna, he desires to see. And what happens? He desires to see the enemies, but he sees Bhishma and Drona primarily.
And seeing them puts him in illusion. That’s why Bhishma, Drona, Pramuktha, they are the primary people that he sees. And what happens now? The emotions of Arjuna are described.
So first, Arjuna’s emotions will be described and then his words will be described. So here, whom all does he see? Text 26 says, So actually it is described, six generations of warriors were there. Those from Arjuna’s grandparents level.
In fact, his great, one of, one of his great grandfather’s brother. You could say something like great-granduncle. He was also there.
And Arjuna’s son was also there. In fact, Bhima’s son’s son was also there. Bhima’s grandson was also there.
So in that sense, it’s six generations of warriors over there. And he saw the whole dynasty and described all the different relatives that he described. And he saw all of them.
He saw all of them assembled in the army, some on his side, some on the opposite side. And what happened by this? So, in this series of verses, the stress on the eyes comes repeatedly. taan samiksya.
Isi is with the eyes. Iksya means eyes. So actually, if you will count, you will find that almost eight times in these verses, Krishna speaks about seeing.
The Gita talks about seeing. Can we charge somewhere possibly? Charge the laptop. Sorry, nothing is here.
Sarvan bandhunavasthitaan. He says that all of them are my bandhus, they are all my relatives. happens is he becomes overwhelmed by compassion.
Paraya, overpowering. It was something which he just could not give up. Just too strong for him to give up.
Vishidan idam abravit. Vishidan means he started lamenting. What is this happening? How can I fight against them? Abravit.
Abravit means when he was feeling lamented like this, he started speaking. So, let us see what he speaks. So, he says over here, now from 28th verse onwards till 46th verses, Arjuna is speaking in this And this is actually, basically you could say the Arjuna Vishad Yoga.
Will it fit? So, Arjuna vacha, drstve mam svajanam krishna, yutsum samupastitam, siddhanti mam ghatrani, mukham cha parishushyate. Arjuna vacha, drstve mam svajanam krishna, when I am seeing all these people who are my svajana, they are my own friends, my own relatives. Yutsum samupastitam, they are assembled here for fighting.
And siddhanti mam ghatrani, my limbs have started trembling. Mukham cha parishushyate, my mouth has dried up. And next few verses will describe the symptoms.
I will take all the symptoms and then I will come back. Vepatushcha sharire me, romaharshischa jayate, gandivam sramsate hastat, dvakchaiva paridahyate. So, vepatushcha sharire me, my body is trembling now.
So, earlier he says, siddhanti mam ghatrani, my limbs were quivering, but now he says, my whole body is trembling. Romaharshischa jayate, the hair on my body is standing up. Gandivam sramsate hastat, the gandiva, the bow of Arjuna is slipping from my hands.
Dvakchaiva paridahyate, whole skin is burning. And then he says, so in these two verses, he describes the symptoms. And then he describes the 30th verse, the conclusion.
Nachashaknomi avasthatum, brahmati vachame manah, nimittani chapashyami, viparitani keshava. So, he says, Nachashaknomi avasthatum, I don’t see anything auspicious anywhere. Brahmati vachame manah, when we see all negative in all directions, the mind starts saying, really, what should I do? The mind is like a child.
Sometimes, in some science fiction movies, sometimes you may see a person is trapped in a room and then the walls start sinking. And the walls are sinking, what do I do now? The walls are sinking, they are going to crush me. What do I do? So, I have to run here, run there, run there, and there is no escape.
So, like that, when we can’t see any escape, we become panicky. The mind is running. This doesn’t work, this doesn’t work, this doesn’t work, this doesn’t work, this doesn’t work.
So, he is saying that my brahmati vachame manah, my mind is just racing around. It is wandering is one thing, the mind goes here, the mind goes there, but the mind is whirling around. This option, this option, this option.
It doesn’t come to any conclusion. When you become agitated, especially agitated in the sense that we see no way ahead for us to move, at that time, we start feeling simultaneously energised and powerless. Now, how is it possible? Not energised in a positive sense, we feel both our mind gets hyperactive and powerless.
So, to be hyperactive and powerless is like a fan. Now, a fan moves very fast, but the fan doesn’t go anywhere. It stays at the same place, at least it gives some cool, cooling air.
But when the mind runs around and around, this option, that option, this option, that option, no, this doesn’t work. Again, come back to the first option, again, second, third, fourth, fifth. And it just keeps going around and around in the same iterations, faster and faster.
