Bhagavad Gita Discourse 1-3
Discourse 1-3
Dhritarashtra, the regent blind king of Hastinapur, asks Sanjay, one of his advisors, what happened on the battlefield of Truth, when his 100 sons and their warriors led by Bhishma met in battle the sons of Pandu, his late brother, and their warriors.
Sanjay tells him that Duryodhan, Dhritharashtra's eldest son, went to Dronacharya, his master of war and teacher before the battle had begun and brought to his attention the esteemed warriors on both sides of the battle. He talks of the armies brought by the Pandavs, pupils of the same teacher, as well as the esteemed warriors on their side. Bhishma commands Duryodhan's side, the Kauravs, and to encourage them all, he blows his mighty conch shell, and their bannermen follow suit. The sound of war drums, conch shells, and horns fills the sky. On the other side of the battlefield, Krishna of Madhva, the charioteer to mighty Arjun, answers the challenge along with the warriors of their army. Both heaven and earth shook at the tumultuous sound.
Arjun asks Krishna to lead his majestic war chariot between the armies so that he can survey the warriors of the two armies. Arjun has his bow in hand when the chariot is placed between the two armies, but the sight of his kinsmen on both sides of the field leaves him feeling grieved. He laments at the sight of fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and friends arrayed in battle lines. The sad sight causes life to flee from his limbs. He confesses that he sees no glory in seeking to kill his kinsmen, and would rather be slain than slay his family members for a mere earthly kingdom.
His enemies' minds are filled with greed, and so they see no evil in the destruction of a family, but he does, and so reasons that he should refrain from battle. He says that it would be better if the sons of Dhritarashtra found him unarmed, unresisting, and killed him. Arjun lets fall the bow from his hands, and with tears in his eyes, he sinks in the chariot. Arjun asks Krishna for guidance, and Krishna attempts to motivate the dejected Arjun by reminding him that strong men know not to despair. He asks him to throw off the ignoble discouragement and rise to fulfill his duty as a warrior.
Arjun asks Krishna if he should kill his kinsmen, like Bhishma, the brother of his grandfather, and Dronachraya, his teacher. He says that he would rather eat beggars' food his whole life than eat royal food tasting of the blood of his kinsmen. He tells Krishna that he will not fight.
Krishna speaks with the voice of God and asks him how he could cry and show grief when the wise don't grieve for the living or the dead, for they know that both life and death are transient and eventually pass away. He tells Arjun that all of them have been for all time, and reminds him that the spirit is beyond destruction and everlasting. The body may end but the spirit remains immeasurable and immortal. He corrects Arjun by telling him that those who think they can kill and those that believe they can be killed are both wrong for neither of them know the truth. The truth is that the eternal in man cannot kill and cannot be killed. He is never born and never dies. Just as a man removes a garment and dons another so too does a spirit leave a mortal body to inhabit another.
He preaches that all things born in truth must die, and out of death in turn comes life. People are invisible before birth and return to being invisible after death, and so are seen between two unseens. He asks why Arjun finds sorrow in this truth. He reminds Arjun of his duty as a warrior, who can find no greater good than a fight with a righteous cause, for it opens the gates of heaven. To forgo the righteous fight would mean that he would forgo both duty and honor. Great warriors will claim that he ran from battle out of fear, while the enemy will contempt him for refusing to fight. If he were to die in the battle, he would find glory in heaven, and in winning find the glory of victory on earth.
He explains that the reasoning was the wisdom of Sankhya which is the vision of the eternal. And then turns the discourse towards Yoga, which is the path of the eternal and the means to freedom from bondage. On the path of yoga, the follower has single-minded determination where even a little progress means freedom from fear. Krishna tells Arjun to focus on the work and not its reward, to work without thought of reward but never cease work. He reminds him to not be moved in success or failure for Yoga is the evenness of mind, a peace that is ever the same, and it is wisdom in work.
Arjun asks Krishna to explain further the mindset of a man of tranquility, and Krishna replies that the wise man surrenders all desires that come to the heart and finds joy in God. He is untroubled by sorrows, beyond passion, fear, and anger. He explains that the pleasure of the senses leads to an attraction that incites desire, lust, passion, and anger. These strong emotions lead the man astray from the path of duty and towards destruction. There is no wisdom for a man who cannot experience harmony which prevents contemplation. And the ability to contemplate is what leads to peace and joy. The man who can withdraw from the senses and desires can achieve salvation even during the last minute of his life.
