Bhagawad Gita - Ch.1 - Verses 38- End of Chapter

[Guest guest]

Chapter 1. Arjuna-Grief

[Commentary by Swamy Chinmayananda]

 

yadyapyEtE na paSyaMti lObhOpahata cEtasaH

kulakshaya kRtaM dOshaM mitra drOhEca pAtakaM || 1-38

 

kathaM na jnEyamasmAbhiH pApAdasmAnnivartituM

kulakshaya kRtaM dOshaM prapaSyadbhirjanArdana || 1-39

 

1.38. Though these, with their intelligence clouded by greed, see no evil

in the destruction of the families in the society, and no sin in their

cruelty to friends;...

 

1.39. Why should not we, who clearly see evil in the destruction of the

family-units, learn to turn away from this sin, O Janardana?

 

No doubt, the Kauravas, grown blind to their greed for power and wealth,

cannot see the destruction of the entire social structure by this war.

Their ambition has so completely clouded their intelligence and sensibility

that they fail to appreciate or understand the cruelty in annihilating

their own friends.

 

But Arjuna seems to retain his reasoning capacity and can clearly foresee

the chaos in which society will get buried by fratricidal war. Now his

argument amounts to this: if a friend of ours, in his drunkenness, behaves

nastily, it would be worse than drunkenness in us, if we were to retaliate;

for, we are expected to know that our friend, with his fumed-up

intelligence, does not entertain enough discriminative awareness of what he

is doing. At such moments, it would be our duty to forgive the mischief and

overlook the impudence.

 

Similarly, here, Arjuna argues: 'If Duryodhana and his friends are behaving

as blind aggressors, should the Pandavas not retire quietly and suffer the

ignominy of a defeat, and consider it their dutiful offering of the altar

of peace?' How far this philosophy is dangerous in itself will be seen as

we read more and more the assages of the Geeta and come to appreciate the

pith of its philosophy which is the very kernel of our Hindu way-of-living.

'Active resistance to evil' is the central idea in the doctrine expounded

by Krishna in the Geeta.

 

kulakshayE praNaSyaMti kuladharmAH sanAtanAH

dharmE nashTE kulaM kRtsnaM adhamO bibhavatyuta || 1-40

 

1.40. In the destruction of a family, the immemorial religious rites of

that family perish; of the destruction of spirituality, impiety overcomes

the whole family.

 

Just as a story-teller comes to add new details each time he narrates the

same old story, so too, Arjuna seems to draw new inspiration from his

foolishness, and each time his creative intelligence puts forth fresh

arguments in support of his wrong philosophy. As soon as he finishes a

stanza, he gets, as it were, a new lease of arguments to prattle, and takes

refuge behind their noise.

 

He indicates here that, when individual families are destroyed, along with

them the religious traditions of the society will also end, and soon an era

of impiety will be ushered in.

 

Cultural experiments were the pre-occupations of our fore-fathers and they

knew that the culture and tradition of each family was a unit of the total

culture and integrity of the whole nation. Hence the importance of the

family-dharma so seriously brought forth by Arjuna as an argument against

this civil war.

 

adharmA bhibhavAt kRshna pradushyaMti kulastriyaH

streeshu dushTAsu vArshNEya jAyatE varNasaMkaraH || 1-41

 

1.41. By the prevalence of impiety, O Krishna, the women of the family

become corrupt; and women being corrupted, O descendent of the

Vrishni-clan, there arises 'intermingling of castes' (VARNA-SAMKARA).

 

Continuing the argument in the previous verse, Partha declares the

consequences that will follow when the true moral integrity of the families

is destroyed. Slowly the morality in the society will wane and there will

be an 'admixture of castes.'

