7 “O best of brahmins, listen to the names of those who are distinguished among our own forces:
8 Bhishma, Karna, and the victorious Kripa; Ashvatthama, Vikarna, and the son of Somadatta.
9 “There are many others, too, heroes giving up their lives for my sake, all proficient in war and armed with a variety of weapons.
10 Our army is unlimited and commanded by Bhishma; theirs is small and commanded by Bhima.
11 Let everyone take his proper place and stand firm supporting Bhishma!”
12 Then the powerful Bhishma, the grandsire, oldest of all the
Kurus, in order to cheer Duryodhana, roared like a lion and blew his conch horn.
13 And after Bhishma, a tremendous noise arose of conchs and cow horns and pounding on drums.
14 Then Sri Krishna and Arjuna, who were standing in a mighty chariot yoked with white horses, blew their divine conchs.
15 Sri Krishna blew the conch named Panchajanya, and Arjuna blew that called Devadatta. The mighty Bhima blew the huge conch Paundra.
16 Yudhishthira, the king, the son of Kunti, blew the conch Anantavijaya; Nakula and Sahadeva blew their conchs as well.
17 Then the king of Kashi, the leading bowman, the great warrior Shikhandi, Dhrishtadyumna, Virata, the invincible Satyaki,
18 Drupada, all the sons of Draupadi, and the strong-armed son of Subhadra joined in,
19 and the noise tore through the heart of Duryodhana’s army. Indeed, the sound was tumultuous, echoing throughout heaven and earth.
20 Then, O Dhritarashtra, lord of the earth, having seen your son’s forces set in their places and the fighting about to begin, Arjuna spoke these words to Sri Krishna:
ARJUNA
21 O Krishna, drive my chariot between the two armies.
22 I want to see those who desire to fight with me. With whom will this battle be fought?
23 I want to see those assembled to fight for Duryodhana, those who seek to please the evil-minded son of Dhritarashtra by engaging in war.
SANJAYA
24 Thus Arjuna spoke, and Sri Krishna, driving his splendid chariot between the two armies,
25 facing Bhishma and Drona and all the kings of the earth, said: “Arjuna, behold all the Kurus gathered together.”
26 And Arjuna, standing between the two armies, saw fathers and grandfathers, teachers, uncles, and brothers, sons and grandsons,
27 in-laws and friends. Seeing his kinsmen established in opposition,
28 Arjuna was overcome by sorrow. Despairing, he spoke these words:
ARJUNA
O Krishna, I see my own relations here anxious to fight,
29 and my limbs grow weak; my mouth is dry, my body shakes, and my hair is standing on end.
30 My skin burns, and the bow Gandiva has slipped from my hand. I am unable to stand; my mind seems to be whirling.
31 These signs bode evil for us. I do not see that any good can come from killing our relations in battle.
32 O Krishna, I have no desire for victory, or for a kingdom or pleasures. Of what use is a kingdom or pleasure or even life,
33 if those for whose sake we desire these things –
34 teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, uncles, in-laws, grandsons, and others with family ties – are engaging in this battle, renouncing their wealth and their lives?
35 Even if they were to kill me, I would not want to kill them, not even to become ruler of the three worlds. How much less for the earth alone?
36 O Krishna, what satisfaction could we find in killing Dhritarashtra’s sons? We would become sinners by slaying these men, even though they are evil.
37 The sons of Dhritarashtra are related to us; therefore, we should not kill them. How can we gain happiness by killing members of our own family?
38 Though they are overpowered by greed and see no evil in destroying families or injuring friends, we see these evils.
39 Why shouldn’t we turn away from this sin?
40 When a family declines, ancient traditions are destroyed. With them are lost the spiritual foundations for life, and the family loses its sense of unity.
41 Where there is no sense of unity, the women of the family become corrupt; and with the corruption of its women, society is plunged into chaos.
42 Social chaos is hell for the family and for those who have destroyed the family as well. It disrupts the process of spiritual evolution begun by our ancestors.
43 The timeless spiritual foundations of family and society would be destroyed by these terrible deeds, which violate the unity of life.
