A war between Arjun and Krishna || Acharya Prashant, on Bhagvad Gita (2019)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Video Information: Shastra Kaumudi Live, 28.12.2019, Greater Noida, India  Context:  How did Krishna teach Arjun? What is the essence of Bhagwad Gita? Bhagwad Gita hold a very special place in Spirituality. What makes Bhagwad Gita so special? The real meaning of Gita How to understand Bhagwad Gita?   Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00Acharyaji Pranam. While reading Ramana Maharshi, I observed that out of all the scriptures,

00:18Ramana Maharshi has quoted Krishna and Bhagavad Gita the most number of times and I have seen

00:26this with other masters as well that Bhagavad Gita holds a very special place in spirituality.

00:33Why is that so? What makes Bhagavad Gita so special? The Bhagavad Gita is special because

00:44it is narrated in a very worldly, very practical setting. It is narrated in a very practical

00:55setting. Bhagavad Gita is not a guru sitting under a shady banyan tree in the tranquil

01:12silence of a holy jungle, sermonizing to some spiritual guru. Bhagavad Gita is not a guru

01:26pliant, obedient, willing student. Neither is the setting tranquil at all nor is the

01:43sermon academic at all. Bhagavad Gita is not a guru sitting under a shady banyan tree in

01:55the tranquil silence of a holy jungle. Bhagavad Gita is not a guru sitting under a shady banyan

02:25tree in the tranquil silence of a holy jungle. It is not a formal appointment, a formal code

02:35of conduct. It is the war chariot, not the temple. There are armies around. It is not

02:55silent, idyllic trees and cute animals. The one being spoken to is a biased guru. It is

03:26an emotional and unwilling listener, not some keen student. The outcome of the conversation

03:44would decide actively the fate of many million residents of the kingdom.

03:56Not merely get entered academically in some pages of another holy book. Life and death

04:16depend on this discourse. In the literal sense, not just figuratively, literally, the discourse

04:25has so much potency. Arjun is the real life student, not the ideal disciple. Therefore,

04:40Krishna's persuasion has the cutting edge mastery. If you are preaching to the converted,

04:55how much forcefulness do you need? Nothing. But here, you see that Krishna has to be at

05:04its not merely godly but actually tactical best. Arjun is forcing Krishna to be at his

05:12best because Arjun is such a reluctant listener. Therefore, that which is now proceeding from

05:32Krishna is extremely charged and potent. Nothing less than that which is now proceeding from

05:41Krishna. Nothing less than words of the highest intensity and highest potency would do because

05:52Arjun is almost wrestling with Krishna. Therefore, Krishna has to exercise and demonstrate all

05:59his power. You very well know how at one point Krishna actually has to demonstrate his own

06:07immense form, Virat Roop to Arjun. Why is that needed? Because Arjun is one tough nut

06:18to crack and that's why the Gita is special. It is spoken to someone who is caught in emotionality.

06:29It is spoken to someone who doesn't want to listen. It is spoken to someone who has

06:34to be convinced to fight and kill his own kith and kin. To fire on your own blood, your

06:47own relatives is no easy job or is it? Therefore, it is no Ashtavakra preaching to Ajanak. Therefore,

06:56it is no Yagyavalkya Gargi Samvad. Therefore, it is not even Naciketa speaking to Yama.

07:05It is something that has an extra edge of intensity and quality to it. Krishna is facing

07:13a real life challenge. Arjun has to be convinced and converted in real time. Right now, do

07:21it right now. Do it right now else Duryodhana gets a walkover. Do you want to give that

07:29mean chap a walkover? Do you? Look at the urgency of the situation. That's what makes

07:46the Gita special and if you can look at Krishna here, you will realize the intensity of the

07:58impossibility of being a real guru. Krishna is such a glorious example. The real guru

08:06is real because he has to deal with not merely uninterested but actually sometimes undeserving

08:13students. I do not think it would be fair to call Arjun a deserving student. Krishna

08:30is a deserving teacher but in the sense that Krishna is a deserving teacher, you cannot

08:37by way of comparison call Arjun a deserving student. Arjun is highly resistant but then

08:45had he been any less resistant, why would he have been a mere student? So, the situation

08:56of Krishna reflects the situation of every real teacher. You have to pull up Krishna

09:08like the one lying in dirt and make him fight the highest battle. You do not merely have

09:25to polish and shine an already existing ornament in gold. The task of the teacher is to make

09:38an ordinary piece of metal, iron or zinc or nickel, copper and turn it into gold. That's

09:57the difference between a guru and a groomer. To take an old gold ornament and shine it

10:08is called grooming. That's not the task of a guru. A guru is like Krishna, take iron

10:20and turn it to gold. That's what is happening on the battlefield, awe-inspiring, poignant,

10:27beautiful, breathtaking, real. What's about the Bhagavad Gita? It's real.

10:57When I say real, I do not mean real in the literal sense of the word. I do not mean that

11:07the entire 700 odd shlokas were narrated on the battlefield or such thing. No, no, not

11:15real in that sense. It is quite possible that Krishna said something to Arjun on the battlefield

11:23and later on, Ved Vyas just narrated it in the best possible way, in his own words, quite

11:32possible. But even if that happened, that doesn't take anything away from the sheer

11:42intensity and the grandeur of the happening. An able teacher is convincing a reluctant

11:49student, mired in sentimentality, not to quit, not to quit and do his dharma, do his duty.

