The conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, known as the Bhagavad Gita, is one of the most profound spiritual dialogues in world literature. This divine discourse takes place just before the epic battle of Mahabharata begins. Arjuna, a warrior prince, is overwhelmed with moral and emotional dilemmas about fighting in the war, which pits him against his own family and beloved mentors. In his moment of crisis, he turns to his charioteer, Krishna, for guidance.
In this article, we delve deeper into the key themes and teachings of the Gita, exploring how this ancient wisdom can be applied in our modern lives to overcome challenges and lead a life of fulfillment and inner peace.
TITLE:- “Conversation Between Krishna and Arjuna In Mahabharata- Life Changing Speech“
‘Today, I am not time.’ ‘Time waits for no man and yet today..’ ‘..like a disciple with folded hands..’ ‘..I stand in Kurukshetra looking at the Lord.’
‘The Lord stands between Arjun and me.’ ‘Though he is addressing Arjun..’ ‘..He is actually talking to me..’ ..because I represent..’ ‘..the past, present and future.’
‘The questions which Arjun has asked..’ ‘..are also relevant to the past..’ ‘..the present..’ ‘..and the future.’
‘As long as I am there..’ ‘..man will have to face these questions.’ ‘So, do not think..’ ‘..Arjun is asking these questions.’ ‘I am speaking through him because..’ ‘..everyday, every era has..’ ‘..its own Kurukshetra.’
‘So, if you wish to face..’ ‘..your present and future..’ ‘..turn your attention to Kurukshetra..’ ‘..and listen to what the Lord is saying..’ ‘..about matters which have always troubled you.’ Do not lose yourself in victory and defeat, life and death, happiness and sorrow but fight.
If you win, you’ll get success and kingdom. If you lose, you’ll still get success and heaven. So, awake Arjun! Profit, loss, happiness, sorrow.. ..victory, defeat are all equal. So, fight!
This is a warrior’s duty and man’s religion.
My hands still refuse to pick up the Gandiva. I don’t understand how I will benefit from this war. Benefit! Loss! Both these are unclear words, Arjun.
I know you want neither heaven nor earth. Hence, Arjun, go beyond victory, defeat, loss, gain, happiness, sorrow.
I still cannot move, Till now I was appealing to your conscious mind.. ..which can look into the depths of truth and recognize the voice of the soul.
You are probably lost in its immortality. Weigh this moment on the scale of earthly action. Decide about your duty from this viewpoint. Even then you’ll reach the same decision.
You must fight this war. That is exactly what I cannot decide. You cannot decide this because you are looking at it from a personal viewpoint.
That is the problem. The bond of attachment.
From therein arises your sorrow, neither good for you nor for society, the present and the future. Don’t think of profit or loss.
Do your duty! Act! Action in itself is pure and meritorious. It is for the good of society. Action is its own reward. But if you act for your own good, the action will be impure.
So, walk along the path of action without desire. The reward of your action is not in your control. So, act but do not expect any reward.
How is action without desire possible, Krishna? Reward motivates action. Without reward who will act? Because life is impossible without action.
You will do something. You’ll either eat or not. You’ll either give away food or not. You’ll either wage war or not.
You have the option to do something or not. The result, the reward is not in your hands. This option is the limit of your control. You can either wage war or not but the result is not in your control.
Even if you desire victory it may not be yours. You could also lose! Your desire to win will make you fear defeat. If you are indifferent to victory and defeat but fight the war as your duty then there will be no question of happiness or sorrow.
Such a person without desire is unperturbed. Hence, shed any desire for reward. Do what is in your hands. Which means, do your duty.
This is Karma Yoga. Understand it well!
You can opt to do or not to do but.. ..that is the end of your right. You cannot control the result. You are an ace archer but if your target moves a little you’ll miss it.
You control your bow and your vision but you cannot control the target. The true man does not cross his limits. Be steady and firm in your duty because its efficient fulfillment is Yoga.
What is Yoga? That’s what I am telling you. Yoga is fulfillment of duty giving up temptation to do one’s duty and the ability to be imperturbable.
Sanjay. – Yes, my king! If your voice can reach them shout and tell Arjun not to listen to Krishna. He’s misleading you.
Just think, Sanjay. Krishna came here as a peace messenger. Today he is not even talking of peace which means he did not want peace at all.
He just wanted history to say that it was Dhritrashtra who did not wanted peace.
What hidden enmity is this? He is not talking of enmity. He is explaining the mystery of truth and Karma Yoga. Now you are talking like him. Are you no longer loyal to me?
Will you also shift your loyalty? I am merely a narrator. My description has nothing to do with loyalty. I am only doing my duty. Then, do your duty as a narrator.
Do not explain the meaning of Karma Yoga. Keep your eyes on them and tell me what’s happening there. How do I recognize an imperturbable man? What are the signs? How does he behave?
How does he talk? It is not difficult to recognize such a man. Like him, you must shed your desires. Free yourself from ambition. Go beyond happiness and sorrow. Neither happiness nor sorrow can move you.
