Gita Class 007, Ch.2 Verses 1-5

Bhagavad Gita Class by Swami Tadatmananda

Feb 13, 2021

Youtube Link: 07: Bhagavad Gita Class by Swami Tadatmananda – Ch.2 Verses 1-5

Webcast every Saturday, 11 am EST.  All recorded classes available here:   • Bhagavad Gita – classes by Swami Tadatmananda  

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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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

Welcome to our webcast of our Saturday Bhagavad Gita class. We’re beginning today our study of Chapter 2 — arguably the most important chapter of the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. If anyone were to choose one and only one chapter of the Bhagavad Gita to study, it would absolutely be Chapter 2. And as we continue, you’ll understand why.

As you know, we begin each class with some recitation. It’s important that you have the meaning in your mind as we recite. So please glance at the meaning as I chant and then recite after me.

So Chapter 2, starting with the first one:

Very good. You heard the change of meter in those several verses. We’ll talk about that when we return to those verses.

So let’s get the context. We’ve just concluded Chapter One, Arjuna Vishada Yoga. Yoga, as I think I mentioned before, doesn’t mean spiritual practice in the title names. So “Arjuna Vishada Yoga” — if you take yoga as spiritual practice, it then means “the spiritual practice of Arjuna’s sadness.” Being sad is not a spiritual practice!

When “Yoga” is used in the title of a chapter, it basically means “chapter title.” So “Arjuna Vishada Yoga” — Chapter One whose subject matter is Arjuna’s “Vishada” — his sadness, his emotional distress. And we saw that emotional distress led him to emotional paralysis. Remember he had an emotional meltdown, a panic attack, and collapsed to the seat of his chariot, his bow and arrows scattered on the ground.

Arjuna’s panic attack came when he looked on both sides of the battlefield and saw all of his family members on both sides and realized that many or most of them were going to perish in the war that was about to begin.

Remember — and when I read comments, I’m still seeing some comments from people who aren’t sure about the fact that this is a Dharma Yuddha. This is a righteous war, defined as a war in which not fighting the war has worse consequences than fighting it.

If you’re not convinced, there are two ways to deal with it. One is: study the Mahabharata from the beginning. And if you study it properly from the beginning, by the time you come to this portion of the Bhagavad Gita — the Bhishma Parva in Book Six — by the time you come to this portion, you’ll be convinced that it is a Dharma Yuddha. So the context is what creates this understanding.

It is a Dharma Yuddha — a righteous war. We’ve talked about it at length, so I don’t want to comment further. But there is a shorter way of understanding it as a Dharma Yuddha, and that’s by considering the symbolism.

The Kauravas are headed by the blind king Dhritarashtra and his son, Duryodhana. Look at the symbolism. Dhritarashtra is blind — blind to Dharma. He can’t tell the difference between Dharma and Adharma. He can’t see what is right and wrong, and therefore he’s unable to give proper guidance to his son, Duryodhana. And these are the two people who are running the kingdom.

So the kingdom — if the kingdom continues to be run by a blind king (a king who’s blind to Dharma and Adharma) and by a son who is not restrained in any way by principles of Dharma — this symbolically represents that the Kaurava side of the family is a side that represents Adharma. Enough said.

We concluded our study of Chapter One with a very important discussion about how Arjuna’s conflict is a conflict between intellect and emotions — between head and heart. His heart tells him to run away from the battlefield, not to fight — not to fight against his own family members.

On the other hand, Arjuna knows that it is a Dharma Yuddha, although his intellect gets — remember our discussion — we said his intellect has been hijacked by his emotions. And instead of using his intellect to discern Dharma (by the way, your intellect alone can discern Dharma — your emotions don’t discern Dharma; in fact, our emotions often lead us on a path of Adharma)…

So Arjuna’s intellect is capable of discerning Dharma, but at this point in time, his intellect has been hijacked by his emotions. He’s engaged in all this rationalization, as we called it in the last chapter.

So with that, we concluded our study of Chapter One — Arjuna Vishada Yoga — and we begin now with our study of Chapter Two.

