What is the joking referred to in Gita 1.25 purport?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
and closer to Krishna by that Prabhupada states that the mind of Arjuna was predicted by the lord through friendly joking so what is the joking over here answer Arjuna after he lifts up his bow to fight he had actually lifted up his bow but suddenly he told Arjuna Arjuna told Krishna that I want to see whom I am fighting with so verses 21, 22, 23 they describe Arjuna’s request that I want to see whom I am fighting with now in one sense there is no meaning to this request because Arjuna already knows who he is fighting with in many ways firstly he knows because there have been vigorous negotiations happening and who has joined whom they know that which party is allied with whom secondly they also have actually evaluated each other’s strengths so Krishna himself asked Arjuna to speak about the strengths of both parties and his own strength and the strength of his side so that also indicated Arjuna knew the strength of the people and further they also used to have constant spies so who would tell of any development that were happening so with all this the request by Arjuna to see the opposite party seems actually quite quite redundant it’s almost to the point of being absurd you already know who is there and it is also not the fact that the two parties were so far away that they couldn’t see each other they were at a distance where they can shoot arrows obviously they can see each other so in that sense the request that Arjuna is making that I want to see it does not make much sense so from Arjuna’s point of view when Arjuna says I want to see he actually wanted to see it was a war that the Pandavas had tried their best to avoid it was a fratricidal war between brothers and relatives so he wanted to see how determined were they to fight so it was not just it’s not like a sightseeing tour where you want to see something which you have never seen but the reality is it that we are going to fight with our relatives are they actually rebellious that’s what he wanted to observe now when Krishna takes the chariot Bhishma Drona Pramukh Taha Sarvesham Chamahinshitam Kuvachaparthapashyaitan Samvaitan Kurumiti Krishna actually takes the chariot in between the two armies and in one sense this verse can mean two things Krishna plays the chariot in front of Bhishma and Drona Bhishma Drona Pramukh Taha or it can mean that just in the whole army Bhishma and Drona were seen as the most prominent but either way that had an effect on Arjuna of overwhelming him with compassion and confusion but Kuvachaparthapashyaitan so he took the chariot in front of the army in which Bhishma and Drona were prominent and then he said Kuvachaparthapashyaitan Kuvachaparthapashyaitan see now Samvaitan Kurumiti the Kurus are in front of you so here Krishna is in one sense Arjuna’s request is redundant there is nothing to see really and Krishna is also making that point by saying see now, it’s obvious what is there new to see, what you could see from there you can see from here also so when Prabhupada is friendly joking what it means is that if sometimes some small child does something actually that is not something very important I want to see that toy I want to see this, ok go and see what is there to see, you have seen it so many times nothing great in seeing it but if you want to see, go and see it parent may also go and see it for sometime so like that Arjuna at one level Arjuna’s request did not have much meaning it was in one sense absurd request but Krishna agreed to that request and in order to point out in a very subtle way the absurdity or the strangeness of Arjuna’s request he says see now you wanted to see, now see so it is in that sense when Prabhupada says friendly joking it means Krishna is responding to Arjuna’s strange request with a slightly indulgent mood ok you want to see, let us see and Prabhupada preceded this by saying that now what might be a serious reason you want to come in between the two parties to see is it that you have decided to call off the hostilities and you have decided that you will not fight the war that is not expected of a Kshatriya like you so that could be the only the only serious reason why a Kshatriya will come in between the two armies is the Kshatriya has some indecision about fighting Arjuna, I don’t think you have such indecision therefore this is just an indulgence for you ok let us indulge in it so in that sense because there was not much rational or intellectual basis to Arjuna’s request and because Krishna had indulged in it so therefore Krishna and Prabhupada says that the Lord is actually Arjuna’s mind now what was Arjuna’s mind Arjuna’s mind was actually himself was confused in one sense ok I have to fight, I don’t want to fight let me just see what is there so even when Arjuna told Krishna what exactly was Arjuna going to do after seeing it it was not that Arjuna planned it to become overwhelmed by confusion and then put aside his bro, it was definitely not Arjuna’s plan suddenly an unexpected reaction so it was just in one sense for Arjuna like a whim let me do it, not necessarily in a very bad sense of him but it was almost like a very non-serious act in that time so that mood of the strangeness of the request is illustrated or is emphasized by Prabhupada through his point that Arjuna’s unusual state of mind is predicted by Krishna through a joking, ok you wanted to see, see it now let’s get on with the real business our real business is not seeing over here it’s fighting