12:07At a purely academic or conceptual level, the Ashtavakra Gita is no inferior to the

12:14Bhagavad Gita, not at all. Some people even say that the Ashtavakra Gita is actually a

12:20notch higher than the Bhagavad Gita when it comes to the purity of exposition. That might

12:30be the case, but it doesn't matter. It is the intensity and the audacity in the setting

12:38of the Bhagavad Gita that keeps it way above any scripture in terms of its relevance, its

12:50significance. It will always remain relevant because all of us are Arjuns, caught in their

12:58own flesh, in their blood, in their tears, in their emotions, in their past and being

13:10caught, we forget what our dharma is. Therefore, a Bhagavad Gita is immortal.

13:17As long as Arjun lives within us, we will continue to need Krishna.

13:48Also, see the kind of ways Krishna uses to convince Arjun that will tell you about what

14:08stops Arjun and therefore what is it that all of us need to break free of our Arjunness.

14:18Krishna could have just instructed or even ordered Arjun to fight and Arjun had sincere

14:28regards for Krishna. Chances are he wouldn't have disregarded Krishna's advice. If Krishna

14:36says, orders, point blank, fight, Arjun would have probably acquiesced. But instead, Krishna

14:48proceeds to narrate all spiritual knowledge to Arjun. That will tell you what it was that

14:59was stopping Arjun. If to make Arjun fight, knowledge has to be given to Arjun, then what

15:08was it that was preventing Arjun from fighting? Lack of knowledge, ignorance. Now you know

15:16what stands between you and your duty. Ignorance. Now you know why Krishna had to come up with

15:27the hundreds of verses when the task could probably have been done by a mere strong order

15:35because Krishna knew that the thing is not so straightforward. An order would probably

15:47get Arjun to fight but only in a very half-hearted way and you cannot defend dharma half-heartedly.

15:55Therefore, the 18 chapters. Therefore, the hundreds of verses. Krishna very obviously

16:07understands that it is the knot of ignorance in Arjun's mind that is keeping him from

16:14doing his duty. Therefore, he attacks that knot in all possible ways. Gyan yog, karma

16:24yog, vibhuti yog, ashwarya yog, you name it. And now that we are naming the chapters

16:34that tells us of the depth of Krishna's love for Arjun. Do you understand what it

16:43means to convince a person so much? You will not understand that if you have never really

16:51tried convincing a reluctant student in your life. Try that. Try and face the overwhelming

17:04power of ignorance and then you will realize what Krishna is doing on that battlefield.

17:11The power of a student's ignorance can be awfully powerful. It can be as powerful as

17:20overwhelming and Krishna is fighting against that ignorance. Verse after verse, example

17:28after example, chapter after chapter, episode after episode, he is doing everything in his

17:34capacity to not let Arjun suffer a tragic end. Not for nothing is Krishna also called

17:41as the greatest friend ever. Otherwise, why would he invest himself so much in convincing

17:57Arjun? The kingdom is not going to go to Krishna or is it? What state does Krishna have in

18:05all this? If anything, he is going to be later charged with all kinds of acquisitions. But

18:21look at the intensity of his love. Arjun is saying no, no, no, no, no and Krishna with

18:28all his might delivers another lecture and that lecture would have taken almost everything

18:37out of Krishna and now with eyes full of hope, Krishna looks at Arjun. Friend, now, now you

18:47agree, right? Right, mate? Say yes and Arjun says no and the inexhaustible energy of Krishna

18:59makes him come to the next chapter and then comes the next sequence of top class verses

19:13and Arjun is still saying no, no, no, no, no. You know, I see that ultimately it is

19:21not Krishna's persuasiveness or erudition that won him the day. Ultimately, it is Krishna's

19:33love that won Arjun over. I see that Arjun probably did not get much of what Krishna

19:43was trying to say. Even till the end, he was almost clueless. So, Arjun says no, no, no,

19:50but one thing Arjun could sense that if Krishna is insisting so much, there must be something

19:56in it. Otherwise, why would he spend so much of himself on me? He has nothing in all this.

20:05He will get nothing whether I fight or do not, not in a personal sense. So, surely there

20:12must be something beyond the personal that he is persuading me for. Alright, I think

20:19I must agree. Only later on, sometime later in his life would Arjun have completely realized

20:30the depth of what Krishna was trying to tell him. Much later in his life would the total

20:39significance of Krishna's words that day on the battlefield would have dawned on Arjun.

20:46The total significance is absolute and the absolute does not come so easily to anybody.

20:52It would have taken Arjun a lot of time, a lot of maturity. That is the thing with every

21:03teacher-student pair I suppose. Much later in his life does the student really and fully

21:10realize what the teacher was trying to tell him. On the spot, when the teacher is trying

21:19to persuade the student to do or not do something, it is only the teacher's love and intensity

21:27that compels the student, not the student's realization, I repeat. The realization comes

21:34much later. The student is in no situation to fully realize the import, the vastness

21:43of what the teacher is saying. He is a mere student you see. He cannot comprehend what

21:51the teacher is saying, at least not fully. But this much he can sense that the teacher

21:57is trying very hard. If the teacher is trying so hard, let me listen, that's what happens.

22:04Happened with Arjun as well. So the Bhagavad Gita is such a real and captivating story.

22:14It is an epic inside an epic.

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