It appears that there is no need of any further exposition of the Geeta. Hundreds of commentaries, out of which more than fifty are in Sanskrit, have been attempted so far. But, although there are scores of interpretations, they have a common basis- the Geeta, which is only one. Why, then one may wonder, are there all these divergent opinions and controversies when Yogeshwar Krishn’s message must of necessity have been only one? The proclaimer verily speaks of truth that is only one, but if there are ten listeners they construe his meaning in ten different ways. Our grasp of what has been said is determined by the extent to which we are under the domination of one of the three properties of nature, namely, sattwa (moral virtue and goodness), rajas (passion and moral blindness), and tamas (ignorance and darkness). We cannot comprehend beyond the limitations imposed by these properties. So it is logical that there should be all these disputes about the import of the Geeta-”The Lord’s Song.”
Men fall prey to doubts, not only because many different views are held on a given subject, but also because of the fact that the same principle is often enunciated in different ways and styles at different times. Quite a good many existing commentaries on the Geeta are touched by the current of truth, and yet if one of them-even a just and correct interpretation-is placed among a thousand other interpretations it is almost impossible to recognize it for what it is. Identification of truth is an onerous task, for even falsehood wears the “brows” of truth. The many expositions of the Geeta all profess that they represent truth even though they may not have any inkling of it. As against this, even when quite a good many interpreters did succeed in coming by this truth, for a number of reasons they were prevented from giving a public utterance to it.
The much too common inability to get at the meaning of the Geeta in its true perspective may be attributed to the fact that Krishn was a yogi, an enlightened sage. Only another great an accomplished Soul-man of knowledge and discernment-who has gradually attained to the ultimate spiritual goal discoursed upon by Krishn can realize and reveal the real intent of the Yogeshwar when he preached to his friend and disciple Arjun. What is within one’s mind cannot be fully expressed by mere words. While some of it is communicated by facial expression and gestures, and even by what is named “eloquent” silence, the rest that is still unexpressed is something dynamic and seekers can know it only through action and by actually aversing the path of quest. So only another sage who has himself trodden the path and arrived at Krishn’s sublime state may know what the message of the Geeta really is. Rather than just reproducing lines from the scripture, he can know and demonstrate its intent and significance, for Krishn’s insights and preceptions are also his insights and perceptions. Since he is a seer himself, he cannot only show the essence but also awaken it in others, and even prompt and enable them to embark on the way that leads to it.
My noble teacher-preceptor, the most revered paramhans Parmanand Ji Maharaj, was a sage of such achievement; and Yatharth Geeta is nothing but a compilation of the meaning that was derived by the author from his teacher’s utterances and inner promptings. Nothing that you will find in this exposition belongs to me. And this meaning, as the reader is about to see, embodies a dynamic, action-oriented principle that has to be undertaken and personally gone through by everyone who has taken to the path of spiritual seeking and accomplishment. So long as he is removed from it, he has evidently not set upon the way of worship and meditation but is yet roaming about amidst the maze of certain lifeless stereotypes. So we have to take refuge in a sage-a Soul of the highest attainment, for this is what Krishn has commended. He explicitly admits that the truth he is about to illumine has also been known to and celebrated by other sages. Not once does he profess that only he is aware of this truth or that only he can reveal it. On the contrary he exhorts worshippers to seek haven under a seer and imbibe knowledge from him by an innocent, guileless ministering to his needs. So Krishn has but proclaimed the verities that have also been discovered and witnessed to by other sages of true accomplishment.
The, Sanskrit in which the Geeta is bodied forth is so simple and lucid. If we but make a patient and careful perusal of its syntax and the etymology of its words, we can understand most of the Geeta by ourselves. But the difficulty is that we are disinclined to accept what these words really signify. To cite an instance, Krishn has declared in unambiguous terms that true action is the undertaking ofyagya. But we yet persist in asserting that all the worldly business in which men are engaged is action. Throwing light upon the nature of yagya, Krishn says that while many yogi undertake it by offering pran (inhaled breath) to apan (exhaled breath), and many sacrifice apan to pran, yet many others regulate both pran and apan to achieve perfect serenity of breath (pranayam). Many sages resign the inclination of their senses to the sacred fire of self-restraint. Thus yagya is said to be contemplation of breath of pran and apan. This is what the composer of the Geeta has recorded. Despite this, however, we adamantly hold that intoning swaha and casting of barley grains, oil seeds, and butter into the altar-fire is yagya. Nothing like this has been even suggested by Yogeshwar Krishn.
