The Gita: Srimad Bhagwadgita: श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता : Chapter 2:28

I, Acharya Agyaatadarshan Anand Nath sa-shaktikaayai bow down at the lotus feet of my first Guru, my revered father Pandit Shri Murli Dhar ji Mishr,  Vidya Guru Kaul Shiromani Shri Shivanand Nath ji, Yoga Guru Paramhamsa Shri Balendu Giri ji Maharaj, Tantra Guru Shri Shri Anta Devji Maharaj, Vama Guru Shri Kaleshwaranand Ji Maharaj and all the compassionate Masters, divine souls of Gurumandala..  I pray for their love, support and guidance always..

Shivoham!

अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत |
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना || 28||

avyaktaadeeni bhootaani vyakta-madhyaani bhaarata|
avyakta-nidhanaanyeva tatra kaa paridevanaa || 28 ||

avyakta— unmanifest; aadeeni— in the beginning or before birth; bhootaani—created beings or matter; vyakta—manifest; madhyaani—in the middle; bhaarata—Arjuna, descendant of king Bharat; avyakta—unmanifest; nidhanaani—on death or dissolution; eva—indeed; tatra—therefore (on this); kaa—why; paridevanaa—grieve

Translation – O descendant of Bharat, all created beings (or matter) are un-manifest before they appear (birth), stay manifest in the middle (during their lifetime), and again become unmanifest at the end (on death). So why grieve?

So far I have been saying that Arjuna is confused but Arjuna wasn’t confused when he arrived in the battlefield.. even till the time when conches were blown. So the question should come in your mind “What could have happened that confused him so terribly?”

If you recollect chapter 1; there (in shloka 25) Krishna, having stationed the chariot between the two armies had asked Arjuna to have a look with whom he had to fight this battle. There, Arjuna saw both the armies, his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, cousins, nephews, grand-nephews, friends, fathers-in-law, and well-wishers. Seeing all his relatives there, Arjuna got overwhelmed with compassion, and self-pity and guilt. This is the outcome but where’s the seed of it? In fact Lord wanted to reveal and reestablish the knowledge of perfect spiritual practices in this world and therefore He knowingly parked the chariot in a place where from Arjuna could face his own Guru Dronaacharya and Great Grandfather Bheeshma. Go back and check again what lord says to Arjuna in this sentence. He says “भीष्मद्रोणप्रमुखत: सर्वेषां च महीक्षिताम् |उवाच पार्थ पश्यैतान्समवेतान्कुरूनिति |” Give particular attention to this word “भीष्मद्रोणप्रमुखत:” Here Lord ensures Arjuna becomes particularly aware of these two personalities in the opposite army. Just imagine, if Krishna would have placed the chariot in front of Dryodhana and Duhshaasana would Arjuna still be confused? In fact he had come to settle scores with these. So who confused Arjuna? Lord Himself!

So always remember : God creates all the situations in our lives and then He only helps us overcome the situation by making us grow through that situation. He is the giver of wisdom and strength. When you are in distress, confusion, suffering, challenge etc. keep in mind the God principle is at work for our growth. The tough situations are to be utilized in our personal growth but it is possible only when we receive help and grace from Him. And how do we ensure we receive His grace and help?  Krishna is the God principle at work in this world. You may call this principle by different names – Kali, Durga, Lalita, Rama, Radha, Sita, Brahman, Shiva, Ganesha, Shakti, Narayan, SatGuru, Satpurush, Allah, Jehovah are all the names of Him. He alone comes to us as wisdom through Guru. Look here Arjuna only by completely surrendering to Him and accepting discipleship ( कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभाव:, पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेता: | यच्छ्रेय: स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे, शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ) receives God’s grace, so can you!

Now before we get to the deeper understanding on the verse one more point needs to be clarified and that is; Who is a disciple? Well.. some of you would say the one who surrenders to Guru’s words is a disciple but that’s not true. A disciple is the one who can deep desire along with capacity to own up the project of bringing about change in oneself. Both capacity of bringing about change and earnest, honest desire are needed in a person along with the surrender i.e. to follow the words of one’s teacher. Some people claim to be disciple merely by the act of surrender to a teacher. They are not disciple rather kind of lazy parasites who want Guru to work on their behalf while they lay themselves on the feet of their Gurus. This is utter foolishness and selfishness of the highest order. Such disciples are not only burden on their Gurus but this attitude never lets them grow beyond being sentimental crybabies. Alright.. lets come to the verse now.

Krishna says, “O descendant of Bharat, all created beings (or matter) are un-manifest before they appear (birth), stay manifest in the middle (during their lifetime), and again become un-manifest at the end (on death). So why grieve?” Previously Krishna has said that death is certain for the one who has been born, and rebirth is inevitable for the one who has died. So what is different here in this expression? Does Krishna seem repeating himself? May be for he is dealing with a person who has gone in a shock and such a person is not in his full senses. While counseling such an individual you may be required to repeat a point in many different ways; even you may be required to talk totally irrelevant things and give a shock therapy too.. just to distract. Teacher in Krishna here is also playing the role of a counselor we must keep in mind. First sentence he said to Arjuna was very harsh – Krishna uses a word (क्लैब्यं मा स्म गम: पार्थ) , (क्लीव) that literally means impotent, a eunuch (हिजड़ा). Word if taken beyond the context is abusive by all means but it is not so if we receive it in context..  for it is just to shock the Arjuna who is trembling in a state of shock with tears in his eyes and so on. Krishna is using each word with full compassion and complete understanding. I am not telling you to take this an a standard therapy though (smiles) because when a Master uses such a word it is soaked in His infinite compassion and when you do so, this element of infinite love is going to be absent thus instead of doing any good you may further deteriorate the situation. For the ordinary, the unskilled ones it is always advised that they stay calm and non-offensive, non-abusive while dealing with such a situation.

So, Krishna says all created beings (or matter) are un-manifest before they appear (birth), stay manifest in the middle (during their lifetime), and again become un-manifest at the end (on death). So there’s no reason for Arjuna to grieve. He is simple re-describing the previous statement but now adding a dimension of un-manifest. Even the modern science agrees that the world may seem stably manifest as a reality here but its constituents the subatomic particles are in an incessant, endless dance of becoming manifest in our word (this dimension) and going back to un-manifest (in an unknown dimension that is not presented to us). But what does this dance of Bhutas from Manifest to Unmanifest and then again becoming Manifest mean? It simply means there was no time when this world was not and there will be no time when world will not be there. (न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपा | न चैव न भविष्याम: सर्वे वयमत: परम् | 2:12|) It is just the matter of it being manifest or becoming unmanifest.

So don’t grieve for nothing goes anywhere. More later..

Shivoham!

-Acharya Agyaatadarshan Anand Nath