Mahabharata characters 49 – Arjuna 12 – The Gita goes far beyond violence to transcendence

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.
Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata Characters course. We are discussing about Arjuna and are in the middle of the Bhagavad Gita. The momentous conversation between Krishna and Arjuna just before the Kurukshetra war.
So we discussed till the 10th chapter and now, whereas the Bhagavad Gita is a discussion of intense philosophical contemplation here, suddenly in the 11th chapter there is a dramatic action. So in the 11th chapter, Krishna after Krishna has said at the end of the 10th chapter that Arjuna, you want to know about my glories? Actually by the spark of my splendour, I pervade and sustain the whole of material existence. So Krishna asks, can you please show me that form by which you pervade all of existence? So Krishna then reveals.
Arjuna asks very humbly, if you think I’m qualified, then please let me see. So Krishna tells Arjuna, you don’t have the eyes to see. I will give you the eyes.
And then he gives him the divine eyes. And because the vision that he’s going to see is so extraordinary, first Arjuna describes the vision. Krishna describes the vision.
This is what he will see. And then in order to illustrate the drama, the whole Bhagavad Gita’s conversation between Sanjay and Dhritarashtra, that is the setting conversation. And Sanjay is describing the narration of what happened at the battlefield.
And normally it just goes on between Krishna and Arjuna. But here, Sanjay first describes when Krishna reveals his form, what does he see? So then after that, he describes the famous verse that just like there are a thousand suns rising at one time, the bliss was intolerable. And then he describes further how the Lord is all, how that form has hundreds and hundreds of hands, so many hands and so many legs and so many heads.
And then after describing, so five verses, Krishna describes what Arjuna is going to see. Then five verses, Sanjay describes with Dhritarashtra what Arjuna is seeing. And then after that, Arjuna starts describing what he’s seeing.
And he says, oh, it goes right from the sky down to the earth. It goes as far. There’s no beginning or end or middle.
I see the Vishwaroop in the magnificent form of yours. And then as he’s describing how there are celestial beings, the devatas who are offering praises, how the rishis are offering prayers for peace. And then that scene, which is shifting, which is going all over the universe, suddenly becomes very immediate and almost threatening.
What happens is, he sees that in that Vishwaroop, there are various warriors on battlefield just entering in and they’re dying, getting totally destroyed, just being devoured. And on the way of being devoured, they’re hitting against the teeth. Their teeth are being crashed.
Their skull is being cracked by the crash against the teeth. And as the blood is flowing away, the Vishwaroop is licking the blood. And Arjuna is horrified.
What is this scene? Now, during this vision of the Vishwaroop, when Krishna says, I’ll show you the Vishwaroop, then Arjuna is no longer able to see Krishna at that time. And that’s why he asks, who is this? What is this? Who are you? Why have you come here? So the fraternal mood between them changes to reverential. He says, Bhavan, oh great one, who are you? And Krishna tells that I am time.
I am the destroyer of the whole world’s universal form. In the universe, there is space and there is time. So Krishna has already shown how he pervades the universe as space.
He is pervading everything. Now he’s going to tell how he is also the time manifestation. He causes the change.
He causes destruction. He is the controller. And Krishna assures Arjuna, Arjuna, have no fear, your enemies will be destroyed.
And he mentions that among the various enemies will be destroyed, he mentions Jayadratha also. And then he talks further about how Arjuna, arise and win. Victory is assured by my plan.
You just attain the glory and become the instrument. And then Krishna, Arjuna starts offering prayers to this Vishwaroop. He says, I want to offer obeisances to you, but where can I offer obeisances? You know, you are everywhere.
So I offer obeisances from the front, from the back, and I offer obeisances hundreds of times. And he says, I was so familiar to you. Please forgive me for my excessive familiarity.
And just as a friend forgives a friend or a parent forgives a child or a lover forgives the beloved, please forgive me, O Lord. And then he says, thank you for showing me this extraordinary form. Please, I wish to see your normal, gentle form now.
