The Gita: Srimad Bhagwadgita: श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता : Chapter 1:24 – 1:27

|| परमपूज्य पिताजी, प्रातःस्मरणीय पं. श्री मुरलीधर जी मिश्र||

प्रथमोSध्यायः… (Continued 1:24 – 1:27)

सञ्जय उवाच 

 

एवमुक्तो हृषीकेशो गुडाकेशेन भारत |

सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये स्थापयित्वा रथोत्तमम् || 24 ||

 

भीष्मद्रोणप्रमुखतः सर्वेषां च महीक्षिताम् |

उवाच पार्थ पश्यैतान्समवेतान्कुरुनिति || 25 ||

 

तत्रापश्यत्स्थितान् पार्थः पितृनथ पितामहान् |

आचार्यान्मातुलान्भ्रातृन्पुत्रानपौत्रान्सखींस्तथा || 26 ||

 

श्वसुरान्सुह्रिदश्च्हैव् सेनयोरुभयोरपि |
तान्समीक्ष्य स कौन्तेयः सर्वानबन्धूनवस्थितान || 27 ||

 

कृपया परयाविष्टो विषीदन्निदमब्रवीत् |

 

Lovely Souls,

Shivoham!

Sanjaya said: O descendant of Bharata, having thus been addressed by Arjuna, Lord Krishna drew up the fine chariot in the midst of the armies of both parties.(24)

Here Krishna the Lord himself is following the instructions Arjuna. Krishna places the chariot in the midst of both the armies from where he can have an objective view of the situation without prejudice or bias. Gita is full of learnings every where. Here also is a learning “Whenever you are faced with tough situations in life.. whenever you take up any project at hand.. pray to lord for giving you patience and capacity to have an objective look at the situation before you plunge into action and He will be kind enough to grant you that vision. Arjuna is displaying immense faith in his charioteer, He is being referred to as Gudakesh which means the one who has overcome ‘sleep’ or ‘ignorance’. To be able to contact and converse with God one has to stay in awareness. Like Arjuna you should also be aware and have complete faith in the existence . Existence will always bless you.

Krishna, who is referred to as Hrishikesh, the one who is director of senses and mind places the fine chariot in the middle of both the Armies and speaks following words “In the presence of Bhishma, Drona and all the other chieftains of the world, Just behold, Partha, all the Kurus assembled here.”(25)  Here Krishna seems reading the mind of Arjuna in advance and thus emphasizing on the personalities. He is also using word ‘Kurus’ thereby establishing a relationship between Arjuna and them. Krishna, as a true Master has known what on Arjuna will be focusing. He is picking up words depicting those emotions.. Krishna could have said “Look at the enemy’s army..” but He did not! Knowingly though..

There Arjuna could see, within the midst of the armies of both parties, his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, and also his fathers-in-law and well-wishers.(26) Arjuna is now seeing both the sides. Each side has men related to him. He is finding well-wishers, friends and family members on both the sides.. ready to kill and to get killed if that was the order of the day. He is bewildered deeply. Deep down he is getting overwhelmed by this rare scene. “When the son of Kunti, Arjuna, saw all these different grades of friends and relatives, he became overwhelmed with compassion and spoke thus(27)” Now Arjuna is being referred as son of Kunti. When your vision changes.. you change. You reflect that in your personality. The warrior Arjuna, the Gudakesha has now become Son of Kunti.. just because he is now seeing at people around with that sense of relatedness. He is seeing sons, grandsons, contemporaries of fathers, friends around and thus he himself has become son of his mother.

You are what you think! And your words and actions are guided by what you think.. Your paradigm is really important because that determines your attitude. When you see a father or mother in some person a son is born in you. When you see yourself as a brother and sister these relations become real in front of you. In the battlefield of righteousness you ought to be a defender of Truth.. a valiant warrior… You can’t afford to be anything else. But Arjuna is seemingly missing the point here.. soon his words and actions will reveal it.

More tomorrow..

– Agyaatdarshan Anand Nath