Five Things I Cannot Recover

“O Krishna, maintainer of the people, I have heard by disciplic succession that those who destroy family traditions dwell always in hell.” (Arjuna, Bhagavad-gita, 1.43)

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उत्सन्न-कुल-धर्माणां
मनुष्याणां जनार्दन
नरके नियतं वासो
भवतीत्य् अनुशुश्रुम

utsanna-kula-dharmāṇāṁ
manuṣyāṇāṁ janārdana
narake niyataṁ vāso
bhavatīty anuśuśruma

1. My childhood

“Gone. Forever. No way to return. I can look at different pictures. I can try to recall what it was like to be in the different situations. But if I took an honest assessment, I can barely remember anything. I will never have the same enthusiasm for life. I will never be that carefree towards eating and sleeping again. I can never be small enough to fit into the same clothes again. I will never again experience the relief of elders picking me up and carrying me through a dreaded trip to the shopping mall.”

2. My family members

“I will never get to speak with them again. I think I was pretty good with how I treated them, but I never really opened up. They meant the world to me. I will never be able to appropriately repay the kindness shown to me. I will have to pass it forward, to extend the same grace to dependents in the future. Still, it would be nice to have one last conversation.”

3. My memories

“Isn’t it crazy that people remember incidents with us that we cannot recall at all? We were there. We were conscious. We said things. We reacted in certain ways. But so much time has passed that we cannot recall what took place. What was the point to it all, then? Why do anything if we will eventually forget what happens?”

4. My previous lives

“You know, people freak out over death. They are so scared over what will happen in the future, but what about the past? Consider the thousands of years of recorded history. Where were we? What were we doing? Why can’t we remember? To me, that is more frightening. Whatever it is we were doing, we cannot remember it today.”

5. My good times

“I was so happy. I was so enthusiastic. I had so much fun. It felt that it would go on forever. But it didn’t. Those times are no longer around. We cannot recreate them, even if we tried. I wish that I could go back, but that is not possible.”

…

श्री-भगवान् उवाच
बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि
जन्मानि तव चार्जुन
तान्य् अहं वेद सर्वाणि
न त्वं वेत्थ परन्तप

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
bahūni me vyatītāni
janmāni tava cārjuna
tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi
na tvaṁ vettha parantapa

“The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!” (Bhagavad-gita, 4.5)

One of the premises of the sacred Bhagavad-gita conversation, as delivered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, is loss. There is the potential for losing everything, as death is one of the known consequences to military conflict. Destruction is the primary purpose; to kill people and break things.

Arjuna is not worried about himself. He is not so concerned with maintaining what he has. He is not necessarily afraid of the future as it pertains to enjoyment. Rather, there is concern over the wellbeing of others.

Namely, the people who will be on the receiving end of the intelligently released arrows, from that illustrious Gandiva bow. Known as Savyasachin, Arjuna was the greatest bow-fighter in the world. He could pierce the eye of a fish without looking directly at it. That is something like threading the eye of a needle from a great distance away, with a reflection in a pot of water serving as the only assist.

What would happen to Duryodhana? What would happen to Drona and Bhishma? What would happen to the families of the slain fighters? Would their children grow up without proper guidance? Would one of their gurus, the paternal figure to set the proper example, be absent from the home?

In that helpless state, would not all hope be lost? Would not the succession of religious principles, dharma, be disrupted? Would not the dependents lose control over their senses and be vulnerable to mixing the various classes, varna-sankara?

In response to Arjuna’s arguments, Shri Krishna initially took the bold and direct approach. Something like slapping Arjuna, but with words instead of a firm hand, Krishna was surprised to hear such sophistry coming from someone who should have known better. Arjuna was arya in culture, but his words were the opposite in nature; anarya.

श्री-भगवान् उवाच
कुतस् त्वा कश्मलम् इदं
विषमे समुपस्थितम्
अनार्य-जुष्टम् अस्वर्ग्यम्
अकीर्ति-करम् अर्जुन

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ
viṣame samupasthitam
anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam
akīrti-karam arjuna

“The Supreme Person [Bhagavan] said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They do not lead to higher planets, but to infamy.” (Bhagavad-gita, 2.2)

Fear of such loss is no excuse for abandoning occupational duty. It is not an excuse to flee from the battlefield. It is not sufficient justification for giving up. Everything pointed in the other direction, to proceed, to work without attachment, but to work with attention, all the same.

There is the support from shastra and the wisdom that it contains. Both jnana and vijnana lead to the rational conclusion to not put too much emphasis on the fear of loss. The same conclusion has the support of common sense and personal experience.

We see that we have lost so much already. Why are we not concerned? Why are we not perpetually in a state of sadness over the missing prospect of return? It is like the highest court in the universe has handed down a judgment, and there is no way to appeal. There is no other court to petition.

The final verdict is that everything is gone. The same will continue in the future. As soon as there is birth, there must be death. As soon as people come together, they must eventually separate. As soon as there is association, there will subsequently be disassociation.

नैकत्र प्रियसंवास: सुहृदां चित्रकर्मणाम् ।
ओघेन व्यूह्यमानानां प्लवानां स्रोतसो यथा ॥

naikatra priya-saṁvāsaḥ
suhṛdāṁ citra-karmaṇām
oghena vyūhyamānānāṁ
plavānāṁ srotaso yathā

“Many planks and sticks, unable to stay together, are carried away by the force of a river’s waves. Similarly, although we are intimately related with friends and family members, we are unable to stay together because of our varied past deeds and the waves of time.” (Vasudeva speaking to Nanda Maharaja, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 10.5.25)

By establishing the truth of guaranteed loss, Arjuna loses the foundation of his argument. The decision must now be based on other factors, reaching a conclusion resulting from careful deliberation of the truths of this world. Those truths representing profound enlightenment were kindly shared by Shri Krishna, who is the original teacher of the universe. It is for this reason and more that the sacred conversation between Krishna and Arjuna is still studied to this day, as the content is eternally relevant.

In Closing:

Like into the trash bin tossed,
My memories forever lost.

Same with association as well,
Never again loved ones to tell.

For future then why concerning?
When guaranteed fate earning.

Better by wisdom to be guided,
Like Arjuna to Krishna confided.