 

Caste is a word, which, in its perverted meaning, has recently come in for

a lot of criticism from the educated; and they, no doubt, are all

justified, if caste, in reality, meant what we understand it to be in our

society today. But what we witness around us, in the name of caste, is the

ugly decadence into which the Hindu way-of-living has fallen. Caste, in

those days, was conceived of as an intelligent division of the available

manpower in the community on the basis of intellectual and mental

capacities of the individuals.

 

Those who were intellectuals and had a passion for research and study were

styled Brahmanas (Brahmins); those who had political ambitions for

leadership and took upon themselves the risky art of maintaining peace and

plenty and saving the country from internal and external aggressions, were

called the Kshatriyas; those who served the community though agriculture

and trade were the Vaisyas and, lastly, all those who did not fall in any

of the above categories were styled as Sudras, whose duties in society were

service and labour. Our modern social workers and officials, agricultural

and industrial labourers all must fall under this noble category!

 

In the largest scope of its implication, when we thus understand the

caste-system, it is the same as today's professional groups. Therefore,

when they talk so seriously about the inadvisability of 'admixture of the

castes,' they only mean what we already know to be true in our own social

pattern: an engineer in charge of a hospital and working in the

operation-theater as a doctor would be a social danger, as much as a doctor

would be if he is appointed as an officer for planning, guiding and

executing a hydro-electric scheme!

 

When the general morality of society has decayed, the young men and women,

blinded by uncontrolled passion, start mingling without restraint. And lust

knows no logic and cares least for better evolution or better culture.

There will be, thereafter, unhealthy intermingling of incompatible cultural

traits.

 

saMkarO narakAyaiva kulaghAnAM kulasyaca

pataMti pitarO hyEshAM lupta piMDOdaka kriyAH || 1-42

 

1.42. 'Confusion of castes' leads the slayer of the family to hell; for

their forefathers fall, deprived of the offerings of PINDA (rice-ball) and

water (libations).

 

The argument is still continued and Arjuna points out the consequences of

'caste-admixture.' When cnfusion of the castes has taken place, both

outside in the moral life of true discipline and in one's own inner

temperament, then the family tradition gets flouted and ruined.

 

In the context of our discourses, we must understand that to the dead it is

bread-and-water to see that their survivors maintain and continue the

cultural purity that they themselves had so laboriously cultivated and

inculcated into the minds of their children. In case the society squanders

away its culture, so laboriously built up as a result of the slow

blossoming of the social values of life through generations of careful

cultivation, necessarily, we will be insulting the very labours of our

ancestors. It is attractive and poetic, indeed, to conceive of the dead as

watching over their survivors and observing their ways of living from the

balcony of their heavenly abode! It would certainly be as painful as the

pains of hunger and thirst to them if they were to find that their

survivors were deliberately making a jungle of their laboriously laid

garden. Understood thus, the entire stanza appears to be very appropriate.

 

Each generation passes down the torch of its culture to the next

generation, its children, and it is for them to preserve, tend and nourish

that torch and had it over carefully to the succeeding generation, if not

more, at least no less bright, that when they got it.

 

In India, the sages discovered and initiated a culture that is spiritual,

and this spiritual culture is maintained and worked out through religious

practices, and therefore, culture and religion are, to the Hindu, one and

the same. Very rarely we find any mention of the term culture, as such, in

our ancient literature. More often we meet with the insistence on and the

mention of our religious practices.

 

In fact, the Hindu religion is a technique by which this spiritual culture

can be maintained and worked out in the similar contexts, always, an

enthusiastic emphasis upon the religious life, whether it be in the family

or in the society. Dharma comprises those divine values-of-life by living

which we manifest more and more the essential spiritual being in us.

Family-Dharma (kula-Dharma) is thus nothing but the rules of living,

thinking, and acting in a united, well planned family. By strictly

following these rules we soon come to learn, in the prayer-rooms of our

homes, how to live as better citizens of the Aryan-culture.

