Bhagavad Gita - Daily One Verse Brief Explanation - II 1:36 II

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II 1:36 II

 

nihatya dhaartaraastraan nah, ka pritih syaj janaardana

paapam evaashrayet asmaan, hatvaaitan atataayinah (Gita 1:36)

 

O Janaardana, (Janaardana is the name for Sri Krishna, means a

person who is worshipped by people for prosperity and emancipation),

what joy can we derive by slaying the sons of Dhrtaraastra? Sin

alone will accrue to us by slaying these desperadoes.

 

From Gita Prabodhani in Hindi pg. 14 by Swami Ramsukhdasji

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Chapter 1, Verse 36 is as follows;

 

Nihatya = having slain

Dhaartra-raaShtraan = sons of Dhritarashtra

NaH = to us

Kaa = what

PreetiH = pleasure

Syaat = may be

Janaardan = O Krishna!

Paapam = sin

Eva = only

Aaashrayet = would take hold

Asmaan = to us

Hatvaa = having killed

Etaan = these

AatataayinaH = desperadoes

 

English translation:-

 

What delight can we derive, O Krishna, by killing those sons of

Dhritarashtra? Sin only will accrue to us, by slaying these

desperadoes / malignants.

 

Janardana is another popular title earned by Lord Krishna. It means

a person who is worshipped by people for their prosperity and

emancipation.

 

Janardana also means `protector of the people'. Arjuna seems to

chide Lord Krishna that, " If you claim to be the protector of the

people, then why are you encouraging me to destroy them by indulging

in terrible actions in the gruesome battle? "

 

Arjuna is under the magical spell of enlightened self-centeredness.

He is ready to apply the principle of `Na Pape Prati-PapaH Syat'

i.e. let us not commit a sin in retaliation for another sin by our

opponents. He is applying the fine philosophical principle of

`Conquer the anger of others by non-anger, Conquer evil doers by

saintliness, conquer the miser by gifts and Conquer falsehood by

truth'. But such a fine principle is valid only in times of general

peace and prosperity and certainly not in the impending royal battle

of righteousness versus viciousness.

 

May be Arjuna is not aware of the modern thought of `All is fair in

war and love'.

 

Vashishtha, the great sage of solar dynasty has defined in his work

called `Smruti', the following six forms of crimes committed by

desperadoes;

 

- Setting fire to a house

- Administering poison to a person

- Attempting to attack a person with a weapon other than self-

defense

- Robbing of wealth of others by any means

- Dispossessing a rightful owner of his property of land and cattle

- Abducting a female for lust

 

King Dhritaraashtra's hundred sons had committed all of these crimes

with impunity. Therefore, there was no further sanction required to

punish them.

 

In fact in Manu-Smruti i.e. the laws codified by King Manu of

ancient Solar dynasty, there is a clear sanction that, `An attacking

desperado irrespective of his status of a preceptor or an old man or

a Ved-knowing Brahmana; he must be killed on the spot without any

hesitation or reservation, as no sin occurs to a slayer of a

desperado.'

 

Arjuna has tremendous feelings of anger, bitterness and frustration

against the Kauravaas for all their acts of commission and omission.

But he feels helpless under the deluded state of his mind and tries

to seek soft option of renunciation of war by inventing lame excuses

and expects an approval from Lord Krishna.

 

Lord Krishna refuses to show any outward sign of either appreciation

or criticism of Arjuna's incorrect interpretations of sacred

scriptures. Lord Krishna fully understands that his dear friend

Arjuna is raving hysterically and the best policy is to let him

drain out all that have accumulated in his mind and offer comment

only when he is completely exhausted of his ill-thoughts and ill-

feelings.

 

Arjuna does not know that it is his destiny that he is soon going to

develop the inner strength under the divine guidance of Lord Shree

Krishna so as to manage killing of venerable, adorable and worship

worthy grandsire Bheeshmaachaarya and preceptor Dronaachaarya first.

Then he is going to conquer the rest of his kith and kin, who are

present to please evil-minded Duryodhana.

 

Upon shedding his doubts and illusions, Arjuna is soon going to be

an instrument of God and perform his divine role.

 

Even in the Bible, Jesus says, " I seek not my own will but the will

of the holy father, who sent me here " .

 

Thanks & Best Regards,

Shrikant Joshi.

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MESSAGES FROM OTHER SADHAKS

 

Dear Sadaks,

There is saying, " tell me your friend and I will tell you who you

are " . Here Sri Krishna is called many times very good friend

(Sakiya) to Arjuna. Sri Krishna is Karuniya Sindho. Daya Poorna

Sindho. Naturally Arjuna will have Karuniya in his heart. Only

because of " Karuna " (seeing good in enimy) Arjuna avoids War, NOT

because of fear. The Ignorance of where goodness not to be shown, is

explained by Bagavan.

Jai Sri Krishna

baiya sathyanarayan

 

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Shree Hari

Ram Ram

Thank you Shri Shrikantji Joshi for taking the initiative to support

this divine work and to Mrs. K Asani for requesting shloka

explanation on a daily basis.

From Gita Talk Moderators

Ram Ram