Chapter Two is entitled Sankhya Yoga. Sankhya means knowledge. And “Yoga” doesn’t mean practice here, as I just said. It’s the chapter whose topic is Sankhya. Sankhya means spiritual knowledge or wisdom — and I’ll talk about it quite a bit when we reach a certain point in this chapter.

So for now, just understand Sankhya Yoga — the title of this chapter indicating that its content, its main subject matter, is spiritual knowledge or wisdom.

And the story that was taught in Chapter One was all story, and the beginning of Chapter Two is also story. In fact, the first ten verses of Chapter Two continue with the story of Arjuna’s situation until we reach verse 11. And with verse 11 — which we’ll see in our next class, I think — with verse 11, the spiritual teachings of Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita begin.

But before we get there, let’s see the opening portion of Chapter Two:

Madhusūdana, Lord Krishna — one of his many names — the one who is the destroyer of the demon Madhu. Madhu is the name of an Asura who was killed by Sri Krishna. So Madhusudana — Sri Krishna — uvāca, he said. He said what? He said to whom?

He said, in the first line, tam — to him, to Arjuna. To Arjuna who was kṛipayā āviṣṭam. Arjuna who was āviṣṭam, he was filled with — filled with kṛipayā, with compassion. Āviṣṭam — he was overcome. Kṛipayā — we don’t say overcome by compassion; overcome by the sense of pity.

Arjuna was so depressed at the thought of fighting against his own family members, he was overcome by pity. And Arjuna was aśru-pūrṇa-ākula-īkṣaṇam — for Sanskrit students, we have to break all those words apart properly: aśru-pūrṇa ākula īkṣaṇam.

Arjuna is one whose īkṣaṇam, whose eyes — his eyes were aśru-pūrṇa, pūrṇa — filled with aśru — tears, and his eyes were ākula — disturbed. His eyes were both disturbed and aśru-pūrṇa — filled with tears. And Arjuna was viṣīdantam. He was sinking down in sadness. He was depressed.

So Madhusudana uvāca — Sri Krishna said unto Arjuna who was depressed. Sri Krishna said idam vākyam — this statement, the following words.

Sri Bhagavan — in fact, even before — so just remember the context: Sanjaya is narrating all of this to the blind king, Dhritarashtra.

Sanjaya has the ability to see and hear everything happening on the battlefield, and what he is observing is Sri Krishna addressing Arjuna.

And Sri Krishna says — uses these very harsh words. This, in American English, we call this “tough love.” Tough love is where you love someone, but sometimes you have to address them a little harshly. And Sri Krishna really uses rather harsh language.

He says to Arjuna: “Kutah” — from where; “tvā” — unto you; “idam kaśmalam” — this weakness, this timidity. How did it samupasthitam — how did it fall upon you, how did it come upon you?

This weakness, this timidity — how did it come upon you? Viṣame — in this terrible situation, here on the battlefield. Remember, they’re in a chariot in between the two armies. On the battlefield — viṣame — here in this horrible situation, in the face of danger.

How have you fallen into this state of weakness and timidity, here and now, in this situation where you need to be very strong and ready to proceed into battlefield?

So Sri Krishna here is addressing Arjuna’s apparent weakness. Notice I said apparent. Arjuna is not weak. Yes, he’s overcome by his emotions. That’s a sign of humanity, not a sign of weakness.

In fact, Arjuna is going to proceed onto the battlefield and fight with tremendous intensity. Arjuna is not weak here. To feel sad over the death of — depending — death of your family members, that sadness is not weakness.

But Sri Krishna is observing that Arjuna has fallen to the seat of the chariot and is, at this moment, Arjuna has been incapacitated by his own emotions.

Again — to feel sad is not weakness, but to be incapacitated by your emotions is weakness. Incapacity. Arjuna has been incapacitated by his emotions.

And he continues to say to Arjuna that this is anārya-juṣṭam — this is not juṣṭam, this is not fit or appropriate for ārya — for a noble person like you, for a kṣatriya, a warrior like you.

To fall to the seat of your chariot, to throw your arrows and bow down on the ground — this does not befit a noble warrior like you, Arjuna.