The imperturbable man always remains calm and balanced. None can make him lose his balance. When he speaks, it is not with sorrow or happiness but from the depths of his soul.
He speaks not of attachment but of action without desire. When he sits. he withdraws into himself like a tortoise. He is his own fort. His senses are in his control.
Only the one who can control his mind can control his senses. Hey Arjun. The ordinary mortal thinks of objects. This in turn leads to attachment which further leads to the birth of desire. When desire is unfulfilled, it leads to anger.
From anger is born greater attachment to the object with this, the ability to think begins to stray. When this happens, intelligence is destroyed. This, in turn, leads to the downfall of man.
Temptation will destroy your intelligence. How can you get peace without intelligence? How can a person who cannot.. ..distinguish between peace and turmoil ever be happy?
Like a gust of wind buffets the boat, desires make the intelligence stray. Hence, control your senses. Let not the senses control you.
Listen to this with care and understand it. When the world sleeps the perfect man awakes. He only sleeps when the world awakes. What is this sleeping and awakening, night and day?
I am not talking of night or day. I am talking of sleeping and awakening. The ordinary man is prey to temptation.
That is the aim of his awakening. He wants food when he is hungry. He wants water when he is thirsty. He needs a house to save himself from the weather.
His thoughts are selfish. The perfect man’s thoughts are selfless. He is beyond selfish hunger and thirst.
He does not think of the fallen fruit but the tree. The ordinary man needs fuel for his engine. He will go on cutting trees till the forest is destroyed.
The perfect man thinks of the importance of forests about the balance of nature and the relation of forests and the seasons.
The sensual man’s day is the perfect man’s night. The latter has gone beyond duality. The sensual man’s night is the perfect man’s day. His sun rises in the stillness of the night.
The perfect man is also interested in solutions. This is what separates him from the sensual man. O Arjun! Truth is beyond the senses. It is not that the perfect man is not hungry but he goes beyond hunger and thinks of a solution for hunger.
That’s why the sensual man’s day is his night. The sensual man can make himself perfect. The sensual man is like the river which flows on eagerly without realizing where it is going.
It merely knows that it has to flow on only to squander its water into the sea. Even then the sea does not cross the limit of its shore. The river of desires overwhelms the sensual man.
The perfect man, however can absorb it and still not cross his limits.
O Arjun! Become like the sea. The sea is knowledgeable. You, too, be knowledgeable. Knowledge is excellent. O Krishna! O All knowing! If knowledge is better than action.. ..why do you ask me to act and fight this war?
You have confused me. If knowledge is excellent, why do this terrible deed? Why fight this war? Why not be the perfect man and avow silence?
My lord! Show me the path of welfare. Arjun! There are two types of people in this world. The mediators and the doers.
The mediators search for God within themselves. This is the path of knowledge. The doers try to attain God through action.
But there is no freedom from action. Searching for God within is also action. So, Arjun! There are only two paths. The path of knowledge and the path of action.
Then why should I not walk the path of knowledge? Seeking knowledge does not mean giving up action.
Life without action is impossible. The eyes will see and the eyelids blink. The ears will hear. The man who forcibly suppresses his senses and tries to meditate is not a yogi but a liar.
The yogi does not suppress the senses but controls them. He does not live with his eyes closed. The body’s journey without action is impossible.
So long as a man breaths, he will experience both a perfume and a stink. If there is a rhythm or a noise around him, his ears will not wait for an order to hear it.
The perfect man controls the senses and gives them a direction with his awakened mind. He realizes his options and knows how to organize them.
Doing routine tasks is better than doing nothing. It is true that the eyes see but.. ..the yogi decides what they should see.
None of his senses are completely free. This separates the yogi from the sensual man. So, action is essential for salvation but act like the perfect man.
Action should be like a ritual offering. Action is a ritual, its aim being indestructible Godhead. The path of action goes straight to Godhead. His life becomes valueless if he does not participate in the life cycle. Don’t go towards a valueless life.
The one who thinks of only himself is a sinner. So, recognize your duty and do it. Desire for the reward is the real obstacle.
It is the real millstone around the neck. It does not allow him to rise above himself. This isolates the person from his society.. ..pushing him into the mire of profit and loss.
Society is not a part of you. You are a part of it. So, your prime duty is the people’s welfare. What is good for society is good for you.
Acting for the people’s good is your salvation. Selfish action is a sin. It takes you away from the path of salvation.
Remember Arjun! You are a great man. Other people will walk the path of desire and greed. Great men are always emulated as ideals.
Take me for example. I need not do anything in the three worlds. There is nothing that I cannot obtain And yet, I am before you. Doing my duty!
I am proving that life can be spent in action without desire. What is this that Krishna said? Krishna’s voice changed at this point as if it was someone else speaking. Who else?
I don’t know what Arjun understood but none but the Lord can speak in such a tone. None in the three worlds can say.. ..there isn’t anything which he cannot obtain.
He said there was nothing worth doing and yet. He did not desist from action. If he did not act, the life cycle would stop and society would be destroyed.
And He would be responsible for it. No ordinary man can say this. Even a sage would be.. ..accused of pride. There was no pride in the manner Krishna said it.