So, it is hyperactive, but it is completely ineffective. So, when we are agitated, the mind becomes hyperactive and ineffective. And that is like a fan, a lot of energy, but that energy doesn’t go anywhere.
And then the more the mind becomes hyperactive, and the more it is ineffective, the more we become panicky. So, what have I seen? Again, I am seeing with my eyes. I am seeing inauspiciousness all around.
I don’t see anything positive. Adversity I am seeing in all directions. So, let’s go back to the list, what Arjuna said and look at the significance of some of them.
Warriors are generally trained to be intimidating. Even sports players, war is like sports, sports is like war in some ways. We may not have so much familiarity with war, but we all have familiarity with sports.
Now, in sports, players often try to intimidate the other party, where you try to appear very confident, very sure. People walk with a swagger sometimes. If somebody looks very confident, then this person is so confident, maybe they have some plan, which I don’t know.
And then the other party becomes a little weak by that. So, especially people who have to do tough work, they also like to show themselves as tough. And they don’t show their emotions very easy.
So, Kshatriyas are trained to tolerate pain. And even when there is pain, they don’t show the pain. Because what happens is, when they show the pain, then you may understand, oh, this person is weak.
Then they will attack there itself. So, suppose two players are fighting a boxing match. And then, say one player has a, from the previous bout, has a wound over here on the lower part of the jaw.
And he just makes a face in pain. And as soon as the enemy sees that, opponent sees that, the opponent will hit there itself. So, sports can be quite ruthless in that sense.
The formula for winning in sports is, hit where it hurts. Hit where it hurts. So, the converse formula for the defender is, even if it hurts, don’t show.
So, Arjuna was a quintessential Kshatriya. And normally, he would not show any emotions. He would not show any signs of intimidation.
Rather, he would want the other person to be intimidated. So, when he is showing those signs, then that means, he is extremely agitated. Some people, we know, are very sentimental.
Small thing happens, they make a big show. Hey, this happened, that happened, that happened. But other people, they are very stolid.
If they become agitated, we understand, something must be seriously wrong. So, when Arjuna is getting agitated like this over here, when he is saying that, my limbs are quivering. Normally, if somebody starts trembling, this is a sign of cowardice.
So, he is not a coward, he is a great hero. But he is so fearful. Actually, what is happening? What is, is he fearful that, oh, my enemies will defeat me? That is not his fear.
His fear is something else. What it is, we will talk about in the future verses. But the point is, he is severely affected.
And one of the most drastic signs of his being fearful is, that his bow is slipping from his hands. The bow is slipping. Now, one of my friends, this is a soldier in army, he is telling me that the one rule they are told, never drop your weapon.
You drop your weapon only when you surrender. The enemy is pointing, drop your weapon. You drop your weapon, it is almost like you are defeated.
So, what happens, you don’t drop your weapon. So, let go of your weapon, that means, one has lost control over one’s body and limbs so much, that that which one needs to save one’s life, the bow for archer, that is, one is losing the grip on that. So, that is what happens sometimes.
You know, say, in baseball or in cricket, the players play with a bat. And suppose, the batsman is batting and the bowler is bowling and the batsman has raised his bat up to hit the ball and before the ball comes, the batsman just drops the bat. The ball will just pass by and he will get clean bowled.
So, you don’t drop a bat like that. So, Arjuna is saying, I am dropping, my hand device is slipping from my hands. This is like a soldier dropping his weapons.
It indicates extreme panic. And Viparitani, I just don’t see any way ahead. Actually, Prabhupada writes in the Parpot over here, that actually, when we are self-centred, then we will sooner or later come to a point where we will feel there is just no way ahead for me.
There is just no way ahead for me. If I do this, this is the problem. If I do this, this is the problem.
If I do this, this is the problem. If I do this, this is the problem. And all doors will seem closed.
And at that point, either we can get frustrated, we can just give in, just give up, or we can change our focus from ourselves to Krishna. So, if I am attached to my way of doing things, this is what I want to do. I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t, how will I do it? I can’t do anything.
But if we just shift the focus, Krishna, how can I serve you? So, to be Krishna-centred simply means, Krishna, how can I serve you? So, where self-centredness causes frustration, where self-centredness shows closed doors, Krishna-centredness shows an open door. If I want to do something only according to my plans, if I want to give a class and just before the class I get a sore throat or a big or severe cough and I can’t speak, I’ll get frustrated. But if I think that I meant to serve Krishna, I can serve Krishna by speaking if I can’t speak, I can hear something, I can read something, I can memorise something, I can do some other service.