It is also asvargyam — it is not holy. It will not take you to heaven. It is not pious. In fact, it is sinful. For Arjuna not to fulfill his duty as a warrior — it is sinful. Therefore, Sri Krishna says: it is asvargyam — it will not take you to heaven. It is sinful.

And it is akīrti-karam — akīrti-karam — that which will bring you fame? Akīrti-karam is that which will bring you the opposite of fame — infamy. This is disgraceful.

He addresses Arjuna: “O Arjuna, this is disgraceful.” And especially the fact that it is happening right there in the middle of the battlefield where everyone can see.

So you can see why Sri Krishna would use such harsh language — saying it is disgraceful.

And he continues, very harshly. Sri Krishna says:

Pārtha — O Arjuna
Pṛthā — remember, Pṛthā is a name for Kunti, his mother.
Pārtha — O son of Kunti

Students — this is one of the few times you will see an injunctive. Look it up.

Mā gamaḥ — don’t. Don’t do what?
Klaibyam — this is an extremely harsh word.

Klaibyam, translated as “unmanliness,” which is a very polite translation. Klaibyam is the state of being a klība. Klība is a castrated man.

So when Sri Krishna tells Arjuna mā gamaḥ klaibyam — “Don’t fall into this klaibyam — unmanliness” — if you pardon the American English, the equivalent is: “Don’t you have any balls?” Pardon me for saying that, but that’s exactly what Krishna is saying here. What a harsh statement for Arjuna!

And maybe let’s pause here and understand why Sri Krishna is using such harsh language for Arjuna. Let’s get to context.

Remember we said that Arjuna has — in fact, I’ll ask you this question, I’ve asked you before: is Arjuna’s problem an emotional problem or a spiritual problem?

Clearly it’s an emotional problem. He’s had a panic attack — it’s an emotional problem. And for an emotional problem, do you need an emotional solution or a spiritual solution?

So for an emotional problem, you need an emotional solution.

But here’s the tricky part: an emotional solution — emotional support — always has to be appropriate for the person you’re supporting.

Now for someone — suppose a friend of yours is very sad and crying — you wouldn’t use this kind of language with a friend: “Why are you being such a wimp, sitting there and crying?” You’d never use that kind of language with a friend.

But that’s exactly the language Sri Krishna uses with Arjuna. Why?

Arjuna is not like your friend. Arjuna is a mighty warrior — the mightiest of warriors. So Sri Krishna’s emotional support to Arjuna has to be consistent — has to be appropriate for Arjuna.

Years ago, I came up with an example. Suppose in a sporting event — and we’ll consider American football (not soccer — American football, which is very, very violent, very aggressive)…

So suppose during the halftime of an American football game, the team is losing badly, and the team is in the locker room during halftime, and the team is being addressed by their coach.

So these football players are these huge guys — some of them are 300 pounds. My gosh — that’s like two of me!

So the coach is addressing these huge, mighty American football players, and the coach has to give them a pep talk at halftime, What kind of language will the coach use on these huge football players?

Will the coach — you might comfort your friend, “Oh, don’t worry, things will be better.” Do you think the coach is going to put his hand on the head of these football players, “Oh, don’t worry, you’ll do better in the second half”? You know that’s not the kind of language the coach is going to use.

The coach is going to use all these four-letter words that I won’t use here and now. The coach is going to speak really harshly to those football players, because that’s the kind of emotional support appropriate for these huge, mighty football players.

You see my point? Emotional support has to be appropriate for the person. So for these big football players, the coach is going to use all four-letter words.

And Sri Krishna is virtually doing the same here for Arjuna when he says:

Klaibyam mā sma gamaḥ Pārtha —
O Arjuna, I’ll use the gentle form: “Don’t be a wimp. Don’t be a weakling.”

Na etat tvayy upapadyate —
Etad — this; tvayy — for you; na upapadyate — this doesn’t fit for you, this doesn’t suit you.
This weakness doesn’t befit you.

So this harsh language is not criticism of Arjuna. It may look like it — it’s not criticism of Arjuna. It is a pep talk. It is emotional support appropriate for a mighty warrior like Arjuna.

Kṣudraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyam tyaktvā —
Tyaktvā, in the last line — cast off.
Cast off this kṣudraṁ, this weakness.
Cast off this hṛdaya-daurbalyam — daurbalyam, weakness; hṛdaya, of heart.

Cast off this weakness of heart, which is kṣudraṁ — it’s detestable. It is — “detestable” is a good translation. I can’t think of a better word. Cast off this detestable weakness of heart.

Translation is good.

Cast it off and — and uttishṭha — get up!

Remember, Arjuna has fallen to the seat of his chariot, his bow and arrows are cast on the ground.

And here comes the pep talk — uttishṭha. In fact, Sri Krishna is going to use that same word several times later in the Bhagavad Gita — “Get up!”

Arjuna, cast off this weakness of heart, this detestable weakness of heart, and uttishṭha — and get up.

And he addresses Arjuna as Parantapa. The usual translation is actually quite good: “Scorcher of foes.”

Tap is to heat. Para is the other — the enemy. Parantapa — Scorcher of foes.

Get up and fight. Cast off this weakness of heart and get up and fight.

So with those two verses, Sri Krishna gives this very brief pep talk, which is emotional support. Arjuna has had this emotional meltdown, and Sri Krishna, with these two short verses — but with very harsh, strong words, harsh language — Sri Krishna gives him this pep talk, this emotional support.

Excuse me.

Now, the question is — do you think the pep talk worked?

You already know that it didn’t work. So let’s see what happens.

Obviously the pep talk wasn’t enough. Sri Krishna did respond to Arjuna’s dilemma — by the way, Arjuna uvāca, Arjuna says — Arjuna here is responding to Sri Krishna.

Obviously though, the pep talk didn’t do the trick, as they say. Arjuna is still struggling — struggling with his dilemma.

We need to talk further about that dilemma.

Before we do, let me just point out the importance of addressing the emotional problem.

Please note: Sri Krishna did not immediately launch into a spiritual discourse. That’ll start in verse 11.

Sri Krishna began by addressing Arjuna’s emotions, his emotional dilemma.

This is so important, and it’s a lesson we should all learn if we haven’t learned.

Let me share with you an anecdote of when I learned this lesson.

I learned this lesson in a very vivid way — you can see in this — in this adding thought — in the early 1990s, I was the manager of Pujār Havadi and an ashram in the Poconos, in the mountains of Pennsylvania Ashram — I was the manager for a couple of years there. And as manager, I had to deal with all the normal problems of ashram life.

And on one occasion, the cook — very nice lady, I remember her fondly — the cook came into my office and had a problem and she starts complaining about these problems in the kitchen. She says, “Oh this is happening, and that is happening, and the other thing is happening,” and she was so upset about all these problems she had in the kitchen — she identified problem one, problem two, problem three — and she was obviously very upset.

I was young and not very mature at the time. And my response to her three problems reflected it.So she identified these three problems. And I said, “Okay — for problem one we’ll do this. For problem two we’ll do that. And problem three — I’ll take care of them this way.” So I solved all her problems.

She then proceeded to talk about all three problems again. She had already described the three problems. I had already given her solutions for the three problems. And then she started to narrate these three problems again.

What was going on?

Fortunately, I figured it out. And what I figured out is: she was very upset — remember I said that. So she came into my office very upset. Being upset is an emotional problem.

Did I address her emotional problem? No.

I addressed the problems in the kitchen. I addressed the kitchen’s problems — not her problem. Her problem was: she was really upset. She was hurt. She was frustrated.

And what I learned then is how important it is to recognize the emotional problem first, and then talk about the problems in the kitchen. I learned a lot. I’m sharing an anecdote because this is a mistake many of us make. And I’ll say it many times — this is a problem more typically — this error is more common among men.

Women are somehow more attuned to addressing the emotional problems. But men are more inclined to address the situational problem, as I was — and thereby to overlook the emotional problem, as I did.

So I learned there and then — not to overlook the emotional problem.

But now, there’s another side of this.

Suppose she came into my office and she identified her three problems, and I listened, and I said, “Oh… oh, that’s terrible. Oh, I’m so sorry.” In other words, I’m empathizing with her, commiserating with her. I’m recognizing her being upset, and I’m responding to her emotionally.

