Summary:
Chapter 2, Verse 35: Avoiding battle due to fear will cause warriors to lose respect for Arjuna. A damaged reputation persists across roles. When highly esteemed, perceived falls become more memorable as people judge visible actions over invisible reasoning. The right action should align with core values and samanya-dharma, coming from strength rather than approval-seeking. Verse essence: Retreating from duty leads to loss of reputation among those who once held you in high regard.
Chapter 2, Verse 36: Those in power control narratives, using retreat to serve their interests. Backing down affects not just personal reputation but impacts mentors and supporters. The solution lies in performing necessary actions, which provide feedback opportunities and intellectual refinement. Verse essence: Enemies will speak ill of your capabilities when you abandon your duty.
Chapter 2, Verse 37: Dharmic action guarantees positive outcomes: death in duty leads to svarga, while victory brings earthly rewards. The battlefield represents various life conflicts – workplace, family, or internal. Rising to action symbolizes internal transformation and acting on new understanding. Verse essence: Whether victory or death, performing one's duty leads to positive outcomes – either heavenly or earthly rewards.
Key Points of Verse 11-34:
Reason for Arjuna's (Your) Grief:
You are worried (of doing the right thing, getting it perfect) because you take yourself to be small individual. Body is made of 5 elements to work out your stuff. Problem is taking self to be good as 5 elements. In reality you are dehi (distinct from 3 bodies).
If haven’t understood nature of dehi/atma, it doesn’t matter because life is facilitated by laws which you can't speed up. You can only align your self with the laws to help refine the mind, eventually recognizing all that is here is Ishvara.
Working with the Laws:
For example the very force that scares you (destruction) — befriend it by asking it for help to remove mental blocks, and ignorance denying your recognition of Atma.
Or if there’s frustration capturing Atma, then use it as feedback you need more listening (for mind to put puzzle pieces together).
Doing your Duty:
Recognize your place in grand scheme of things. You’re a kshatriya/brahmana/etc. Play your role, as it’ll make you expand and world will treat you well and give you feedback where to improve.
Varna-ashrama system:
Varna-ashrama system isn’t necessarily by birth, but any society has 4 types of people: Thinkers, protectors (army), in commerce, and helpers.
For example, some countries immigration has a point based system evaluating candidates based on education and talent, to fill country's shortage of thinkers/teachers (brahmana), administrators (kshatriyas), money-movers (vaishyas) of laborers (shudras).
Two types of societal thinking:
- “My Right” based society: “This is my right. I must have this. I deserve to have this from you. I expect to be treated well”. This makes the individual demanding — cultivating discontent because world isn’t made to fulfill all your fancies.
- Duty based society: “I need to do my part”. This thinking makes rights of others' automatically get fulfilled and reduces complaints because you are happy doing your part, and the receivers are happy benefiting from the output of your work.
Common question – is Krishna advising Violence?
How can Krishna ask Arjuna to fight (or advising violence)? Additionally, Arjuna says he doesn’t want the kingdom and doesn’t want to hurt his loved ones seems like a reasonable decision.
Krishna isn’t asking Arjuna to fight, but perform his duty (as Arjuna is kshatriya) of protecting the larger good. Self-defense isn’t violence. If Arjuna was an accountant, Krishna would’ve said “Fill out the spreadsheet!”.
Dealing with Mistakes while doing your Duty:
While doing your role, you’ll make mistakes. Can offset the papa generated by your commissions and omissions with prayascitta-karma, which involves doing a good action with intention of cancelling out your known/unknown errors. One of best way is through danam (charity).
Why should Arjuna (you) engage in the battle (your duty)?
Krishna is motivating Arjuna into action through pleasure/pain principle. However one can also be motivated into action through autonomy (freedom to work independently without being watched over), positive environment / feedback, through inspiring biographies.
He is reminding Arjuna that every action you perform has an unseen result. In Arjuna’s case, it's svarga (Verse 32).
Vedic svarga (heaven) is different from heaven in religion.
There’s not one svarga/naraka (heaven/hell), but realms of experiences depending on quality of actions.
Map of lowest to highest realm/world/loka of experience according to Vedas:
- Naraka-loka: various hell realms.
- 7 Pātāla-lokas (lower worlds): Pātāla-loka, Rasātala-loka, Mahātala-loka, Talātala-loka, Sutala-loka, Vitalā-loka, Atala-loka
- Martya-loka (middle/earthly world): Bhū-loka (Earth)
- 6 Ūrdhva-loka (upper worlds): Bhuvar-loka (also includes pitṛ-loka), Svarga-loka (also includes Deva-loka & Indra-loka), Mahar-loka, Jana-loka, Tapa-loka, Satya-loka (also called Brahma-loka)
Atheist also goes to heaven because it has nothing to do with beliefs, but quality of actions.
Also once karma-phala is exhausted, the jiva changes bodies and return to earth.
