THE HOLY GEETACOMMENTARY by

swami Chinmayananda

T K G NAMBOODHIRITHIRUVALLA, KERALA, INDIA

Presentation adapted from

THE HOLY GEETA, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, July 2013Mumbai

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

CHAPTER 1ARJUNA VISHADA YOGA

ARJUNA-GRIEF

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

ARJUNA-GRIEFINTRODUCTION

Ancient Hindus are unique in their successful application of scintillating drama in literature to expose serious philosophy. The highest & the best in Hindu philosophy are elaborately reiterated in the Geeta, in a dramatic layout amidst the din & roar of the Kurukshetra war. Krishna gives his message of manly-action to Arjuna in this battlefield. A constant Mahabharata war is being waged within every one of us at all our crucial moments of action, between the numerous negative forces & the much smaller divine impulses. The Mahabharata sounds an optimistic note of hope that though small, the divine forces, well organised & under the guidance of the Supreme Lord Krishna, can easily win a permanent victory over the outnumbering forces of lust & greed.

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

INTRODUCTION-2Upon the spiritual field of self-development within (Dharmakshetra), when the lower instincts & the higher ideals array themselves, ready to fight, a true seeker, on seeing the enemy lines, his egotistic mind comes to feel a morbid desperation & feels incapacitated to undertake the great fighting his inner war with any hope of victory. This peculiar mental condition of a seeker is beautifully represented in this chapter of Arjuna’s Dejection .In Sanskrit works, the opening verse generally indicates the whole theme of the book, & the last verse summarises the general conclusions. In the case of Geeta, the Divine Song starts with the word DHARMA, & concludes with the term MAMA (mine). Hence we may conclude that the contents of the Geeta are nothing but MY DHARMA. Dharma here means not merely righteousness, or goodness, but the essential nature of anything. Hence, the above conclusion perhaps indicates that the Song Divine of 18 chapters is to be subjectively transcribed, lived, & personally experienced by each student in his own life.

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

THE BEGINNINGThe Great Philosophical discourse in Bhagavad Geeta starts with a simple, but loaded with meaning, question by the blind King Dhritarashtra to his assistant Sanjaya: What did Pandavas & my people do, when, desirous to fight, they assembled together on the holy plain of Kurukshetra, O Sanjaya?In the entire Geeta, this is the only utterance by Dhritarashtra. All the rest of the 700 verses are Sanjaya’s report on the happenings at Kurukshetra. Vyasa had given Sanjaya the powers to see & listen to everything happening at Kurukshetra while sitting with the King in the palace at Hastinapura.Sanjaya reports that after seeing the forces on both sides arrayed for battle, Duryodhana loses his confidence of sure victory & goes to his teacher Dronacharya, as a child would run to its parents in fright. (Verses 1.1 & 1.2)

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

Duryodhana’s Soliloquy with DronacharyaIn the next 9 verses, Vyasadeva describes what the Kaurava Prince Duryodhana told Dronacharya. He pointed out the great warriors in the Pandava army & described their bravery & skill. The essence of his talk was the impression that though smaller in numbers, the effectiveness of the Pandava forces was much greater than that of Kauravas. Then he repeats the names of the distinguished heroes in his side. He expresses his own estimate of the relative strength & merit of the two forces. Then he advises all his commanders to keep their positions & protect the commander-in-chief, Bhishma. ( Verses 1.3 to 1.11)

THE HOLI GEETA

The Sounds of BuglesWhile Duryodhana was thus making a fool of himself, The great Marshall Bhishma took up his war bugle (Conch) & blew it with a lion’s roar, sending forth waves of confidence in the Kaurava army.In the next 8 verses, Sanjaya describes the sounding of bugles, kettle-drums, tabors, trumpets, & cow- horns by commanders of the Kaurava army, followed by Sri Krishna, Arjuna & others of the Pandava army. Sanjaya describes the commotion & sound produced on the battlefield as terrific, resounding throughout heaven & earth, & rending the hearts of the Kauravas. The sympathies of Sanjaya was clearly with the Pandavas, as evidenced by the detailed person by person description of the bugles sounded by commanders in the Pandava army. Sri Krishna & Arjuna are described as sitting in the magnificent chariot, harnessed with white horses, & driven by Madhava -Lord Krishna. The ensign on this chariot was a monkey (Hanuman). ( Verses 1.12 to 1.19)

