Gita Satsang - Resumption

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Namaste,

 

Chapter 1: Arjuna's Distress

 

The battlefield swarmed with warriors in uniform armed with bows and

arrows. Thumping of elephants and horses, and blowing of trumpets and

conch-shells, clanging of cymbals, mingled with war-cries to herald

the beginning of fighting. Krishna was the charioteer of Arjuna, the

younger brother of Yudhishtra.

 

Arjuna requested Krishna to move the chariot to the centre of the

battlefield so that he could view the rival forces.

Krishna drove the chariot forward and Arjuna saw his kith and kin,

his uncles, granduncles, teachers, maternal uncles, cousins, sons and

grandsons and friends and well-wishers facing him. He was overcome

with compassion.

 

Arjuna was trembling. His gandiva, the bow given to him by one of the

gods, slipped from his hands. He was shaking with grief born of

conflict between the demands of the heart and the mind. He was torn

between love and duty, his heart full of love for his relations and

his mind ringing with the call of duty.

 

Seeing him in this condition Krishna asked him what the matter was.

Arjuna said, "What is the use of fighting against my own family

members? I see no good in killing my kinsmen in battle. What, even if

I win? Will it give me peace? Will it give me happiness? What will be

the ultimate gain?" His head whirled with questions to which he could

find no answers.

 

Arjuna said his cousins saw no wrong in fighting and destroying the

family but he would not like to fall in their footsteps. They were

ruled by greed and passion, unmindful of the evil they were

committing. He said he knew that slaying them would be a sin. He

would prefer being slain by them to slaying them. He would uphold

righteousness rather than deal a blow to it.

 

Saying this, Arjuna sank down in his chariot seat. He dropped his bow

and arrows, his mind full of grief.

 

[Ch. 2 summary next, on Nov. 28.