So, as devotees, we are attached to the principle of service, but not the form of service. Even in Bhakti, we can get frustrated if we become attached to the form of service. This is the service I want to do.
The principle of service we are attached to, then we’ll always find some way ahead. So, Arjuna, he’s, what is the self-centredness? He’s thinking these are my relatives. How can I be the part, how can I be the cause of their death? So, he’s thinking from his perspective, not from Krishna’s perspective, not from the perspective of dharma and that is what causes his illusion.
So, now he will continue speaking and he will give various reasons why he should not fight. So, basically, when he said that my bow is slipping from my hand, that means he’s saying, I’m not going to fight. He’s not said that, verbalised that thought right now.
He will verbalise it in due course. In the second chapter, 9th, 10th verses, he will say, I will not fight and he’ll become silent. But here he starts giving the reasons.
So, the first reason he gives is compassion. So, basically, Arjuna gives five reasons why he should not fight. So, this, you could remember them alphabetically.
It’s like C-E-D-F-I. C is compassion. E is enjoyment.
It’s compassion. How can I kill my, how can I kill all these people? That’s compassion. That’s what he’s describing in 31st text.
32 to 35, he describes the next reason, that is enjoyment. If my loved ones die, what is the point of enjoying it? What will I enjoy with? You know, if, say, somebody becomes the world athlete champion, we’ll come to that point. But if he becomes the world athlete champion, and that person is the only athlete living on the planet, you know, there’s the only person living on the planet, what is there to enjoy? So, enjoyment is the second point he’ll talk about.
Then, D is, he talks about, he talks about destruction of family traditions. That he talks from 36 to around 41, roughly. It goes on continuously for several verses on 43, 42, 43.
And then he talks about fear of sinful reactions, which is the underlying thread, but he will express it in a few verses also separately. And then, the last is in 2.6, indecision. So, compassion, enjoyment, destruction of family traditions, fear of sinful reactions, and indecision.
So, the five reasons he gives for saying, I will not fight. So, let’s look at his first reason. So, first reason, I do not see any, any benefit, any long term benefit.
Shreya refers to, Arjuna is also thinking long term, but he is not thinking sufficiently long term. So, many intelligent people think long term. So, those who are very, maybe youthful or impulsive, they think, just I want to enjoy now.
But thoughtful people, they think long term. Okay, I have to prepare for my career. I have to save for my retirement.
I’d have to prepare for a rainy day, as they say. These people think long term. But even those people who think long term, they don’t think sufficiently long term after death.
What is going to happen to me after death? How am I preparing for that? So, Arjuna is saying that I’m thinking long term. You may think I’ll get a kingdom over here. But after, if I kill my relatives, kill my loved ones, what is the point of getting a kingdom? So, Nachashreyo Anupashyami, I don’t see any benefit.
So, Arjuna’s long term is not long enough. So, in the materialistic worldview, the long term turns to be not long enough. Because we don’t think beyond death, we don’t think about eternity.
Nachashreyo Anupashyami, I don’t see any good. If I kill my own relatives, Nakankshe Vijayam Krishna, I don’t desire any victory. Obviously, you’re going to gain by this fight.
You’re going to get a kingdom, you’re going to get royal opulence, royal enjoyment. I don’t desire this. If I lose my loved ones, what is the point of gaining it all? It’s of no use to me.
And then there are four verses, it goes in a flow, where Arjuna is speaking out his emotions. The stream of verses where he is expressing his emotions. And he says, O Krishna, O Govinda, what is the use of the kingdom? What is the use of even living? For whom I may desire life, for whom I may desire a kingdom.
All this, which have all this opulence I may desire. They are all assembled on the battlefield. And they’re ready to give up their wealth, they’re ready to give up their life.
So what am I doing all this for? Many times, we all want to do something extraordinary. We all want to achieve something. So for example, some say tennis player from some small obscure country in Europe, a tennis player wins a Grand Slam championship.
Now winning the Grand Slam championship in tennis is delightful. But the real joy is, you go back to your small kingdom, go back to your home. And then all your loved ones, all your friends, they come and felicitate you.
They appreciate you. I’m going to show this is what I want. And it’s not necessarily an egoistic sense.
