Gita Class 004, Ch.1 Verses 21-30

Bhagavad Gita Class by Swami Tadatmananda

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Swami Tadatmananda’s translation, audio download, and podcast available on his website here: https://arshabodha.org/teachings/bhag…

Swami Tadatmananda is a traditionally-trained teacher of Advaita Vedanta, meditation, and Sanskrit. For more information, please see: https://www.arshabodha.org/

Note about the verses:  Swamiji typically starts a few verses before and discusses 10 verses at the beginning of the class. The screenshot of the verses takes that into consideration and also all the verses that were presented during the class, which may be after the verses discussed initially. We put the later of the two at the beginning

Note about the transcription:The transcription has been generated using AI and highlighted by volunteers. Swamiji has reviewed the quality of this content and has approved it and this is perfectly legal. The purpose is to have a closer reading of Swamiji.s teachings. Please follow along with youtube videos. We are doing this as our sadhana and nothing more.

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Class 4

ॐ सह नाववतु
oṁ saha nāv avatu

सह नौ भुनक्तु
saha nau bhunaktu

सह वीर्यं करवावहै
saha vīryaṁ karavāvahai

तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै
tejasvināvadhītam astu mā vidviṣāvahai

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

Good. Welcome to the webcast of our Saturday morning Bhagavad Gita class. We’re still in the midst of chapter one, beginning our wonderful study, and as before, we’ll begin each class with a recitation of 10 verses, bracketing our position and text—that is, starting before and finishing after. And as I’ve mentioned before, it’s really important for you to glance at the translation while I’m reciting so that when you recite, you know the meaning of what we’re reciting.

We’ll start a recitation today with verse 18, please recite after me.

We’ll conclude our chanting here and pick up the thread where we left off. Let me back up. Okay. Good. Very good.

Before we begin, I saw several questions asking what translation I’m using, that we’re using for this class, and the translation is my translation—it’s available on our website. What’s unique about this translation is that it’s divided quarter by quarter—that is, each quarter of the verse is independently translated—and for those of you who know some Sanskrit, this can—excuse me—this quarter-by-quarter translation can help you understand the Sanskrit better because the English for that quarter is right there. So if you want this translation, you can find the slides on our website. Excuse me just a moment.

All right. In our last class, where we left off was with that story, and I want to return to that story of Arjuna, who, before the war began, had a choice. He could choose either Sri Krishna’s vast army, with all of its elephants and horses and weapons and all the warriors—and it was a huge army—or Arjuna was given the choice of choosing Sri Krishna, and Sri Krishna alone. But Sri Krishna had a condition. He said, “I won’t fight. I won’t lift a weapon in that war.” And he didn’t. He was involved, but he didn’t wield any weapons on the battlefield. He, as we discussed, served as Arjuna’s charioteer, and by serving as Arjuna’s charioteer, he could be with Arjuna at all times on the battlefield.

That story came at the very end of the class. I wasn’t able to make a very important observation about the symbolism of Sri Krishna—of Arjuna choosing Sri Krishna. I think in part the symbolism is quite obvious, isn’t it? Arjuna chooses Dharma over might and power. And by choosing Dharma—Sri Krishna representing Dharma—by choosing Dharma, Arjuna ensured their victory. Because in the long run, Dharma always wins. In the long run. And in the short run, anything can happen. But if you take a big enough view, a long enough perspective, Dharma wins in the long run.

And this isn’t just a platitude or a belief. It’s really based on our understanding of Dharma. Some of you know that the word Dharma comes from the Sanskrit verbal root Dhr. And Dhr means to hold or support. So Dharma, in the broadest sense, is that which holds the world together. Or, as my Guru, Pujya Swami Dayananda liked to say, he said it is Ishwara’s intelligent order. Ishwara’s intelligent order. Dharma is that which holds and supports the world.

