Mahabharata Characters 47 – Arjuna 10 – Arguments against and for fighting in the Gita

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series. Pandavas and Kauravas have assembled at Kurukshetra and at that time, the transcendental novelty in terms of a complex philosophical discussion on a surcharged war, war-hungry battlefield starts off. So, how does this happen and what is the content of this remarkable discussion? Let us discuss that.
So, as Krishna and Arjuna were in the middle of the battlefield, on their respect, Krishna and Arjuna, they were on their side, the leaders. So, this is now the Bhishma Parva, the Parva where, sixth Parva of the Mahabharata. And depending on the recension of the Mahabharata, this is often either the 18th to the 35th chapters or there are different chapters, there is 23rd to the 40th chapter of the Bhishma Parva or 25th to the 46th in chapters, not 18 to 36, 36.
So, like that, it is just a few chapters here and there, but it comes basically in the Bhishma Parva. Bhishma is the commander during this period, that is the start of the war, the first 10 days of the war. So, Arjuna turns to Krishna and he says, senayor ubhayor madhye ratham sthapayam me chuta.
Please place me in between the two armies. Now, Arjuna, he knows this is going to be a treacherous battle, a brutal war. He wants to see who are the people who have come to fight inside of the evil-minded Durvadhana Durbuddhya Prachakirishava.
And accordingly, Krishna takes Arjuna in between and pashyaitan pandu putranam samavetan karuniti bhishma drona paruhta. So, he takes him right in between the two chariots and actually, Krishna places him in such a way that Bhishma and Drona are seen. They are the eldest and they are the fiercest warriors.
Karuna is not there at that time. And naturally, they are the most prominent, especially in the eyes of Arjuna, because Arjuna is now concerned, what all bloodshed I’ll have to do? How can I do such a bloodshed? Should I do it? So, he knows the cruelty and the evil nature of Durvadhana. So, he doesn’t have so much compunction about fighting his Durvadhana, but especially his venerable elders.
And then he sees not just his elders. Krishna places him right in front of those elders. But along with that, he sees a whole array of relatives.
Now, right from grandfathers down to sons. Now, he sees Bhishma is a grandfather, but actually there on the…Bahalika is also there. And Bahalika is actually not just his grandfather.
Bahalika is actually great-grandfather. Bahalika is the brother of Shantanu. Shantanu is the father of Bhishma.
So, it’s like his great-grandfather is also there. And then Bahalika’s son Bhurishrava is there. Bahalika, Bhurishrava, Somadatta, that whole dynasty is there.
And he is stunned. He says, how can I fight against them? So, from that, there are elders like that. And then as you go down, down, down, there are equals.
Ashwathama was a friend of his. And Krutavarman was also a friend. There are many warriors, but especially we are talking about those who are his friends.
Krutavarman and Arjuna, they had been together in Drona’s Gurukul. Krutavarman was the general of the Yadus, whom Duryodhana approached and who came with the Yadu army on the side of the Kauravas. So, he saw that.
Then he saw Lakshmana. Lakshmana was the son of Duryodhana. So, he was like a nephew to him.
So, like that, he saw right from the grandfather and great-grandfathers. So, there are three generations above him. Somadatta, Bhurishrava, they were also both above him.
And there are many in his equal generation who are dear to him. Shalva, Shalya was also in that generation of being like his father. He was his father-in-law.
He is related to Madhuri. So, how could he fight against them? And then he had his sons and then he had his tranpoutran. So, he had his people who were like grandsons also.
So, he said, how can I fight against all these people? Arjuna started getting overwhelmed. Now, you may wonder, Arjuna had fought against many of these warriors earlier. At that time, when he had fought them against Atvirat, there had been confrontations.
He had never had a confrontation directly with his venerable elders. When he had fought against the Gandharvas or earlier also, whenever there had been a confrontation, it had not been directly with his elders, but now it is going to be directly with the elders. So, and even when he had fought at Virat, he had no intention of killing them at that time.
He just wanted to protect the cows of Virat and he had to teach the Kauravas a lesson in terms of demonstrating the power that they would be up against if they did not agree for peace. Now, he knew the situation was different. All peace negotiations had failed and at the end of this war, one set of Jandharvas would not go back home.