 

dOshairEtaiH kulaghnAnAM varNasaMkara kArakaiH

utsAdyaMtE jAti dharmAH kuladharmASca SASvatAH || 1-43

 

1.43. By these evil deeds of the 'destroyers of the family,' which cause

confusion of castes, the eternal religious rites of the caste and the

family are destroyed.

 

What was said in the discourse upon the last stanza will become amply clear

by this statement of Arjuna. Here also he bemoans that, as a result of the

civil war, the religious traditions of the family will all be lost and when

he says so, as I have said earlier, if we understand religion as the

'spiritual culture of India,' - the training for which was primarily given

in the individual homes - then the stanza becomes self-explanatory. We also

know that, after a war there is a sudden cracking up of the existing

cultural values in any society. Our modern world, panting and sighing under

the burden of its own immoralities and deceits, is an example of how war

brings about, not only disabled men with amputated limbs, but also deeper

ulcers and uglier deformities in their mental make-up.

 

In these words, we can detect in Arjuna almost the world's first

conscientious objector to war! In these passages he offers a splendid

series of pacifist arguments good for all times!!

 

utsanna kuladharmANAM manushyANAM janArdana

narakE niyataM vAsO bhavatee tyanu SuSRuma || 1-44

 

1.44. We have heard, O Janardana, that it is inevitable for those men, in

whose families the religious practices have been destroyed, to dwell in

hell for an unknown period of time.

 

Krishna still refuses to speak. Arjuna has come to a point where he can

neither stop talking nor find any more arguments. Strangely compelling is

the grace of the Lord's dignified silence. Here, in the stanza, Arjuna

almost concludes his arguments and mentions the tradition whch he had

heard, that 'men whose family-religion has broken down will go to hell.'

 

But, on another hand, when we understand the statement in all its

scientific implications, even the worst of us will feel the immediate

urgency for revolutionizing our point of view. We have already seen that

the family-dharma means, in the context of our times, only the cultural

purity in the family, which is the unit of the community. We also found

that since their culture is essentially spiritual, to the Hindus 'religion

is culture.'

 

So, Arjuna implies that when the unity of home-life is shattered, and when

purity of living and sanctity of thought are destroyed in the individual

home-life, the generation that has caused such a shattering is ordering for

itself and for others a melancholy era of hellish sorrows and sufferings.

 

ahO bata mahatpApaM kartuM vyavasitAvayaM

ydrAjya sukha lObhEna haMtuM svajana mudyatAH || 1-45

 

1.45. Alas! We are involved in a great sin, in that we are prepared to kill

our kinsmen, from greed for the pleasures of the kingdom.

 

Though pitiable, it is indeed pleasantly ludicrous to watch Arjuna's

intellectual exhaustion and emotional weariness as expressed in this verse.

In his effeminate lack of self-confidence here he bemoans, 'Alas! We are

involved, etc.' These words clearly show that instead of becoming a master

of the situation, Arjuna is now a victim of the circumstances and,

therefore, with a creeping sense of growing inner cowardice, he feels

almost helplessly persecuted.

 

This unhealthy mental weakness drains off his heroism and he desperately

tries to put a paper-crown upon his cowardice, to make it look divine and

angelic, and to parade it as 'pity.' Thus, he deliberately misconstrues the

very aim of the war and imputes a low motive to the righteous war simply

because he wants to justify his pacifist idea, which does not instinctively

gurgle out from his known strength, but which oozes out from his ulcerated

mind.

 

yadi mAma prateekAramaSastraM SaStrapANayaH

dhArta rAshTrAraNE hanyu stanmE kshEmataraM bhavEt || 1-46

 

1.46. If the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapons-in-hand, slay me in battle,

unresisting and unarmed, that would be better for me.

 

Here, Arjuna declares his FINAL opinion that, under the circumstances

narrated during his long-drawn limping arguments, it is better for him to

die in battle unresisting and unarmed, even if the Kauravas were to shoot

him down, like a hunted deer, with a dozen arrows piercing his royal body!

