Introduction to Second Chapter
Sanjaya
explains the condition of Arjuna, who was agitated due to attachment and fear.
Lord Krishna rebukes him for his dejection, which was due to Moha or
attachment, and exhorts him to fight. After failing to convince Sri Krishna
through his seemingly wise thoughts,
Arjuna
realizes his helplessness and surrenders himself completely to the Lord,
seeking His guidance to get over the conflict of his mind. The Lord takes pity
on him and proceeds to enlighten him by various means.
Swami,
in one of His discourses, deals with this point (surrender) of Arjuna.
Swami
says, “Arjuna and Krishna lives together, but at no time during that period,
did Krishna teach this Gita to Arjuna, Why?
Because,
during these years, Arjuna treated Krishna as his brother in law and a close
friend. During all those years, Arjuna was living with body consciousness. The
moment Arjuna surrendered, Krishna was ready to impart the divine teaching. “
Nature of Self
He
explains to Arjuna the imperishable nature of the Atman, for which there is no
past, present and future. The Atman never dies, therefore Arjuna should not
grieve. As It transcends the five elements, namely, earth, water, fire, air and
ether, it cannot be cut, burnt or dried. It is unchanging and eternal.
Everyone
experiences conditions like pleasure and pain, heat and cold, due to contact of
objects with the senses. The senses carry the sensations through the nerves to
the mind. One should be able to withdraw the senses from objects, like the
tortoise which withdraws all its limbs within. Krishna asserts that only one
who has the capacity to be balanced in pleasure and pain alike is fit for
immortality.
Selfless Action
Krishna
goes on to tell Arjuna that if he refuses to fight and flees from the battle,
people will be justified in condemning such action as unworthy of a
warrior.
Having taught Arjuna the immortal nature of the Atman, Lord Krishna turns to
the performance of action without expectation of fruit.
A
man should not concern himself about the fruit of the action, like gain and
loss, victory and defeat. These are in the hands of the Lord.
He should perform all action with a balanced mind, calmly enduring the pairs of
opposites like heat and cold, pleasure and pain, that inevitably manifest
during action.
Krishna advises Arjuna to fight, free from desire for acquisition of kingdom or
preservation of it.
Stitaprajna (One who is routed in Consciousness)
Arjuna
is eager to know the characteristics of a man who has a stable mind.
Such
a person, Krishna tells him, will have no desires at all. Since he is
content within, having realized the Self, he is entirely free from
desires.
The
consciousness of the Atman and abandonment of desires are simultaneous
experiences. The various qualities of a Stitaprajna are described by the
Lord.
He
will not be affected by adversity and will have no fear or anger. He will take
things as they come and will not have any likes and dislikes. He will neither
hug the world nor hate it.
The
man of stable mind will have perfect control of the senses. The senses are
powerful and draw the mind outwards. One should therefore turn one’s gaze
within and realize God who resides in the heart.
The
Yogi, having achieved a stable mind, remains steadfast even though all
sense-objects come to him.
He
is unmoved and lives a life of eternal peace. Krishna concludes that the
eternal Brahmic state frees one from delusion forever.
Even
at the end of life, when one departs from this body, one does not lose
consciousness of one’s identity with Brahman.
Love
PS
- Now, with this understanding, we move on the text and translation of
chapter 2 verses and then, we will get deeper into the verses which cover the
three aspects dealt in this introductory post, viz.,
-
Nature of SELF,
-
Selfless Action and
-
Stitaprajna
Love.