And then Krishna teases Arjuna a little bit. Krishna says, Arjuna, this form is so rare. Even the gods have not seen this form.
You have seen this form. Why do you not want to see it anymore? So now for Arjuna, it’s like a horror movie come alive, right in his own front yard. If suppose you are watching a horror movie, and when the horror movie is going on, some very horrible scene comes along.
And initially there is a thrill at it. So like that, the Virat Rupashan so much destruction, there is a eerie thrill to it. But then I imagine that that creature in the horror movie is starting to destroy our own home.
It’s too ghastly and we try to change the channel and the remote stops working. I have seen our own home getting destroyed and the wall is falling and we think then, I will be the next to destroy. What is happening? So like that, this whole magnificent pervasiveness of Vishwaroopa, it’s too close for comfort for Arjuna.
Arjuna says, Krishna, I don’t want to see this form. I just want to see your two-handed form. Please reveal this to me.
And then Krishna, in a munificent gesture of mercy, he withdraws the universal form, he reveals the four-handed form and then he reveals the two-handed form. In this way, Krishna displays his both opulence of pervading the world and his opulence of controlling the world as the Supreme Lord Vishnu. And thereafter, he moves forward and tells Arjuna that only by bhakti can this be seen.
Again, he glorifies bhakti. So the purpose of showing this universal form is not to be attracted by its grandeur, but to recognise that devotion is far greater and that devotion can grant the vision of all forms, including this universal form. Now, after seeing how Krishna has pervaded all of existence, Arjuna gets the question, is it true that there are some people who worship the impersonal? So impersonal also pervades everything.
So is worshipping of the impersonal better or is worshipping you better in the personal form? And Krishna says, even by worshipping the impersonal one can come to me, but it’s a troublesome process. Best is to come to me by the path of devotion directly. And he says, it’s not very difficult to practise devotion.
Even if you don’t have pure devotion, practise to try to fix the mind up. You can’t do that, work for me. If you can’t work for me, then just work to cultivate selflessness, sacrificing the fruits of your work for some good cause.
And in that way, gradually you will be on the spiritual express way, rising higher and higher. And then Krishna describes the qualities that we can cultivate by which you can come close to Him. And then he says, one who aspires, not just one who has devotion, but even one who aspires for devotion is very dear to Him.
And with this, Krishna concludes his description of the Bhagavad Gita, of the Bhakti Yoga section of the Bhagavad Gita. And then the 12th chapter gets over. The 13th chapter, Arjuna asks, by the end of the 10th chapter, Arjuna has become clear about Krishna’s supremacy.
But after that, he’s asking questions simply for the help of people. So that’s why he asks, how can we think of you in this world? Please show me the Vishwaroopa so that people will have faith in your glory, knowing that you also give a paranormal vision, such a dazzling vision. And then he also talks about impersonal path.
And then he asks for further clarification so that people in general will be educated, that there are the intellectual philosophers who talk about terms like Purusha, Prakriti, Kshetra, Kshetragya, Jnanagaya. So please explain these terms to me. And Krishna systematically explains all those technical terms.
The 13th chapter is the most technical chapter in the Gita and requires a lot of application to understand it. But the conclusion of that whole chapter is that one needs to see the difference between matter and spirit and know the process of becoming free from entanglement in matter and then one can attain the supreme destination. And then in the 14th chapter, Krishna talks about the three modes of material nature, which he has referred to repeatedly prior, but he has not explained it systematically.
And he says how all actions are impelled by the modes. We are all shackled in this world by the modes, but our shackles are not like the prisoner’s shackles. They are like the puppeteer’s strings.
They make us move here and move there and do this and do that. And we think we are doing it. And after describing how the modes control our, impel us to certain kinds of behaviour, then Krishna recommends the mode of goodness as the best for, as conducive for liberation.
