Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.
Swami Chinmayananda
When we endeavor to understand Arjuna's despondency with proper discernment, it becomes clear that although its immediate cause is the challenge of battle, the symptoms of mental anguish actually arise from a deeper cause. Just as a skilled physician does not merely treat the symptoms of disease but seeks to remove its root cause, so too does Lord Sri Krishna here attempt to remove the fundamental cause of Arjuna's grief and delusion—the ignorance of the atman.
From ignorance of one's pure atmic nature arises ego. This ignorance not only obscures the divine nature but also creates false beliefs about it. Arjuna's egoic intellect—the notion that the individual self is limited by the sheaths of body, mind, and intellect—is the true cause of his delusion. This delusion generates attachment to kinfolk, which in turn produces the sorrow and compassion he feels toward them. He experiences himself as powerless and helpless. The person caught in delusion must pay the price of attachment through suffering and grief. Through false identification with these bodily sheaths, we continually experience pain. This pain ceases when we gain knowledge of our pure atmic nature.
The eternal, conscious atman, through false identification with the gross body, experiences itself as bound in relation to countless objects and persons. That same atmic principle, identified with the mind, experiences numerous emotions as though that emotional world belongs to it alone. Then this same consciousness, clothed in the sheath of intellect, harbors desires and aspirations, ambitions and ideals—which inevitably bring suffering. Desire, ambition, and such qualities are the very nature of intellect.
Thus the pure atman, endowed with senses, mind, and intellect, falls into the condition of individual selfhood and becomes enslaved to external objects, emotions, and thoughts. The countless sorrows and fleeting pleasures of life arise from this condition of individual existence. Arjuna was experiencing pain because of this very condition. Sri Krishna knew that the root cause of the delusion and disturbance manifesting as grief was ignorance of the atmic nature—a veil obscuring truth. Therefore, to uproot Arjuna's despondency entirely, He imparts to him the knowledge of the atman as expounded in the Upanishads.
India gave the world, thousands of years ago, the knowledge of re-educating the mind through psychological and spiritual methods. This is precisely what Sri Krishna attempts through His teaching in the Gita. Following the traditional method of imparting atmic knowledge, the world-teacher, Lord Sri Krishna, directly teaches the nature of the atman.
Because the inner consciousness of Bhishma and Drona was pure, the light of consciousness shone clearly within them. Both were great souls of incomparable stature. Only one of immature intellect would think that if they die in this battle, they will meet with degradation. Through this verse, Lord Sri Krishna directs Arjuna's attention toward the higher nature of the individual self.
Our personality has many dimensions, and by identifying with each, we view life from that particular perspective. Through the body we perceive the external or material world, which differs from the emotional world experienced through the mind, and similarly through the intellect we experience the realm of thought.
From a material perspective, whom I see merely as a woman, through the mind I perceive as my mother. If I examine her only through scientific analysis, her body is merely a collection of cells containing protoplasm and nuclei. Suffering caused by the defects or incompleteness of material objects can be removed if my emotional response toward them changes. Similarly, what appears ugly and shameful from material and emotional perspectives, if viewed through the intellect with a deeper understanding of reality, can transform our sorrow through a shift in perspective.
Extending this truth further, if I could view life from a spiritual perspective, the despondency arising from physical, mental, and intellectual viewpoints could be transformed into joy and inspiring vitality. Here the Lord teaches Arjuna to abandon his perspective of ignorance and endeavor to view and understand his teachers, kinfolk, and the battlefield from a spiritual perspective.
This great spiritual truth has been imparted here so unexpectedly and suddenly that it struck Arjuna's intellect like a blow. As we read the following verses, we shall understand how beneficial was the effect of this shock that the Lord delivered to Arjuna's mind.
Why is it not proper to grieve for them? Because they are eternal. How does the Lord say this?
This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.