VERSE NUMBER 31:
Text in Transliteration:
na cha sreyo ‘mupasyaami hatvaa sajanam aahave
na kaankshe vijayam Krishna n ach raajyam sukhaani cha
Text in English:
I do not foresee
any good ensuing from the slaughter of kinsmen in battle. O Krishna, I hanker
not for victory or empire or pleasures even.
Comments:
Only when we become perplexed in mind, we start questions
about the good or bad of due carrying out of our self-ordained duty, called as
swadharma in Sanskrit. People have to suffer, and the very basics of life in
this world constitute suffering in as much as we are not one with our Lord,
whose part we are indeed. In our mind,
everything about this world is good so far we live happily, and just about
everything becomes tinged with bad qualities, and men start to discern hope for
the humanity. Some become perverted and some become disillusioned with life,
and only see defeat and hopelessness for Man’s life on earth. It is also part
of senility. When a vigorous man becomes old, he looks back on life as a
hopeless exertion towards no goal. This defeatism arises chiefly because we
become very subjective, and lose faith in God’s redeeming power. Moreover we
forget when we become senile that the same kind of world and life’s pleasures
gave us immense happiness and we were filled with vitality, optimism and a
sense of goal and purpose to prosecute our life and take as much from this very
same world, now spitefully looked upon by us, as possible. And we wanted to
live every moment of our life in planning and exerting every thinking nerve
towards an execution of our plans and goals.
Here Arjuna has attained a mental senility as different from
physical.
But, it should be borne in mind that God knew what kind of
world he was ushering in and He created light as well as darkness, substance as
well as shade, good and noble as well as ugly and ignoble. We must defer to His
WISDOM AND PLAN BEHIND THE RESOLUTION OF HIS UNIVERSE.
We had no time for asking philosophical questions as to the
purpose of carrying out our self ordained duty when we are young and energetic,
and start to question everything and everyone’s actions only we get to be
senile with age.
Here Arjuna’s senility is both mental and temperamental,
insofar as it is going to go up in vapour soon at the dawn of yogic light and
meditative heat like the morning due.
WE MUST SEE ALL OF HIS MOANINGS AND BEMONINGS ONLY IN THIS
LIGHT THROUGHOUT THIS CHAPTER.
VERSE NUMBER 32:
Text in Transliteration:
Kim no raajyena govida kim bhogair jeevitena vaa
Text in English:
Of what avail to
us is kingdom or enjoyment or even life, O Govinda?
Comments:
According to Swamy Chidbhavananda, the word Govinda means in
Sanskrit as the knower of the minds of people. (‘go’ in Sanskrit means the
living beings, and ‘vinda’ knower thereof).
So it is , the question whether the war is good or bad,
better left to the Lord who is the knower of the people’s mind and that of the
universe. God’s universe has a purpose and the same is to school the mortals so
they might graduate into immortals and become one with God after a long series
of births and deaths. Death is as incidental and inevitable as birth, and both
is part of the school curriculum and syllabus! We cannot question God’s purpose
and sanity and or wisdom in having brought out this unequal universe where the
good suffer and the bad are seemed to prosper. Life’s question can be decided
at one go only by those who take the path of Gnana yoga or yoga of sanyasa and
remain in profound meditation about the purpose of the universe and creation.
They have come to be with extraordinary scholarship and so matriculate the
moment they are born and graduate before their teenage. Look at the life of Sri
Shankarar, or to cite a recent example, look at the life of Sri Kanchi
Paramacharya! They were born great and no greatness was thrustad upon them!
Kingdom and enjoyment is not the purpose of the war at
kurutchetra. Who should rule the country so the subjects would prosper and lead
a good life was the question. And the other side army comprised preponderating
bad elements who must be cleared off the and wiped off the face of the earth so
that there would be a balance between the good and the bad in the world. For
maintenance of a proper balance God sends pestilence, famine, and war is one
such thing , where mass annihilation is necessitated.
The false notion of Arjuna is induced because of his
subjectivity, and we must best leave the conduct of the universe to the wisdom
of its Creator and we should always be mindful our own ordained duty and their
carrying out without fear or favour. Bhishma and Drona are such great souls.
VERSE NUMBER 33:
Text in Transliteration:
yeshaam arthe kaankshitam no raajyam bhogaah sukhaani cha
tai me ‘vasthitaa yuddhe praanaams tyaktvaa dhanaani cha
Text in English:
Those for whose sake we seek kingdom, enjoyments and
pleasure, they stand here in battle, staking life and property.
Comments:
Staking life and property does not count for much merit,
even in the limited sense of the term. View the number of suicidal bombers of
the ISI. Are they good, brave or even humane? Aren’t they beasts only? Simply
because one’s foolishness one sides with the core of everything bad like
Duriyodhana cannot stand for any adulation from his own lips much less from
that of Arjuna! And kingdom, and its enjoyment and pleasure is not at stake.
This is part of the delusion temporary of Arjuna!