Now, in this context, the importance of that is this. The world—this analogy just came into my mind—let’s see if it works; it may not work. Some of you know that in medical science, they speak of homeostasis of the body. If the body is disturbed by illness, all of its systems can be thrown off. But when you remove all that illness, the body naturally returns to its normal state. They call that homeostasis.

In the same way, the world is the same. When you remove Adharma, the world returns to its natural state. Here’s another example. We’ve been putting a lot of pollution into seas and rivers and oceans. When we stop putting pollution into those bodies of water, eventually those bodies of water will become pure again. They will cleanse themselves. They will return to their normal natural state if they’re allowed to. These are examples of Dharma—the self-healing or self-restoring nature of the world. And that is evidence of Dharma.

That’s what we mean when we define Dharma as that which holds the world, that which sustains the world, due to Ishwara’s intelligent order. So the point here, then, is when I said, “Dharma will prevail in the long run.” Why? Because the entire world wants to return, so to speak, to its natural state. And just as a body returns to its natural state when illness is removed, just as a river returns to its natural state when pollution is removed, in the same way, the world returns to its natural state when a-Dharma is removed.

And one thing we know about the world, about Adharma—like any effort or action in the world—it’s all temporary. So any human effort is finite and limited and will eventually come to an end, including adharmic efforts. So when those adharmic efforts get expended, we’ll say, when they finally run their course and they finish and they go away, the world returns to its natural state. That natural state is Dharma. And in this way, Dharma prevails in the long run. It can take an awful long time, but Dharma will prevail.

And back to the symbolism. When Arjuna chose Sri Krishna, Arjuna was choosing Dharma. And having chosen Dharma, definitely Arjuna and the Pandavas would prevail in the long run. It took 18 horrible days of war. The Bhagavad Gita is set in the very first of those 18 days of war, but after those 18 horrible days of war, Arjuna and the Pandavas prevailed.

Okay. Back to our text. So, would you pick it up where we left off? Please note that this Arjuna Vajra comes in the middle of a verse. You remember a certain prior class that verses are not sentences. So a sentence can begin in one verse and end in the next verse, or a verse can contain more than one sentence, so don’t think of verses as sentences.

So this sentence ends in a prior—in the first half of the verse—and in the second half of the verse, it continues. Arjuna uvacha, Arjuna Vajra, so in the second half of the verse, Arjuna addresses his charioteer, Sri Krishna. And he says, atyuta, or Krishna. And I mentioned before spelling changes very frequently in Sanskrit due to rules of Sandi. So it’s not chuta, but ah chuta.

And Atyuta, as a name for Sri Krishna, is interesting. It literally means that which is immutable, that which is unchangeable, that which is unmoving. And certainly, as a name for the god of the Kausmo Sishwara, Sri Krishna is an avatar after also in that sense. It certainly is true, but at a more down-to-earth level, our commentator, Madhu Sudhana Saraswati, comments that Sri Krishna is Atyuta in a sense that he doesn’t get disturbed by anything. He’s not moved to anger by anything. He’s always stable.

So Sri Krishna addresses Arjuna, Atyuta, or Krishna, may Ratham, my chariot, stop by—and this is the last line—stop by place. Place my chariot where? Madhyay, in the middle. Between what? Ubhayyoho, both. Sanayyoho, between both armies. Sanayyoho, Ubhayyoho, Madhyay—in between both armies—May Ratham, my chariot, stop by place.

So you can imagine the battlefield. Up to this point, Arjuna is amongst all the Pandavas gathered on one side of the battlefield, and Arjuna looks across the battlefield to the other side where he sees all the Kauravas assembled. And quite unusually, Arjuna says, “Please steer our chariot out into the middle of the battlefield,” and Sri Krishna is going to explain why.

I suppose that would be a little unusual. Everyone is ready to fight. You don’t expect someone—there’s an American expression—jump the gun, to start too soon, to start prematurely. And Arjuna’s chariot driving out on the battlefield before the battle begins might look premature. Let’s see why Arjuna makes this request.

