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Arjuna’s doubts persist (Bg 2.4 to 2.6)
Even after Kṛṣṇa’s attempt to encourage him, Arjuna’s doubts persist. Bhīṣma and Droṇa are considered worshipable superiors by Arjuna. How could he fight them? And even if he were to fight and somehow defeat them, how could he enjoy a kingdom gained over the dead bodies of such respectable personalities? Although these arguments do not solve the problem, they are bringing Arjuna to the point where friendly talks are shown to be inadequate.
Text 4: arjuna uvāca
katham bhīṣmam aham sankhye, droṇam ca madhusūdana
iṣubhiḥ pratiyotsyāmi, pūjārhāv ari-sūdana
Arjuna said: O killer of enemies, O killer of Madhu, how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy of my worship?
Text 5: gurūn ahatvā hi mahānubhāvān, śreyo bhoktum bhaikṣyam apīha loke, hatvārtha-kāmāms tu gurūn ihaiva, bhuñjīya bhogān rudhira-pradigdhān
It would be better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though desiring worldly gain, they are superiors. If they are killed, everything we enjoy will be tainted with blood.
Text 6: na caitad vidmaḥ kataran no garīyo, yad vā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ, yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas, te ’vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ
Nor do we know which is better – conquering them or being conquered by them. If we killed the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, we should not care to live. Yet they are now standing before us on the battlefield.
Kṣatriyas maintain themselves by ruling, maintaining order, and providing protection in exchange for taxes. Some kṣatriyas would become emperors, with vast kingdoms, while others would rule over smaller tracts of land, down to single villages. Whether big or small, every kṣatriya needed some domains to rule. Before the battle, however, Duryodhana famously said that he was not prepared to spare even the land where a pin could be fixed, indicating that he was not going to settle for anything less than full victory. If Arjuna did not fight and win the battle, there would be no place for him to rule anywhere. The only possible occupation for him would be to beg.
When the Pāṇḍavas visited Mount Gandhamādana during their exile, Draupadī saw at a certain point a beautiful lotus flower with one thousand petals called saugandhika. She asked Bhīma to collect a few more such flowers. Bhīma then entered the forest, reaching a lake belonging to Kuvera, where the lotuses grew. When he prepared to collect the flowers, the Yakṣas guarding the place informed him that the lake belonged to Kuvera, warning him that if he wanted to take the lotuses, he had to first ask for his permission. Bhīma, however, answered that a kṣatriya doesn’t beg like a brāhmaṇa, nor barter like a vaiśya, and thus if they were not prepared to give the flowers he was seeking, they would have to face him in battle. Bhīma then proceeded to single-handedly fight (and defeat) the supernatural army of Kuvera armed with just his mace, just for the sake of a few flowers. This tells us something about the mood of a kṣatriya. Based on this, we can understand Arjuna’s consternation at preferring to become a beggar instead of fighting.
When Arjuna mentions, “How can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy of my worship?” he indirectly refers to Kṛṣṇa’s own superiors, like his grandfather Ugrasena and his teacher Sāndīpani Muni, making the point that just as Kṛṣṇa could never attack them, how could he do the same to Bhīṣma and Droṇa? The situation was, however, different. Ugrasena and Sāndīpani Muni never sided with irreligion, while Bhīṣma and Droṇa had fallen from their positions by remaining silent when the Kauravas tried to disrobe Draupadī in the assembly, as well as in many other situations. A superior who acts irreligiously should be rejected, and in the case of kṣatriyas, he may even be faced in battle. There is nothing wrong with that. The hesitancy of Arjuna was thus due to sentiment and not according to the principles of dharma.
As Prabhupāda mentions, “According to scriptural codes, a teacher who engages in an abominable action and has lost his sense of discrimination is fit to be abandoned. Bhīṣma and Droṇa were obliged to take the side of Duryodhana because of his financial assistance, although they should not have accepted such a position simply on financial considerations. Under the circumstances, they have lost the respectability of teachers.”
In this way, Arjuna opens his mind to Kṛṣṇa, but at the same time, he quickly understands that these friendly talks would not lead him anywhere. Friends talk at the same level; therefore, rarely can a friend give a solution for a serious dilemma, even if he has the knowledge to do so. Friends can talk for a long time, arguing and counter-arguing, but this rarely leads to any real solution. In the case of Arjuna, the situation was pressing. There was no time for that.
Arjuna understood that Kṛṣṇa had the solutions for his dilemma, but to receive them, he would need to put Kṛṣṇa in a higher position so He would be free to correct him and speak the hard truth if necessary. And that’s what he did. With tears in his eyes, he begged Kṛṣṇa to become his spiritual master and help him to overcome his doubts. Talks between master and disciple are serious, and a spiritual master has the authority to correct his disciple when necessary.
Main points in the purports of Śrīla Prabhupāda:
“Arjuna said: O killer of enemies, O killer of Madhu, how can I counterattack with arrows in battle men like Bhīṣma and Droṇa, who are worthy of my worship?”
a) Arjuna argues that it is general etiquette that superiors are not to be offered even a verbal fight. How is it possible for him to counterattack them with weapons?
“It would be better to live in this world by begging than to live at the cost of the lives of great souls who are my teachers. Even though desiring worldly gain, they are superiors. If they are killed, everything we enjoy will be tainted with blood.”
a) Bhīṣma and Droṇa lost their respectability as teachers by siding with Duryodhana in all his evil acts because of financial assistance. According to the scriptures, a teacher who engages in abominable actions should be abandoned. Arjuna, however, thinks they remain his superiors and should not be killed.
“Nor do we know which is better – conquering them or being conquered by them. If we killed the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, we should not care to live. Yet they are now standing before us on the battlefield.”
a) If Arjuna did not fight, begging would be his only means of livelihood, but he was unsure about fighting and risking unnecessary violence. He considered that the situation was such that whether he won or lost the battle, in either case, he would lose, because winning would mean that his relatives would be killed. On top of that, he feared sinful reactions.
b) Arjuna’s willingness to live by begging, although he was a kṣatriya, proved he was a great devotee, with complete control of his mind and senses, and on a platform of detachment. On top of that, he was a great devotee, with faith in the instructions of the Lord. All these qualifications meant his doubts would be short-lived.
Read the entire book:
« The Song of God—Volume 1, chapters 1-6
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