VERSE NUMBER 34:
Text in Transliteration:
aachaaryah pitarah putraah tathai’va cha pitaamahaah
maatulaah svasuraah poutraah syaalaah sambandhinas tathaa
Text in English:
Teachers, fathers, sons as well as grandfathers, maternal
uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-las and other relatives,
VERSE NUMBER 35:
Text in Transliteration:
etaan na hantum icchaami ghnato ‘pi madhusoodan
api trailokya raajyasa hetoh kim nu mahikrte
Text in English:
Though myself slain by them, I would not, O Madhusudana,
seek to slay them even for the sake of domination over the three worlds, how
then for the earth?
Comment:
Teachers like Drona, pitamaha, Bhishma need not necessarily
take counsel from Arjuna. Secondly, they took up the arms knowing full well
that they were going through the unfolding plan of the universe, the universal
soul knows better, and they are past the stage of celebration of worldly life
for its own sake. For them, this is a karma boomy to work out their karma. And
they had done it in a most praiseworthy manner. Arjuna’s vishada on their part
is simply laughable, not laudable.
Once again Arjuna puts the Lord in mind that He slew the
demon Madhu, but the people he is called upon to slay are not demons! In his
subjectivity he speaks like a pandit, where as he has been reduced to the crying
baby at having to go to the school every day leaving his own dear parents and
worshipful grandparents!
VERSE NUMBER 36;
Text in Transliteration:
nihatya dhaartaraashtraan nah kaaa preetih syaaj janaardana
paapam evaa ‘srayed asmaan hatvai ‘taan aatataayinah
Text in English:
What delight can we derive, O Janardana, by doing away with
these sons of Dhrtarashtra? Sin only will accrue to us by slaying these
desperadoes.
Comments:
According to Swamy Chidbhavanda, Janardana is yet another
Name of the Lord which in Sanskrit means ‘ a person who is worshipped by people
for prosperity and emancipation.’ And an “aatataayin” is here translated as a
desperado. There is no criminal offence to which hi is stranger. The rival
cousins have all been confirmed desperadoes. They secretly set fire to the
residence wher the Pandavas were expected to be sleeping; they surreptitiously
tried to poison the food of their cousins; with drawn swords openly they
attempted murder of the legitimate heirs to the throne: deceitfully they tried
to deprive the Pandavas of their kingdom, wealth and wife. Death is the reward
that dharma deals to the “aatataayins” even if they happen to be learned. But
Arjuna overwhelmed with sentimental
compassion and commiseration, seeks to save instead of slaughtering them in
open war. Thus goes the great Swamy Chidbhavananda’s commentary. Thus an
“aatataayin” is a person who indulges in the above mentioned eight-fold sins.
Duriyodhana and his brothers indulged in all these eight kinds of crimes. And
Arnjuna’s heart bleeds for them!
VERSE NUMBER 37:
Text in Transliteration:
tasmaan naa ‘rhaaa vayam hantum
dhartaraastraan
svabaandha vaan
svajanam hi katham hatvaa
sudhinaj syaama
maadhava
Text in English:
We should not therefore slay the sons of Dhrtarashtra our
kinsmen; for, how can we, O Madhava, killing our own kinsmen, be happy?
VERSE NUMBER 38:
Text in Transliteration:
Yady apy ete na pasyanti lobhopahata chetasah
Kulakshayakrtam dosham mirtradrohe cha paatakam
Text in English:
Although these, with understanding clouded by greed, see no
guilt in the extermination of a family, no crime in hostility to friends,
VERSE NUMBER 39:
Text in Transliteration:
Katham na jgneyam asmaabhih paapaad asmaan nivartitum
Kulakshaya krtam dosham prapasyadbhir janaardana
Text in English:
Why should we not learn to recoil from such a sin, O
Janardana, we who see evil in the destruction of a family?
In God’s universe certain things are unavoidable, and they
are explainable according to ones individual working out of karma, (the
prarabta karma). While the great country and its people’s welfare is at stake,
and the inhuman “aatataayins” that kauravas were to be exterminated so that the
balance of evil and good existing in this universe could be restored! During
the two world wars, not just the warriors, but innocent women (many of them
pregnant) and children had to die. But those wars were not for the upholding of
dharma. But the visitations of such evil in great measure, for which the world
leaders were just pawns in the hands of God, have always been unavoidable. For
the old world, the European countries and the Western countries had become
steeped in such crass materialism. And a holocaust-like extermination had been
necessitated twice. Now the nuclear bombs are going to be available like the brinjal
in the daily vegetable because of Rogue States like Pakistan, and just imagine
what would be the kind of holocaust it would usher in if the ISI valiant
fighters of Allah get their hands on them! And what about the dreaded deceases
like AIDS, if they are not visitations? And, mind you, because of the unwary
husbands pregnant women and their child-in-the-womb get affected by the
essentially sexually transferrable malaise! Visitations, Ok? When it becomes
unbearable visitations are the results, and the universal soul would react
which knows no kindness or understanding, or compassion. But , within this
parameter works the karmic-work out of even the innocents who become victims of
such visitations. Arjuna has no reason to feel about the kulanasam and other
falling of tradition. We cannot bear the burden of conducting the universe.