He says: Karma Yasa Yodhavyaam, Karma Yasa Yodhavyaam, Asmin Rana Samudhyame, Asmin Rana Samudhyame.

So prior lines had: driver, my chariot, Arjuna, battlefield—why or how far? Yavat, so that, up to the point where, aham, at the end of the first line—I—Nirikshay, I can see. I can literally, I can inspect, as is Arjuna’s reconnaissance. So I can see, I can inspect, tan, etan, these—these—these who—these, in the second line.

Yodhukamon—Yodhukamon are those who have a karma, desire for yoddha, for battle. They are Yodhukamon. They are warriors in a general sense, but the literal meaning is they’re eager to fight. Yodhukamon—they’re very anxious, ready, ready to fight. And they are avastitan—they are gathered there together on the battlefield.

So Arjuna wants to see the Kaurava army assembled on the battlefield—those kahi, in the third line, with whom, maya saha—that kahi saha—those with whom, yodhavyum—they have to be fight, maya, by me. Doesn’t sound good in English. You don’t say “must be fought by me”—that’s what the Sanskrit says. We don’t use that kind of construction in English. So we’ll translate this as: those with whom I must fight.

I must fight where? Asmin—here. Rana Samudyame—in this rana, in this battle, which is samudyama, which is about to take place. This imminent war.

So please drive, Arjuna says to Sri Krishna, please drive my chariot out into the middle of the battlefield so I can inspect all the Kaurava soldiers assembled on the other side—those with whom I have to fight in this battle, which is about to take place.

Arjuna continues:

Yotthya Manana Vikshaam, Yotthya Manana Vikshaam, Yahite Dharatarashrasya Durbhudair, Yodhya Priyachi Kirshava, Yodhya Priyachi Kirshava.

So again, he says: aham—I—vikshaam—really same meaning as Nirikshay—I see. And the context is: I want to see. Aham vikshaam—I want to see.

I want to see who? Yotthya Manana—those who are fighting, those who are engaged in battle. We’ll translate as warriors. Yotthya Manana—those who are fighting, those who are ready to fight. Ye, e te—those who are atra—here on the battlefield. Samagata—those who are gathered here together on the battlefield ready to fight.

Go down to the last line—those who are Priyachi Kirshava—those who have a desire, chikirshava, those who are desirous of doing what? Of priya—of pleasing, of being pleasing. They’re interesting expression—those who are desirous of pleasing hum, in the third line,

Dharatarashrasya—the one who is of Dhritarashtra—the son of Dhritarashtra. By the way, the translation has it plural, but it should be singular: the son of Dhritarashtra. Of course, you know we’re talking about Duryodhana. We’re not talking about any of the other hundred sons.

So he says that those warriors on the battlefield are Priyachi Kirshava—they are eager to please Dharatarashrasya, the son of Dhritarashtra, meaning Duryodhana, who is called here Durbhuddhaya—one who has a Durbuddhi. Buddhi means intellect. Durbuddhi means a corrupted intellect.

One whose thinking has been distorted by anger and jealousy and all of the childhood problems. Really speaking, the problems Duryodhana had as a child, dealing with his cousins—the jealousy and anger and competition and all of that, he experiences Dharatarashrasya, the one who is of Dritarasya, the son of Dritarasya. By the way, the translation has it plural—it should be singular—the son of Dritarasya. Of course, you know we’re talking about Duryodhana; we’re not talking about any of the other hundred sons.

So he says that those warriors on the battlefield are Priyachi Kirshava—they are eager to please Dharatarashrasya, the son of Dritarastra, meaning Duryodhana, who is called here Durbhuddhara—one who has a Durbuddhi. Buddhi means intellect. Durbuddhi—one who has a corrupted intellect. One whose thinking has been distorted by anger and jealousy and all of the childhood problems.