So, this was going to be a fight to a bitter and brutal death. And naturally, Arjuna started getting overwhelmed. His limbs started trembling.
His skin started burning. His hair started standing on his head. And then his Gandiva started slipping from his hand.
That same Arjuna who had taken a vow that he would never put aside his Gandiva, he found his Gandiva slipping away. And Arjuna started thinking. He says, no, this war will be a catastrophe.
I cannot let this war happen. At least I cannot be a part of this war. I cannot be an instigator in this war.
No. He started turning towards Krishna. He says, Krishna, how can we fight this war? And first he thinks in terms of enjoyment.
Now, when they had the martial exhibition after completing their education, what did they do? The martial exhibition was for the pleasure of the citizens and also for especially the pleasure of the elders. He wanted to please Duryodhana. He wanted to please Bhishma.
He wanted to please the elders. Just see how your sons have become so glorious. And actually, whatever we achieve, we want to share with those whom we love and especially those whom we respect.
If we can show that what they have done for us, now we are in some way trying to repay. There’s a great joy to that. So Arjuna started saying that, actually, he says, how will I live? What is the point of living if those with whom I would like to relish the fruits of success, they themselves have to die and I have to kill them for that? What is the use of such a kingdom? What is the use of such a wealth? So he felt that it is pointless.
And then he started thinking, not only that, he said, they are all elders. How can I kill them at all? So first was from his point of view, what is the pleasure for me? Whom will I show what I have achieved to? Second was, how can I kill them? They are elders. They are all right.
I should be respecting them. How can I kill them? That first argument, there are five arguments he offers. First argument is enjoyment.
What will be my enjoyment? Second is, where is the compassion? How can I kill anyone? What to speak of my elders? And then he asks, third argument, he says, if you think that on a war field to kill enemies is okay, but you have to know these are not ordinary enemies, they are relatives. And they are venerable relatives. And if we kill such relatives whom are meant to be, not even verbally crossed.
In a cultured society, if some senior speaks something which one doesn’t agree with, one may have some differences, but we keep the differences private and resolve them privately. Not that we make a big show to everyone in public. And then all those who should not be even publicly verbally crossed, how can? We should arrose at them.
So if I do that, not only will be a breach of etiquette, a sinful reaction that will come if I kill people like this. And he started, he was thinking more and more. His thoughts were becoming broader and broader.
And he said, just like in a dam, there’s one hole, then there’s one small crack as the water comes out. And as the water comes out, the dam becomes weaker and weaker. And more and more water starts flooding out.
So like that, Arjuna started thinking. And he said, how can I fight like this against such venerable elders? So first reason is, okay, what will be the pleasure for me? Oh, but there’ll be so much pain for them also. How can I cause pain? Shouldn’t I have compassion for them? And not only that, he says, in the future, there’ll be sinful reactions which will come to me also.
And he says, after that, okay, it’s not just future for me will be bad, the future for whole society will be bad. Because the society’s protectors are killed. Then that society, which is unprotected will be exploited.
There are always people who with unscrupulous interests, and they will contaminate society. If women don’t have protectors, then they will be exploited. And through such exploitation, the whole society will get degraded.
So Arjuna is thinking in terms of future generations also. He says, those who destroy the Kula, such people, they not only create terrible conditions in this world, but they themselves, because they’re creating such terrible conditions in the next world, in the future, they’ll have to suffer further reaction in the next world. So because of this, he becomes indecisive.
And this is described in the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. He says, Krishna, I cannot fight. I’ll not fight.
Actually, at the end of the first chapter he puts aside his board and arrows. His mind is filled with shoka. What should I do now, Krishna? And as he’s thinking like this, he sits down in dejection on his chariot and tears are coming from his eyes.
Now for a Kshatriya, who sees death and violence regularly, for Sathya to be reduced to tears, we can just imagine what a calamitous, what a emotionally drenching turmoil must be going on in the heart of that person. And at that time, as he starts thinking, thinking, but Arjuna feels he’s in a lose-lose situation. If he doesn’t, if he fights the war, even if he loses, that’s a terrible disgrace because he will probably be killed or he’ll have to live the life of a humiliated person.
