“Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvan is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?” (Bhagavad-gita, 4.4)

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अर्जुन उवाच
अपरं भवतो जन्म
परं जन्म विवस्वतः
कथम् एतद् विजानीयां
त्वम् आदौ प्रोक्तवान् इति

arjuna uvāca
aparaṁ bhavato janma
paraṁ janma vivasvataḥ
katham etad vijānīyāṁ
tvam ādau proktavān iti

In the following story, you happen to come across Bhagavad-gita. It is a modern telling, but still true to the original. The Sanskrit verses are there, for instance, along with a word-for-word translation in each case. The author is kind enough to include transliteration into the script used in the local area. There are elaborate purports, as well, to bridge the significant gap in time since the first print run, so to speak, when Vyasadeva dictated everything to Ganesha. Bhagavad-gita is a much smaller work extracted from the historical narrative of epic proportion known as Mahabharata.

You open the book and you cannot seem to put it down. All of the mysteries of life. The figurative throbbing in your chest, which has been steady since the onset of adulthood, now finally has a cause. You understand why there is sadness, why someone like Goswami Tulsidas would refer to the living experience as shokadhama. You have an idea of the before and the after, in the travels of the individual, who is spirit soul.

तब लगि कुसल न जीव कहुँ सपनेहुँ मन बिश्राम
जब लगि भजत न राम कहुँ सोकधाम तजि काम

taba lagi kusala na jīva kahum̐ sapanehum̐ mana biśrāma
jaba lagi bhajata na rāma kahum̐ sokadhāma taji kāma

“For as long as there is not devotion to Shri Rama and the release of material desires, which are like an abode of grief, the living being should not expect to find welfare and peace of mind, even in a dream.” (Dohavali, 131)

With the massive appreciation you have, there is also sadness. You see, Bhagavad-gita is from a tradition different from your own. While growing up, no one taught you anything close to resembling Vedanta. You grew up in a community that would be considered religious, based on the movements, the priorities, and the visuals. If you dare to bring up any of these teachings to the community, you might get ostracized. They will think you have gone over to the dark side.

You are also uncomfortable with many of the devotional aspects of Bhagavad-gita. The final call to surrender, for Arjuna to abandon interest in other dharmas and take shelter only in the highest way of living that is bhakti-yoga. The distinction between the prakritis, wherein the mahatmas, or great souls, have protection from a higher kind of nature. They are not subject to the ordinary prakriti, which is known to only destroy.

महात्मानस् तु मां पार्थ
दैवीं प्रकृतिम् आश्रिताः
भजन्त्य् अनन्य-मनसो
ज्ञात्वा भूतादिम् अव्ययम्

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

“O son of Pritha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.13)

All things considered, you decide to reach your own conclusion. Bhagavad-gita must be an allegorical work. It must have symbolic significance, only. The surrender is to a Krishna within, you think. The pep-talk, to lift up the spirits, is the way to bring others into their natural order. Where they can proceed with confidence in a venture, detached from interest in the outcome, but fervent in their attention to detail in the proceedings.

The problem here is that your speculations get squashed by the history itself. You can try to explain away characters with so much detail that they are addressed by many different names, but how do you rationalize the references to history? Both the before and the after, the speaker of the Gita refers to specific aspects and events taking place in the very world in which we live.

1. The sun god

The recipient himself was a little perplexed at what he was hearing. Arjuna accepted all of this wisdom. Arjuna approached his charioteer. Arjuna knew that Krishna was previously there for him, that Krishna always wished their family well. Arjuna appreciated what he subsequently heard, in what can be called the science of self-realization.

A person can attempt to abstract the teachings, to extract the words themselves, while removing the personalities. However, Krishna revealed that the same teachings were shared with the sun-god. The administrator of that fiery body in the sky, ever-diligent in its duty to provide heat and light to the universe. Krishna Himself shared those teachings.

Arjuna wondered how that could be. Krishna had a specific time of appearance. The janma and karma for Krishna are divyam; the birth and activities are divine in nature. There is still a specific date and time for those events and activities. The sun was a fixture in the sky long before Krishna appeared out of the womb of Devaki. How could the conversation with the sun-god have taken place, then?