Most of the times, we are at a loss to conduct our own lives in the manner our
own discrimination dictates!
VERSE NUMBER 40:
Text in Transliteration:
Kulakshaye pranasyanti kuladharmaah sanaatanah
Adharme nasre kulam krtsnanm adharmo ‘bhibhavaty uta
Text in English:
In the decline of a family, its time-honoured usages perish:
with the perishing of sacred rites impiety overtakes the entire family.
VERSE NUMBER 41:
Text in transliteration:
adharmaabhibhavaat Krishna pradushyanti kula striyah
streeshu dustaasu vaarsneya jaayate varnasamkarah
Text in English:
With the growth of impiety, O Krishna, the family women
become unchaste: and women getting corrupted, O Varshneya, caste admixture
ensues.
Comments:
According to Swamy Chidbhavanada, all the evils which Arjua
foresees would actually come about if the wicket be allowed to thrive in
society.
Constant cleansing has always been the nature of the
universe.
Did Arjuna think about the way his wife, Panjali was treated
in the court of the wicked Duriyodhana and her wow?
The admixture of castes referred here was not of the type as
we have now. There were only four varnas or castes: Brahmins, Chatriyas,
Vaisyas and the Sutras. Moreover they were not very rigid then, in the sense a
Brahmin or a sutra would not become so as an exclusive matter of the incident
of birth. Each varna or caste man had his work cut out, and the works were
according to the predominating guna type of his. So , we should not exercise
any perversion in this regard. “I am the author of the four varnas!” is the
adumbrated statement by Sri Krishna. Even in the casteless European and Western
societies, we could see segmentation of people on the basis of their bodily or
mental work and nature of character. The original four varnas were created by
God, and the subsequent castes were created by lowly human beings to perpetuate
their hegemony over the so-called lower-order people. With universal education,
such a great evil can be abolished and exterminated. But it did not suit the
politicians ruling the country for well over fifty years for electoral purposes!
VERSE NUMBER 42:
Text in Transliteration:
samkaro narakaayai ‘va kulaghnaanaam kulasya cha
patanti pitaro hy eshaam lupta pindodaka kriyaah
Text in English:
Hell is verily the lot of the family and family destroyers
through caste admixture; for, their ancestors fall deprived of manes-cakes and
libations.
Comments:
According to Swamy Chidbhavanada, the dparted happen to stay
for sometime in the region of the manes, before they resume another birth.
Libations offered to them by their descendants have a toning effect on their
dormant psyche.
This is also would be the case if the wicked are allowed to
rule the country. So this cannot be put forward as a valid reason. Indeed to
tone up their psyche people must have a good ruler and king.
VERSE NUMBER 43:
Text in Transliteration:
doshair etaih kulaghnaanaam varna samkarakaarakaih
utsaadyante jaatidharmaah kuladharmaas cha saasvataah
Text in English:
The everlasting caste-virtues and the family-merits get
ruined because of the caste-confusion created by the bad deeds of the
family-destroyers.
VERSE NUMBER 44:
Text in Transliteration:
utsannna kula dharmaanaam manushyaanaam janaardana
narake ‘niyatam vaaso bhavatee ‘ty anususruma
Text in English:
We have heard, O Janardana, that hell is verily the long
lasting abode of the men whose family religious practices have been broken.
VERSE NUMBER 45:
Text in Transliteration:
aho bata mahat paapam kartum vyavasitaaa vayam
yad raajya sukha lobhena hantum svajanam udyataah
Text in English:
Goaded by the greed of the pleasures of a kingdom, we are,
alas, bent on perpetrating the great sin of killing our kinsmen.
VERSE NUMBER 46:
Text in Transliteration:
Yadi maam aprateekaaram asastram sastrapaanayah
Dhaartaraashtraa rane hanyuh tan me kshemataram bhavet
Text in English:
Should the sons of Dhrtarashtra with weapons in hand slay
me, unresisting and unarmed in the battle, that would indeed be better for me.
Comments:
With this sutra or verse the hesitation and despondency of
Arnjuna attains a summit. He puts his life at the misconceived altar of
self-sacrifice to the extent of being killed by the warring cousins.
VERSE NUMBER 47:
Text in Transliteration:
Samjaya uvacha
Evam uktvaa ‘rjunah samkhye rathopstha upaavisat
Visrjya sasaram caapam sokasmvignamaanasah
Text in English:
Sanjaya said:
So saying, overwhelmed with sorrow in the battle-field,
Arjuna sat on the seat of his chariot, abandoning his bow and arrows.
Iti srimad bhagavadgeetaasoopnishatsu brahmavidyaayaam
yogssaastre sree krshnaarjuna samvaade arjunavishaada yogo naama prathamo
‘dhyaayah
In the Upanishad of
the Bhagavad Gita, the knowledge of Brahman, the Supreme, the science of Yoga
and the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, this is the first discourse designated: THE
DESPONDENCY OF ARJUNA
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