44 It is said that those whose family dharma has been destroyed dwell in hell.
45 This is a great sin! We are prepared to kill our own relations out of greed for the pleasures of a kingdom.
46 Better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapons in hand, were to attack me in battle and kill me unarmed and unresisting.
SANJAYA
47 Overwhelmed by sorrow, Arjuna spoke these words. And casting away his bow and his arrows, he sat down in his chariot in the middle of the battlefield.
Chapter Two, Self-Realization
As Arjuna’s spiritual teacher, Sri Krishna’s task now is to rouse Arjuna from his despair and set him on the way to Self-realization.
Arjuna is essentially a man of action, renowned for his bravery, nobility, and skill in the arts of war – intelligent, but not given to reflection. Yet in his present crisis, he finds that the active life is not enough. He is forced to ask the perennial questions about life and death: Does he have a soul? Does it survive death? Is there a deeper reality than we perceive in the world around us? If so, is it possible to know it directly, and (for Arjuna is always practical) what effect does such knowing have in everyday life?
In his answer, Krishna touches on almost all the main themes and concepts of the Gita. Chapter 2 is thus a kind of overview of the sixteen chapters to come.
Sri Krishna begins by reminding Arjuna of his immortal nature: his real Self, the Atman, never dies, for it is never born; it is eternal. Thus the Gita does not lead us from stage to stage of spiritual awareness, but begins with the ultimate premise: the immortal soul is more important than the passing world.
Knowing he is out of his depth in these inner realms of the mind and spirit, Arjuna formally asks Krishna to be his spiritual teacher or guru. This is a basic prerequisite of a disciple’s initiation in the Hindu tradition, where it is believed that virtually all seekers need the guidance of an experienced teacher. Arjuna is no exception, and he is fortunate to have Krishna himself as his guru. In the allegorical sense, Krishna is a symbol of the Atman, Arjuna’s deepest Self.
This chapter introduces the idea of rebirth or samsara. The Self wears the body as a garment; when the garment is old, it is cast aside and a new one is put on. Thus the soul, or jiva, travels from life to life. Just as death is certain for the living, rebirth is certain for the dead. Krishna assures Arjuna that his basic nature is not subject to time and death; yet he reminds him that he cannot realize this truth if he cannot see beyond the dualities of life:
pleasure and pain, success and failure, even heat and cold. The Gita does not teach a spirituality aimed at an enjoyable life in the hereafter, nor does it teach a way to enhance power in this life or the next. It teaches a basic detachment from pleasure and pain, as this chapter says more than once. Only in this way can an individual rise above the conditioning of life’s dualities and identify with the Atman, the immortal Self.
Also, the Gita does not teach an enlightenment based on a knowledge of the scriptures. The important thing is direct mystical experience, which Krishna will later urge Arjuna to acquire for himself.
This chapter establishes the various definitions of yoga taught in the Gita. Here the word does not refer to the physical postures and exercises (hatha yoga) it connotes in the West; it refers primarily to disciplining the mind. “Yoga is evenness of mind”: detachment from the dualities of pain and pleasure, success and failure. Therefore “yoga is skill in action,” because this kind of detachment is required if one is to act in freedom, rather than merely react to events compelled by conditioning.
Krishna is not trying to persuade Arjuna to lead a different kind of life and renounce the world as would a monk or recluse. He tells Arjuna that if he can establish himself in yoga – in unshakable equanimity, profound peace of mind – he will be more effective in the realm of action. His judgment will be better and his vision clear if he is not emotionally entangled in the outcome of what he does.
Arjuna now asks his first question as Krishna’s student. His teacher has been talking about spiritual wisdom: direct, experiential knowledge of the immortal Self. Arjuna wants to know what difference this kind of wisdom makes in everyday life. If a person establishes an ever-present awareness of the core of divinity within himself, how does it affect the way he lives? Arjuna is not interested in what people believe, but in how they conduct themselves in life.
Krishna’s answer (2:55 –72 ) is one of the most quoted passages in the Gita. Mahatma Gandhi said these verses contain the essence of the Gita: if the rest of the scripture were lost, this passage alone would be enough to teach a complete way of life. Those who are established in wisdom (sthitaprajna) live in continuous, unbroken awareness that they are not the