Really speaking, the problems Duryodhana had as a child—dealing with his cousins, the jealousy and anger and competition and all of that—he experiences as a child. He never got over that. You know, as children we all have problems, but we grow up. Here, Duryodhana apparently wasn’t able to outgrow all those childhood problems. He continues to maintain all that hate and jealousy for his cousins. He maintains it. Therefore, he is called here Durbuddhi.

But what’s interesting here is that Arjuna describes all those warriors, the Kaurava warriors, as Priyachi Kirshava—as being eager to please Duryodhana, Yudh Dei, in this war, in this fight. So Arjuna knew very well that the Kaurava army was filled with warriors who were dedicated to Duryodhana—that’s a point.

And with those words, Arjuna concludes his short speech to Sri Krishna. And now the scene shifts from the battlefield back to the palace, where Sanjaya is speaking to the blind king Dritarashtra.

You see that the translation at the bottom—“great chariot…” dot, dot, dot—those dots are telling you that the sentence is not complete with this verse. The sentence is completed in the next verse, which we’ll see in just a moment.

So Sanjaya here continues to narrate what’s happening to Dritarashtra. Remember, Sanjaya has been given this divya drashti, this power to see and hear everything that’s taking place on the distant battlefield.

Sanjaya says, Hrishikeshaha—we saw that before, a name for Sri Krishna. Hrishika Isha—the Isha, the Lord of the Hrishika, senses. Lord of senses, referring to that indwelling Lord—Sri Krishna being that indwelling Lord. Having been thus addressed—addressed by whom? Gudakeshena.

In fact, we have two very similar names here. Hrishikeshaha is Krishna. Gudakesha is Arjuna. Keshena means “by him.” So Hrishika Isha—Isha, Lord of the Hrishika, senses—is Sri Krishna. Here, Gudakesha—the Isha, the Lord, in a sense of master, master of guda-ka, an obscure word for sleep. The master of sleep, the one who isn’t driven to bed by sleepiness and tiredness, the one who has conquered sleep. So, a name for Arjuna.

Keshena—by Arjuna. Bharata—here Sanjaya addresses Dritarashtra: Bharata, O son of Bharata. Bharata being the ancient ancestor for everyone living in India at that time. So, Bharata—O descendant of Bharata, O King Dritarashtra—Sri Krishna, having been thus addressed by Arjuna, what did Sri Krishna do?

Look at the last line: Sri Krishna, sthapayitva—having placed, established, placing. Placing what? Rathottamam—ratha is chariot, uttamam, there’s great chariot. So Sri Krishna, after having driven their chariot out onto the battlefield, sthapayitva—having placed rathottamam, that great chariot.

Having placed it where? In the third line: madhye, in between. Senayor ubhayor, as the previous verse said. Having placed the chariot madhye, in between ubhayor—both—senayor, 

armies. So, having placed the chariot in between both armies, the sentence continues.

Prāvarsat—Sri Krishna drove the chariot out and placed it in between both armies. Where exactly?

Bhisma-Drona-pramukatah—pramukatah, right in front of whom? In front of Bhisma and Drona.

Now, you can imagine a really long line of warriors lined up on that battlefield, and Sri Krishna could have placed the chariot anywhere along that long line of Kaurava warriors. But Sri Krishna chose to place the chariot right in front of Bhisma and Drona. Why?

Several reasons: Bhisma and Drona were perhaps the most important warriors on that battlefield. Bhisma, of course, was the head of their army. But more than that, of all his opponents—so, Arjuna no doubt had great enmity, anger, hate even, for Duryodhana. There was no love between Duryodhana and Arjuna. Arjuna hated Duryodhana—that’s a fact.

But the vast majority of the warriors on the other side, the Kaurava warriors, were not exactly hated by Arjuna. After all, they’re all part of the same family. More than that, there’s no one in the world that Arjuna loved more than Bhisma.