How to account for this all too common failure to comprehend the true meaning of the Geeta? Even after a great deal of hair-splitting and cramming, all that we succeed in getting hold of, is nothing more than the external framework of its syntactical order. Why perforce, we should find out, do we find ourselves deprived of truth ? As a matter or fact, with his birth and growing up a man inherits the paternal legacy of home, shop, land and property, rank and honour, cattle and other livestock, and now-a-days even machinery and appliances. Precisely in the same way he also inherits certain customs, traditions, and modes of worship: the evil legacy of all the three hundred and thirty million Hindu gods and goddesses who were identified and catalogued long ago as well as of the innumerable various forms of them all over the world. As a child grows up, he observes his parents’, his brothers’ and sisters’, and, his neighbours’ way of worship. His family’s beliefs, rites, and ceremonies are thus permanently imprinted on his mind. If his heritage is worship of a goddess, all his life he recites only the name of that goddess. If his patrimony is worship of ghosts and spirits, he cannot but endlessly repeat the names of those ghosts and spirits. So it is that while some of us adhere to Shiv, some others cleave to Krishn, and yet others cling to this or that deity. It is beyond us to forsake them.
If such misguided men ever get a propitious, sacred work like the Geeta, they fail to grasp its real import. It is· possible for a man to give up the material possessions he has inherited, but he cannot rid himself of inherited traditions and creeds. He can relinquish material belongings that are his legacy and go far away from them, but even there he is doggedly pursued by the thoughts, beliefs, and usages that have been ineradicably engraved on his mind and heart. He cannot after all cut off his head. It is for this reason that we also construe the truth contained in the Geeta in the light of our inherited assumptions, customs, and modes of worship. If the scripture is in harmony with them and there is no contradiction between the two, we concede it’s veracity. But we either reject it or twist it to suit our convenience if this is not the case. Is it surprising then that more often than not we miserably fail to comprehend the mysterious knowledge of the Geeta ? So this secret continues to remain inscrutable. Sages and noble teacher-preceptors, who have known the Self as well as his kinship with the Supreme Spirit, are on the other hand knowers of the truth that the Geeta embodies. Only they are qualified to say what the Geeta proclaims. For others, however, it remains a secret which they can best resolve by sitting devotedly as earnest disciples near some sage of awareness. This way of realization has been repeatedly emphasized by Krishn.
The Geeta is not a holy book that belongs to any one individual, caste, group, school, sect, nation or time. It is rather a scripture for the entire world and for all times. If is for all, for every nation, every race, and for every man and woman, whatever be their spiritual level and capacity. Irrespective of this, however, just hearsay or someone’s influence should not be the basis for a decision that has a direct bearing upon one’s existence. Krishn says in the last chapter of the Geeta that even just hearing its mysterious knowledge is indeed salutary. But after a seeker has thus learnt it from an accomplished teacher, he also needs to practise it and incorporate it into his own conduct and experience. This necessitates that we approach the Geeta after freeing ourselves from all prejudices and preconceived notions. And then we will indeed find it a pillar of light.
To regard the Geeta as just a sacred book is not enough. A book is at best a sign-post that guides readers to knowledge. It is said that one who has known the truth of the Geeta is a knower of the Ved-which literally means knowledge of God. In the Upanishad Brihadaranyak, Yagnvalkya calls the Ved “the breath of the Eternal.” But all the knowledge and all the wisdom that the Geeta embodies, we must always remember, comes to consciousness only within the worshipper’s heart.