Suppose for an hour I commiserated with her emotionally and then I sent her on her way without addressing the three problems in the kitchen. That’s also not very helpful, right?

There are two kinds of problems here: there’s her emotional problem, which needed to be addressed — like Arjuna’s emotional problem, which needed to be addressed — but there’s also the situational problem in the kitchen, which also needed to be addressed.

In the same way, Arjuna had an emotional problem which Sri Krishna addressed, but Arjuna also has a situational problem, which we discussed at great length in Chapter One.

Let’s give that problem a name. I don’t think I used this term before, but it’s appropriate. Arjuna’s problem could be called Dharma Saṅkaṭa. Saṅkaṭa means a conflict — a conflict where there’s no easy solution.

In American English, there’s an expression: “being stuck between a rock and a hard place.” It means if you turn left, you’re stuck; if you turn right, you’re stuck. If you take option A, the outcome is terrible. If you take option B, the outcome is terrible.

That’s Arjuna’s situation. If Arjuna stays on the battlefield and fights, the outcome is horrible. If Arjuna leaves the battlefield and chooses not to fight, the outcome is even worse. There’s no nice solution to Arjuna’s problem. He is stuck in a Dharma Saṅkaṭa.

And that’s what Arjuna is now narrating.

So in the prior verses, Sri Krishna has addressed Arjuna’s emotional problem. But now Arjuna continues — even though he’s received this pep talk, this emotional support from Sri Krishna — Arjuna continues to struggle with this Dharma Saṅkaṭa, this apparently unsolvable, insoluble problem of Dharma. No matter what Arjuna does, the outcome is grim.

And that’s what Arjuna describes here.

He says — yes, in verse 4, Arjuna says in response to Sri Krishna — he says:

Katham — how; saṅkhye — in this battle, on this battlefield.
How — in the third line — pratiyotsyāmi — how can I fight? How can I resist and oppose? How can I fight?
Iṣubhiḥ — with arrows.

How can I fight against — back up at the top — aham — by the way, aham — you see the word aham there:

Katham bhīṣmam aham saṅkhye pratiyotsyāmi —
How can I fight against Bhīṣma?

Bhīṣma — granduncle.
Dronaṁ ca — and Drona.

Madhusūdana — O Krishna. How can I fight against Bhīṣma and Drona?

Of all the warriors on the battlefield, the ones Arjuna is most fond of are Bhīṣma, his granduncle, his grandfather, the family patriarch; and Drona, his beloved teacher.

How? He says, “How can I fight against them?”

If you can imagine the chariot being positioned on the battlefield — imagine the chariot being positioned right in front of Bhīṣma and Drona. Arjuna looks across the battlefield and he sees these two family members that he is most fond of. How can I fight against them?

Not just fight against them, but iṣubhiḥ — with arrows!

You know, it’s a fact that there are many times fights in families — usually, sadly, sometimes over property issues. And when somebody passes away and leaves a will, then there can be fights in a family. No doubt family members can fight against each other for various reasons — over property and money, etc.

But never iṣubhiḥ. They’re not going to fight to the death. They’re not going to fight with weapons.They might end up fighting in the courts, which is terrible. But never a kind of fight that would lead to death. This is Arjuna’s dilemma: how can I fight against my beloved family members — iṣubhiḥ, with arrows?

He says to Sri Krishna — Ariṣudana — in the last line. Ariṣudana means the same as Madhusūdana.
Madhusūdana is the one who killed Madhu. Ariṣudana — destroyer of enemies; 

So: “O Krishna, how can I fight against Bhīṣma and Drona, who are pūjārhau — arhau — they deserve pūjā, reverence?”

They don’t deserve to be stabbed with arrows. They deserve reverence. Arjuna is ready to touch their feet. Arjuna is certainly not ready to fight against them with arrows.

Arjuna continues now in the next line. Let me point out: the meter changes with verse 5.