 

The word that Arjuna uses here is particularly to be noted; the texture of

the word used is, in itself, a great commentary upon the thought in the

mind of the one who has made the statement. Kshema is the material and

physical victory, while Moksha is the spiritual Self-mastery. Though

Arjuna's arguments were all labouring hard to paint the idea that to have

fought that war was against the spiritual culture of the country (Moksha),

he himself states in his conclusions that not to fight this war would be a

material blessing (Kshema) inasmuch as an escape form the battle-field now

is to gain, perhaps, sure physical security!!

 

In short, anxiety for the fruit-of-his-action (victory in battle)

demoralized Arjuna and he got himself into an 'anxiety-state-neurosis.'

 

saMjaya uvAca:

EvamuktvArjuna saMkhyE rathOpastha upAviSat

viSRjya saSaraM cApaM SOka saMvigna mAnasaH || 1-47

 

1.47. Sanjaya said:

Having thus spoken in the midst of the battle-field, Arjuna sat down on the

seat of the chariot, casting away his bow and arrow, with a mind distressed

with sorrow.

 

The concluding stanza of this chapter contains the words of Sanjaya in

which he gave the running commentary of what he saw on the battle-field.

Exhausted by his weary arguments, Arjuna, completely shattered within, sank

back on the flag-staff in the open chariot, throwing down his kingly

weapons.

 

This is the scene at which we shall leave Arjuna in the First Chapter of

the Geeta.

 

====

Om tatsaditi SreemadbhagawadgeetAsu upanishatsu

brahma vidyAyAM yOgaSAstrE SreekRshnArjuna saMvAdE arjuna vishAdayOgO nAma

pradhamOdhyAyaH....

====

 

Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad Geeta, in the Science of

the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA, in the dialogue between Sri Krishna

and Arjuna, the first discourse ends entitled:

 

THE YOGA OF THE ARJUNA-GRIEF

 

In the scriptural text-books of ancient times the end of a chapter was

indicated by some sign or symbol. In modern days, this is not necessary,

inasmuch as, we have the passages in print before us and we can see that

one section or chapter has ended and another has begun. Even here, the

printers have to mark the end of one chapter and, by a separate title,

indicate the beginning of the next.

 

In olden days, it was much more difficult, since books were not printed,

and each student got during his study a new edition of the scripture

printed on the memory-slabs of his own mind. Since scripture-study was in

those days from mouth to mouth, the students had to memorize whole

text-books and chant them daily. In such a case it was necessary to have

some word or words to inform both the reciter and the listeners as to the

ending of a section and the fresh beginning of another. This was done by

some conventional symbol.

 

In the Upanishads, the accepted method was to recite the last Mantra or the

concluding portion of the last mantra of the chapter twice. In the Geeta,

however, we have the repetition of a statement, which may be considered as

an epilogue, in Sanskrit called a Sankalpa Vakya. The same Sankalpa is

repeated at the end of each chapter, the difference being only that at the

end of each chapter, the chapter-number is mentioned along with the special

title of that chapter.

 

The Geeta Sankalpa Vakya (Epilogue) is a beautiful statement of pregnant

words conveying a wealth of details regarding the very text-book.

Sreemad-Bhagawad--Geeta has been considered here as an Upanishad - nay,

each chapter in the Geeta is considered as an Upanishad; and among the

eighteen Upanishads, together constituting the Divine Song, we here end the

first of them, entitled 'THE YOGA OF ARJUNA'S DESPONDENCY.' These chapters

are called Upanishads because these are declarations concealing such deep

significances that a hasty reader will miss their full import unless he

does long and intense meditation over the wealth of suggestive meaning that

lies concealed behind the simple-looking stanzas. As in the Upanishads,

here also we need the help of a sympathetic teacher who can train us in the

art of opening the seven hundred lockers in the treasure chamber of the

Geeta.