The great sage Vishwamitr, we are told, was absorbed in meditative penance. Pleased with this, Brahma appeared and-said to him, “From this day you are a sage (rishi).” But not satisfied with this, the hermit went on with his intent contemplation. After a while Brahma, now accompanied by other gods, returned and said, “From today you are a royal sage (rajarshi).” But since Vishwamitr’s wish was yet unfulfilled, he continued with his incessant penance. Attended upon by gods, virtuous impulses that constitute the treasure of divinity, Brahma came back again and told Vishwamitr that from that day he was a supreme sage (maharshi). Vishwamitr then said to the oldest of all gods, “No, I wish to be called a brahmarshi (Brahmin sage) who has conquered his senses.” Brahma protested that it could not be because he had not yet subdued his senses. So Vishwamitr resumed his penance, so rigorously this time that the smoke of the fire of penance began to rise from his head. Gods then entreated Brahma and the Lord of creation once more appeared before Vishwamitr and said, “Now you are a brahmarshi.” Thereupon Vishwamitr rejoined, “If I am a brahmarshi, let the Ved wed me.” His prayer was granted and the Ved was awakened in his heart. The unknown essence-all the mysterious knowledge and wisdom of the Ved-now became known. This direct apprehension of truth rather than a book is Ved. So wherever Vishwamitr-an enlightened sage-is, the Ved abide there.
Krishn has also revealed in the Geeta that the world is like an indestructible Peepal tree whose root above is God and whose branches spreading below are nature. The one who cuts this tree down with the axe of renunciation and knows God is a knower of the Ved. So the perception of God that comes after the cessation of nature’s dominance is named “Ved.” Since this vision is a gift from God himself, it is said to transcend even the Self. A sage is also one who has gone beyond the Self by merging into the Supreme Spirit, and it is God who then speaks through him. He turns into the medium by which the signs coming from God are transmitted. So a mere understanding of the literal meaning of words and grammatical structures is not sufficient to comprehend the truth underlying a sage’s utterances. Only the seeker who has achieved the state of a non-person by actually treading the action-oriented path of spiritual fulfillment, and whose ego is dissolved in God, can comprehend this hidden meaning.
Although essentially impersonal, the Ved are compilations of the utterances of a hundred or a hundred and fifty sage-seers. But when the same utterances are put down in writing by others, a code of social order and organization is also included along with them. Since this code is believed to have come down from men of true accomplishment and wisdom, people tend to adhere to its provisions even though they may have nothing to do with dharm-fulfillment of one’s innate spiritual obligation. In our own time we see how even hangers-on of no consequence get their work done by pretending to be intimate with wielders of power, whereas as a matter of fact they may not be really even known to them. Likewise, codifiers of rules for social life and conduct also hide behind great sages and exploit their venerable names to win subsistence. The same has happened with the Ved. Fortunately, however, what may be deemed the essence of the Ved-the divine revelations of saints and seers who lived thousands of years ago-is enshrined in the Upanishad. Neither dogma nor theology, these meditations concern direct, overwhelming religious experience in the midst of life, and record insights into eternal truths. They are unified by their common search for the true nature of reality, and in the course of this search provide glimpses into sublime states of the soul. And the Geeta is an abstract of this essence that the Upanishad contain. Or, as it might be said, the Geeta is the quintessence of the immortal substance that the Upanishad have churned from the celestial poetry of the Ved.
Every sage who has attained reality is also likewise an embodiment of this quintessence. And in every part of the world a compilation of his utterances is known as scripture. Nevertheless, dogmatists and blind followers of creeds insist that this or that holy book alone is a repository of truth. So we have people who say that only the Koran is a revelation of truth and that its visionary experience cannot be had again. There are others who hold forth that no man can go to heaven without placing his faith in Jesus Christ, the one Son of God. We often hear people say, “There cannot be such a sage or seer or prophet again.” But all this is nothing but blind, irrational orthodoxy. The essence perceived by all true sages is the same.
Its universality makes the Geeta unique among the eminent sacred works of the entire world. That also makes it a yardstick by which the veracity of other holy books can be tested and judged. So the Geeta is that touchstone that vindicates the substance of truth in other scriptures and also resolves disputes arising from their sometimes incompatible or even contradictory assertions. As it has been pointed cut, almost all holy books abound in provisions for worldly life and sustenance, and also in directives for religious rites and ceremonies. There are also introduced into them-in order to make them more attractive-sensational and even dreadful accounts of what ought or ought not to be done. It is so unfortunate that people blindly accept all these superficial matters as the “essence” of dharm, forgetting that regulations and modes of worship that have been laid down for the conduct and sustenance of physical life are bound to undergo change with place, time, and situation. This really is behind all our communal and religious disharmony. The uniqueness of the Geeta is that it rises above temporal questions and reveals the dynamic way by which man may achieve perfection of the Self and final absolution. There is not a single verse in the whole composition that is concerned with sustenance of physical life. On the contrary, each verse of the Geeta demands of its disciples that they equip themselves and get ready for the inner war-the discipline of worship and meditation. Instead of embroiling us, like other sacred books, in the irreconcilable contradictions of heaven and hell, it is concerned exclusively with demonstrating the way by which the Soul may attain the immortal state after which there are no shackles of birth and death.
