CHAPTER II
Krishna
addressed his dear friend Arjuna-
“O
My dear Arjuna! Think again!”
“What is death? What is there to worry about it? Death is
nothing but a change! You changed again and again at each stage of your life.
You do not have the same body as you had in the cradle as a baby; but do you
lament for that? Death is another change in life, resembling youth and old age!
Truly wise never grieve about death.
Death is just like travelling from once city to another. What is there
to fear about it?”
The ‘deathless saint’ stopped his discourse on death and
looked at his bewildered friend.
देहिनोस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति॥
For the
embodied beings childhood, youth and old age are natural changes.
The
process of getting another body after death is a similar change.
A wise
man does not get deluded by that.
“But Krishna ….! Death gives
pain…!” Arjuna screamed rather than
arguing. His voice choked into a squeak.
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु
कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तान्स्तितीक्षस्व
भारत॥
The experiences of the senses O Kunti’s son,
result in cold, heat, pleasure and pain.
They perish as they get consumed. They are
impermanent.
O Prince of Kurus! Endure them!
“Yes! Death causes pain!” The cowherd answered in a calm voice!
“But what is pain? And how long does it stay? Or, can you
show me somebody who is eternally in pain?
Pain and pleasure are like the two sides of the same coin;
one cannot exist without the other. Summer reminds you of winter; winter chills
the heart out and makes one long for summer. The farmer in the village prays
for rain; the civilized man of the city curses it the same. What is pain for
one is pleasure for another.
What is pain at one moment is pleasure the next moment. They
come to go; they go to come. After all, life is a fleeting experience of pain
and pleasure. Or aptly put, pain and pleasure are the fleeting experiences of
life! So don’t argue about pain, my dear Gaandivi! Remember that the blood
which is going to ooze out from the hearts of those wicked souls will fall like
a shower of nectar on the unkempt hair of your queen.”
Arjuna was not convinced. He was still in the mood of
running away to the forest.
“Oh yes! But why did I marry at all? To hell with wife and
children! If I could have led the life of a sage, then I need not have bothered
about kingdom, revenge etc.!”
यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ।
समदुःखसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते॥
Hey the
best of men!
That
embodied wise man alone
who is
not troubled by these
and who
remains equal minded in pain and pleasure
is qualified for the eternal state of Para Brahman.
“Well said! To hell with everything! If you dare to utter
such dispassionate words, then my confused cousin, you must dare these pains
and pleasures also bravely! He alone can ever befit the role of a realized
sage, who can remain unaffected by the ephemeral phenomena of pain and
pleasure. And the fact is, Arjuna, the seers know the secret of being
unaffected by these.
Do you remember..? When we were very young, we used to get
Bheema to pluck hundreds of jackfruits; they were very juicy but sticky and the
hands would all become messy; then our stable-boy Neela used to bring oil from
his house; we used to apply on it our hands and pick out the fruit easily..!
Well; the seers know of the secret oil which makes the dirty
stickiness of the pains and pleasures of the world keep away from them! The
secret..? Don’t be impatient! I will tell you indeed! The truth is-
“Reality
is never non-existent; unreality never exists!”
नासतो विद्यते
भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः॥
The
unreal never exists.
The real
never ceases to exist.
The
Knowers of the Truth know the difference between the two.
Arjuna had already forgotten about the war and its evil
consequences. He was now interested in this new topic. He was regretting in his
mind deeply; ‘Oh if I had only known that this cowherd friend knew so much
about all these things, I could have learnt all this from him long ago and
become a Sage already; this war situation would not have arisen at all! Past is
past! Let me at least listen now and become a great seer! Hmm..! What did this
friend-cum philosopher say? Reality is never non-existent; unreality never
exists! So simple; yet true! Real things are always existent and unreal things
can never be true.’
Arjuna gave words to his thoughts: “Oh! I already know all this, Maadhava! Don’t
tell me philosophy is as simple as that!”
‘Teaching a fool is easy; convincing a wise one is easier;
but to explain anything to a fool who thinks he knows everything already is
impossible!’ Krishna knew his task was
difficult; but he tried his best!
“My dear Arjuna…! Do you know actually what reality is and
what unreality is?”
Arjuna remained silent. He knew Krishna
was pointing out at something which was beyond his intellect.
“Arjuna! The reality
is non-existent; so Existence is reality. The very ‘Principle of the Existence’
is the only existent thing. ‘Existence’ which is the substratum of all existent
things can never cease to exist!