 

Upanishad is a word indicating a literature that is to be studied by

sitting (shad), near (upa) a teacher, in a spirit of receptive meekness and

surrender (ni). The contents of the scriptural text-books are, all over the

world, always the same. They teach us that there is a changeless Reality

behind the ever-changing phenomenal world of perceptions, feelings and

understanding. This great ADVATIC TRUTH as declared in the Hindu scriptural

text-books is termed the Brahman and, therefore, the text-book that teaches

us the nature of Brahman and shows us the means of realizing it is called

Brahman-knowledge (Brahma-Vidya).

 

Unlike Western philosophy, among the Aryans a theory is accepted as a

philosophy only when the philosopher prescribes for us a practical

technique by which all seekers can come to discover and experience for

themselves the GOAL indicated in that philosophy. Thus, in all Hindu

philosophies there are two distinct sections: one explaining the theory and

the other describing the technique of practice. The portion that explains

the technique of living the philosophy and coming to a close subjective

experience is called Yoga Sastra.

 

The word Yoga comes form the foot Yui=to join. Any conscious attempt on the

part of an individual to lift his present available personality and attune

it to a higher, perfect ideal, is called Yoga, and the science of Yoga is

called Yoga Sastra. Since in this epilogue, the Geeta is called a Yoga

Sastra, we must expect to discover in the SONG OF THE LORD, not only airy

philosophical expositions of a Truth too subtle for the ordinary man to

grasp, but also instructions by which every one of us can, from this

present state of imperfection, hope to reach, step by step, the giddy

heights of the Divine pinnacles, that stand eternally swathed in the

transcendental glory of Absolute Perfection.

 

The theme of philosophy and Yoga cannot be vey attractive to the ordinary

men of the world because it is so scientific and it deals with

imperceptible ideologies. Mathematics cannot be thrilling reading except

for a mathematician; and mathematics can very well afford to ignore those

who have no taste for it. But religion tries to serve all and the anxiety

of all prophets is to serve every one in all generations. Thus, in order to

tame a difficult theme and to contain it within the ambit of a text-book of

universal acceptance, the teachers of old had to discover methods by which

the subjective ideologies could be given an appealing look of substantial

objectivity. This was done by giving a detailed picture of the teacher, so

that in our mental image he is so much familiarized that we feel his words

also as something very familiar to us.

 

In the tradition of the Hindu text-books, the great Rishis worked out the

subtle ideas containing the crystallized truths into an easily digestible

capsule called Dharma. In the Upanishads, we have a complete picture of a

teacher and a taught, painted with hasty strokes, unfinished and rough. In

the Geeta, on the other hand, it being a philosophical discourse embedded

in the mythology of the nation, we find a finished picture, palpitating

with life, against a scintillating situation, wherein the very same ancient

truths have been re-asserted.

 

Lord Krishna is now made to repeat the Upanishadic truths in the context of

a great conflict to serve his life-long friend Arjuna, who is shown as

seriously suffering from a total mental rupture. Therefore, we shall expect

in the Geeta a much more sympathetic explanation and guidance than when the

same truths came out from the inspired saints, who were not as much in

contact with the weaknesses of ordinary mortals. This glory of the Geeta

has been indicated here when the Sankalpa Vakya says that it is a

conversation between the Lord and a mortal.

 

This chapter is called by a self-contradicting title. It is named as the

Yoga of ARJUNA'S GRIEF. If 'grief' could be Yoga, almost all of us, without

a choice, are already Yogins. In the commentary of this chapter, I

indicated that the Arjuna-condition of utter despair is the auspicious

mental attitude wherein the Geeta-seeds are to be sown, and the flowers of

Krishna-perfection gathered. Be it in an individual or a society, in a

community or a nation, religion and philosophy will be in demand only when

the heart has come to experience the Arjuna-grief.