And he talks about how by understanding that we are not the doers and by cultivating devotion to him, we can go beyond the influence of the modes. So time and time, practically every chapter of the Bhagavad Gita stresses devotion in the best way to liberation. And the 15th chapter again comes directly into the glory of devotion, but it starts with the metaphor of upside down banyan tree, where now just as we see the branches down and the roots up of a tree that is reflected in water.
Similarly, this metaphor of the world is upside down banyan tree indicates that it is not the reality, it’s a reflection. And Krishna says we are entangled and by detachment from the world and by attachment to him, we can become liberated from this material world and we can return back to him. And then he says that one has to cultivate knowledge, jnana chakshu, to see how the soul is different from matter.
And those who cannot cultivate this jnana chakshu at a spiritual level, they can at least see the hand of God at the material level. They can see how the sun and the moon, which you provide as light. We have not made them.
The systems by which we digest the food that we eat, we have not made them. Even our memory and intelligence by which we function, we have not made them. It is Krishna who has made all these things for us.
And this way we can appreciate Krishna’s presence and benevolence in our life and begin our spiritual journey. And Krishna says to help us begin the spiritual journey, he provides the Vedas. And he says I am the knower of the Vedas.
So then Arjuna asks this question, please tell us, what is the summary of Vedas? What is the essence of Vedanta? And then Krishna tells, actually, the essence is, he talks in the language of Purusha and Purusha, which is the language which intellectuals are often attracted by. So he says there are two Purushas. There are those who are bound, those who are liberated.
But beyond that is the supreme being. And Krishna says, I am that supreme being. And one who knows me in truth knows everything.
As a person who is liberated from material existence. So this chapter, 15th chapter unequivocally establishes Krishna as Purushottama, the topmost being, the greatest being. And then after that, now Arjuna, as he’s thinking about how Krishna has given this knowledge by which people can become liberated, and as he’s thinking about how people act or don’t act according to this knowledge, Krishna accordingly tells about the divine and the demoniac nature.
How some people turn towards him and become devoted to him gradually by cultivating godly qualities. He gives a list of godly qualities. Then he talks about the demoniac qualities.
This is the 16th chapter. And then because he’s talking about godly qualities earlier at several places, he focusses more on the demoniac qualities. And the qualities that he describes, how the people are atheistic, how they are reductionistic, how they, their atheism, materialism, reductionism leads to immorality and depravity.
And how such people, their hopes for enjoying in this world only cause them anxiety and misery. And how they can even, they become so unconscionable, just for fulfilling their selfish desires. They can even kill others.
So initially when Krishna starts describing how the demoniac are harsh, how the demoniac are violent, how the demoniac are insensitive, Arjuna gets apprehension. Am I like that? I’m also fighting. I’m killing my, I’m intending to kill my elders and my relatives.
Krishna says, no, actually you are doing violence for this, not because you have to, not because you want to, but you’re doing it to protect dharma. For a Kshatriya, righteous violence is a duty. It’s not sin.
He’s talking about demons who defy dharma and commit violence. So actually the description of the demoniac nature that Krishna gives is represented in Duryodhana. How he is thinking, I’ve killed this enemy and I’ll kill that enemy.
How he’s always plotting to kill the Pandavas. And then thereafter Krishna tells that how those who are godless, they will go to hell. And he says that if one doesn’t want to go to hell, then there are three gates to hell, lust, anger, greed.
He’s dragged people down to hell and one should protect oneself from these three gates by controlling oneself and for helping one to control oneself, there is the guidance given in scripture. Therefore the Bhagavad Gita 16 chapter concludes with a call to follow scripture and a warning that those who don’t follow scripture and act according to selfish desire will end up in hell. So after Krishna has talked about these two extremes, those who follow scripture and are eventually liberated, those who defy scripture because of selfish desire and go to hell, Arjuna gets a question about those who are intermediate, those who have faith but not in scripture.
