Dear All,
Arjuna's despondency carried forward from
chapter 1, is echoed in this verse in 2nd chapter.
Verse 8
Na hi prapashyaami mamaapanudyaad
Yacchokam
ucchoshanam indriyaanaam;
Avaapya bhoomaavasapatnam riddham
Raajyam suraanaam
api chaadhipatyam.
(I do not see that it would remove this
sorrow that burns up my senses even if I should attain prosperous and unrivaled
dominion on earth or Lordship over the Gods.)
Chinmaya writes,
“Arjuna is indicating here to Krishna the
urgency for guidance but for which he would be left to suffer the voiceless
agonies of an inward pain.
The patient is unable to explain or even to
indicate vaguely, the source from which the pain is rising in him. This mental
sorrow in Arjuna is "blasting" even his sense organs! Under the heavy
burden of his sorrows he finds it very difficult even to see or hear things
properly.
Even his Indriyas (sense-organs), are being
blasted by the overheated sorrows within him. It is natural for any reasonable
human being to feel an intellectual impatience to solve a problem of the mind
and thereby make it quiet and peaceful.
Poor Arjuna also has tried his best to bring
some consolation to himself through his own intellectual discrimination.
The sorrow that he felt was not for the acquisition
and possession of any sensuous object in the outer world, because, as his own
words indicate, he has already thought over them and found that even an empire
comprising the whole earth, flourishing under his kingship --- nay, a lordship
over the gods even --- would not have wiped off his sense of sorrow.”
For the kshatriya rulers in general being
without enemies is preferable. It may be put forth that Arjuna himself should
decide and act; but the reply is that one in delusion needs to hear knowledge
of the ultimate truth from those who are qualified.
Knowledge of the Ultimate Truth helps one
cross over this delusion. Wealth and kingdoms are not the means for crossing
this delusion and Arjuna asserts this with the words “NA” or not.
The understanding of it is, even if he was to
win a kingdom of unrivaled prosperity free from enemies, Arjuna still could not
see any means of alleviating the grief that was drying up his senses. By the
use of the word “HI” meaning certainly the conviction that he could
not see any solution to his grief is reinforced, indicating that only the Lord
is fit to instruct him.
Arjuna realized that the sorrow caused as a
result of his attachment to his kinsmen was not ordinary. It burrowed deep into
his personality and lodged itself in it. This deep rooted sorrow had the effect
of totally throwing his senses off track. He was not able to see or hear
clearly. This sorrow was not going to be easy to remove.
In this verse, Arjuna also came to the
conclusion that what he was looking for could not be found in the material
world. If this were the case, he would have been happy with wealth, riches and
thrones. But here we see that even supremacy over the gods was something that
would not satisfy him.
Arjun’s situation is not unique. This is
invariably the situation we sometimes find ourselves in as we go through the
journey of life.
We want happiness, but we experience misery;
We desire knowledge, but are unable to lift
the cloud of ignorance;
We crave perfect love, but repeatedly meet
with disappointment.
Our acquired knowledge do not provide
solutions to these perplexities of life. We need divine knowledge to solve the
puzzle of life.
That treasure chest of divine knowledge is
opened when we find a true Guru, one who is situated in transcendence, provided
we have the humility to learn from him. Such is the path Arjun has decided to
take.
The urgency felt by Arjuna, as is evident
from his own words, may be considered as amounting to his burning aspiration
for liberating himself from the limitations of a mortal.
Arjuna reached a point where the only thing
that mattered for him was the ultimate cure for sorrow, a cure that was
permanent, and not some material thing like wealth that would diminish sorrow
temporarily. And this ultimate cure that he was seeking was a higher level of
discrimination or viveka that would lead him to
liberation.
Love.