 

To the extent that the world of today has felt its incompetence to face the

battle of life, not daring to destroy their near and dear values of

economic expansion and industrial lust, to that extent it is fit for

listening to the message of the Geeta. Just as the act of cooking, by

itself, is not fulfilled without the eating that follows, so also, in spite

of the best that may be available in life, a sense of incompleteness is

felt and a deep hunger to gain a better awareness and fuller existence in

the world is experienced, The scriptural texts cannot in themselves help

any one. Since this mental condition is so unavoidable before the actual

Yoga is started, even the initial mental condition is called, by a wishful

anticipation, as Yoga. For learning and living the Geeta, the

Arjuna-condition is the initial Sadhana.

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

One unusual slant on the Gita episode, vishhaada yoga, is given by

Vedamurti Satavalekar (Purushartha-Bodhini Commentary, in Marathi).

 

He states unhesitatingly, that Sanjaya himself contributed

substantially to Arjuna's confusion; and refers to Udyoga Parva ## 25 and

27, also known as Sanjaya-yaana Parva, where Dhritarastra has sent him to

dissaude the Pandavas from the war. Sanjaya's dialogue with Yudhishthira is

echoed by Arjuna in these arguments (verses 38-47). S. calls this a 'plot'

in no uncertain terms.

 

I wonder if any of the members have come across a character profile of

Sanjaya, and whether the above-mentioned references bear

any truth.

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

 

>"Madhava K Turumella" <madhava

>advaitin

><advaitin >

> Bhagawad Gita - Ch.1 - Verses 38- End of Chapter

>Mon, 21 Feb 2000 17:18:42 -0800

>

 

____

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

[Guest guest]

Hari Om:

 

The human mind is like the tea bag, look strong, but its weekness become

evident, when they are in hot water! Arjuna's great intellect failed at the

time of crisis, and we are no stronger than Arjuna. Bhagavad Gita beautifully

describes the pitfalls of human perception and its consequences.

 

Arjuna was deep in sorrow. His mind and heart were in conflict. He could not

decide between killing and loving. He had tears in his eyes. Seeing him in

anguish, Shri Krishna asked him the reason for his despondency in this hour of

crisis. He told Arjuna his being in low spirits was a matter of disgrace for a

warrior. This unmanliness did not become him. He should give up

faint-heartedness and get ready for battle.

 

Arjuna told Shri Krishna there was nothing to gain from killing Bhishma and

Drona. Both were his teachers and worthy of respect and reverence. This

unwillingness to kill them shows Arjuna's greatness and nobility of character.

He was not clear in his mind whether he should or should not fight. As he

could not think of the right thing to do he asked Shri Krishna for divine

guidance. Without waiting for an answer he told Shri Krishna he would not

fight.

 

The message of Gita is quite clear and we need to look for the guidance from

our inner conscience (Sri Krishna). We can never figure out 'right and wrong'

through intellectual analysis and all such analysis is just to justify

whatever we decide to do! The judgement of 'right and wrong' differ from

person to person and ultimately war becomes inevitable. War is a collective

decision by two groups of individuals with differencce of opinions. Those who

belong to either group do not have choice of their own! They have to abide by

the Dharma/Adharma established by the leaders. The leaders and the individuals

have to respect the decisions and act accordingly. Arjuna forgot that he has

no option other than to fight and kill/die.

 

The rest of the chapters explains that the path of human life consists of -

karmam (action), jnanam (knowledge), sanyasam (renunciation), tyagam

(sacrifice), dhyanam (meditation) and Anandam (supreme bliss).

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

==========================================================

Discussion on Bhagawad Gita - Ch.1 - Verses 38 to the End of the Chapter

compiled from Bhagavdgita - Multimedia CD (permission is obtained from the

publisher for conducting Gita Sang Discussion)

==========================================================

Here Arjuna means to say that such action on the part of Duryodhana and his

friends was no doubt most reprehensible, but it was not unnatural for them;

for their inordinate greed had wholly destroyed their power of discrimination

between good and evil. Therefore, they could not see the great evil and

disaster that would inevitably follow the destruction of all members of the

race, nor could they realize what a dreadful sin it was to look upon relations

and friends as enemies and fight with them for mutual slaughter. Arjuna and

his brothers, however, were not blinded by greed; they could clearly see what

evil and disaster would ensue from the destruction of the family and race.

