4. Arjuna’s dilemma

 

 

Dhritarashtra said :1"On the field of dharma, in the place at Kurukshetra, eager to fight, what did my people and the Pandavas do, Sanjaya?"

Sanjaya said: 2Seeing the soldiers of the Pandavas drawn up in military arrangement, Duryodhana went to his teacher and said: 3"Behold the great army of the sons of Pandu, arranged by the son of Drupada, your intelligent disciple. 4Here are brave men, great archers comparable to Bhima and Arjuna in war: Yuyudhama, Virata and Drupada, the great charioteer. 5Dhristaketu, Chekitana, and the brave king of Kashi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Saibya, heroes amongst men. 6The victorious Yudhamanyu, the brave Uttamauja, the son of Subhadra and the sons of Draupadi - all of them great chariot fighters.

7"But those who are special amongst us, take note of them, best of the twice-born. The information about the captains of my army I am speaking to you. 8You yourself, Bhishma, Karna, Kripa, always victorious in battle; Ashwatthama, Vikarna and the son of Somadatta also. 9There are others in great numbers who are strong and ready to give up their lives for me. They all are equipped with diverse weapons, and all are good in warfare. 10Unlimited is our strength, and we are perfectly protected by Bhishma, but limited is their strength, perfectly protected by Bhima. 11As arranged and situated at strategic points, all must now give support to Bhishma."

12To his increasing joy, the old grandfather of the Kauravas blew his conchshell very loudly, making a sound reverberating like the roar of a lion. 13Thereafter, conchshells, large drums, small drums, kettledrums and horns were all suddenly and simultaneously sounded, and the sound became tumultuous.

14Then, seated in a great chariot drawn by white horses, Madhava and the son of Pandu sounded their divine conchshells - 15Panchajanya by Hrishikesha, Devadatta by Dhananjaya; Paundra the great conchshell was blown by Bhima, the voracious eater and doer of herculean tasks; 16Anantavijaya by King Yudhishtira, the son of Kunti; and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosha and Manipushpaka. 17The king of Kashi, the great archer, the great charioteer Shikhandi, Dhristadyumna, Virata, and the undefeated Satyaki, 18Drupada, the sons of Draupadi and all, O king, and the mighty-armed son of Subhadra, all blew their different conchshells. 19By that noise, the hearts of the sons of Dhritarashtra were rent, the tumultuous sound resounding through the sky and the earth.

20Then, seated in the chariot bearing the flag marked with Hanuman, seeing the sons of Dhritarashtra, ready to use his bow, the son of Pandu, 21unto Hrishikesha then said: "draw my chariot between the two standing armies, 22so that I may see the fighters who are desirous of fighting with me in the battlefield. 23I want to see those fighters who are assembled here to fight, wishing to please the evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra."

Sanjaya said: 24Having thus been addressed by Gudakesha, Hrishikesha drew up the excellent chariot in the midst of both the armies, O descendant of Bharata. 25In the presence of the main leaders Bhishma and Drona, and all the other chiefs of the world, Krishna said: See Partha, all the Kurus assembled here.

26There Partha could see situated, fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends, 27fathers-in-law and well-wishers also in both the armies. When the son of Kunti saw all these relatives, 28overwhelmed by great emotion, lamenting he said: "Seeing my own people present, Krishna, so eager to fight, 29the limbs of my body are quivering and my mouth is drying up. My whole body is trembling, and my hair is standing on end. 30Gandiva is slipping from my hands and my skin is burning. I am unable to remain in one state, and my mind is whirling. 31I see causes of bad consequences, Keshava; nor do I see how any good can come from killing my own people in this fight. 32I don't desire victory, Krishna, nor any kingdom or its happiness. Of what use to us are a kingdom, Govinda, happiness or even life itself, 33when for whose sake is desired a kingdom, enjoyments and comforts; when all these on the battlefield are giving up their lives and riches: 34teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, and other relatives; 35I do not desire to kill them even though I might be killed, Madhusudana; even in exchange of the kingdoms of the three worlds, what to speak of the earth? 36By killing the sons of Dhritarashtra, what pleasure will there be, Janardana? Sin certainly must come upon us by killing these aggressors. 37Therefore it would not be worthy for us to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra, our own relatives. By killing one's own people, how will we become happy, Madhava?

38"Even if they cannot see, their consciousness being overpowered by greed, their fault in destroying the family, and the sin of being traitors to friends, 39why not we who know, turn away from the sin of destroying the family, Janardana? 40With the destruction of family, the eternal family way of life is destroyed, and when the way of life is destroyed, the whole family becomes irreligious, so it is said. 41Irreligion having become prominent, Krishna, the women of the family become polluted, and by the pollution of womenhood, O descendant of Vrishni, comes intermixing of castes. 42This intermixing certainly leads to hellish life both for the family and for its destroyers. Their forefathers fall down, by the stoppage of the actions of offerings of food and water. 43By the faults of these destroyers of the family, intermixing of castes is caused, which causes devastation of the caste system and the eternal family system also. 44The people whose family systems are spoiled, Janardana, dwell in hell daily, thus I have heard.

45"It is strange that we have decided to commit great sin in that we are trying to get the happiness of a kingdom by killing one's own people. 46If I, unarmed and unresisting, by the fully armed sons of Dhritarashtra, on the battlefield am killed, then by that more goodness will accrue to me."

Sanjaya said: 47Thus speaking Arjuna on the battlefield, sat down on the seat in his chariot, putting aside his bow and arrow, his mind distressed with sorrow.

 

We will not spend much time on chapter 1. From the spiritual point of view, there is not much there to expound. From the situational point of view, the hundreds of commentaries available on the Geeta do a pretty good job of it. So we will just do a quick summary and move on to chapter 2, where the real stuff lies.

In summary, the situation is that the great Mahabharata war was about to begin. The Pandavas were arraigned against their cousins the Kauravas, to regain the part of the kingdom that was rightfully theirs. The bugles having sounded, Arjuna asks his charioteer Krishna to draw the chariot in between the two armies, so that he could see properly those who were arraigned on the opposite side. There he saw close relatives, respectable elders, teachers and friends. And when he saw them he was overwhelmed by great emotion and sat down, refusing to fight.

The Bhagavad Geeta is the discourse of Krishna to Arjuna in which he gives the understanding of life which lifts Arjuna up from the despondency he was in, and makes him ready for battle.