If a child goes to a university, studies and gets high grades, and the child comes back home and shows the grades to the parents, the parents appreciate, parents smile. They pat the back, the child feels, you know, I’ve achieved something. So you know, achievement alone doesn’t give fulfilment.
It is the reciprocation that happens after the achievement that gives fulfilment. So if we don’t have any loved one, then once I saw I was going in a flight and I saw a headline on a sports page, you know, some sports player, a tennis player saying, I don’t know what I’ll do with this cup. So he had played and he won the Grand Slam cup.
But while he was playing, his coach had got a heart attack and coach had passed away. So it was very sad. And so he said, you know, I won the cup.
But what do I do with it? His joy was he had a very close bonding with the coach. And he says, what do I do with this cup? So the point is that although we often consider things as the markers of success. Oh, this person has such a big house, such a big car.
But things alone don’t bring satisfaction. It is that by acquiring the things, we hope to have more loving reciprocations. And when we have those loving reciprocations, then that is what gives satisfaction.
So he’s saying if there is no one to have those loving reciprocations with, what is the satisfaction? So why should we be fighting? And again, he also lists all the relatives that are there. The same list that was given earlier in verse 27 is repeated over here. And he says, actually, for even the three worlds, even for wealth far greater than the wealth that I will get now, even for that, I would not fight like this.
I would not kill my relatives. You know what to speak of for this earth alone. So in this way, he’s telling that I cannot fight.
Now there are different ways, names with which he addresses Krishna over here. He starts in the first line by using the word Govinda. And the last line, he concludes, He says, what is the use of a kingdom, Govinda? And he says, what benefit, what affection, what purpose is going to be served by this Janardana? So he uses these two names, Govinda and Janardana.
So, you know, that sometimes we convey emotion by the way we address a person. So, for example, a mother may have an affectionate name for her daughter. And normally, she uses that name to call her daughter.
But sometimes when she wants to be stern, she may call her daughter by the full name, the first name, middle name, last name together. You know, when she says that, just the usage of that name conveys, you know, there is some, she wants to bring in some formality over there. She wants to have some sternness over there.
So the names that we use, they often convey emotions. Just as a mother who wants to have formality in the relationship, she wants to convey that this is serious. She may use a particular name to address at that particular time.
So like that, in the Bhagavad Gita, there are different names that are used at different times. And those names convey specific thoughts. So here, when the name Govinda or the name Janardana is used, there is significance over there.
Govinda, Go means senses. Govinda means one who gives pleasure to the senses. So he says that actually, Oh Govinda, why are you making me do something which is going to cause me so much distress? And Janardana means you are actually the protector of the Janna.
Why are you encouraging a course of action that is going to cause destruction of the people? So he’s using these names thoughtfully to convey, to emphasise the points that he wants to make. It’s 7.30 in the class. So now we come to the third reason where he talks about sinful reactions.
I’ll get overwhelmed by sin. He’s talked briefly about compassion. He’s talked about what is the enjoyment.
And now he talks about fear of sinful reactions. So all these are actually, Arjuna is speaking very eloquently. He’s making rhetorical questions.
Like in the Bible, it says, What profiteth a man if he gains the world but loses his eternal soul? Now, it’s a question, but the question is not meant to be given an answer. The question is, the rhetorical form is used to emphasise the point that it’s obvious that there’s no profit over there. What will you gain if you acquire a penny but lose a pound? You gain nothing.
It’s implicit over there. So Arjuna is asking, If I kill my own relatives, what happens will be there for me? So several of these verses are actually filled with questions. They’re rhetorical questions.
In Sanskrit, usually questions come with the K sound. These are the words, like generally in English, What, who, when, where, why? These are question words. Just like W is often a word which signifies the start of a question.
Just not always, but that’s often. So similarly, These are the question signifying words. So here he’s saying, That we will be overcome by sin.
If we kill these aggressors. Therefore, we should not kill them. The sons of Dhritarashtra.
But they are our relatives. By killing one’s own relatives. So what benefit will I get? Now he’s used the word, our own people, several times in the series of verses.
So he is seeing them. Till now, he was seeing them as antagonists. They’re opponents.
But now, he’s saying, they’re my relatives. Sometimes, in a sports match, you know, two relatives, two brothers, two sisters may be facing each other. So now, if they’re facing each other in a match, they can’t become sentimental at that.
They have to play. Yes, the opponent is my relative, my brother, my sister. But I have to play the best that I can.