Every sage-teacher-like a writer-has his own style and certain favourite expressions. Besides choosing a poetic medium, Yogeshwar Krishn has also repeatedly employed and stressed terms such as action (karm), yagya, varn, varnsankar, war, sphere (kshetr), and knowledge or discrimination (gyan) in the Geeta. These words are invested with unique meanings in the context and are certainly not divested of charm by frequent repetition. In both the original Hindi version and its English rendering, the peculiar meanings of these expressions have been strictly adhered to and there are explanations wherever required. These words and their unique meanings which have been almost completely lost today constitute the main attraction of the Geeta. Since readers will meet them again and again in Yatharth Geeta, brief definitions of these terms are given below:
KRISHN?...He was a Yogeshwar, an adept in yog, an accomplished teacher
TRUTH?...The Self or Soul alone is true.
SANATAN? ... The word means “eternal.” The Soul is eternal; God is eternal.
SANATAN DHARM?...It is the conduct that unites with God.
WAR?...“War” is the conflict between the riches of divinity and the devilish hoard that represent the two distinct, contradictory impulses of the mind and heart. Its final consequence is the annihilation of both.
KSHETR?...The word means “sphere.” The sphere where the above war is fought is the human body, a composite of the mind along with senses.
GYAN?...The word means “knowledge/discernment.” Direct perception of God is knowledge.
YOG?...Attainment to the Supreme Spirit who is beyond worldly attachment and repulsion is yog.
GYAN YOG?...The Way of Knowledge or Discrimination. Worship and meditation are action. Embarking on this action with reliance upon one’s own prowess and ability is the Way of knowledge.
NISHKAM KARM YOG?...The Way of Selfless Action. Setting upon action with dependence on an accomplished teacher and total self-surrender is the Way of Selfless Action.
THE TRUTH REVEALED ... Krishn has revealed the same truth which seer-sages had BY KRISHN? perceived before him and which they will perceive hereafter.
YAGYA?...Yagya is the name of a certain process of worship and meditation.
KARM?...The word means “action.”Undertaking of yagya is action.
VARN?...The four stages into which action-the ordained mode of worship-has been divided are the four varn; rather than being caste-names they represent the lower and higher states of the same worshipper.
VARNSANKAR?...The advent of confusion into the worshipper and his consequent straying from the path of God-realization is varnsankar.
HUMAN CATEGORIES? ...Governed by natural properties, there are two categories of men, the godly and the ungodly-the righteous and the unrighteous; driven by their inborn inclinations they ascend or descend.
GODS?...Gods represent the collective body of virtuous impulses that abide in the realm of heart and enable the Soul to attain the sublimity of the supreme God.
AVATAR?...The word means “incarnation.” This incarnation is always brought about within man’s heart, never outside.
VIRAT DARSHAN?...The phrase may be translated as “vision of the Omnipresent.” It is a God-gifted intuition in a sage’s heart, perceptible only when the Supreme Being stands as a vision within the worshipper.
THE REVERED GOD?...The supreme goal. The one transcendental God alone is fit for worship. The place where he should be sought for is the realm of heart: and he can be realized only through the medium of sages (Accomplished teachers) who have attained that unmanifest state.
Now, out of these, in order to understand Krishn’s form one has to study upto Chapter 3 and by Chapter 13 it will be evident that Krishn was an accomplished sage (yogi). The reality disclosed by the Geeta will be known from Chapter 2 itself, which demonstrates how “eternal” and “truth” are substitutes; but these concepts are also dealt with throughout the poem. The nature of “war” will be clear by Chapter 4 and whatever doubts there are in regard to this subject are all fully resolved by Chapter 11. However, more light is thrown on it upto Chapter 16. One should turn again and again to Chapter 13 for its elaborate account of the sphere-the battlefield-where the “war” is fought.