Therefore, knowingly, and with their eyes wide open, why should they be guilty

of such an outrageous sin! They should, therefore, considering the evil nature

of the act, withdraw themselves from the fight.

 

Every good family is a repertorium of many good and beneficial customs and

usages, which are handed down from generation to generation, and help to

maintain the high standard of conduct of the family and prevent its men and

women from going astray. These beneficial and uplifting customs and usages are

known in one word as "family traditions". Through the destruction of the

family, when the older members possessing knowledge of these customs and

traditions have disappeared from the scene, it is but natural for the remnant

of straggling women and children to lose this knowledge, and thus these

traditions disappear and get lost.

There are five incentives, which compel man to keep to the path of virtue and

avoid sin. These are:- fear of God, command of the scriptures, fear of

violation of the family traditions, State laws, fear of physical injury or

pecuniary loss. Among these, God, though real, and command of the scriptures,

though representing Truth, depend on man's faith, and are not direct or

perceptible incentives. State laws govern only the subjects of the State; but

those who wield power generally do not respect them. Fear of physical injury

or pecuniary loss affects only individuals, in the majority of cases. Family

traditions alone link up the individual with the family and society. The

society and family that lose these beneficial customs and traditions become as

unruly and wayward as a restive steed without the control of a bridle. A

self-willed man will not tolerate any law, however uplifting it may be. When

the members of a society or family throw off every form of restraint, sin

extends its sway over that society or family as a matter of course. This is

what is meant by "sin takes hold of the entire family".

 

With the disappearance of family traditions as men and women lose all forms of

restraint, their activities, in most cases, begin to be tainted by vice; the

result is that sin becomes predominant, and spreads itself over the whole

society. Moral values begin to be treated as outworn formulas and lose their

import in the eyes of men and women. Far from observing the rules of morality

and restraint, they even do not care to know them, and make fun of those who

volunteer to acquaint them with such rules of conduct, or turn hostile to

them. In that state, the sacred law of conjugal fidelity, which is the very

root and foundation of the social code, loses its hold on society. That ideal

being lost, women of the purest families get corrupt and tainted with the vice

of adultery. They have sensual commerce with men of different castes. The

caste of the mother being different from that of the father, the offspring of

such a union is of mixed blood. Thus the purity of the race maintained from

generation to generation, gets totally lost.

 

Offering of lumps of rice to the manes at the time of the Sraddha ceremony

and feeding of Brahmans, etc, for the satisfaction of the manes are

collectively known as `Pindakriya; and the offering of water to the manes

during the Tarpana ceremony is known as `Udakakriya'. Their aggregate is

called `Pindodakakriya'. In popular language, they are known as the

performance of Sraddha and Tarpana. People who are conversant with, and have

faith in, scriptural injunctions and traditional customs perform these

ceremonies with due reverence. But in the families of the destroyers of the

race virtue being lost, the offspring that appear as the result of admixture

of blood, being the products of vice and under the sway of vice, do not, in

the first place, know anything about these rites and even if instructed by

anybody fail to perform them due to lack of faith; and if any of them

perchance performs them, they being disqualified by the rules of scriptures,

their offerings do not reach the manes at all. Thus deprived of the offerings

of rice and water from their descendants, the manes of the race suffer a fall

from the world of the manes.

 

The evils which bring about an intermixture of castes may be enumerated as

follows:-(1) Destruction of the race; (2) Destruction of family traditions

through destruction of the race; (3) Preponderance of vice; and (4) Fall of

women from the high ideal of feminine chastity and indulgence in adultery,

etc, due to preponderance of vice.

