Bhagawad Gita Ch2. Verses: 33-34, Some thoughts

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Lord Krishna in these verses uses His persuasive power to convince Arjuna to

assume his responsibility to fight the war. He reminds Arjuna that by failing

his commitment to fight, he is likely to lose all the fame that he acquired

all these years. There is no such thing as ‘free lunch!' Most of the time, our

decisions based on intellectual logic have multiple contradictory results.

This myth can't be resolved through intellectual means and it is necessary

that the intellect gets subdued. It is not an easy proposition. The Lord says

that every coin has two sides and Arjuna apparently looked at only one side

without seeing the other side. Most of the time, we try to avoid actions with

the belief that the results will be unpleasant. We fail to realize that our

action consists of two parts - action and inaction. Also the results from

action and inaction can bring unpleasant results. If intellect is the means

for judging, we should evaluate the costs and benefits of both action and

inaction. Lord tells Arjuna that inaction is likely bring more unpleasantness

to him than action! Ideally, (later chapters of Gita discusses in greater

detail) we should recognize that the intellect is incapable for evaluating the

uncertain results. This has been proved by scientists analyzing the stock

markets, horse races, elections, etc. We can be right some time and wrong

sometime and we have to learn to accept both successes and failure with

equanimity. Once we establish our Swadharma, our duty is to complete actions

without prior analysis. Any analysis will bring guilt feeling to the mind

disabling the intellect. The mind filled with guilt exhibits worries, anxiety

and the mood changes from ‘Satvik' to ‘Tamas.'

 

We live in a world where everyone has his/her own opinion. Sometime we want to

be ideal human beings (just like Arjuna) and undertake actions that may not

necessarily be understood by others! The Lord points out that others may not

understand why Arjuna threw the weapons on the ground. By saying that "the

warrior-chiefs who thought highly of Arjuna will begin to despise him", the

Lord means to bring out that great warriors like Bhisma, Drona and Salya etc,

on the one hand, and Virata, Drupada, Satyaki and Dhrstadyumna etc, on the

other, who had all along held Arjuna in very high esteem, and regarded him as

a great hero, a great warrior and a virtuous man, would begin to think lightly

of him, if Arjuna ran away from the battle. Raising the question of `fear' in

this context, it has been attempted to bring home to Arjuna's mind that, if he

desisted from battle, the Maharathis would never think that the motive of his

doing so was either pity and compassion for his relations, or any conviction

that war was as sin. They would naturally jump to the conclusion that `fear'

was the real motive, and would think that Arjuna ran away from the battle in

order to save his life. Such being the position, to desist from battle in that

state would be the height of indiscretion on Arjuna's part.