It will be clearly understood from Chapter 4 and then from Chapter 13 that perception is given the name of knowledge (gyan). The significance of yog is distinctly seen by Chapter 6, although delineation of the several aspects of the question again runs through the whole composition. The Way of Knowledge will be clearly known from Chapters 3 to 6 and there is hardly any need of going to any later chapters for it. Introduced in Chapter 2, the Way of Selfless Action is explained and dwelt upon right till the end. The meaning of yagya will be quite distinct from a reading of Chapters 3 and 4.
Action (karm) is first mentioned in the thirty-ninth verse of Chapter 2. Beginning with this, if we read upto Chapter 4, we will clearly understand why “action” is worship and meditation. Chapters 16 and 17 argue convincingly that this is truth. Whereas the problem of varnsankar is dealt with in Chapter 3, incarnation (avatar) is illumined in Chapter 4. Although the fourfold varn classification is hinted at in Chapters 3 and 4, for a more elaborate treatment of the subject we have to look carefully at Chapter 18. Chapter 16 accounts for the division of men into the two categories of the godly and the demoniacal. Chapters 10 and 11 reveal the omnipresent, cosmic form of God, but the subject is also taken up in Chapters 7, 9, and 15. That the other gods and goddesses are only hollow myths is established in Chapters 7, 9, and 17. Chapters 3,4, 6, and 18 show beyond any doubt that, rather than any external place like a temple with its idols, the proper seat for worship of God is the realm of the devotee’s heart within which the exercise of contemplation of the incoming and outgoing breath is taken up in seclusion. In case a reader is hard-pressed for time, he will grasp the core of the Geeta by studying only the first six Chapters.
As it has already been said, instead of providing skills needed for the sustenance of worldly, mortal life, the Geeta instructs its votaries in the art and discipline that will surely bring them victory in the battle of life. But the war the Geeta portrays is not the physical, worldly war that is fought with deadly weapons, and in which no conquest is ever of a permanent character. The war of the Geeta is the clash of innate properties and inclinations, the symbolic representation of which as “war” has been a time-honoured literary tradition. What the Geeta portrays as a war between Dharmkshetr and Kurukshetr, between the riches of piety and the accumulation of impiety, between righteousness and unrighteousness, is no different from the Vedic battles between Indr and Vritr-between awareness and ignorance, or the Puranic struggles between gods and demons, or the battles between Ram and Ravan and between the Kaurav and the Pandav in the great Indian epics Ramayan and Mahabharat.
Where is the battleground on which this “war” is fought? The Dharmkshetr and Kurukshetr of the Geeta are no geographical locations.
As the poet of the Geeta has made Krishn reveal to Arjun, the physical, human body itself is the sphere-the patch of earth-on which the sown seeds of good and evil sprout as sanskar. The ten organs of sense, mind, intellect, sensibility, ego, the five primary substances, and the three nature-born properties are said to be constituents of the whole extension of this sphere. Helplessly driven by the three properties-sattwa, rajas, and tamas-man is compelled to act. He cannot survive for even a moment without undertaking action. Kurukshetr is the sphere where, since times immemorial, we have been undergoing repeated birth, repeated death, and repeated conception in the mother’s womb. When, through the agency of a noble teacher-preceptor, the seeker embarks on the true way of worship and meditation and begins gradually to make his way towards the Supreme Being-embodiment of the most sublime dharm, Kurukrhetr (sphere of action) is transformed into Dharmkshetr (sphere of righteousness).
