Shrimad Bhagavad Gita 2.10, 2.11

तमुवाच हृषीकेशः प्रहसन्निव भारत।

                   सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वचः।।2.10।।

2.10 To him who was despondent in the midst of the two armies, Krishna, as if smiling, O Bharata, spoke these words.

श्री भगवानुवाच

                     अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे।
                 गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः।।2.11।।

2.11. While lamenting for those who cannot be lamented on and those who do not require to be lamented on, you do not talk like a wise man! The learned do not lament for those of departed life and those of non-departed life.

Lord commences by shedding light on Arjun’s misconception that indecision stands as a better alternative and then in one single utterance he crashes the notion of Arjuna that after the war, he would be left with nothing but lamentation. He reprimands Arjuna for thinking like a fatuous person amidst the battlefield. In essence, this is the first taste of cosmic reality that Arjuna has been introduced to by the Lord. The first question that comes here is who is Arjuna to lament over others and why should he ever be lugubrious and melancholic regarding to the deaths of the warriors in the world. However surprising it may seem, Arjuna’s saturnine thoughts emerge from his ego. In the deepest realms of his heart, he deems himself as the spearhead of the battle. He thinks that he can bring destruction and wreak havoc on the opposing lines through his might and power and hence Lord deems him to be too silly on this aspect. You can be sad over something that happens because of you but the cosmic reality says that in this world nothing can happen because of us, we are mere evanescent fabrics in the net of reality. If some other fabric gets twitches or extricated, it happens on the will of the weaver of the net rather than the will of some other fabric, yet our preconceived notions compel us that our inner might is capable of bringing about changes in the universe. Similarly, Arjuna believes that if he takes up weapons and Acharya Dron or Pitamah Bhismah die then that would be because of his taking up weapon but he doesn’t know that he is just some other fabric in the cosmic reality net. Nothing can be done on his will, nothing can be stopped on his whims. The reality net doesn’t heed to the capriciousness of his behaviour. The net has existed since much before the existence of Arjuna and will continue even after the demise of Arjuna. When, how and why other fabrics will be plucked depends only on the will of the weaver and hence if Arjuna can affect no outcome and engender no change in the reality, then why should he be so Eeyorish. He, just like other, is a mere impotent thread that must function just as a thread, yet he is thinking of himself as the creator and destroyer of the net. It is as if a child has refused to study because he believes that if he ranks first in the exam, others would have to go away with a lower rank. Here, the child is considering himself the supreme reality, just like Arjuna. Though his own study would never affect the outcome of other’s work, yet he believes that he can generate and alter consequences of various action. It is as if a drop of water is unhappy that it led to a tsunami that killed thousands. Is it the drop that caused the tsunami? Certainly not! Then why should the drop lament?

JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT

JAI MA BHARTI