That is what makes me afraid. If he asked me to pick up the bow in such a voice. I would forget my blindness and do so. Will Arjun pick up the Gandiva?
I can answer that question but the future is beyond my right. If god wanted man to know the future, he would have given him that knowledge.
So, let the future be born from the present. We can only wait! Maybe.. You are right! Maybe I know the result of this war.
Even then I am hoping it will be different from what is going to happen. Till yesterday I thought as a father of a hundred sons.
I’ll never be alone. But I am going to be alone. I am going to be alone. So, tell me about what’s happening at Kurukshetra.
Even the sensual man acts but it is from the selfish point of view. The yogi’s acts are selfless, for the world.. ..and the welfare of the people.
Do not burden your mind. Dedicate your actions to me and fight this war. Death in the path of duty is welcome.
Even if you kill your teachers and elders in the course of duty, it is not a sin. If they die, their death will be for the good.
If you die, your death will also be for the good. Therefore, fight! The path of truth cannot be the path of sin. Talking of sin.
Why is a man sometimes compelled to sin? Who compels him? His lust and his selfishness. His anger and temptation compel him to sin. Recognize these enemies.
Like the smoke cloaks fire, dust cloaks the mirror, desire, anger, lust cloak knowledge. The fire of temptation and desire destroys knowledge and is its enemy.
So, Arjun! Cleanse the mirror and purify the fire. Modify the senses and kill this enemy of knowledge. The power of the senses is no doubt great but greater than that is the mind.
Greater than mind is reason but the soul is the greatest. So, worry about the soul. Take it beyond the senses, mind and reason.
You are my disciple and my friend. Hence, I am giving you this last knowledge. I revealed it to the sun who gave it to Manu who gave it to his Son King Ikshvaku.
You gave it to the Sun? But you were born in this age! The Sun God is ancient. How could you then give this knowledge to the sun?
We have both taken many births. I remember all those births. You don’t. In a sense, I am eternal and indestructible. The Lord of all animals. But through my wondrous power I incarnate myself.
I incarnate myself whenever truth is in danger whenever evil threatens to overwhelm it. I come to protect the good and vanquish the evil. I come in age after age to establish truth.
But why does truth suffer? Truth suffers when man cannot avoid temptation. When he is unable to relate to society above self. Why else did the Wax House tragedy take place?
Or Draupadi’s disrobing? Why else are they fighting us? Shouldn’t I be angry at Draupadi’s disrobing? You have to decide that but her disrobing is not your personal problem.
How can the society which kept quiet at the disrobing of Queen Draupadi or protect an ordinary woman?Hence, the disrobing is a social problem.
It is your duty to destroy those who dared to disrobe Draupadi. They are the enemies of society. Do not hesitate to fight with all those great men who side with evil.
Rise above personal anger and fight for the people. That is your prime duty. Look at me. I did create this society and the four castes but did not desire reward for it. Though I am the Creator I am beyond it.
The man who sees this truth finds his freedom. I desire no reward so my action is not contaminated. Act without desire and selfish greed.
Distinguish between action inaction and bad action. What is the difference? Action free from desire is inaction. Action not good for society is bad action.
Action is superior to inaction. The doer is superior to the non-doer. The non-doer does not desire reward. He is an intelligent man.
For him the action is the reward. After the action, he does not wait for a reward. He moves to his next action. The fire of his knowledge burns anger, temptation, ambition, gain, sorrow, loss, happiness and purifies his action. Thus the doer becomes the non-doer.
He merely does what is essential for life. All other actions are for the good of society. Though a man, he is not contaminated by sin.
His very existence is good for society. Such a life is a ritual offering to God. You, too, make your life such an offering. Burn to ash all desire greed, anger.
What is Yagna, the ritual offering? Different people define it differently. For some, it is Godhead. For them everything is Godhead.
For some, it is a means to please the Gods. For some, it is the soul’s unification with God. Likewise, the offerings are also different. Some offer wealth, others action. There are four types of ritual offerings.
First is Dravya Yagna. Wealth is used for the good of society for the welfare of people.
The second is Tapo Yagna, When a person makes his actions his penance his life becomes a Tapo Yagna.
Hey Arjun, following your religion is a kind of worship. It is not religion based but eternal. It benefits the person as also society.
The third is Yoga Yagna. Yoga is studied as a part of this. It takes a person to meditation. Life’s very breath is the offering.
The fourth is the Gyan Yagna. All four Yagna are important but the Gyan Yagna is the best because knowledge can distinguish between good and bad. The fire of knowledge can purify action.
Knowledge is the focus of the essence of action. Knowledge frees you from bonds of temptation. Only knowledge can cross the sea of sin.
“Act with knowledge.”
“Knowledge is truth.”
“The path of action is the truth.”
“The path of truth is action.”
READ MORE ABOUT THIS TOPIC FROM GIVEN BELOW LINK,
Reading Gita every now and then has been my practice for years.The article here is illustrative and informative.Presentafion is in lucid but simple.
Explaining the complex matter in simple way is the hallmark of the writer Kudos to him.Thank you.