Most of the verses in the Bhagavad Gita — in fact, most of the verses in the entire Mahabharata — are written in a short and very common meter called Anuṣṭubh chandas.
Chandas means meter. Anuṣṭubh — let me put these words on the board because they’re a little bit — let’s see — there we go — little — they’re frequently used. And maybe it’s nice to know these two Sanskrit terms. These are two kinds of meter.

So:
Chandas — meter
Anuṣṭubh — a particular meter that has eight syllables in a quarter.

And there’s a certain pattern of long and short syllables — we won’t go into the detail. This is the most common meter. It’s used in many prayers. It’s used throughout the Rāmāyaṇa, through most of the Rāmāyaṇa, through most of the Mahābhārata, through most Purāṇas — it is the most common meter.

But it’s not the only meter used. Other meters are used in all of these other scriptures — including the Mahābhārata, and including in this Bhagavad Gītā.

Here, we’re going to see a meter called Triṣṭubh. Yes — Triṣṭubh meter. It’s a meter.

Anuṣṭubh meter has 8 syllables in a quarter. Triṣṭubh meter has 11 syllables in a quarter. Also, some other rules and details — details we don’t need — but we should know, we need to know, that there are these two meters in common use.

So here we have a meter — we have several verses in the Triṣṭubh meter — and it’s used from time to time in the Bhagavad Gītā.

Why?

Well, it’s very dramatic. When we were chanting and when we made the transition and started chanting in this longer meter, it caught your attention, didn’t it?

So it’s used deliberately — in this case, by Vyāsa, the author of the Mahābhārata. It’s used very deliberately to call your attention to very important verses.

It’s used for dramatic emphasis. It’s not used casually. It’s used for dramatic emphasis.

It also has a side benefit that if you have more syllables per quarter, you can express more complex ideas in a verse. These verses are very short, so if you want to express something more complex, it’s helpful to have a longer meter.

But here, what’s being expressed is not more complex — it certainly is more dramatically important. We’ll see that.

Excuse me.

Arjuna says in the first line, ahatvā — hatvā, having killed; ahatvā, without killing. Without killing gurūn — our teachers. Our teachers like Drona, our teachers like Kripa. The family patriarch Bhishma was certainly considered like a guru.

So with gurūn ahatvā — without killing our teachers, mahānubhāvān — who are very wise, very experienced, they’re very big-hearted, they’re worthy of respect — is the point he’s making.

So he says ahatvā — without killing our respected teachers — śreyas — it would be better.

So with the word śreyas, we can say in the first line: ahatvā, rather than killing our respected teachers, śreyas — it would be better. It would be better.

Iha loke — at the end of the second line — iha loke, in this world, in this life, it would be better.

Bhoktum bhikṣām — it would be better. Bhoktum — literally, to enjoy; bhikṣām — bhikṣā, means alms.

Bhikṣā — the term bhikṣā might be familiar to you. Bhikṣā is the alms received by a sannyāsī, by a Hindu monk.

So when Arjuna says it would be better bhoktum bhikṣām, it would be better to enjoy alms — it would be better to live on alms — iha loke, in this world, in this life.

Arjuna is, by using that language, making a proposal. And the proposal is — Arjuna is considering leaving the battlefield and taking to a life of sannyāsa, to live on alms. Specifically, it means living the life of a Hindu monk — the life of a sannyāsī.

Arjuna is ready to run away from the battlefield and live as a sannyāsī.

Now, we often think that somebody who renounces the world and lives as a sannyāsī is a very noble person. That’s not necessarily the case. To run away from your responsibilities — even to become a sannyāsī — is not acceptable in the Hindu tradition.

In fact, I should point out that my own guru, Pujya Swami Dayananda — when a student approaches him and asks for sannyāsa, asks to be ordained as a Hindu monk, a question Swami Dayananda always asked is this:

“Does anyone depend on you?” Do you have any dependents?

And that includes not just wife and children — it would include parents. Because if anyone is dependent upon you and you run away and take to a life of sannyāsa, then their support will come to an end — and that is adharmic.

Pujya Swamiji would not give sannyāsa to any of his disciples that had dependents. Why?