‘Existence’ was there even before the world came into being.
The world exists because ‘Existence’ supports it. The world may change, vanish;
but ‘Existence’ never can disappear! The ‘IS’ is behind everything; is always
‘IS’; and never is ‘NON-IS’! Even if ‘Non-Existence’ has to exist, ‘Existence’
has to exist as its support for it to exist! The changing world, changing life,
changing environment, changing politics, changing relations, changing people,
changing thoughts, - all have ‘Existence’ as their support.
If change ‘is’, then ‘is’ is always ‘IS’, and the change
itself has no existence apart from ‘IS’!
To give you an illustration-
An actor, who dons different roles in different
performances, never ceases to exist as he is ‘the support’ of the very
character roles he undertakes. If he didn’t exist, then how can the roles he
enacts exist? That ‘actor’- we call ‘Para Brahman’ or the ‘Supreme Self’! That
‘Supremacy’ alone expresses itself in all these individuals, in all these
living and non-living objects. The actor is real; the roles he enacts are also
real.
‘Self’ alone is real; but the world also is real. ‘Self’ is
the support of the world; as the actor is the support for his roles. Maybe a
single role he enacts might not be the ‘whole’ of the actor; yet it expresses
one part of his, which he expresses through that role.
Similarly a single object of this world may not be the
‘whole’ of that Para Brahman; but it indeed is a part of that ‘Supremacy’.
THAT is ‘all this’! ‘This (perceived phenomenon)’ alone is
not THAT!
THAT is real! ‘This (world)’ is real, because THAT is real!
As evidenced in the world Arjuna, the body is unreal, for-
it perishes; but the embodied one is alone real. Bodies die; but the embodied
does not die!”
अविनाशि तु तद्विद्दि
येन सर्वमिदं ततम्।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य
न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति॥
Know that as imperishable by which all this is pervaded.
No one can destroy this Changeless principle of the Self.
Arjuna argued:
“But my friend, I am the body! My form, my body is ‘me’ in
person! How can there be two things, one inside and one outside? Or, are you
referring to the ‘spirits’ of the other world affecting the living ones?”
अन्तवन्त इमे
देहा नित्यस्योक्ता शरीरिणः।
अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य
तस्माद्युद्ध्यस्व भारत॥
The embodied Self is eternal, imperishable and
infinite;
These
bodies are perishable by nature.
So fight
the battle O Prince of Kurus.
येनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतं।
उभौ तौ न विजानीतो
नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥
He who
believes the Self to be the killer
and he
who thinks that he is getting killed,
both of
them are ignorant of the Truth.
This
Self neither kills nor gets killed.
न जायते म्रियते
वा न कदाचित् नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः।
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं
पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥
The Self never is born; nor does it die ever.
It has not come into being newly; nor will it again come into existence
in the future.
The Self which is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and eternal,
does not get killed when the
body gets killed.
वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम्।
कथम् स पुरुषः पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम्॥
How can the person (embodied being)
who knows the Self which is imperishable, eternal, unborn and changeless
hurt whom or kill whom, Hey Prithaa’s son!
“No, No! Not at all, my friend! Please try to grasp the
truth behind my words.
The ‘embodied one’ is the ‘true you’; or rather, ‘the true
I’ –your own ‘Self’!
Your body is always ‘yours’ and never can be you! You are
the ‘passenger in the chariot’ and are never ‘the chariot’! And the ‘Self’ which is the real ‘You’, is
imperishable and all-pervasive. No one can destroy it ever!”
Arjuna looked stunned.
‘It is one thing to say- You are the Self’; but another
thing to contradict the same with the word-‘all-pervasive’! I am the Self! Yes!
True! Who denies it? But, how can I be all-pervasive?’
He saw that his words were beyond the grasp of his poor anxious
friend. He decided to discontinue this dreary philosophy and stop torturing the
immature mind of his cousin. He just ended the whole discourse with- “Come on!
Get up Arjuna! It is time to fight! The battle-field is waiting!”
Arjuna was in no mood for getting up or fighting.
He suddenly found that he had missed something all along his
life; failed to grasp the true knowledge in which his friend seemed to be an
expert at! All his valorous acts of the past, all his romantic episodes, all
his glory seemed to crumble into dust at that moment of shocked ignorance!
Yes! There were many debates and discussions held at the
private chambers of his elder brother Yudhishtira.
