THE LORD REBUKES ARJUNA

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

THE LORD REBUKES ARJUNA
And so, the Gita jnana-upadesa starts from this human situation: the ultimate extremity of a
helpless individual calling for intervention from the Divine. And the Divine speaks and says: “What
is this that has happened to you? This is the time for viveka and vichara, not sentiment, bhavana.
There is a maryada (social norm) of every given situation, a time and a place. And at this time, the
maryada requires that you must exercise your discrimination, your right thought, your viveka and
vichara. This is not a time for indulging in sentiment. Your heart has given way to a completely
wrong factor in your personality make-up. That factor has no business here. Intruding at a time and
place which is not its territory, it is working havoc with you; it has taken away your strength.
Vichara, viveka, determination and will-power constitute the strength of an individual. Silly
sentiment, uncontrollable emotion, constitute a weakness of an individual.” Therefore the Lord 

uses the word hridaya daurbalya (weakness of heart). “This is not the right thing. Stop it! Give up
this inner weakness. Stand up and fight! Be strong!”
That too is the call of the Upanishads: na-ayam atma balahinena labhyah (This Atman
cannot be attained by one who is destitute of strength). And this morning Mahamandalesvar Sri
Swami Vidyanandaji Maharaj spoke about the necessity of strength, heroism, if you are going to
confront the undesirable aspects of your own nature and refuse to yield to their pull. Because Lord
Brahma put an extra portion of rajo guna into the antahkarana of the jivatman, man’s mind and
senses are all outgoing, and to go against this very elemental aspect of one’s nature requires some
special strength. Only such special strength can enable you to dive inward where you can see the
Self, the immortal, eternal, imperishable Self, and attain supreme bliss and immortality.
And so we see that Arjuna’s deep grief and anxiety, his nervous breakdown and physical
collapse, put Lord Krishna into a temporary dilemma, so to speak. Arjuna, the redoubtable,
renowned warrior prince, having requested Krishna to assist him in the war by being his charioteer,
is now behaving in this most unwarrior-like way. To make matters still more embarrassing, the
prince had come with a great determination to join battle with the opposing forces of the Kauravas
and just a few minutes before, with this intention and determination, he had asked Krishna to take
the chariot right to the middle of the battlefield in between the two opposing forces. Thus whatever
is now taking place between Himself and Arjuna is being witnessed by everyone on both sides. And
they must be wondering what the matter is! Arjuna is no longer in the chariot. He is there on the
ground and he seems to be in some peculiar state of agitation. He is making gestures and looking up
to Krishna and then bowing his head.
Krishna must be feeling: “What is this? If this had happened when we were still behind the
battle lines, or at least in the midst of the Pandavas, it would have been somewhat better. At least
they would have somehow or other looked upon this with sympathy and understanding, not with
scorn. But now, here we are in front of the enemy forces, and this has happened. Very
embarrassing! I have promised to take him into the battlefield for battle and here he is saying, ‘I
won’t fight.’”
For the moment, as it were, humanly speaking, Krishna was taken aback, nonplussed. He
asks Arjuna: “What has happened to you? What is the matter? A little while ago you were full of
spirit, full of mettle, and now, in one moment, you have come to this abject condition. From where
has this type of mood come? It is not supposed to be in you. You are a warrior, a young person, a
hero. You are courageous, renowned for your prowess and valour. And now this! What has
happened to you? This sudden yielding to a negative quality of fear, of anxiety, of cowardice, of
wanting to run away from your duty, is unbecoming of you.”