Bhisma—the grand-uncle. Arjuna grew up in Bhisma’s lap, so to speak. Arjuna was exceedingly fond of Bhisma. And Drona—Dronacharya—was Arjuna’s teacher. Teacher of archery and warfare. And Arjuna was exceedingly fond of his teacher Drona. And it’s right in front of Bhisma and Drona that Sri Krishna placed the chariot.

And you’ll see the consequence of this in just a moment. So this is definitely going to affect Arjuna emotionally, and we’ll see that in just a few moments.

So Sri Krishna drives the chariot out—Bhisma-Drona-pramukatah—right in front of Bhisma and Drona. Sarvesham cha mahikshitam—and in front of sarvesham, all of the mahikshitām—in front of all of the kings. Mahikshitām—in front of all of the kings, Sri Krishna places the chariot.

And uvāca—Sri Krishna says. He said. And this is Sri Krishna’s first word in the Bhagavad Gita.

So starting in chapter two, Sri Krishna is going to talk, and talk, and talk—a lot of important teachings. But his very first words—Sri Krishna, uvāca—spoken in the Bhagavad Gita, are right here.

Sri Krishna uvāca—he said. He said to Arjuna. He addresses Arjuna: Pārtha Or Arjuna. And again, our commentator, Madhu Sudhana, likes to make sure that we know the meanings of all these words. Partha is the son of Prtha. Prtha is a second name for Kunti—Queen Kunti. And what’s interesting about that is this mighty warrior is being addressed as the son of his mother. Think about it.

This mighty warrior, Arjuna, is being addressed as the son of Prtha, the son of his mother. That would be like—in the United States, we just had an election, so Joe Biden is now the president, new president of the United States—suppose someone were to address President Biden as “the husband of Jill.” Jill is the name of his wife. That would sound really strange in the context of American politics. But it doesn’t sound strange here in the Bhagavad Gita, because to address Arjuna as the son of his mother is a term of endearment. It shows how close Krishna is to Arjuna—that Krishna can refer to Arjuna with this very special name. Really speaking, a term of endearment.

And there are others like that. We’ll see as we go along.

Partha, O Arjuna. Pashya—many of you would say “ye dekho.” Look at this. Pashya, look. Look at what? Etan, these. These what? Samavetan, those who are assembled. Who are they? Kurun—the Kauravas. Please look at these Kauravas, assembled here on the battlefield. The word iti concludes Sri Krishna’s statement.

Then, Sanjaya continues his narration.

Tattra—there on the battlefield. Parthaha—that’s Arjuna’s name. Parthaha, what about him? Apashyat—he saw. He saw what? Sthitan—all of them standing there. So he saw everyone standing there.

Remember he’s looking to the far side of the battlefield. He’s inspecting the Kauravas assembled there. And he sees, he sees, he sees—apashyat—he saw all of them sthitan—standing there on the battlefield.

Who did he see standing there? Pitrah—fathers. Tathā and pitāmahān—grandfathers. Fathers and grandfathers. Grandfathers including his grandfather, Bhishma.

He also saw acharyān—he also saw so many of his teachers. Teachers including Drona, as I just mentioned, and Kripa—Kripacharya, the family guru. He saw mātulān—he saw uncles, like Shakuni and many others.

He also saw bhrātr̥n—brothers. In fact, all of the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, Arjuna would have called them brothers. They didn’t distinguish between cousin and brother. So he saw all of those bhrātr̥n, those brothers. Also putrān—sons. Arjuna, Sanabhi Mānyo. Pautrān—grandsons. Sakhīn—friends and supporters. And also many friends.

The sentence continues. So Arjuna also saw śvaśurān—śvaśura, father-in-law. Suhṛdaḥ—suhṛd is a dear one, a friend. So he saw all of these.

So he saw fathers, grandfathers, teachers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, fathers-in-law, well-wishers. Senayor ubhayor—ubhayor—in both senayor, in both armies.