Many scholars and sages were invited to attend the assembly
and the discussions used to last for many hours, sometimes even days or
months! Even when they had lived in the
forest, there was no end to such meetings and discussions on various
philosophical texts were a common pastime! Bheema would hover in and out of
those discussions at will! But Arjuna..?
He never was interested in those dreary talks, thinking them
to be impractical and out of the world topics! May be, if he had been serious
then, he could have become a great seer by now! He had rejected this
high-sounding philosophy as fit for the old and the weary and had given very
little attention to it! It was now or never..!
He sat there adamantly looking expectantly at his dark
friend, like a Chaataka bird waiting for the waters of the heavens!
Arjuna was not going to budge out of his seat till some
drops of ‘True Knowledge’ soaked into his ‘worldly’ intellect! He resigned
himself to the teacher’s task.
The cowherd squeezed the udders of the ‘divine cow called
Upanishads’ and fed the ‘simplified truths of milk’ to the waiting mouth of the
‘little calf Arjuna’!
He spoke in a voice overflowing with compassion:
“My friend! This
‘Self’ which I am trying to explain is something which cannot be described in
words.
How can you word that thing which has no form, which has no
quality, which is beyond the reach of the senses and mind? Well! One thing is
for sure! The so-called Self does not die; and nobody can kill it!
If anybody is foolish enough to think that he is a killer
and the other a victim, both are the worst idiots of the world; the Self
neither can kill nor be killed!”
Arjuna did not interrupt.
True! He still did not understand the so-called Self! Yet he
listened like an over-enthusiastic student dreaming unconsciously about the
glory that would be his one day, if somehow he could grasp the truths expounded
here.
“Self, O Arjuna - does not die;
because it was never born!”
‘What a foolish statement!’
Arjuna’s mind was churning!
‘Of course, I was born; maybe I didn’t
know about it when I was just a new-born baby; but my venerable mother indeed
can prove it; venerable Bheeshma also knows about it; why, even Bheema and Yudhishtira
will vouch for it!’
“Even if you believe the ‘Self’ to be born, or rather, if
you cannot believe that you are ‘un-born’, and want to believe in an untrue
idea, even then, the so-called ‘Self’ never ceases to exist; that means it will
never die! But in truth, ‘Self’ is ‘unborn’! “You’ are ‘unborn’! ‘I’ am
‘unborn’! ‘Self’ is eternal!
The most permanent object in this impermanent world is the
‘Self’, the ‘Real You’! ‘You’ are the most ancient than the word ‘ancient’ can
denote! In brief, the Self does not die when pierced with arrows; never dies
when cut with a sword; never dies even when hit by a mace; never dies when
trampled by the elephants; never dies even when the body lies without life on
the pall! In short, you cannot kill the
Self in all those people; they also cannot kill you; because you are the
‘eternal Self’ which appears to be imprisoned in the ‘non-eternal body’!
Self is beyond death! Do you understand all this, my
friend?”
But Arjuna?
Arjuna! Where was he?
He was lost to this world! His mind had soared high into
hitherto unknown boundaries of contemplation!
No war; no brothers; no relatives; no Duryodhana; no wives;
no world! Even Krishna was not there! Arjuna
was somewhere very far; far from this messy world; far from the hit and run
accidents of the world; far from the mad mad world!
Where? There - where no space and time could reach; where he
had forgotten his own existence as Arjuna!
Why? What had happened? He had started to think now; for the
first time in his life!
‘Self’! ‘What is this Self? A light? A ghostly apparition?
Are there many selves? But then, why is Krishna
referring to a single number? Where is the Self located in the body? Is it in
the heart? Is it in the brain? Does it fill the whole body? Is it covering the
whole body from outside like some giant entity? If it is not this body, if this
body is cut off or removed, then what is left as ‘I’? Who am ‘I’?
WHO AM I?
It is the question which forms the very first step for
ascending the heights of ‘True Knowledge’!
Arjuna asked himself - Who am I?
Am I not Arjuna, the glory of Lunar dynasty? Was I not born?
Will I never die? Then, who dies pierced by the arrows? The body?
Then, if the body is not ‘Me’, how can ‘I’ be ‘I’; how can
‘he’ be ‘he’?
Arjuna had to put a break to his racing thoughts! His friend
was saying something more now. There was no time to think. He tried to
concentrate hard on the sacred words flowing from the mouth of the Master!
