The moment of surrender (Bg 2.7 to 2.9)
Arjuna makes the decisive turn: he stops speaking to Kṛṣṇa as a friend and surrenders as a disciple. Now, Kṛṣṇa can speak the sobering truth and give him perfect knowledge.
« The Song of God—Volume 1, chapters 1-6
The moment of surrender (Bg 2.7 to 2.9)
Arjuna spoke about compassion, morality, social structure, sinful reactions, and respect for superiors, but none of these considerations could solve his dilemma. Even the encouraging, friendly words of Kṛṣṇa did little to help. Therefore, Arjuna makes the decisive turn: he stops speaking to Kṛṣṇa as a friend and surrenders as a disciple. Now, Kṛṣṇa can speak the sobering truth and give him perfect knowledge.
Text 7: kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ,
pṛcchāmi tvām dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitam brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te ’ham śādhi mām tvām prapannam
Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.
Text 8: na hi prapaśyāmi mamāpanudyād
yac chokam ucchoṣaṇam indriyāṇām
avāpya bhūmāv asapatnam ṛddham
rājyam surāṇām api cādhipatyam
I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.
Text 9: sañjaya uvāca
evam uktvā hṛṣīkeśam, guḍākeśaḥ paran-tapaḥ
na yotsya iti govindam, uktvā tūṣṇīm babhūva ha
Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, “Govinda, I shall not fight,” and fell silent.
As conditioned souls, we have four defects: we are prone to committing mistakes, we have imperfect senses (and imperfect intelligence), we become illusioned, and we have the propensity to take advantage of others. Because of these imperfections, we can’t find perfect knowledge by ourselves, nor can we trust other imperfect souls to give us perfect solutions, since they share the same limitations, and will thus also commit mistakes and become illusioned, if they do not outright cheat us.
The only hope for us to obtain perfect knowledge is to approach a perfect soul and trust his instructions. That’s exactly what Arjuna decided to do. Arjuna knows that his personal friend, Kṛṣṇa, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original spiritual master, and the source of all knowledge. Kṛṣṇa is above all human limitations, being perfect and knowing the past, present, and future. It’s clear that no one could be better qualified to destroy his doubts. He thus openly admits his impotence in solving his dilemma and asks Kṛṣṇa for help.
It’s said that one should present oneself as a fool in front of one’s spiritual master. The meaning is that we should abandon our pride in whatever knowledge we have and instead listen to what the spiritual master has to say. If we are proud of our knowledge, we will interpret the words of the spiritual master according to our misconceptions, and we will not be able to understand the message. If we are confused and incapable of solving our problems, it means we don’t know, and admitting that is an important stage of spiritual development. Only by becoming a tabula rasa can we absorb something superior. We can see this attitude exemplified in the words of Arjuna: “Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition, I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me.”
In other words, he openly admits that whatever knowledge he possesses has revealed itself as impotent to solve his problem, and asks Kṛṣṇa to give him something superior, perfect knowledge that can transcend the limitations of mundane understanding. He concludes by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa’s guidance, mentioning that “Now I am Your disciple and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.”
Just like Arjuna surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, we can surrender to Kṛṣṇa’s representatives and receive the same knowledge through the paramparā system. Bona fide representatives of the Lord can transmit the perfect knowledge He left, adapting the words according to the circumstances, but preserving the essence. Prabhupāda called his commentary on the Gītā the “Bhagavad-gītā As It Is,” indicating his effort to present the original meaning of the text, without clouding it with personal interpretations, as done by other authors. Similarly, disciples, grand-disciples, and great-grand-disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda who remain faithful to his teachings are capable of presenting the same to us.
As Prabhupāda explains in his purport, “By nature’s own way the complete system of material activities is a source of perplexity for everyone. In every step there is perplexity, and therefore it behooves one to approach a bona fide spiritual master who can give one proper guidance for executing the purpose of life. All Vedic literatures advise us to approach a bona fide spiritual master to get free from the perplexities of life, which happen without our desire.”
The only qualification for a spiritual master is to know the spiritual science and to be faithful to the teachings of the previous links of the paramparā. It’s not about having certain characteristics or titles, belonging to a certain group or caste, or having certain material qualifications. As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu summarizes: kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya, yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya. “It does not matter whether a person is a vipra [learned scholar in Vedic wisdom], or is born in a lower family, or is in the renounced order of life – if he is a master in the science of Kṛṣṇa, he is the perfect and bona fide spiritual master.” (CC Madhya 8.128)
Arjuna is tested by Kṛṣṇa
In his commentary, Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa reveals that even after Arjuna surrendered, Kṛṣṇa didn’t accept him immediately as a disciple. That’s why verse eight brings us additional arguments by Arjuna, instead of a direct answer by Kṛṣṇa. He explains that when Arjuna surrendered to Kṛṣṇa as His disciple in verse seven, Kṛṣṇa answered, possibly in a non-verbal way, that Arjuna knew the śastras very well, and therefore he could use his logic and reasoning to solve his dilemma or go instead to Vyāsadeva or another great sage, instead of approaching his friend. With this context, we can best understand why Arjuna insisted by declaring, “I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.” Kṛṣṇa tested Arjuna’s determination, illustrating the attitude of a spiritual master, and Arjuna passed the test by showing he was serious about receiving spiritual knowledge.
