THE REASON FOR LORD KRISHNA’S REBUKE

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

THE REASON FOR LORD KRISHNA’S REBUKE
Why does Krishna, the great World Teacher and very close friend of Arjuna, take such a
seemingly unsympathetic attitude towards His very dear friend? They have been close companions,
living together, eating together, and joking together with great familiarity, and yet Krishna rebukes
him sharply. He does not seem to be at all inclined to be sympathetic with him. He does not make
any attempt to understand him. Instead, He says: “What is this? Are you not ashamed? Get up!”

These are not words of sympathy from a friend. Why is He so very sharp, a little intolerant even,
impatient, with Arjuna? He has full reason to be.
The reason is not far to seek. It is more or less the same way as a Guru is sometimes very
sharp, very unsympathetic and impatiently angry with a disciple. He will never act this way with a
new disciple, with one who has been recently admitted into his fold, who has not had the
opportunity to be in close contact with him and to imbibe, over a long period of time, his upadesa
and adesa (teachings and instructions). But, he will act this way with a disciple who has been living
with him for years and years and who has had the opportunity over a long period of time to be in
constant contact with him, to have heard his upadesa a hundred times and yet in spite of this
behaves in a different manner.
So, in effect, Lord Krishna says: “Have all my efforts on you been wasted? Is that what you
are trying to demonstrate now, that your association with Me, your discipleship, and all that I have
tried to teach you is so much waste, useless? Has it been of no value, that you demonstrate this
foolish behaviour at this point in your career?” For, through thick and thin, rain and shine, ups and
downs, good fortune and misfortune, Arjuna had long been in contact with Lord Krishna. And this
contact had not only brought forth Lord Krishna’s wisdom teachings to Arjuna but also to Kunti,
Draupadi and all the Pandava brothers.
For a discerning and wise person, something said once should be enough. Perhaps due to a
weakness of memory he may forget the first time, but if it is said twice, then that should be enough.
It is only impossible people who will never imbibe it, no matter how many times you give them
good advice. But the Pandavas were not like that. They were sattvic people. They valued the
company of Lord Krishna. They valued His teachings. But in spite of that, at this juncture, when all
the satsang and sravana that Arjuna had done should have come to his aid and helped him, he was
acting like this!
Life after life, the jiva comes into this earth plane to progress in knowledge, expand in
wisdom, to learn, to educate itself. Each life span is an opportunity given by God for it to learn,
sometimes the easy way, sometimes the hard way, but always to learn. Gurudev used to say that this
world is a great university for evolution into divine perfection. Life is the great teacher. All the
experiences one encounters in life are an educative process. They come with lessons, valuable
lessons. Nothing is empty of valuable content.
Therefore, God Himself will become impatient when He has constantly tried to teach the
jiva in so many ways, life after life, and still the jiva manifests obduracy and an asinine obstinacy by
refusing to imbibe that which is placed before it. Then God says: “No, this is not good enough.
Therefore, through knocks and blows I will make this jiva wake up, learn, become wise and strive
for its own highest good, supreme welfare.”
But Arjuna was a Pandava, not a Kaurava. He was an uttama adhikari (best qualified
aspirant). Yet, in this situation, when the situation calls for action, it is Arjuna who says: “I would
much rather take up a begging bowl, turn into a mendicant and live by begging, than rule over a
kingdom obtained after so much bloodshed and the killing of my relatives.” As though he had not
known all along that the opposing Kaurava forces were his relatives! This is what happens when
sentiment takes over the area that is the proper territory of the viveka and vichara of the buddhi.
The place where the Gita advice is being given to Arjuna is a field of action. It is
Kurukshetra. In Sanskrit, kuru means do, act. And instead of acting, Arjuna says: “I won’t act. I
won’t fight. I will go away.” He wants to run away from action. And when Krishna the great World
Teacher, the Divine Teacher, tries to tell him, “Now you must engage in action, you must do your
duty, you must fight,” Arjuna, refusing to understand, finds fault with Krishna’s advice and says:
“No, no, no! It is wrong action. I don’t agree.”