That will not happen. He will be killed only because he will not leave the battle. Even if he wins, it will be like another form of death because the loud ones with whom he would like to rejoice in the fruits of success, they would not be there.
And still, if he decides, okay, I will not fight only, and that also is a problem because what will he do? He says that I will live as a beggar, but he knows that is not the proper way for a Kshatriya to live. And is it, and is that the way they had already lived as mendicants in the forest? And what had enabled them to live, to tolerate it all was that, yes, this is temporary. And we will get a rightful kingdom back.
Now, would he be right in expecting his brothers again to go back to the forest and especially expecting Draupadi to endure the austerities of forest life again? So he said, that also doesn’t seem right. What should I do? He came to an indecision. And as he was thinking, his mind was just driving him madder and madder, not being allowed to come to any decision.
And then one sign of intelligence is to know what to do when we do not know what to do. And he decided that, what is it? If we do not know what to do, then how can we know what to do? It means that we should turn to Krishna at that time. If we can’t do anything, we turn to God in prayer and seek His help.
And by His guidance, we will come to know what to do. So then Arjuna turned to Krishna and he said, Krishna, I surrender to You. Please, please help me.
I am overcome by weakness. And here the dynamics change. Krishna and Arjuna, they were friends, but now Krishna becomes a teacher, Arjuna becomes a student.
And Krishna immediately becomes a grave. But initially seeing the sudden change in the dynamics of the relationship, Krishna smiles. But knowing that a disciple, a teacher, a spiritual master should not laugh at the problems of a disciple, Krishna restrains his smile.
The disciple is already in a great state of misery and agony and to have someone laugh at one’s problem, that situation could be morale shattering. Krishna restrains and Krishna starts speaking. Initially, Krishna just speaks at the level of pep talk.
Oh Arjuna, you are a Kshatriya, you are Arya. Why are you acting like a Shudra? Why are you acting like a important person, Klaibya? So Krishna goads Arjuna. Now, Arjuna, you live like a eunuch for so many years, for such a long time, for over a year.
And has your living like a eunuch made you into a real eunuch? How can you run away from one thing like this? This is a dangerous situation and dangerous. It is a hour of crisis and actually in the hour of crisis, those who are tough people, they become tougher, not weaker. How is it Arjuna, you are becoming weaker? Cure this weakness.
But then Arjuna speaks and he says, Krishna, this is not weak-mindedness. Actually, I am being compassionate, I am being sensitive to how can I fight against my elders? How can I shoot arrows at those people to whom I should be offering flowers? He speaks like this. He understands the problem is that the problem is much deeper.
And after this, Arjuna surrenders and Krishna starts speaking. And Krishna takes each of Arjuna’s arguments and answers them. So first, he takes the argument of compassion.
He says, you think that you are going to kill your loved ones? But don’t you know, Arjuna, that the soul is immortal? The soul will never die. The body is just like a dress. And this dress has to be given away sooner or later.
You can’t avoid it. Do you think that if you don’t fight and kill your relatives, they will never die? Arjuna gets a doubt. But even if they are eternal, will their death not cause pain to them? Will it not cause pain to me? So he says, yes, but actually to live in this world, one has to tolerate.
And moreover, remember, the soul cannot be destroyed by any weapons. And Arjuna starts thinking, but will it be destroyed by the celestial weapons which I got from the Swarga? They can cause destruction of a scale, which is not done by ordinary people. He says, no, even that cannot destroy the soul because the soul is indestructible.
So the soul is indestructible, death is inevitable. So why, out of ignorance, should you give up your duty to avoid that, to try to avoid that which is inevitable and to fear the destruction of that which is indestructible? And he consoles him and he says, yes, soul is difficult to understand, but remember it, but understand it based on your knowledge and do your duty. It’s actually your loved ones.
They are going to, after they die, they will get a better body because they have done virtuous activities and whatever bad activities they have done, like Durga Drona and Bhishma remain silent when Draupadi has been disturbed. They will get reactions for that, but afterwards, and that reaction will be in the form of death for them, but afterwards, they will get elevated body. They will get bodies in the heavens based on their punya or they may even get liberated and go back to the spiritual world.
In fact, because of dying in Krishna’s presence, that’s what they will do. So there is no need to lament. Then he turns towards Krishna’s Arjuna’s argument about enjoyment.