When Arjuna mentions that the grief is drying up his senses, he illustrates how it is devouring his energy and preventing him from fulfilling his duty. In the Vedas, not only the vision and hearing, etc., but also the functional limbs such as the hands, legs, etc., are counted as senses. Therefore, Arjuna reveals how the doubts had rendered his whole body inactive and impotent. His powerful arms, which in the past had protected even the demigods, were now rendered useless, like dried trees.
When he mentions that even an unrivaled kingdom with sovereignty like the demigods would not be able to dispel his doubt, he depicts how material possessions can’t solve the real problems of life. If money could solve all problems, no rich person would be unhappy, but that’s not what we observe in practice. The essential problems of life start with birth, which sets the stage for all the struggles we face in life. As Kṛṣṇa will explain in verse 2.16, everything that has a beginning has an end, and thus, together with birth comes death. As soon as we are born, each moment brings us closer to death, and there is nothing we can do about it. Having lived 30 years means that, in reality, we died 30 years. As death comes closer, old age settles in as a warning, and often we don’t even have the opportunity to reach this stage, with disease taking its toll before that. Despite all technological advancements, people continue to be born, become diseased, wither, and die, and there is no technical solution in sight for these problems. A rich person may pay for the best medical assistance, and thus maybe be able to extend his life for a few years, but the essential problems are still there. Apart from death, there are many other frustrations connected with expectation and loss that money also can’t solve. This brings us back to the knowledge of the Gītā.
In verse nine, Arjuna summarizes his bewilderment by saying, “Govinda, I shall not fight”, and falls silent, awaiting Kṛṣṇa’s instructions. The word hṛṣīkeśam in the verse is significant. Kṛṣṇa is Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses, and He will surely conduct the senses of Arjuna back to the fulfillment of his duty, overcoming lamentation. As Kṛṣṇa later describes, the mind is also counted as one of the senses. Sañjaya also describes Arjuna as Guḍākeśa (the master of curbing ignorance) and Parantapa (the chastiser of the enemies), indicating to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that the doubts of Arjuna would be short-lived. Under the direct guidance of Kṛṣṇa, Arjuna would very soon arise and defeat his enemies.
Main points in the purports of Śrīla Prabhupāda:
“Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.”
a) No one wants difficulties, but they appear automatically in material life, just like fire in a forest. When perplexities appear, we should approach a spiritual master to find solutions to the real problems of life. A bona fide spiritual master has perfect knowledge, descending directly from Kṛṣṇa through the disciplic succession; therefore, a devotee under such proper guidance is supposed to know everything.
b) Material perplexities come from not understanding the real problems of life. A miser lives like cats and dogs, without bothering to understand the science of self-realization. He spends his time concerned only about maintaining his body and the bodies of his family members. He thus misses the opportunity of human life. Conversely, a brāhmaṇa is intelligent enough to use his human body to find real solutions.
c) Arjuna was intelligent enough to understand that his problems were caused by his material attachment. Although he could understand that his duty was to fight, he was hesitant because of miserly weakness. He thus approached Kṛṣṇa, the supreme spiritual master, for a definitive solution.
d) Certain scholars give spurious interpretations to the Gītā, explaining that we should not surrender to Kṛṣṇa as a person, but to “the unborn within Kṛṣṇa.” They are the greatest fools.
“I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.”
a) Arjuna was knowledgeable in the Vedas and was putting forward many arguments based on general religious and moral principles. However, this knowledge was not sufficient to solve his problems without the help of a spiritual master. In this way, we can understand that material qualifications are useless in solving the real problems of life. Help can be given only by a qualified spiritual master.
b) What is the qualification of a spiritual master? Lord Caitanya said that one who is a master in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, regardless of his social position, is the real spiritual master.
c) The real problems of life, birth, old age, disease, and death, cannot be solved by wealth or economic development. To curb material lamentation, we need to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, as Arjuna did. The process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only solution to the real problems of life.
“Sañjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, “Govinda, I shall not fight,” and fell silent.”
a) Although Arjuna was temporarily lamenting over material affection, because he surrendered to Kṛṣṇa his doubts would be short-lived. Being enlightened by perfect knowledge, he would fight and win the battle. Sañjaya very tactfully informed Dhṛtarāṣṭra that there was no hope of victory for his sons.
Read the entire book:
« The Song of God—Volume 1, chapters 1-6
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Hare Krishna Prabhu Ji 💐 🙏 ❤️
Nice book ( ur version is explained well to even understandable to the layman )
Thank you.