“Arjuna! If you can comprehend the truth about the Self, if
you ‘know’ the ‘Unknowable Self’, then all your unnecessary worries will be
over! You will then understand that there is neither ‘the killer’ nor ‘the
killed’; the duality will cease to exist! This Self cannot die; for it was
never born!
This Self cannot be destroyed; for it is beyond the sensory
grasp. This Self was in the past; is in the present; will be in the future. It
is eternal. It is beyond all the changes that torment this physical body of
ours. Our body is born, grows, decays, dies; but the Self remains ever the
same.”
Arjuna reflected.
‘If I am beyond death, then I cannot be the body! Then, what
is this body? The body which I pampered petted, loved ….; it is not me? The
face that I lovingly appreciate in the mirror hundred times a day….; is it not
mine? Am I not that? If bodies are unreal as Krishna
says, then, who is the person acting in the world? If there was no
differentiation of bodies and all are one as Self, wouldn’t there be confusion
in all our relationships? If I am not this body, then who am I - a nonexistent
ghoul? No! It can’t be! Krishna says, ‘I’ is
the only reality’
वासाम्सि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय अन्यानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि
देही॥
Just like a man discards worn out garments and takes other new ones,
the embodied Self discards the worn out bodies and takes over other new
bodies.
He tried hard once again to describe the principle of the
physical body.
“Arjuna! This body of yours is a garment worn by you; a
dress chosen for you! When your garment gets worn out or torn, you throw it
away; don’t you? And you will wear a new garment without any regret too!
Similarly, this body is also discarded when it gets worn out
and we term it as death! A new body is chosen and life continues; we call it
birth!”
He waited for the statement to sink deep into Arjuna’s mind.
Arjuna was pondering the logic of Krishna ’s
statement. ‘Is this body just a garment? But, do we allow others to tear it? Do
we throw it away before even it is worn out? Do we cry when the cloth is lost?
Can life and death be explained in such simple terms? Why does a man fear death
then? How do we know which type of body will be available to us after death?
How can we think of the body as a cloth? We have the freedom
to choose our new dress. Do we have the same freedom to choose our bodies?
Death is not so simple…!
But, suppose, for the sake of the argument we keep aside all
these questions, even then- how can anyone ever possibly explain the untimely
deaths of little children, little babies..?
Some die even in the womb itself; some outside! Little flowers wither
even before they had a chance to bloom in this world! Their ‘clothes’ were new,
tender, delicate!
Old people; yes; they can die, for- they would have known
what life is; they would have fully experienced whatever life had offered them!
May be even diseases are justified!
But children….?
Death is not as simple as Krishna
seems to suggest.
Arjuna’s mind went on asking hundreds of unanswered
questions, for which maybe only this cowherd held the key!
नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः।
न चैनम् क्लेदयत्यापो न शोषयति मारुतः॥
अच्छेद्योऽयम्दाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च।
नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातनः॥
Weapons do not tear it apart.
Fire does not burn it.
Water
does not wet it.
Wind
does not try it.
It is unbreakable; unburnable; cannot be
dissolved; cannot be dried.
It is eternal; all pervading; firmly placed;
and immovable.
अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते।
तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं
नानुशोचितुमर्हति॥
It is
said to be unperceivable; unthinkable; changeless.
Therefore,
understanding this truth, you should not grieve anymore.
KuruKshetra was flooded with the waters of death.
He jumped back to the safest topic- the Self!
“Arjuna! Try to understand your own Self; half of your
problems will be over. This Self -which I am trying to explain -can never be
slain. Do believe this; later you can confirm this in your own personal
experience.
The Self, my friend, is beyond death! How does a person die
in this world; just think. Leave out the possibilities of deaths caused by
diseases and old age. One may be slain with weapons, or burnt to death, or may
drown in water, or even get dehydrated and die. But all these elements – fire,
water, air, earth- do not have any effect on the Self! Self can never be cut; can never be burnt; can
never become wet; can never be dried.
Self is never born. Self never dies. Self is eternal!
Self cannot be limited in a name or form; can not be
conditioned by space and time.
Self is all-pervasive; it cannot move from place to place
for the simple reason that it does not exist in any place.
Self is fixed; no not like a tree! It is not fixed in the
sense – there is no place for it to move! Self is the only immovable thing in
this ever-moving world. Self is not bound by the limitations of time!
It was; it is and it will be; it exists always.
