Bhagavad Gita - Daily One Verse Brief Explanation - II 2:1 II

[Guest guest]

|| Shree Hari ||

 

Om Shree Paramatme Namah

 

Second Chapter

 

II 2:1 II

 

Sanjaya uvaacha:

 

tam tathaa kripayaavistham, asru-purnaakulekshanam

visheedantam idam vaakyam, uvaacha madhusoodanah (Gita 2:1)

 

Sanjaya said:

 

" Madhusudana (He who destroyed the demon named Madhu), addressed the

following words to Arjuna, who was thus overwhelmed with compassion

and deep in distress, and whose eyes were drenched in tears of

despondency. "

 

From Gita Prabodhani in Hindi pg. 18 by Swami Ramsukhdasji

 

---------------------------

Chapter 2, Verse 1 is as follows;

 

Sanjaya = Sanjaya

Uvaacha = said

Tam = to him

Tathaa = thus

Krupayaa = (with) pity

Aavishtam = overcome

AshrupurNa = filled with tears

Aakula = (and) agitated

IikshaNam = with eyes

Visheedantam = despondent

Idam = this

Vaakyam = speech

Uvaacha = said

Madhu-soodanaH = Shri Krishna, the killer of demon Madhu

 

English translation:-

 

Sanjay said, " Lord Krishna spoke these words to him (Arjuna) who was

thus overwhelmed with compassion, drowned in distress and with eyes

drenched in tears of despondency. "

 

This is the first verse out of the total seventy two verses in

chapter 2 titled as `Sankhya Yoga' i.e. Yoga of the knowledge of the

Self i.e. the Atman, which is a subset of the superset called as

Brahman.

 

Sankhya Yoga is different from Sankhya Darshan, which was the

contemporary physics and mathematics advocated by Kapila Muni.

Sankhya means counting of Gunas i.e. attributes of all gross and

subtle entities in the Universe.

 

By referring to Lord Krishna as `Madhusudana' i.e. the slayer of

demon Madhu, Sanjaya seems to caution King Dhritaraashtra that he

must watch out that smart and smooth operator. Lord Krishna had

already declared that he will not pick up any weapon and that he

will not fight the Kauravaas. He is just pretending to be a mere

chariot navigator for Arjuna. But be careful, in fact in his true

role of an expert advisor, he will recommend Arjuna to use all the

tricks of the trade like `Saama' i.e. mediation, `Daama' i.e.

monetary rewards, `Danda' i.e. power of punishment and `Bheda' i.e.

division in the battlefield so as to tilt the balance in favour of

the Pandavaas. Indirectly Sanjaya is advising King

Dhritaraashtra, " Still it is not too late. Still you can convince

your hundred sons to gracefully withdraw from the battlefield and

make peace with the Pandavaas and thus avoid the total annihilation

of the Kuru kingdom. " King Dhritaraashtra does not pay any heed to

Sanjaya's implicit advice.

 

What a matter of great shame that Arjuna, the greatest archer of his

time, is found to be totally impoverished within and now weeping

like a helpless child!

 

In his pathetic mental state of extreme dejection and despondency,

Arjuna is crest-fallen. From the position of the `top of the world'

attitude, Arjuna suddenly finds himself to be `at the bottomless

pit'. Being overwhelmed by unnerving emotional avalanches, Arjuna is

totally confused and confounded. Only a weakling, who allows himself

to be overpowered by circumstances, can be victimized by the

external environmental conditions. Arjuna in his present neurotic

condition has become a complete slave to his internal turmoil beyond

control. Now, Arjuna is earnestly looking forward to his dear friend

Lord Krishna to offer succour in the form of either a graceful exit

route or a superior alternative course of action.

 

Lord Krishna is patiently waiting for the right opportunity till

Arjuna is completely drained out and totally exhausted. It is

equivalent to a situation where in an expert surgeon, before

beginning a surgical treatment, waits for the stabilisation of blood

pressure, blood sugar, heart beats etc. within the permissible

limits of tolerance, of the patient on the operations table.

 

In order to wipe out delusion of Arjuna, to begin with, Lord Krishna

offers the strongest shock treatment of `Sankhya Yoga' i.e. the true

knowledge of the Self. Lord Krishna's first objective is to

completely overshadow Arjuna with his staggering knowledge and total

mastery of the highest Vedanta philosophy. In the process of

realising the enormity and profundity of Lord Krishna's knowledge,

Arjuna has enough time to wake up from his lowest mental stupor.

 

Thanks & Best Regards,

Shrikant Joshi

 

-----------------------------

 

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