Meaning Arjuna will feel empowered for engaging in battle, and get svarga. Otherwise, consequences are papa — demonstrated by below story…
Monkey and Crocodile: Cost of not doing one’s duty:
In forest, lived monkey on a tree. Crocodile rested under it. Monkey shared some fruits. Friendship ensued. Crocodile took some fruits to wife. Wife grew jealous, devised plan to have monkey killed. Pretending to be sick, requested husband only monkey’s heart can cure her. Torn between duty of friendship and husband, reluctantly agreed. Next day invited monkey on his back, to cross river. Revealed his plan midway. Monkey said, “I forgot my heart on the tree, take me back”. MORAL: When you choose Svadharma (duty) without samanya-dharma, it leads to your downfall (papa).
NEXT VERSE: What will people think if Arjuna pulls out of his duty….
BHAGAVAD GITA, CHAPTER 2, VERSE 35:
You'll fall in others' esteem
भयात् रणात् उपरतम् मंस्यन्ते त्वाम् महारथाः ।
येषाम् च त्वम् बहु-मतः भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् ॥ २-३५॥
bhayāt raṇāt uparatam maṃsyante tvām mahārathāḥ ।
yeṣām ca tvam bahu-mataḥ bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam ॥ 2-35॥
The great warriors will consider you as having retreated from the battle due to fear. And you, having been so highly esteemed by them, will fall in their esteem.
You’ll become subject to gossip. Attempting to escape difficulties through withdrawal often creates worse problems – you can't control others' interpretations – and a damaged reputation follows you even into new roles.
Logic: The higher you've climbed, the more remembered your perceived fall becomes, because people judge what they see (your actions) rather than what they can't see (your inner reasoning).
In any situation, there’s 2 choices:
- Do the easy thing: Doesn’t solves the problem. Such as unwilling to rock the boat in a relationship. Or “letting go of someone’s misdeeds”. EG: Yuddhisthir let go Dhritarashtra’s partitioning of kingdom, wax house burnt, accepted Shankuni to play. Led to war.
- Do the right thing: Involves asking — Is this action aligned with my core values? Is it backed by universal ethical values (samanya-dharma)? Is it coming from strength or gaining approval? Is my decision based on research? EG: Despite temporary discomfort, disagreeing with colleague’s unethical behaviour.
NEXT VERSE: What else are consequences of not doing your part…
BHAGAVAD GITA, CHAPTER 2, VERSE 36:
People will talk behind your back
अवाच्य-वादान् च बहून् वदिष्यन्ति तव अहिताः ।
निन्दन्तः तव सामर्थ्यम् ततः दुःखतरम् नु किम् ॥ २-३६॥
avācya-vādān ca bahūn vadiṣyanti tava ahitāḥ ।
nindantaḥ tava sāmarthyam tataḥ duḥkhataram nu kim ॥ 2-36॥
And belittling your prowess, your enemies will say many unutterable things about (you). Is there anything more painful than that?
- Power structures control narratives: Those in authority will always twist your story to serve their interests, like Duryodhana would with Arjuna's retreat; your truth becomes their propaganda.
- Your actions affect others' reputations: When you back down, you don't fall alone – your mentors, friends, and supporters fall with you, as Krishna's reputation would with Arjuna.
- Solution: Conversely, when do what needs to be done, it has immediate and future rewards. Also participating in world, you’re getting opportunity for feedback and refining your responses, which sharpens your intellect each time.
NEXT VERSE: Therefore not fighting (doing your duty) is not an option…
BHAGAVAD GITA, CHAPTER 2, VERSE 37:
Claim you victory, get up!
हतः वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गम् जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम् ।
तस्मात् उत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृत-निश्चयः ॥ २-३७॥
hataḥ vā prāpsyasi svargam jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm ।
tasmāt uttiṣṭha kaunteya yuddhāya kṛta-niścayaḥ ॥ 2-37॥
Destroyed, you will gain heaven; victorious, you will enjoy (this) world. Therefore, Kaunteya (Arjuna)! get up, having resolved to fight.
- You’ll win even if lose – as long as you try: If you decide to engage in the battle, there’s no guarantee you’ll survive. If die, you’ll get svarga. And if you win and emerge victorious, you’ll enjoy the kingdom.
- Meaning there’s no losing in dharmic action: Duty-bound actions purify regardless of result; warrior dying in battle gains punya, businessman failing ethically gains wisdom, student struggling honestly gains character.
- Therefore Arjuna, get up: Arjuna's battlefield represents workplace conflicts, family disputes, internal struggles. Arjuna's physical rising symbolizes internal transformation. “Standing up” is symbol for acting in light of your new vision.
NEXT VERSE: Because you can't gain papa doing your duty, and only punya, do what is to be done…
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Course was based on Swami Dayananda (Arsha Vidya) home study course.
Recorded 1 Dec, 2024