My friend! You look still puzzled. I know; you think I am
talking in riddles. But, what can I do? I fail to express with words- ‘That’ -
which cannot be brought within the purview of any literature.
Believe me when I say that the Self is unknowable! Yet, the
‘Seers’ ‘know’ the ‘Self’! The Self is not a physical object which can be
sensed with our sense organs. The Self cannot be seen, heard, smelt, tasted or
touched. The Self is not manifest at all.
The tree inside the seed manifests as the trunk, leaves,
flowers and fruits. The water vapor manifests as rain. Beauty manifests as a
flower, as a butterfly, as the bewitching smile of the lady, as the chubby face
of a child!
But, the Self? It is unmanifest! So how can we ‘know’ it?
Through thoughts….? Through the comprehensive property of the intellect, which
can grasp the abstract things of the life..? No! The Self cannot be thought
about; it is the very source from which thoughts arise!
Like the river which cannot turn back and see the source of
its origin, like the eyes which cannot see themselves, the thoughts can never
catch the one who gave them existence!
Then, how to ‘see’ the Self?
The seed can be seen in its manifestations when it sprouts,
when it grows, when it blossoms, when it bears fruits; but the Self has no such
changes; so how can you ‘see’ it?
Stop worrying, Arjuna! Have belief in my words!
The Self cannot die; so logically you can never kill
anybody. So you are never a sinner in the real sense!
Do not grieve! O Arjuna!”
But, Arjuna did not feel in the least depressed.
अथ चैनं नित्यजातं
नित्यं वा मन्यसे मृतम्।
तथापि त्वं महाबाहो
नैवं शोचितुमर्हसि॥
Even if
you believe this to be always getting born repeatedly and dying,
you have
no cause to lament, Hey Mighty armed!
जातस्य हि ध्रुवो
मृत्युः ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च।
तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे
नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥
For the person who is born, death is certain.
For a man who is dead, birth is certain.
Therefore wise men do not worry about that which cannot be prevented.
“Arjuna, anybody born must die; anybody who dies must get
born!
Even if you do not kill your relatives, they have to die one
day or the other; so why worry?
Come on; let us get back to the work in hand.”
Sure! Krishna had brought
back the memories of Arjuna’s previous predicament; but to no effect.
अव्यक्तादीनि
भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत।
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव
तत्र का परिदेवना ॥
These
beings were unmanifest before (birth);
are
manifest in the middle;
will
again become unmanifest after death.
What is
there to lament about it?
Three tries were better than two; Krishna
tried once more; but this time he tried adding some philosophic terms, as if to
satisfy his cousin brother’s new fascination.
“Arjuna! All these beings were un-manifest before they were
born; after death they will return to their un-manifest state. They appear as
manifested and are seen because now they have names and forms which can be
perceived through our senses. Therefore, there is no need to worry about
killing the elders of the family; for- they are not truly dying when they are
going to collapse under the onslaught of your sharpened arrows.”
Arjuna’s face remained expressionless! He was waiting
patiently for the right answers to his tormenting questions. He was adamant; he
was least concerned about lamenting the deaths occurring in the future. He
wanted philosophy then and there. To hell with Duryodhana and others; to hell
with the kingdom; he wanted ‘Knowledge Supreme’!
आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेनं आश्चर्यवत्वदति तथैव चान्यः ।
आश्चर्यवच्चैनमन्यः शृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् ॥
Some one sees it as a wonder.
Some one else, talks of it as a
wonder.
Another one hears about it as a
wonder.
Even after hearing about it, no one
knows it ever.
देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत ।
तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥
Bhaarata!
This embodied Self is indestructible though it is
in each and every body.
Therefore you cannot grieve about any being (in
this world).
He said: “Arjuna! The knowledge of the ‘Unknowable Self’
which you want now here is not so easy to attain! Of course it is nice when you
hear about these things; any man who can give a flowery discourse about it will
make you gape in wonder. The Self is such a fascinating topic. Even then if you
attend thousands of discourses on the Self also, you can never really
comprehend it!
Arjuna, you are a prince; a ‘Kshatriya’, a warrior at heart.
Remember your duties as a ‘Bharata Prince’.
Your duty is in the battlefield. Kill all your enemies
relentlessly. Slay all the relatives be they young or old and win back the
kingdom.
Do you remember? You started the topic of the sins committed
with war etc; all that is not needed at all at this critical hour. Since the
Self inside the body cannot be killed and can never die when the body falls
dead, you stop worrying about all these deaths and sins and get ready to
fight.”