What happens to them? And Krishna answers that their destination will depend on the more that they are cultivating. How are they living? It will shape their consciousness and according that will shape what they remember at the time of death and accordingly they will get the destination. So to understand what more they are living, Krishna talks about observing them carefully to understand what is the kind of food that they eat.
So he analyses food and goodness, passion, ignorance. He talks about what kind of austerities they perform, talks about the austerity of body, mind and speech and then he tells how these austerities can mean goodness, passion, ignorance. He talks about the kind of sacrifices that they perform and the kind of charities that they give.
It’s significant, the charity is considered to be noble activity but even it can be in the mode of ignorance if it is done in a way that causes harm to others. If a drunkard offers liquor to a beggar, meaning that I am being merciful to this liquor, that person himself going into ignorance has taken another person into ignorance. That is more in the mode of ignorance.
And then Krishna talks about, again harkens back to Vedic theme and talks about Om Tat Sat and the essence of whatever activities we do, the purpose and perfection of those activities is that rather than just doing that at a material level, we spiritualise them by evoking the presence of that supreme absolute truth for whom ultimately everything is intended. So how Om Tat Sat spiritualises all activities, that’s what is described. And then again in the 18th chapter, Arjuna asks a question which seems to be similar to what he is asked in the third and the fifth chapter, that he says, please explain to me what is the difference between sannyasa and tyaga, between renunciation and the renounced order or detachment and renounced order.
Krishna says that actually renouncing the activities which are fruitive, which are done with selfish desire, that is detachment, that is tyaga and accepting the renounced order of life where one gives up all activities, that is renounced order, Krishna says. And then he talks about renunciation in three modes. Again, the Bhagavad Gita goes far beyond superficials.
Some people may think that renunciation of the world is good. It will help in spirituality. But Krishna says, no, if one is doing that out of frustration with the material world, out of laziness, then that is not good.
One should actually do one’s activities for purification and acting in goodness is the way to liberation. Then Krishna in the 18th chapter summarises what he has discussed till now, but taking all the knowledge deeper and deeper. He talks about the five doers and action and he talks about the components of action, what impels action and what comprises action.
Again, the section is quite technical because everything is analysed first in terms of the components and the motivators of action and then each of these components and motivators of action is further analysed in three modes. And then Krishna talks about how the varnashram system that is there in the Vedic culture, that is not just a material arrangement, that should also be made into a spiritual arrangement in the sense that it is, it can be made into, our duty should be performed to worship the Supreme Lord. That by worshipping that Supreme Lord with our work, we can attain perfection.
So work itself is not worship, but by being done in a mood of devotion, work can be made into worship. And in this way, Krishna in the first, in the 18th chapter first talks about karma yoga and how karma yoga can lead one in progression to bhakti yoga. Then he talks about jnana yoga from verses 49 to 54 and then he talks about how the perfection of jnana yoga after one has come to the level of equal vision is to attain bhakti yoga.
And then after describing this progression all along, Krishna says actually one doesn’t have to go through this progression. Bhakti is not, bhakti is like the summit that reaches down to the trenches. This is whatever state one is at, one can practise bhakti and one will become elevated.
Sarva karma nitya siddha. Whatever work you are doing is practise bhakti and you will become elevated. And Krishna tells Arjuna that if you don’t fight, if you say you will not fight now, but your nature as a Kshatriya is to fight, so later on you will be impelled by your nature and you will raise up weapons at a time when it is not dharmic and you will simply get sinned.
Therefore, you cannot just abandon your nature. So regulate the nature under the guidance of the Supersoul as is done in bhakti yoga. And then the Bhagavad Gita here, Krishna stops by telling Arjuna, I have given my message to you.
Deliberate deeply and decide what you want to do. Arjuna is deep in thought. Krishna has spoken so profoundly, so many things and he’s wondering what I should do, what I should not do.
And as he’s thinking like this, what I should do, what I should not do, Arjuna, Krishna’s heart overflows with compassion. And he says Arjuna, you don’t have to bother about all these things. I will tell you conclusively what you should do.