So at that, yes, you’re two are sisters. But if you want to, if you’re professional players, at that time, you put the sisterly relationship aside and play. So here, he is that point that they are opponents.
That has been eclipsed by his vision. So his knowledge, his purpose has been eclipsed by his perception. And because of that, purpose being eclipsed by his perception, he is now confused.
So Arjuna’s purpose was to fight the war. But his perception was, oh, these are my relatives. Often, when there is confusion or indecision, that is primarily because there is a mismatch between our purpose and our perception.
So for example, if I am fasting on a particular day, it’s Ekadashi, I’m supposed to fast. So now if I decide to fast, that’s my purpose. But then if I come to a room and I see everybody else is eating, big feast, then my perception, hey, everybody’s enjoying, why should I fast? So if our perception and our purpose are at odds, then that causes indecision.
So Arjuna’s purpose is being sabotaged here by his perception. And what happens over here? Paapam eva shreya asmaan, we will be overcome by sin. If we kill these aggressors.
Now this is a subtle point which he is making, that they are aggressors, he is acknowledging that. So normally, killing others is a crime. But killing in self-defence is not a crime.
If I go and kill someone, that’s a crime. But if somebody has come to kill me, to attack me, then in self-defence, if I have to kill, that’s not a crime. That applies even to ordinary citizens.
Now for police, the Kshatriyas are like police. So for them, you know, if somebody is an aggressor, now that person may have committed aggression in the past also. Like there are some people who are terrorists, and they are terrible terrorists, then the government says that we don’t even want to catch them alive.
Shoot at sight. Just shoot at sight. They make the order like that.
So aggressors, those who have themselves committed aggression, punishing them and even killing them is not wrong. So here, there are six kinds of aggressors who are described in the Vedic context. So the six kinds of aggressors are those people.
Does anyone know the six kinds? So those mentioned in the purport. The one is, so one who attacks with lethal weapons to kill. The other is, one who tries to poison.
A third is, one who tries to burn one alive. Fourth is, yeah, one who tries to abduct one’s wife. Fifth is, yes, you know, we have our family members.
What else do we have which is important for us? Property. Yeah, one who steals our property. And the last is, yeah, so, okay, property can be two types.
You know, one is that one who takes land and one who takes wealth. So, seizing away of land is itself aggression. But wealth also, you may not plunder away the land.
Seizing land means you drive a person away or take away. But just come in and steal wealth also. These are all acts of aggression.
Now, these will vary. It can, you know, stealing one’s computer, stealing one’s data. That’s also an aggression, isn’t it? Now we have cyber warfare.
So, you know, the enemy just hacks one’s computer. That can also be an act of aggression. So, stealing Mahaprashad, is that an act of aggression? That’s interesting.
That’s good. If it is not on your plate. Stealing Mahaprashad.
Wow. It’s a, we have a long tradition of stealing Mahaprashad. But it’s the less than praiseworthy part of the tradition.
So, there’s precedent to that. There is precedent, no doubt. So, then the aggressors can be killed.
And, you know, if a police officer kills the aggressor, then the police officer is not considered culpable. So, Arjuna knows that the Kauravas are aggressors and killing them should not be a crime. But he’s thinking, they’re my relatives.
They’re my relatives and therefore killing them will be a crime. So, sometimes, you know, if some stranger comes and steals something, from us, at one level, you know, we may go to a court and we may, or we may go to the police and complain and try to get things settled. But if we find that somebody from our family only has stolen something, then maybe this is a house family matter, let’s not wash our dirty linen in public.
Let’s just settle this. So, we may not talk about it in public like that. So, he’s thinking that these are my own relatives, how can I kill them? So, therefore, he’s saying, because they are my relatives, so killing them will be sinful.
Our relatives, we are meant to protect them, we are meant to help them. But if we attack them, then who’s going to protect them? So, he’s thinking that if those who are protectors become attackers, then that is a sin. I will continue this reasoning later, where he’ll further say that, actually, even if they have become attackers, why should we become attackers? But at this point, he’s saying, this is going to be sinful and therefore, I do not want to do this.
So, Arjuna is giving several reasons and in his own way, his reasons have reasoning behind them. So, Arjuna’s reasons have reasoning behind them, but what is missing is the foundational understanding. The foundational understanding is that we take decisions based not just on our own self-centredness, we see it based on Krishna’s perspective and to get to that perception takes time, takes effort, takes energy, takes guidance, takes wisdom, takes realisation.