How will I enjoy? So Krishna says, actually, if you don’t do your duty, it is then that you will not enjoy. You will suffer in this life and the next life. How is that? He says that actually, if you fight and lose, if you don’t fight, then you will lose and people will laugh at you, the reputation that you have got as a great heroic warrior.
It will be lost, completely utterly humiliated. All those who respected you, they will scorn you, they will laugh at you and such humiliation will be worse than death for you. On the other hand, if you fight, even if you die in the fight, you will attain heavens and you will attain prosperity and enjoyment over there.
And of course, if you win, you get the earth. So what Arjuna had thought was a lose-lose situation. All three situations, he says, win-win.
If you die, you get the heavens. If you win, you get the earth. And if you don’t fight at all, then you get infamy.
So fighting is the best option for you. And then Krishna goes deeper and then he addresses Arjuna’s argument about, but what about fear of sinful reactions? Till now, the Bhagavad Gita’s messages are moving deeper and deeper. And the message now, he says actually, don’t fight with the aim of gaining heaven or gaining the world.
Fight for the sake of beauty. So actually, this message will become deeper. It will be the message of Karma Yoga.
And the message is fight for purification, fight for realisation. And if you have a material motive for doing your work, then you get material reaction. If you only have a spiritual motive for doing your work, then you get no reaction.
And that way, if you live throughout this life, then whatever you are doing, you will become liberated. Arjuna gets the question. You will attain peace and you will get liberated.
Arjuna gets the question. What is this person who is liberated or is in the path of liberation like? Now, normally, when we talk about people who are enlightened, the normal images of a person who is in the forest with maybe a long beard, a serene look on the face, a sage or a seer. So Arjuna is thinking, is that the kind of person who is going to attain liberation, who is fixed in knowledge, wisdom, enlightenment? So he is thinking, what sort of action should I do by which I will become enlightened? Should we be fighting the war or not fighting the war? And Krishna tells Arjuna that such a person rejects all external desires and seeks happiness within and strictly controls the senses.
And the way to control the senses is to fix the mind on me. Now, the Bhagavad Gita is a book within the book of the Mahabharata and within the Bhagavad Gita, now in 2.61 Krishna shifts his position. Not just the teacher of sense control, now reveals himself as the object of the controlled senses.
And this is how a glimpse of bhakti is given and this glimpse will become clearer and sweeter as we move forward. And then in the next section, as Krishna describes the characteristics of an enlightened person, he says how an enlightened person by rejecting all external desires stays peaceful. Now, by the start of the third chapter, Arjuna gets a question.
He is saying that if being peaceful is the goal and by enlightenment one gets peace, then why are you engaging in this ghastly warfare? Please tell me clearly, do you want me to fight or do you want me to act in knowledge? Or do you want me to get in bondage? So Krishna replies, actually Arjuna, there is no need to be confused. There are different levels and there are instructions for people at different levels. And he says, for some people, renouncing the world may be good, but renouncing itself doesn’t lead to perfection.
What leads to perfection is purification. And you have to purify yourself, Arjuna. And for you, the best way to do purification is by doing your prescribed duty.
By that, you will also maintain the social order. And by that, you will also be able to attain, eventually the supreme destination. Then he talks about the cycle of cosmic sacrifices in which we contribute through our duty.
And then he gives examples of great kings like Janaka in the past, who have attained perfection by doing their duties. He tells how Krishna, Arjuna, although I have no duty and I am not bound, still I act to set an example for others. So therefore, know that as a leader, you have a social responsibility.
If you renounce duty, you may even have the capacity, if you think that you are pure enough, you may have the purity required to renounce, but others will not have and they will limitate you. And that will cause disruption of society. So here, Krishna turns around and defeats the third argument of Arjuna, the fourth argument.
He is talking about social disruption because of society not having any protectors. So Krishna tells, I do not think protectors are simply in terms of the physical presence of the protectors. Protectors also in terms of whether they are setting the right example, because it is one thing to protect others by being a guard, by providing national security, state security.
But actually, our enemy is also within and if the leader is set a bad example, then the enemy within gets strength and the enemy within will also act wrongly. So Arjuna, if you act in a way that people perceive as weak and cowardly, people will give in to their lower nature and then when people are given to their lower nature, that will cause big disruption in society. So Arjuna, abandoning your duty will cause the dreaded result that you want to avoid, social disruption.