Krishna says that again. He says the same verse which is told in 9.34, he repeats in 18.65, manmana bhava mad-bhakto, just become my devotee, surrender unto me. So whereas in 9.34, the focus is on on the commitment of the seeker to Krishna.
And then Krishna says you’ll come back to me. Here 18.65 focusses on the commitment of Krishna to the seeker, wherein Krishna says that, actually, I will, I will make sure that you come back to me. I will make sure that you come back to me.
If you just do this and then what about all the other duties that are there, Krishna says don’t worry about them. Just surrender to me. And then Krishna talks about the glory of the Bhagavad Gita’s wisdom.
How those who share this message with others, they become most dear to him and they will return back to him surely. How even studying this message is actually worshipping him. How even hearing this message is auspicious.
So Krishna is extending the mercy lower and lower. Just take up and share this message. If you can’t do that, at least study.
If you can’t do that, at least hear it. So Krishna is extending out his embrace and Krishna wants Arjuna to be elevated, to be liberated. And then as he completes these books, which many books, most books in the Vedic tradition come with a phala shruti.
This is the phala shruti of the Gita. But apart from this eventual phala shruti that will come, Krishna wants Arjuna to get the immediate phala. That is, he should choose the right course of action.
So he with concern asks Arjuna, Arjuna, have you heard attentively what I have spoken? Have you understood? Has your illusion been removed? And Krishna’s intention here is that if Arjuna is not clear about anything, he’s fully ready to clarify. In fact, he’s ready to even speak a large part of the Gita or the entire Gita again. For Krishna, the whole background of the battlefield, the urgency, the immediacy, the gravity of the war, it all pales into insignificance as compared to his concern for Arjuna, his beloved devotee.
And that concern of Krishna is not just for Arjuna, it is for all of us because we are all his parts and parcels. We can all be as dear to him if we just enter in the world of love, offering our love to him. He loves us right now, but we can’t sense his love.
So Arjuna replies, oh Krishna, by your mercy, my illusion is gone and now I am ready, ready to fight. And when he says, actually, the words that Krishna uses, Arjuna uses are very significant. Arjuna does not use the word, I am ready to fight, precisely.
That is his purport. But what he says specifically is, I will do what you say. I will do what you say.
What does this mean? It means that the Bhagavad Gita is not just a simplistic book talking about warfare. It is something much, much greater than that. In fact, after the fifth chapter, after the fourth chapter end, call for war with the weapon of knowledge, with the sword of knowledge, Krishna refers to war, fighting explicitly only twice.
In the eighth chapter when he is telling, think of me and fight, do your duty of fighting. And in the eleventh chapter when he says, in the Virat Rupa, while describing, while depicting and describing the universal form, that arise and fight and you will attain victory. After the eleventh chapter, last six chapters of the Bhagavad Gita, there is no reference to war.
So the Bhagavad Gita is not just either a book of violence or of silence. It is a book of transcendence. And the essence of transcendence is harmony with the transcendental Lord.
And that is what the Bhagavad Gita is telling, calling upon us to do. When Krishna takes an eighteen point, when Arjuna says, so he is offering his heart to Krishna. And he is saying, my dear Lord, I know you love me.
You are my greatest well-wisher. And whatever you want is the best for me. So I surrender to your will.
So the surrender which the Bhagavad Gita talks about is not the frustrated expression of acceptance of defeat by an overpowered military general. It is the voluntary expression of one’s love to one’s beloved by accepting the will of the beloved. Normally when a general surrenders, when army surrenders, they lay down their weapons.
But here Arjuna surrenders and he lifts up his weapon. He lifts up his weapon and is ready to fight. So the Bhagavad Gita is calling all of us to recognise that beyond the ups and downs, no matter how unpalatable they may be in this world, Arjuna faced an extremely unpalatable situation, a distasteful situation in terms of having to fight with his own respectable relatives.