You cannot live a life of — remember, sannyāsa means a life of full-time spiritual pursuit. To be a non-sannyāsī is to live a life of part-time spiritual pursuit — although we’re going to revise that later when we talk about karma yoga. We’ll get into that in great detail.

But the idea is: sannyāsa — the life of a Hindu monk — is a life of full-time spiritual pursuit. But tell me, how is it possible to take to a life of spiritual pursuit — full-time spiritual pursuit — when your first step is a step of adharma?

It’s absolutely wrong. You cannot take to a life of sannyāsa by running away from responsibilities.

This kind of scenario is fairly common in India — where you hear of some man who’s struggling. He’s lost his job. He’s fighting with his wife, fighting with his parents. He maybe has a little drinking problem or something. Lots of financial problems.

And then one day, this fellow disappears.

Doesn’t come home. Wife, parents — no one knows where he is.

Then, many months later, a relative finds him living in an ashram in Rishikesh. Not an uncommon story.So what’s happened is: he’s run away from all of his problems. He’s now living in Rishikesh.Please don’t think that’s a noble thing. It’s a terrible thing. He’s run away from his responsibilities. He’s left his wife and family unsupported.And more than that — think about him. He’s now living in Rishikesh. He has his little room he stays in. So while he’s sitting in his little room — which is more likely? Do you think he’s thinking about God? Or do you think he might be thinking about all the problems he left behind?

The fact is: when he ran away to Rishikesh, he took his problems with him — because his problems are inside. He didn’t leave his problems behind — his problems are in his mind — and he brought that with him to Rishikesh.

That’s a terrible way to begin a life of spiritual pursuit — a life of full-time spiritual pursuit. Running away from problems and taking to a life of sannyāsa as a Hindu monk is not dharmic. And it doesn’t work.

And that’s exactly what Arjuna is proposing here when he says:

śreyas bhoktum bhikṣām api iha loke

He says that it would be better — rather than fighting against my beloved family members — it would be better to run away to Rishikesh, or some other place. To run away to a cave in the Himalayas.

It would be better, Arjuna proposes here, to live a life of alms.

Arjuna here is proposing that he abandon his kṣatriya dharma, his responsibilities as a warrior.

It would be better for him to run away and live a life of alms.

Absolutely not.

But Arjuna — remember we said Arjuna’s thinking has been very disturbed. His intellect has been hijacked by his emotions. And it’s not surprising that Arjuna argues in this way.

He continues:

hatvā — having killed
gurūn — in the third line
Having killed my teachers, having killed Drona, having killed Kripa, having killed Bhishma — as he is going to kill Bhishma much later in the war.

So, having killed — iha eva — iha, here on this battlefield; eva, indeed.
Having killed my beloved family members — and especially my beloved teachers — here on the battlefield.

Arjuna argues:

bhuñjīya — I would enjoy
bhogān — enjoyments, the fruits of battle

The fruits of having conquered the enemy — I would enjoy bhogān, which — these enjoyments, these pleasures — and the word in the third line:

artha-kāmān — I would enjoy kāma, pleasure, and artha, wealth.

I would enjoy the fruits of having conquered the enemy — but having conquered the enemy by killing my own teachers.

But the fruits of war — the pleasures — bhuñjīya — the pleasures I would enjoy would be:

rudhira-pradigdhān — powerful, beautiful language.

Would be pradigdhān — stained, tainted.
Rudhira — with blood.
With the blood of my beloved teachers and family members.

Arjuna argues here: if I proceed into battle, the fruits of having conquered the enemy will be stained. The kingdom and pleasures I would enjoy would be stained with the blood of my gurus and beloved family members.

And that’s why Arjuna says it would be śreyas — it would be better:

bhoktum bhikṣām — it would be better to run away from the battlefield and live the life of a sannyāsī.

Arjuna proposes to Sri Krishna.

You can see the depth of Arjuna’s distress, and how he is caught in this Dharma Saṅkaṭa, this apparent insoluble conflict between what to do.

What to do?

Arjuna is in this terrible dilemma. And we’ll see Arjuna will describe this dilemma further in the next few verses. And then we’ll see how Sri Krishna addresses Arjuna’s Dharma — his terrible dilemma.

We’ll see that in the next class.