Within this human body, in its mind and heart-the innermost seats of thought and feeling-there have always dwelt the two distinct, primordial tendencies-the divine and the devilish. Pandu, the image of virtue, and Kunti, the type of dutiful conduct, are parts of the treasure of divinity. Before the awakening of righteousness in a man’s heart, with his deficient understanding he regards whatever he does as an obligation. But, in truth, he is incapable of doing what is worthwhile because there cannot be an awareness of proper duty without the advent of moral virtue and goodness. Karn, who spends all his life fighting the Pandav, is the only acquisition of Kunti before she is wedded to Pandu. And the most formidable enemy of her other sons-the Pandav-is this Karn. Karn is thus the type of action that is hostile to the essentially divine character of the Self. He stands for traditions and usages which bind and hinder men from getting rid of false, misguided rites and ceremonies. With the awakening of virtue, however, there is the gradual emergence of Yudhisthir, the embodiment of dharm;
Arjun, the image of affectionate devotion; Bheem, the type of profound sentiment; Nakul, the symbol of regulated life; Sahdev, the adherer to truth; Satyaki, the repository of goodness; the King of Kashi, an emblem of the sanctity that abides within man; and Kuntibhoj, the symbol of world-conquest through earnest undertaking of duty. The total number of the Pandav army is seven akshauhini. “Aksh” is another word for vision. That which is made up of love and awareness of truth is the treasure of divinity. In fact, the seven akshauhini, which is given as the total strength of the Pandav army, is no physical reckoning; the number verily represents the seven steps-the seven stages of yog-that the seeker has to traverse in order to reach the most sublime God, his supreme goal.
Opposed to the Pandav army, embodiments of pious impulses that are beyond counting, is the army of Kurukshetr-of the Kaurav-with a strength of eleven akshauhini. Eleven is the number of the ten sense organs and the one mind. That which is constituted of the mind along with the ten senses is the devilish hoard, a part of which is Dhritrashtr, who persists in ignorance in spite of his awareness of truth. Gandhari, his consort, is the type of sense-bound disposition. Along with them there are also Duryodhan, the symbol of excessive infatuation; the evil-minded Dushashan; Karn, the perpetrator of alien deeds; the deluded Bheeshm; Dronacharya of dual conduct; Ashwatthama, the image of attachment; the skeptical Vikarn; Kripacharya, the type of compassionate conduct in a state of incomplete worship; and Vidur, who stands for the Self that dwells in ignorance but whose eyes are always aimed at the Pandav. Vidur is the nature-bound Self that yet strives to make his way towards virtue and spiritual enlightenment, because he is after all an immaculate part of the Supreme Spirit. Thus the number of unrighteous impulses, too, is infinite.
As we have thus seen, the sphere-the battlefield-is only one, the physical body, but the impulses that wage constant war against each other on it are two. While one of them tempts man to regard nature as real and thus effects his degradation to birth in lower forms, the other convinces him of the reality and all-pervading domination of the Supreme Being and so provides access to him.
When the seeker takes refuge in a sage who has perceived the essence, there is a gradual but steady ascent of virtuous impulses on the one hand while, on the other, there is a decline and then the final destruction of evil impulses. When there remains no malady and the mind is perfectly restrained, even the restrained mind at last ceases to be and there is no longer any need of even the treasure of divinity. Arjun has the vision that following after the Kaurav army, even the Pandav warriors are hurling themselves into the fiery mouth of the Omnipresent and getting annihilated. Even pious impulses are thus dissolved with final attainment and the ultimate consequence then issues forth. If the accomplished sage undertakes any enterprise after this final dissolution, it is only for the guidance and edification of his less fortunate fellowmen and disciples.
Aiming at amelioration of the world, sages have devised concrete, tangible metaphors to represent subtle abstractions. So it is that characters of the Geeta are all symbolic-mere metaphors-for formless, unmanifest inclinations and abilities. Some thirty to forty characters are named in the first chapter, one-half of whom epitomize forces of piety whereas the others stand for forces of impiety. The first half are Pandav, while the others belong to the Kaurav camp. About half a dozen of these characters are again alluded to on the occasion of Arjun’s vision of the all-pervading God. Apart from these two chapters, there is no other mention of these characters anywhere else in the Geeta. Out of them Arjun alone is present before Yogeshwar Krishn from the beginning to the end. And this Arjun too is, as we are about to see, nothing more than a type. Rather than a three- dimensional individual, he is the type of affectionate devotion.