Codes of right conduct handed down from generation to generation are called

`age-long family traditions'. The Varna-Dharma as taught by the Vedas is

implied by the word `Jatidharma'. It lays down duties for the diverse castes

and orders of society. When healthy family customs disappear through the death

of the older members of the family, who are the custodians of those customs,

and there is an aggravation of the evils leading to an intermixture of castes,

the Varna-Dharma also dies a natural death. For, it cannot abide in offspring

produced by the union of parents belonging to diverse castes. That is how

through the evils that cause an intermixture of castes, both caste-traditions

(Jatidharmas) and family customs (Kuladharmas), coming down from antiquity,

get extinct.

 

In this verse Arjuna says that those who have lost their family traditions,

and are merged wholly in vice, fall into hells like Kumbhipaka and Raurava

etc, as the result of their sins, and suffer there the tortures of hell for an

indefinite length of time. This view has been handed down to him by his

family-traditions. Therefore, in his opinion, no one should make an attempt to

destroy his race.

 

The indeclinable particle `Aho' indicates wonder, and the particle `Bata' is

expressive of great sorrow. Using both these in the above verse, Arjuna wants

to show that the Pandavas being regarded by the whole world as virtuous and

possessed of intelligence, it was in no way proper for them to be involved in

an act of sin. But it was a matter for extreme regret that even they had

decided to commit this dreadful sin. Referring to lust for throne and

enjoyment as the motive of this great sin, Arjuna shows here that it would be

a great blunder on their part to engage in war with that motive.

 

Here Arjuna says that when, even after the commencement of war, he would thus

give up his arms and refrain from offering any opposition to his adversaries,

very likely they would also desist from battle, and the result would be that

all their relations and friends would be saved. But if, perchance, instead of

adopting that course and finding him unarmed and unwilling to fight, they

attacked and killed him, such a death would be a blessed death for him. For in

that case he would not be involved, firstly, in the great sin of slaughtering

the family; secondly, the lives of all his relations and friends would be

saved; and thirdly, the great virtue of saving the family from destruction

would make it easy for him to reach the Supreme state. Arjuna was definite in

his mind that his death in the above manner without any show of resistance

would lead both to the protection of the family and his supreme good. That is

why he described such a death as `preferable' for him.

 

In this verse Sanjaya describes how Arjuna possessed by extreme dejection, and

having uttered the above words, laid down his famous Gandiva bow and quiver

and sinking back into his chariot quietly lost himself in a chain of miserable

thought. The horrid picture of the destruction of his family, the horrible sin

attendant on it, and the terrible consequences of that sin began to revolve on

the film of his mind. A heavy gloom cast its shadow over his face and his eyes

became deeply laden with grief.

 

Thus, in the Upanisad sung by the Lord, the science of Brahma, the

scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krsna and Arjuna, ends the first

chapter entitled "The Yoga of Dejection of Arjuna".

 

The colophon given at the end of every chapter of the Gita reveals its glory

and majesty. 'Om Tat Sat' are scared Names of God (vide Gita, Chap. XVII.23).

Sung by God Himself, it has been given the name of Srimad Bhagavadgita. The

essence of the Upanishads is embodied in it and by itself also it is an

Upanisad; therefore it has been designated as an Upanisad. It has also been

termed as the science of Brahma (Brahmavidya), because it leads to a

perception of the supreme Truth and Reality about God in His absolute,

formless state. It is a 'scripture of Yoga' because it reveals the secret of

the practice of Karmayoga, here called Yoga, through the cultivation of

disinterestedness. It records the conversation between Bhagavan Sri Krsna, who

is God Himself, and the great devotee Arjuna, and every chapter of it contains

the description of a Yoga which leads to God-Realization; therefore it has

been referred to as "the dialogue between Sri Krsna and Arjuna" and every

chapter designated as the Yoga of ......