So standing in the middle of the battlefield, Arjuna is able to look on one side—he can see all the Kaurava warriors lined up. Then Arjuna can look back over his other shoulder and see all the Pandava soldiers lined up. So he’s now—and I may have misspoken when I said he’s looking only at the Kauravas. He’s not. He’s standing in the middle, standing in his chariot, in the middle of the battlefield, and he’s looking in both directions.

And whether he looks at the Kaurava army or the Pandava army, he sees all of these warriors assembled on both sides. And remember that the families on both sides are related. So Arjuna sees so many dear ones—not only in his own army, Pandava army—but also in the Kaurava army.

Then:

Tan samīkṣya sa kaunteya, sarvān bandhūn avasthitān.

Tan—them. Sarvān—all of them. Bandhūn—all of those relatives. Remember, on both sides, Arjuna is related to all the warriors on both sides of the army who are avasthitān—standing there on both sides of the battlefield.

The sentence continues and concludes:

Arjuna, who was āviṣṭaḥ—you have to break the words apart—filled with what? Kṛipayā. With kṛipayā—kṛipayā means pity. Arjuna is filled with pity. Parayā kṛipayā—with great pity. Arjuna is filled with immense pity. Pity, knowing that all of his dear family members are about to enter into a horrible war, fighting with each other, in which many, many are going to lose their lives.

And then Arjuna, who was viṣīdann—literally sinking down, but in an emotional sense. Sinking down in an emotional sense is getting depressed. Arjuna is sinking into a state of depression. And then idam abravīt—abravīt—Arjuna said. Idam—this, this which is following.

Notice that the sentence ends halfway through this verse. And then Arjuna addresses Sri Krishna:

“O Krishna.”

So the prior verse: Arjuna uvāca, we just saw—Arjuna said:

Krishna, O Krishna, dṛṣṭvā—having seen. Having seen what? Imam—this. This what? Svajanam—this, my own family, my own people. Svajanam—my own people.

Arjuna saw on both sides of the battlefield—amongst the Kauravas and the Pandavas—so many warriors that Arjuna was exceedingly fond of. He saw all of them: svajanam—his own people, his own family members, who were yuyutsum—who were warriors, eager to fight, samupasthitam—who had assembled there on the battlefield eager to fight, And now Arjuna describes his emotional response to what he saw. And the next several verses, I think, are some of the most emotionally moving verses in the entire Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna says:

Vepathush cha sharire me, vepathush cha sharire me, roma-harshas cha jayate, roma-harshas cha jayate.

Arjuna says—remember earlier it said vishidan—getting depressed, and remember the title of this chapter: Arjuna Vishada. Vishada is sadness and distress. So in these next few verses, we’re going to see this very rich, deep expression of Arjuna’s sadness—Arjuna’s distress.

He says: mama gātāni, mama—my, gātāni—limbs. My arms and legs, sīdanti—they sink down, they grow weak. My limbs fall weak.

Mukham cha—and my mouth, parishushyati—is dry. My mouth is parched. Have you ever been so anxious that your mouth got really, really dry? You know that sensation. That’s what Arjuna feels right now—tremendous anxiety causing his limbs to feel…

Just to make this very vivid—have you ever been so frightened that your knees got weak? That’s what Arjuna is describing here. Have you ever been so frightened that your mouth got dry? That’s a little bit more familiar.

Also: vepathuḥ cha sharire me—me, my, sharire, in my body, vepathuḥ—there’s trembling. There’s trembling in my body—my body trembles.

Now, this isn’t exactly out of fright. Arjuna is a mighty warrior, so don’t make the mistake of thinking he is afraid. If your knees got weak, it could have been due to fear. Arjuna’s knees got weak not due to fear, but due to other emotions—which we’ll see.

When you got afraid, your mouth might have grown dry. Arjuna’s mouth grew dry not out of fear. Arjuna’s body was trembling—not out of fear. Arjuna was a mighty warrior. He wasn’t afraid of dying. This is not a description of fear. What it is a description of—we’ll see in the very next verse, just wait a few moments.