And therefore, stick to your duty. Have faith in my words and you will eventually attain liberation. And there is the Varanashram.
Different people have different duties in Varanashram. And one should do one’s prescribed duty. Every duty has some difficulty in it, but do not get bogged down by the difficulty.
Keep continuing doing your duties. And then Arjuna gets a question this time. The second question in this third chapter that Arjuna is asking.
He says, yes, but there is some force which seems to drag people away from duty, away from virtue, towards sin. What is that force? O Krishna, can you please tell me? And Krishna tells, it is lust. So this second chapter and third chapter 2.54 to 72 and then 3.36 to 43.
These are sections which talk about the inner life and the inner mastery that a seeker should achieve. And it is that lust actually resides in the senses, the mind and the intelligence. And one has to curb it, purify it, first by inner regulation, first by outer regulation, and then by inner devotion, by situating oneself on the spiritual platform.
And then Krishna tells, actually, do not think that I am just telling you all this to make you fight this war. What I am giving you is eternal knowledge. It has been there right from the beginning of creation.
I gave it to the Sun God. Then the world became manifested. Since then it is coming down in dynasty.
It is lost because of the power of time and now I am giving it to you once again. So this is the first time Krishna directly proclaims his position. Of course, it’s not direct till now.
He is not saying that I am God. But the very fact that he is giving the Sun God, that indicates that his position is extraordinary. So although Arjuna knows that Krishna is God, but at this particular point, he is covered by the Lord’s potency, Yogamaya.
And by being covered by Yogamaya, he asks, he wants to participate in the Lord’s mission of enlightening the world. And to enlighten the world, one important aspect is to enlighten the world about Lord’s position. And to clarify that position also, he asks Krishna the question.
So actually, is Arjuna bewildered when he is thinking that I will not fight the war? You have to understand in both ways. At one level, yes. The argument that Arjuna is speaking are, they are thoughtful argument, but they are not very deep sided arguments.
They are not really based on a deep understanding of the soul, of Atma and of the paradharma of the Atma. So in terms of the content of those arguments, they are a sign of a person who is, as Krishna has told in 2.11, a person who speaks learned words, but does not behave learnedly. So one whose words are high sounding, but the emotions are not yet educated.
So he speaks this. So in that, in terms of the content of his words, there is some illusion. But you have to understand, the intent is to serve the Lord.
And because he has a desire to serve the Lord, he is perfectly situated. And whatever questions are appropriate for enlightening people, those questions come from Arjuna. And as those questions come along, so Arjuna’s position is understood both ways.
One way is that we see through his behaviour, the kind of attachment and illusion that we can get, may get into, and we try to avoid that. Another way, we see Arjuna’s soft heartedness, Arjuna’s compassionate nature, Arjuna’s capacity for thinking long term before taking actions, his capacity to give up his willingness to give up material gains and to live a life of abnegation and renunciation, just so as to avoid causing harm to others. So all these are qualities of a person who is ripe and receptive for spiritual knowledge.
These are the qualities of a student, of a very good student, of excellent candidate for learning Gita wisdom. So there is our consciousness, overall consciousness, there are specific emotions or thoughts which keep going in our consciousness. So the specific argument that Krishna is coming up, or Arjuna is coming up, they are not sound.
But the sensitivity, the thoughtfulness and the whole cultured, considerate attitude that is underlying these arguments, that is laudable. And this also, even though in the Bhagavad Gita, it appears as if Arjuna has been illusioned. But we understand, even in this situation of being illusioned or perplexed, we see Arjuna’s glory being manifested.
That Arjuna is not just ready to act based on considerations of personal gain. Although for him, the gain in terms of the war, victory in the war would be enormous. So the thoughtfulness which should underlie the actions of a seeker, of a serious speaker, in fact of any serious human being, they are demonstrated in Arjuna.
So here we see Arjuna’s glory manifested through his deep thoughtfulness. And the thoughtfulness which led to the revelation of the wisdom of the Gita for the benefit of the whole world. What happened in that conversation further, we will discuss in our next sessions.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.