Arjuna did not move out of his rocky seat.
स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि ।
धर्म्याद्दि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते
॥
Considering your own duties (as a Kuru
prince),
you should not tremble like this.
There is nothing more conducive to the
welfare of a man of warrior class
than a war fought with proper rules.
यदृच्छया चोपपन्नं स्वर्गद्वारमपावृतम् ।
सुखिनः क्षत्रियाः पार्थ लभन्ते
युद्धमीदृशम् ॥
Paartha! Only Kshatriyas of good fortune get a war opportunity like
this
which occurs unsought for and opens the door of the heavens.
“Arjuna!” he sternly
pronounced.
“Have you forgotten that you are a Kshatriya? How can you
refuse to fight? Your very duty is to fight and protect Dharma. Have you forgotten
that Duryodhana is your sworn enemy? Haven’t you taken an oath to destroy all
these harmful weeds? Have you forgotten Draupadi’s anguish? And the ‘Mukti
(liberation)’ you are so fond of, even that liberation, you will get as a
gift-packet form heaven if you battle for Dharma!
You must consider yourself lucky for having gotten a chance
like this; the doors of the heaven are kept open for the lucky ones like you,
who take part in such battles to save their country. What is more wonderful
than shedding the last drop of blood for the sake of one’s country?”
No change in Arjuna so far!
अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि
।
ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि
॥
Or else,
if you do not fight this righteous battle,
then you
will swerve from your duties; damage your reputation;
and will
incur sin.
Sins did not frighten Arjuna any more.
अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम्
।
सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते ॥
The
people will always talk of your infamy.
For a
man of honor, death is better than infamy.
भयाद्रणादुपरतं मन्त्स्यन्ते त्वं महारथाः
।
येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम्
॥
The great warriors will think that you have withdrawn from the battle
because of fear.
Having been highly respected, you will attain a degraded state.
अवाच्यवादांश्च बहून्वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिताः
।
निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्यम् ततो दुःखतरं नु किम्
॥
Your enemies will comment about you in insulting words.
They will censure your talent.
What could be more painful than this?
“My friend! Do you know the consequences of not fighting the
battle? You will be in eternal ‘infamy’. People will talk ill of you. They will
brand you as a coward. Can you bear it? No, Arjuna, even I cannot bear to think
of such things!”
He continued: “What will all these warriors think of you, my
friend? Even the enemies used to regard you with a lot of respect; and such a
famed archer like you will be talked of lightly as a coward by one and all!
Those who were ready to face your arrows will now relax and laugh
at you; and what defaming words will they speak when mentioning your name! Oh!
What can be more painful than that?”
हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि
स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम् ।
तस्मादुत्तिष्ट कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः ॥
If you are killed you will enjoy the heaven.
If you win, you will enjoy the earth.
Therefore, get up O Son of Kunti, determined to fight.
सुखदुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि
॥
Considering equally
both pain and pleasure; both profit and loss; both victory and defeat,
get prepared to fight the battle.
In that way you will not incur sin.
Krishna activated his tear-ducts and out came a few drops of
Ganges , forming a stream on his manly cheeks.
“Arjuna!” he choked again. “What can we do, being bound by the rules of the
society always! We must always act duty-bound! If you die, you will get the
heaven; if you win, you will get this Kuru Kingdom
So, come on Arjuna, get up! Let not the name of your mother
be tainted ever for wombing an unworthy son! Let us get back to the
battlefield. Let us just take everything with an equal mind! May the Supreme Lord above decide the results
of our endeavors; we will courageously face anything that arises out of this
‘Dhaarmic’ war!
Remember what I said; the gates of the hell will never open
up for you, for slaying the elders on the enemy side.”
***
‘No escape now’- thought our poor trapped teacher! He was
stuck with his job; he was here on this earth to teach, not to hold the horse
reins and act out the role of a driver in a dumb battlefield! Here was an ideal
disciple, who shunned duties, heavens, fame and relatives; a true disciple
indeed!
Arjuna looked up eagerly; he knew at last, now he had defeated
his undefeatable friend.
Arjuna had won!
Then began the sacred dialogue between the
Master and the disciple;
a dialogue, so unique and filled with meaningful
understanding that
any sincere seeker of the truth hearing it,
will be led towards the greatest heights of
knowledge
to be drowned in the ‘Supreme Bliss of the
Self’!
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