He concludes this verse saying: roma-harshas cha jayate. Roma-harsha—roma is hair. Interesting—Sanskrit has separate words for hair. Hair on your head is called keshah. Hair on your body is called roma, so that distinction is made.

So roma-harsha is when the hair on your skin stands up—like on the back of your neck or on your arms. So roma-harshas cha jayate—he says, “My hair stands on end.” So these are all the physical signs of an intense emotional reaction.

And Arjuna continues to describe that emotional reaction in the next verse. He says:

Gāṇḍīvaṁ śramsate hastāt, tvak chaiva paridahyate, na cha śaknomy avasthātuṁ, bhramatīva cha me manaḥ.

Excuse me—talking about dry mouth, I think made me feel thirsty. Sorry.

Okay. Arjuna continues:

Gāṇḍīvam—Gāṇḍīvam, the name of his bow. Remember how the conches all had names? Well, certainly, Arjuna’s bow has a name. The name of his bow is Gāṇḍīva. And he says: śramsate hastāt—it falls, it slips. Hastāt—from his hasta, from his hand.

Tvak chaiva paridahyate—tvak, his skin. Paridahyate—it’s burning, his skin is burning. He continues to describe the physical signs of this overwhelming emotional reaction.

And he concludes—last line: bhramatīva cha me manaḥ—me manaḥ—my mind. Manaḥ—mind. Me manaḥ—my mind, bhramatīva—is as though spinning. Bhramati here means to spin.

Excuse me—my mind is spinning. What does that mean, “my mind is spinning”? Means he’s dizzy—that’s what it means. When he says “my mind is spinning,” Sri Krishna—Arjuna, standing in the chariot in the middle of the battlefield—says, “I am dizzy.”

And the third line: na cha śaknomi avasthātum—na cha—and na śaknomi—I am not able, avasthātum—to stand.

Arjuna says, “My mind is spinning. I’m dizzy. I’m so dizzy, I can’t even stand up.” Those are pretty intense physical symptoms. And these are all signs of the physical response of Arjuna’s body to this intense emotional reaction.

And put it in context: suppose you got a call from a close friend. Suppose your friend describes some of these same symptoms. You get a call from your friend and your friend says, “I’m feeling really bad. I’m having a terrible time.”

And you say, “Oh? How are you feeling?”

Your friend says, “Well, my limbs are weak. My mouth is dry.” Your friend says, “I’m trembling, I’m shivering.” Your friend says, “My hair is standing up on the back of my neck.” Your friend says, “I can’t hold on to anything.” Your friend says, “My skin is burning.” And your friend says, “I’m so dizzy I can’t stand up.”

If your friend told you all of that, what would you think? What would you do? In fact, what you might do is call an ambulance. It sounds like your friend needs medical care. But it’s not really medical care. These are all signs of an intense emotional reaction.

In fact, in modern times, they call this a panic attack. That’s what he’s describing. Arjuna is having a panic attack. But don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s out of fear.

Again—Arjuna’s a mighty warrior—it’s not out of fear. Then why is he having this panic attack? He’s anticipating fighting against and killing his own family members. He’s anticipating the death of so many family members. Arjuna is horrified by that inevitability of the death of so many of his family members.

It’s that horror that has overcome Arjuna and caused this—what we would call—a panic attack. Or some people call it an emotional meltdown. These are very appropriate words.

This panic attack, or emotional meltdown, is a sign—and we come back to our symbolism—this is the result. All of his physical symptoms, his panic attack, is the result of an inner battle—not an external battle, an inner battle.

In particular—and we’ll be very specific now—a battle between Arjuna’s intellect and emotions. A battle between his head and his heart. Why?

Arjuna knows that this is a Dharma Yuddha—a righteous battle. We discussed this in the very first class. We said this was a battle—a Dharma Yuddha, a righteous war—and we defined it very specifically as a war in which not fighting the war would have far worse consequences than fighting the war.