The answer is that there were many appearances and disappearances. Both for Krishna and Arjuna. Krishna could remember those past descents to the manifest realm. Arjuna could not. This means that Arjuna could never become Krishna. Their identities are always separate. No one can become Krishna, in fact.

2. Leisure time

If our attempt is to turn the teacher and student into generic characters, then we should know that there is a history involving both Krishna and Arjuna. They were friends for a long time. Arjuna referenced this fact, out of a sense of shame. After Krishna revealed His divine nature, to give a sort of visual proof to any doubters in the future, who would be stuck in boundaries drawn by religious affiliation or dogmatic insistence, Arjuna felt bad about behaving so casually in the past. He referenced moments when the two were together, when Arjuna spoke to Krishna as if the son of Devaki were an equal.

सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यद् उक्तं
हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति
अजानता महिमानं तवेदं
मया प्रमादात् प्रणयेन वापि
यच् चावहासार्थम् असत्-कृतो ऽसि
विहार-शय्यासन-भोजनेषु
एको ऽथ वाप्य् अच्युत तत्-समक्षं
तत् क्षामये त्वाम् अहम् अप्रमेयम्

sakheti matvā prasabhaṁ yad uktaṁ
he kṛṣṇa he yādava he sakheti
ajānatā mahimānaṁ tavedaṁ
mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi
yac cāvahāsārtham asat-kṛto ‘si
vihāra-śayyāsana-bhojaneṣu
eko ‘tha vāpy acyuta tat-samakṣaṁ
tat kṣāmaye tvām aham aprameyam

“I have in the past addressed You as ‘O Krishna,’ ‘O Yadava,’ ‘O my friend,’ without knowing Your glories. Please forgive whatever I may have done in madness or in love. I have dishonored You many times while relaxing or while lying on the same bed or eating together, sometimes alone and sometimes in front of many friends. Please excuse me for all my offenses.” (Arjuna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.41-42)

3. Narada and Vyasa

Upon seeing the universal form, the virat-rupa, Arjuna was full of appreciation. He did not have to engineer prompts for an AI system to spit back appropriate words to say. Arjuna could pray, on the spot, in a spontaneous way, because he knew Krishna. In case anyone should dismiss those prayers due to the close affiliation, the friendship and family relationship, Arjuna made sure to reference other historical figures. People of the highest character, such as Vyasa and Narada, concurred with Arjuna’s sentiments. In other words, the prayers were towards a real-life person, and the praise was merely stating fact, but in a beautiful way.

4. Again and again the host of beings

If Bhagavad-gita is a fictional tale, then how does Krishna know about the future of the living beings? He describes that they appear again and again in this world, across the largest conceivable unit of time. The kalpa refers to the day of Brahma, and Brahma lives for one hundred years. The conditioned souls, the jivas, remain vulnerable to future appearances in the land of birth and death, throughout that entire lifetime, and beyond. They appear and then disappear. It is like they are helplessly dissolved.

भूत-ग्रामः स एवायं
भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते
रात्र्य्-आगमे ऽवशः पार्थ
प्रभवत्य् अहर्-आगमे

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ‘vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame

“Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.19)

5. Already put to death

तस्मात् त्वम् उत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व
जित्वा शत्रून् भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम्
मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वम् एव
निमित्त-मात्रं भव सव्य-साचिन्

tasmāt tvam uttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva
jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṁ samṛddham
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvam eva
nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savya-sācin

“Therefore get up and prepare to fight. After conquering your enemies you will enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasachin, can be but an instrument in the fight.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 11.33)

The premise for the Bhagavad-gita conversation was hesitancy within Arjuna. Part of Krishna’s presentation was giving a glimpse into the immediate future. The fighters on the other side were already put to death, you see. Arjuna would act as but an instrument of the divine will. The outcome was set, whether Arjuna participated or not. This means that Krishna knows what will take place. Krishna knows the future. An abstract could never do the same. An abstract could never be as kind or as merciful. Those who know appreciate this mercy. They vow to never let the object of worship forget them.

In Closing:

In time and place set,
That person never to forget.

Who to Arjuna brought,
Through song the wisdom taught.

Not just for principles to be extracted,
Already kalpa time line abstracted.

But more towards the person to go,
How to surrendered merciful so.

Categories: the five

Tags: bhagavad-gita, dailyprompt, hinduism, poem, poems, poetry