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In this chapter, Arjun talks to Shri Krishna and tells him how he cannot lift any weapon against his family. He refuses to participate in the battle and accepts his defeat and sacrifice of the throne. In this chapter, Shri Krishna starts giving divine enlightenment to Arjun, gradually making him realize the ultimate reality of the Universe.
Sanjay says that Arjun is overwhelmed with grief, and he has pity for his family, who is standing against him. He has tears in his eyes speaking the words to Krishna.
The almighty Krishna then said to Arjun, my dear, how have such thoughts come to your mind in this moment of threat? Being a soldier and born to indulge in the fight, this behavior does not make you an honorable person.
Krishna further says, O Parth, having such thoughts and stepping back in the field of war signifies unmanliness. So flush out such weaken thoughts and rise high to vanish your enemies.
Arjun says, O Madhusudan, how can I attack and war against men like Bheeshma and Dronacharya?
Arjun said it is better to live a beggar's life than to have pleasure in killing these people. No wealth and prosperity are worth it if it is tainted in someone's blood.
Even if we kill them and get victorious, there will be no desire to celebrate it or even live anymore.
Since I am your disciple, I request you to guide me. What should I do in this state of deep confusion?
Sanjay said: listening to these words of Arjun, Krishna smiled amid both the armies. Then said the following divine words to Arjun.
Arjun, the words of wisdom are that for whom you are mourning is not worthy of it. So the wise is the one who doesn't cry for a living or the dead.
There was never a time when someone doesn't exist. We all lived, and we always live whether me, you, or any living soul.
Just as we grow from being a child to an adult and then to an elder, our soul travels too from one body to another, and the cycle always continues. So in a great sense, the soul never dies; it is just the body you in this illusionary world.
O son of Kunti, this is the senses that give us the feeling of pleasure and pain by contact with the world's objects. All this is temporary, and nothing stays the same. Therefore, one must learn not to get affected by these temporary situations, like the weather.
A person who doesn't get disturbed with the temporary situations and remains equal in both joy and pain is the one who is eligible for liberation and achieving the almighty.
It is just the body that sees destruction as per its karma; however, the soul is immortal and never dies. So the people you see today will still be living tomorrow in different bodies as per their destiny.
The soul is real, and it is neither born nor destroyed. The soul is birthless, it is ageless, and it is just the body that gets destroyed.
O Parth, how can you kill a soul that is never even born and can't be destroyed? Just like we wear new garments by wearing off the old ones. Our soul gets to a new body when the existing one doesn't function.
No fire can burn the soul, no water can wet it, and similarly, no air can dry it. So in this war, when you kill these people, you will not kill the soul but only release them from their bodies because this is what God's ultimate plan is. Therefore, when you kill your enemies with such knowledge, you should not grieve.
Even if you know that you are subject to constant birth and death, you should not sob on this.
Death is unavoidable; the one who is born will surely die one day. Therefore, you should not express grief on such an inevitable thing.
Hence you should consider your duty for which you were sent on Earth. You should play according to your responsibilities as being a warrior.
O Parth, you should be happy that you become the prime part of the plan to let these souls depart to the celestial abodes. If you step away from this war, you interfere with the great plan, not righteousness. By avoiding this war and not making these souls depart, you surely incur the greatest sin.
People will think ill of you; they will call you a coward. The great generals who consider you as a brave warrior will lose their respect for you. Even your enemies will slander you; what can be the greatest pain for a warrior than this?
Do not treat this war as a matter of happiness and distress, loss and gain, victory and defeat. Instead, treat this as your responsibility for which you are born.
O Parth, I have revealed theSānkhya Yog, and now I will tell you Buddhi Yog. When you develop such understanding, you will be freed from the bondage of karma.
O descendent of the Kurus, those who don't have much understanding get attracted to the captivating words of Vedas. These Vedas only present flashy rituals for elevation to the celestial abodes without any greater motive. Vedas only include those rituals that are a pleasure to the senses, such as getting high birth, sensual enjoyment, and raising to the heavenly planets.
The minds attached to such flashy words and rituals never attain a higher state of mind, and they never get able to walk the path toward God.
O Arjun, you have to rise above these modes to attain a pure spiritual consciousness to know the ultimate truth of the Universe.
One should focus on the state where he is free of dualities and the illusions of the world. One should be fixed in truth without concerning about materials and the materialistic world.
Such a person fulfills all the purposes of Vedas without following the Vedas; for this, one has to be aware of the Absolute Truth.
As a living being and the creation of God, you should focus on performing your duties without concern about its fruit. You are not the cause of the things you do, and hence don't get attached to the results.
O Arjun, you should be disciplined about your duty and abandon any success and failure. When you practice such calmness in life, it is called Yog.
O Arjun, you should get insights about divine knowledge and find comfort in it instead of reward-seeking actions. Those who seek the fruit of their effort at every step are nothing but the most miserable people.
Work with proper consciousness and understand the science of duty without getting attached to the good and bad results.
When you get attached to the fruits of actions, you get juggled up more with the cycle of life and death. Do not get bound to such a cycle and seek the abode of the Lord by working in consciousness where you are only a doer and work regardless of the fruit.
When you do not worry about the fruitive aspect of the Vedas and indulge in divine consciousness, this is where you attain the stage of Yog.
Arjun then further asked Krishna: O Keshav, what is the nature of such person? How an enlightened person talk, how he walks, or how he performs his activities?
The Lord said: O Parth, when one is out of all worldly desires, and he is not a slave of his senses anymore, such a person gets the enlightenment. One who is equal in misery and happiness and free of all attachment, fear, anger, lust becomes a sage who becomes the possessor of great wisdom.
The senses are so powerful that they can even distract a well-established saint. A great amount of self-control is needed to tame and control the senses. Such people soothe their senses and keep their minds absorbed in me.
Letting attachments is a prime part because attachments come with anger, happiness, misery, lust, and desire. If a person is lost in all these aspects, he keeps performing karma which doesn't let him arise from the cycle of life and death.
However, one who controls his mind and frees himself from all the attachments finds God, which means he finds ultimate peace.
When a person gets the divine peace, all the sorrows seek an end; a person with such a tranquil mind established himself well with God.
O mighty-armed Arjun, you need to establish yourself firmly with divine knowledge to understand the difference between this illusionary world and to understand how everything is temporary.
You need to be stable as the ocean doesn't get bothered by the merging of the rivers into it. You need to be like a sage who is unmoved despite getting all the desirable objects around him. Hence you should learn the detachment from all worldly desires and relations.
When a soul gains such an understanding of God, he finds the perfect peace and never gets deluded with worldly subjects. With such consciousness, even in the hour of death, one gets free from the cycle of life and death and goes to the abode of the Supreme.