This was a war to restore Dharma. To maintain Dharma. To defeat Adharma.

Notice—most wars, many wars, are not for that sake. Some wars in modern times, sadly, have been fought over oil. Wars have been fought over real estate. Wars have been fought over cultural differences.

Wars have been fought over—when I was a young man, the United States was at war in Vietnam. That was a war with communism. The Cold War was such a strange time that this country was absolutely paranoid about communism. They were fighting the Vietnamese as much as they were fighting communism—that’s how it was seen.

The point is that many wars—in fact, most wars—are fought for reasons that don’t justify a war. Fighting over oil in the ground is not justification for a war.Remember Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait over what? Oil. How many countries have invaded another for real estate—territory? They wanted to conquer another’s territory. Some wars were fought over ethnic differences, cultural differences—the genocide in Rwanda. Wars, battles fought for all these wrong reasons.

Certainly, the war against communism. In retrospect, how sad it is to have sacrificed so many lives for all of these tangential, trivial reasons.

This war was not such a war. This was indeed a war for the right reason—a war to remove the forces of Adharma, a war to reestablish Dharma. It was a Dharma Yuddha, a completely righteous war, and Arjuna understood that clearly. Very intelligent student of Drona, so he understood clearly this was a Dharma Yuddha—a righteous war.

That’s what Arjuna understood with his intellect. But what about his emotions?

Arjuna’s intellect knew it was a righteous war. Arjuna’s emotions were in a state of rebellion. He was repulsed by the idea that he had to fight against and kill his own family members. He was repulsed by the very idea of war.

Here is the inner conflict. The inner battle.

This battlefield metaphor is a symbol at several levels. We said there’s the physical battlefield where the Pandavas fought the Kauravas. Then there’s a symbolic battlefield of Dharma versus Adharma. Now we have another kind of symbolic battlefield—a battle between intellect and emotions. A battle between head and heart.

Arjuna intellectually knew clearly that it was a war that must be fought to restore Dharma. But Arjuna’s emotions were repulsed by the idea of fighting that war.

That inner conflict in Arjuna—that conflict between head and heart, intellect and emotions—was so intense that it led to this emotional meltdown, this panic attack. And the irony of it all is—on this battlefield, Arjuna was the mightiest of the warriors on that battlefield.

Before the battle even began, Arjuna was knocked out of commission, as they say. Arjuna was knocked off his feet—not by an arrow, not by a club. Arjuna was knocked off his feet by his own emotions. Arjuna was a casualty of war before the war even began. He was overcome by his emotions.

This is the context of the Bhagavad Gita.

I think this is one of the many reasons the Bhagavad Gita is the most widely studied Hindu scripture. Look at this. Tell me—Arjuna’s problem, is Arjuna’s problem a spiritual problem? Is Arjuna concerned about how to get to heaven? What is real? What is Satya? What is Mithya? All these complex Vedantic questions? That’s not Arjuna’s problem at all.

Arjuna’s problem is this conflict between head and heart, between intellect and emotion—an inner battle. It’s in that context of Arjuna struggling with his own emotions—in that context, Sri Krishna is going to give seventeen more chapters of spiritual guidance to help Arjuna resolve this inner conflict, this inner struggle between head and heart.

That’s especially relatable for every single person. Everyone struggles with this conflict between head and heart.

We’ll talk more about it, perhaps in the next class. Let’s end here in just a minute. But because that struggle between intellect and emotion is so widespread—and because Sri Krishna addresses that very problem in the Bhagavad Gita—that, perhaps, is one of the main reasons why the Bhagavad Gita is so widely studied and so much loved even today.

We’ll pick up this thread in our next class and end with a prayer:

Sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścid duḥkha bhāgbhaveta. Om shāntiḥ shāntiḥ shāntiḥ.