Arjun is confused by the words of Krishna, and so asks him that if vision is greater than action, then why does Krishna ask him to commit the terrible act of war. He asks Krishna to elaborate on the path to the almighty. Krishna replies that there are two paths of perfection in this world, the first is Jnana Yoga, the path of wisdom of the Sankhyas. The second is the path of Karma Yoga, which is the path of action of the yogis. He explains that action is necessary for life, and one does not reach the supreme by mere renunciation of action. If a man were to renounce action and yet ponder the pleasures of those actions then the man would be a false follower.
God created both man and sacrifice and told the man of the necessity of sacrifice. The sacrifice to the gods is a means of honoring them, and in that honoring man can receive the joy of all desires. The sages who eat the food after sacrifice are freed from sin, while those who feast and offer no sacrifice break the Wheel of Law. All food comes from the rains, and the sacrifice brings the rain. Krishna asks Arjun to free his actions from the bonds of desire as pure action leads to the attainment of the supreme. He gives the example of King Janak who had found perfection by way of action. Such men serve as examples for others. Krishna says that he has achieved all things in the world and yet continues to act, he is never without work. This is because his actions serve as examples for others who wish to reach perfection. If he were to stop acting even for a little time, all of the worlds would be thrown into disarray and confusion would reign. The wise men work unselfishly for the good of the world.
Krishna tells Arjun to offer all the actions to him and to focus his mind on the supreme. All those who follow Krishna's doctrine, possess goodwill and faith, will attain freedom through their pure actions. Man needs to abandon hate and lust to perform pure action, even if it be a humble one. Arjun asks what causes man to sin even without deliberately aiming to do so. Krishna replies that it is desire and wrath, born of passion, that leads to sin and destruction. Man needs to abandon desire for it is the source of all sin. Although the power of the senses is great, and the cause of desire, the mind, but Buddhi - reason, is greater. And greater than all is the spirit of man, and so Krishna commands Arjun to slay desire, the enemy of the soul.
Analysis
The Bhagavad Gita is a chapter of the great Indian epic Mahabharata. The Mahabarata is an enormous poem of nearly 100,000 verses, and the Bhagavad Gita occurs before the beginning of the 18-day war. The war is said to have been fought by descendants of Vyasa, the composer of the epic. The two sides in the war both belong to the Bharata clan, and are named the Kauravs and the Pandavs. The Pandavs are led by the five sons of Pandu, who was the crowned king of Hastinapur before his death. At his passing, the throne was passed to Pandu's elder blind brother Dhritarashtra and was to be held by him until the sons of Pandu came of age. However, when Yudhishtra, a Pandav, was named the heir to the throne, Dhritharashtra's own hundred sons, led by Duryodhan, laid claim to the kingdom of Hastinapur. Pandavs struggled for their rightful position and the struggle climaxed with the war that begins after the telling of the Bhagavad Gita.
In the initial discourse, Sanjay relates the occurrences of the battlefield to Dhritarashtra, for Sanjay had been granted the ability to see the battle by the composer of the Mahabharata, Vyasa. The central motif of Dharma is established at the very beginning with Sanjay calling it the battlefield of Dharma. The Kauravs initiate the war cries, but the reader becomes aware that the Pandavs have the favor of God, as all of the sky and earth shake at the sound of their war cries. Arjun demonstrates his existing knowledge of Dharma by expressing his desire to abjure war in favor of his family dharma, one that according to him supersedes the Dharma of his Varna.
In his discourse with Krishna, it is evident that Arjun is aware that his way of thinking is motivated by emotion rather than reason. Krishna begins relating the Bhagavad to Arjun and first highlights the imperishable nature of the spirit. He attempts to show Arjun that actions motivated by emotions are essentially products of desires, and the means to pure action lies in the abandoning of desires as well as the expectation of reward. Krishna acknowledges that true dissociation from desire is difficult for even pious men exercise their desire as they strive to attain heaven. The solution to attaining Moksha lies in yoga, and so he goes on to discuss how the knowledge of the Eternal truth can be applied to bring about wisdom and finally union with the Brahman. The third discourse begins with Arjun seeking clarification on why Krishna encourages him to go to war when the path of renunciation and vision is greater. Krishna elaborates that all the actions of a sage are considered to be a sacrifice if he divorces himself from the consideration of the rewards of that action. Krishna hints at his vastness when he talks of his own need to perform the right action despite being a vast and powerful being. The three Gunas of nature mentioned here are discussed at greater length in the later sections of the Bhagavad.