At the outset Arjun is deeply agitated at the fancied prospect of loss of what he mistakenly assumes to be the timeless and eternal dharm of his family. But the Yogeshwar points out to him that grief and irresolution are an offshoot of ignorance, for the Soul alone is eternal and indestructible. The body is perishable and Arjun is exhorted to fight because it is so. But it is not clear from Krishn’s exhortation whether Arjun has to slay the Kaurav alone. If he has to destroy bodies, are the Pandav also not physical beings? Is it not that Arjun’s kinsmen are on both sides? Is it possible to kill the sanskar-based body with a sword? Even more intriguingly, if the body is perishable and without real existence, who is this Arjun? And who is Krishn standing by to defend and protect? Is he with Arjun to save and preserve a body? Doesn’t he proclaim that one who toils for the body is a sinful, deluded man who lives in vain? So if Krishn is standing up for the sake of a mere body, isn’t he himself a sinful, deluded being with a futile life? But, as we have seen, Arjun of the Geeta is no more than a symbol-the embodiment of loving devotion.
The accomplished teacher is ever in readiness to help his disciple. Arjun and Krishn are respectively the loving, dedicated pupil and the concerned, caring mentor. Since he is confused about the meaning of dharm, he most humbly entreats Krishn to enlighten him on that which brings the most propitious felicity to the Self. Arjun’s yearning is for final beatitude rather than for any material reward. So he begs Krishn not only to instruct but also support and secure him, for he is a pupil who has found shelter under a loving teacher. This theme of an earnest and devoted pupil learning from an enlightened and caring teacher-preceptor runs through the whole of the Geeta.
Moved by sentiment, if someone insisted on staying with my most revered and noble mentor Parmanand Ji, he would say, “Go and live anywhere you like with your body, but in your mind be with me. Every morning and evening recite some one or two-lettered name like Ram, Shiv, or OM, and contemplate my form in your heart. If you can securely hold on to this form, I shall give you the one whose name you recite. When your hold gets yet stronger, I shall always abide in your heart like a charioteer.” When our Self has become one with the form of the accomplished teacher, he dwells as intimately with us as our own limbs. He begins to guide even before the emergence of virtuous inclinations within the mind. And when he abides in the devotee’s heart, he is ever awake and inseparably with this disciple’s Self.
After viewing Yogeshwar Krishn’s manifold glories in Chapter 11, Arjun cringes with fear and begins to apologize for his petty improprieties. As an affectionate friend and considerate teacher, Krishn readily forgives him and re-assumes his placid, benign form. He then tells Arjun that neither has anyone seen this manifestation of his in the past nor can anyone see it in the future. If it is so, vision of the Supreme Spirit was meant for Arjun alone, and the Geeta then is apparently of no use for us. But doesn’t Sanjay have the same vision along with Arjun? And hasn’t Krishn given the assurance earlier that, enlightened and redeemed by the yagya of knowledge, many sages have been blessed with a direct perception of him? What after all does Yogeshwar Krishn intend to communicate? Arjun is a personification of affection and dedication, and these are feelings shared by all mankind. No man devoid of these sentiments has seen the coveted God before and no man devoid of these sentiments can see him in the future. In Goswami Tulsidas’s words, Ram cannot be realized without loving faith despite endless recitation, yog, and relinquishment. So Arjun is a symbolic figure. And if it is not so, it would be wiser of us to keep the Geeta aside, for in that case Arjun alone was entitled to perception of God.
At the end of the same chapter (i.e., 11), Krishn assures his friend and devotee, “O Arjun, scorcher of enemies, a worshipper can know this form of mine directly, acquire its essence, and even become one with it by total and unswerving devotion.” “Intent devotion” is only another expression for “tender affection.” And that is the distinguishing mark of Arjun. He is also a symbol of seeking. An avatar, too, is symbolical and so are also all the other characters of the Geeta so that we may be enabled to see in the great war of Kurukshetr “the battle-field of the Soul.”
Irrespective of whether there were actual historical personages such as Arjun and Krishn, and of whether there was an actual war called the Mahabharat, the Geeta is by no means a portrayal of physical warfare. Standing on the brink of that historical war, it was not his army but Arjun who was unnerved. The army was fully in readiness to fight. Doesn’t it imply, then, that by preaching to Arjun, Krishn had only conferred on his beloved friend and disciple the ability to be worthy of his army? In fact, the whole of the means for spiritual accomplishment cannot be put down in black and white. Even after one has gone through the Geeta several times, there is yet the necessity of actually traversing the path of God-realization that the Lord has charted. This is the necessity-which Yatharth Geeta is all about.
Shree Gurupurnima, July 24, 1983 - Swami Adgadanand.