So, the Bhagavad Gita will lead Arjuna down that path of wisdom and realisation and then Arjuna’s reasoning, which is actually flawed, will become corrected. So, are there any questions or comments? If he has to engage somebody in a form of service that they like, otherwise, they will go away. Okay, yeah, that’s true.
Good point. I just want to understand. Yeah, that’s true.
Good point. So, when I said that we should be attached to the principle of service, not the form of service, but then we also say that we should engage people in the things that they like to do, otherwise, they’ll go away. Yeah.
See, in every situation that we are in, there is the institutional perspective or the social perspective, the broader perspective from the perspective of the broader group. It may be a family, it may be an institution, it may be a community, whatever it is, and there is the individual’s perspective. The ideal situation is where the individual’s perspective and the institutional perspective or the individual interest and the institutional interest can be matched together.
Now, the ideal situation is where both make efforts to match. So, the individual is introspective and tries to observe and understand, okay, these are my interests, these are my talents. Individual also communicates.
And the institution also says, yes, we want not just to get things done, but we also want devotees to grow, we want devotees to be happy. So, we’ll try to engage them according to their nature. So, this is how both work cooperatively.
At the same time, both also need to be extended. The individual at times needs to be ready to do things which they may not like to do, but that’s what is required at that time. Prabhupada would use this phrase, do the needful.
What is required, do it. That’s one perspective. And on the other side, the institution also has to be flexible.
We can’t just force people to do something because we need it. We have to consider their growth also. So, there has to be an extending attitude from both perspectives.
Especially new devotees, it is very difficult for us to know, if we are very new, to know what our nature is. See, the nature of the mind is to always keep us dissatisfied. Even if we go to paradise, the mind will say, yes, but.
Yeah, this is good, but this is a problem. That is the problem. So, we can’t just let our mind decide what we should do or we should not do.
So, if we ask the mind, what is your nature? What is the service that you like? The mind will say, the service that you are doing is a service I don’t like. So, what happens is that the mind will keep us dissatisfied, no matter what we do. So, this does not mean that we have to completely suppress or reject the mind, because after all, we have to live with the mind.
But what it means is that we can’t just let ourselves be tossed apart, tossed here and there by the feelings of the mind. If you observe that a particular feeling of dissatisfaction, irritation, or inability, incompetence, that keeps coming consistently in a particular service, and in some other service, it doesn’t come. So, we think and decide, okay, this is a service I can’t do.
I would like to do this service. And there’s a gradual, graceful transition that is done. So, that is fine.
So, we can’t say that we don’t just act according to the mind, but nor do we completely reject the mind. See, we don’t work for our nature, nor do we work against our nature. We work for Krishna with our nature.
So, now, we don’t work for our nature. That means, working for our nature means, whatever is my nature, I only do that. So, I like to sing, so I’ll sing.
And tomorrow, if I like to sing movie songs, I’ll sing movie songs also. I’m simply working for my nature. I’m working against my nature means, oh, I like this, I’ll just not do it, because if I do it, it sends gratification.
We’ll suppress ourselves by that. We don’t work for our nature, we don’t work against our nature. We work for Krishna with our nature.
But to discover our nature also takes time. So, that requires some spiritual advancement, some maturity, some mode of goodness. And if you don’t have that, it’s good to not make transitions abruptly.
Having said that, even when we are doing the service that we like to do, even in that, frustration will be there. Even if, say, I like to write. Now, I may start writing an article and start it.
This article is not going anywhere. Why did I even start this article? So, even in the services that we like, we get frustrated. Sometimes I write an article and say, if I submit it to some publisher and they say it’s not good.
Now, it’s not going to be published. What can I do at that time? So, even in the service that we like to do, we may meet with frustration. So, at that time, we are not attached to the form of service, we are attached to the purpose of service.
Okay, this article didn’t work. I’ll just write some other article. Sometimes we may prepare very well and give a very well-delivered class, but very few people come for that class.
So, we like preaching, but even in preaching, we may meet with frustration. So, the attachment to the purpose of service, not the form of service, means that whether it is the particular service we are doing or whether it is the obstacle we are facing in the service, whether there is no result coming in the service, whatever it is, we stay fixed in the service attitude. And how specifically we move forward, that we use our intelligence, we use guidance, based on that we decide.
Okay, so thank you very much. I have a question. Yes.