So we also face many discomforting, disconcerting, distressing situations in life. But the Bhagavad Gita assures us that beyond how things appear, there is one reality. That is, God exists, Krishna exists and Krishna loves us.
That nothing can separate us from the infinite love of the infinite. And when we live our life in the light of that love, then the distresses of this world cannot distress us. We can march confidently and attain perfection in life.
So Sanjay is narrating this to Dhritarashtra’s mood and he says, I’m ecstatic by hearing Krishna’s message. And he says that these are great, both of them are great souls and I’m so fortunate that I’ve heard this message. And he concludes by declaring, Arjuna has lifted up his Gandiva.
At the end of the first chapter, Arjuna had put aside his Gandiva and said, I cannot fight anymore. But now he’s lifted up the Gandiva and is ready to fight. So Arjuna’s Gandiva represents our determination.
It represents our determination to act with integrity, to act with devotion, to live a life worthy of our spiritual glory as precious parts of God, as beloved children of Krishna. And the illusions and problems of this world dishearten us. This is what Arjuna had put there in his poem.
We often tend to become disheartened. We lose our determination to do the right thing. In fact, what is the right thing also, we lose that vision.
But the Bhagavad Gita restores our vision and our determination. That is what it did for Arjuna. And just as he picked up the Gandiva bow and was ready to fight, similarly, if we understand the message of the Gita, our vision and determination will be restored.
We will understand that there is always God who is with us. No matter how dark and dreadful things around us seem, no matter how lonely and forsaken we seem, we are never alone. Krishna is always there with us.
And He is there to help us, to elevate us. And by understanding His message given in the Bhagavad Gita, by practising the Vrasudha Bhakti Yoga, we can connect with Him in our heart and by His grace and guidance, we can find the right way ahead. Marching through the inevitable miseries and complexities of life, going through all of them closer and closer to Krishna till we ultimately attain His eternal abode.
And that is the call that the Bhagavad Gita gives. The whole Mahabharata is a magnificent setting and the Bhagavad Gita is essence, where all the drama that is happening in the Mahabharata is brought to a climax. And just before the climax, the ultimate climax is given.
The action climax of the Mahabharata is about to happen in the battlefield of Kurukshetra when the war takes off. But the wisdom climax of the Mahabharata has happened before the action climax. That is, it happened in the speaking of the Bhagavad Gita.
And Krishna reveals Himself as such an expert God, such a brilliant experiential teacher that He converts a battlefield into a classroom. People can convert fields, gardens, mountain, treks to mountaintops and treks to marketplaces and many things like this into classrooms. But Krishna’s expert is such that He converts a battlefield, most unlikely of places for philosophical education, into a classroom.
And He transports by His presence and by His presentation, He transports Arjuna far, far beyond the immediate pressures and tensions of the war. And they both discuss, we have only discussed it in brief, in glimpse, but they discuss the profoundest questions of existence, of the nature and purpose of existence, about the nature and purpose of duty and about the nature and perfection of love. And the Bhagavad Gita scales to heights of wisdom that the world has hardly ever seen before or after.
And all this happens in the battlefield. The essence of the message of the Bhagavad Gita is not that we all fight physical wars against opponents. It is that we fight war against the illusions that blind us to God’s love.
The essence of that message is that let no circumstance become an excuse that delays us in understanding God’s love for us, that what can be a more urgent situation, what can be a greater emergency than an imminent war, the build-up for which has been happening for years. So even in such an urgent situation, more important than action is the right vision. And taking a pause to get the right vision, by understanding philosophical wisdom, is so important that Krishna and Mahabharata, through the conversation with Arjuna, uses this most dramatic and unlikely of all settings to give the most urgent and most precious of all wisdoms.
And Arjuna is the person who acts as a tool for Krishna to become a medium by which the whole world can be blessed with this wisdom. And as empowered and enlivened by knowledge of Krishna’s words of wisdom and Krishna’s love, Arjuna becomes ready to fight. We’ll discuss in our next session what happens