T K G Namboodhiri

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

Arjuna’s Entry into the BattlefieldAmidst the din of all the sounds, Arjuna enters the battlefield with Lord Krishna as his charioteer. Arjuna requests Krishna to take the chariot into the midst of the two armies, so that he may see all those assembled there to fight the war. Accordingly, Krishna stations Arjuna’s chariot between the two armies & in front of Bhishma, Drona & all the rulers of the earth, & asks Arjuna to behold the Kurus gathered together to fight. (Verses 1.20 to 1.25)

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

What happened to Arjuna?In two verses, Sanjaya briefly describes the condition of Arjuna: Then Partha saw stationed there in both the armies, fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons & friends too.(He saw) Fathers-in-law & friends also in both the armies. Then the son of Kunti, seeing all these kinsmen thus standing arrayed, spoke thus sorrowfully, filled with deep pity.The sight brought to Arjuna’s mind, for the first time, the full realisation of the tragedies of a fratricidal war. He did not, perhaps until then, fully realise the extent of sacrifice that society would be called upon to make in such a war. The sight thus brought into his mind a flood of pity & compassion. ( Verses 1.26 & 1.27)

THE HOLI GEETA

ARJUNA’S ARGUMENTSThe rest of the chapter is devoted to the hysterical blabbering of Arjuna, symptomatic his neurotic condition. The endeavour is to give the complete case-history of a patient suffering from the typical ‘Arjuna disease’.Arjuna said: Seeing these my kinsmen, O Krishna, arrayed eager to fight, my limbs fail & my mouth is parched, my body quivers & my hair stand on end.The Gandiva -bow slips from my hand & my skin burns all over; I am also unable to stand & my mind is whirling round as it were.And I see adverse omens, O Keshava. Nor do I see any good in killing my kinsmen in battle. (Verses 1.28 to 1.31)

T K G Namboodhiri

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

INADVISABILITY OF WARArjuna continues his arguments against the advisability of such a civil war.I desire not victory, nor kingdom, nor pleasures. O Krishna. Of what avail are pleasures or even life itself?They for whose sake we desire kingdom, enjoyment & pleasures, stand here in battle, having renounced life & wealth.Teachers, fathers, sons & also grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law & other relatives.These I do not wish to kill, though they may kill me, even for the sake of dominion over the three worlds; how much less for the sake of the earth. ( Verses 1.32 to 1.35)

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

NO KIILING OF KAURAVASKilling the sons of Dhritarashtra, what pleasure can be ours, O Janardana? Sin alone will be our gain by killing these felons.Therefore, we shall not kill the sons of Dritarashtra, our relatives; for how can we be happy by killing our own people?Though these, with their intelligence clouded by greed, see no evil in the destruction of the families in the society, & no sin in their cruelty to friends.Why should not we, who clearly see evil in the destruction of the family units, learn to turn away from this sin, O Janardana ?( Verses 1.36 to 1.39)

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

DESTRUCTION OF FAMILYIn the destruction of a family, the immemorial religious rites of that family perish; on the destruction of spirituality, impiety overcomes the whole family.By the prevalence of impiety, O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupt; & women being corrupted, there arises ‘intermingling of castes’. ‘Confusion of castes’ leads the slayer of the family to hell; for their forefathers fall, deprived of the offerings of PINDA and water.By these evil deeds of the ‘destroyers of the family’, which cause confusion of castes, the eternal religious rites of the caste & the family are destroyed.We have heard that it is inevitable for those men, in whose families the religious practices have been destroyed, to dwell in hell for an unknown period of time.(Verses 1.40 to 1.44)

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

HEIGHT OF ARJUNA’S CONFUSIONArjuna continues his blabbering:Alas! We are involved in a great sin, in that we are prepared to kill our kinsmen, from greed for the pleasure of the kingdom.If the sons of Dhritarashtra weapons-in-hand, slay me in battle, unresisting & unarmed, that would be better for me.Sanjaya said:Having thus spoken in the midst of the battlefield, Arjuna sat down on the seat of the chariot, casting away his bow & arrow, with a mind distressed with sorrow.(Verses 1.46 & 1.47)

THE HOLI GEETA

T K G Namboodhiri

IMPORTANCE OF ARJUNA VISHADA YOGAThe Arjuna-condition of utter despair is the auspicious mental attitude wherein the Geeta-seeds are to be sown, & the flowers of Krishna-perfection gathered. Religion & philosophy will generally be in demand when the heart has come to experience the Arjuna-grief.To the extent the world of today has felt its incompetence to face the battle of life, to that extent it is fit for listening to the message of the Geeta. The scriptural text cannot, in themselves, help anyone; it must be learned & lived. For this, Arjuna-condition is the initial Sadhana.

End of Chapter 1