Bg 18.74
sañjaya uvāca
ity ahaṁ vāsudevasya pārthasya ca mahātmanaḥ
saṁvādam imam aśrauṣam adbhutaṁ roma-harṣaṇam
Bg 18.75
vyāsa-prasādāc chrutavān etad guhyam ahaṁ param
yogaṁ yogeśvarāt kṛṣṇāt sākṣāt kathayataḥ svayam
Bg 18.76
rājan saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya saṁvādam imam adbhutam
keśavārjunayoḥ puṇyaṁ hṛṣyāmi ca muhur muhuḥ
Bg 18.77
tac ca saṁsmṛtya saṁsmṛtya rūpam aty-adbhutaṁ hareḥ
vismayo me mahān rājan hṛṣyāmi ca punaḥ punaḥ
Bg 18.78
yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo yatra pārtho dhanur-dharaḥ
tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir dhruvā nītir matir mama
Om tat sat iti śrīmadbhagavadgītāsu upaniśadsu brahmavidyāyām yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasamvāde mokṣasannyāsa yogo nāmaaṣṭādaś 'dhyāyaha
Translation
Sanjaya said: 74. Thus have I heard this wonderful dialogue between Vaasudeva and the high-souled Paartha, which causes the hair to stand on end.
75. Through the grace of Vyaasa I have heard, this supreme and most secret YOGA , directly from Krishna, the Lord of YOGA, Himself declaring it.
76. O King, remembering this wonderful and holy dialogue between Keshava and Arjuna, I rejoice again and again.
77. Remembering and again remembering, that most wonderful Form of Hari, great is my wonder, O king; and I rejoice again and again.
78. Wherever is Krishna, the Lord of YOGA , wherever is Paartha, the archer, there are prosperity, victory, happiness and firm (steady or sound) policy; this is my conviction.
Commentary
In the previous stanza, when one carefully understands the full significance of the assertion made by the rediscovered, and therefore, revived Arjuna, one cannot avoid remembering a parallel declaration made by another teacher of the world, when he revived from his temporary confusion (Arjuna-sthiti). When he regained his spiritual balance, which he, as it were, lost temporarily while carrying the cross through the taunting crowd, Jesus also cried: THY WILL BE DONE." Here Arjuna, revived by the Grace of Krishna, similarly cries, "I shall act according to your word (Karishye Vachanam Tava)." In both cases we find that the statements are almost identical.
Earlier, at the opening of the Geeta, the Pandava Prince said to Govinda: "I SHALL NOT FIGHT," and became despondent; it is the same Arjuna, now entirely revived and fully rehabilitated, who declares: "I shall abide by Thy will." The cure is complete and with this the Shastra also ends.
THUS HAVE I HEARD THIS DIALOGUE BETWEEN VAASUDEVA AND THE HIGH-SOULED ARJUNA --- In the context of the Vyasa-literature, the conversation between Vaasudeva, Lord Krishna, and the son of Prithaa, Arjuna, is but a silent mystic dialogue between the "higher" and the "lower" in man, the "Spirit" and the "Matter." Vaasudeva means the Lord (Deva) of the Vasus; the eight Vasus (Ashta-vasu) together preside over Time. Therefore, Vaasudeva, in its mystic symbolism, stands for the Consciousness that illumines the "concept of Time" projected by the intellect of man. In short, Vaasudeva is the Atman, the Self. Paartha represents matter (earth) which is capable of shedding itself, sheath by sheath to emerge as the pure Eternal Spirit, the Supreme. This act of understanding himself as different from his matter vestures is man's highest art, the Art of unveiling the Infinite through the finite. The technique of this art is the theme of the Geeta.
WONDERFUL (Adbhutam) --- This philosophy of the Geeta, listened to so far by Sanjaya, is reviewed by him as "miraculous," as "wonderful." Every philosophy, no doubt, is a marvel of man's intellect and represents its subtle visions and powers of comprehension. But the philosophy of the Geeta was indeed a shade more marvellous and wonderful to Sanjaya, because, it revived the BLASTED personality of Arjuna into a DYNAMIC WHOLE. Because of this practical demonstration of its powers to bless man, the Geeta philosophy has acquired the marvellous lustre of the rare.
It has proved, beyond all doubt, that every average human being is endowed with potential power with which he can easily conquer all the expressions of life in him and command them to manifest exactly as he wants. He is the Lord of his life, the master of the vehicles, and not a victim of some other mightier power that has created him, only to be endlessly teased by the whims and fancies of his own body, mind and intellect. When this truth is revealed, it is but human for Sanjaya, in ecstacy, to exclaim: "Oh! what a marvellous revelation! What a stupendous demonstration!! Adbhutam!!!"
HIGH-SOULED PAARTHA --- In the stanza Arjuna has been glorified and not Lord Krishna, the Parthaasaarathi. The Pandava Prince, Arjuna, had the courage and heroism to come out of his mental confusions, when he gained the right knowledge from his Master's teachings. Certain acts of a child call forth our admiration, but the same acts performed by a grown-up person, look perhaps ridiculous and childish. To the omnipotent Lord, the declaration of the whole Geeta itself is but a love-play. But, for the confused Arjuna to understand the philosophy, and heroically walk out of his confusions is indeed an achievement, worthy of appreciation. Thus Krishna, the All-perfect, is almost ignored, but Arjuna, the mortal, who has understood the art of living as expounded in the Geeta, and has actually revived himself by living it, is heartily congratulated and glorified!
Sanjaya's sympathies were with the Pandavas; but as an employed minister, he was eating the salt of Dhritarashtra, and it was not Dharma for him to be disloyal to his master. At the same time, in the context of the politics of that time, Dhritarashtra was, perhaps, the only one who, even then, could stop the war. Diplomatically, Sanjaya tries his best, in these stanzas, to bring into the blind man's heart the suggestion of a peace treaty. He makes the blind king understand that Lord Krishna has revived and re-awakened the hero in Arjuna. The blind king is reminded of what the consequences would be: the death and disaster to his hundred children, the pangs of separation in his old age, the dishonour of it all --- all these are brought home to Dhritarashtra. But the tottering king's "blindness" seems to be not only physical but also mental and intellectual, for Sanjaya's beseeching moral suggestions fall on the deaf ears of the blind elder.
SANJAYA OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGES HIS INDEBTEDNESS TO SHRI VEDA-VYASA:
Before the great battle started, Vyasa had approached Dhritarashtra to offer him the "power of vision" to witness the war; however, the weak-hearted king had not the courage to accept the offer. The king had then suggested that if this power could be given to Sanjaya, the king could, through the faithful minister, listen to a running commentary of what was happening on the Kurukshetra battle-field. It was thus from Vyasa that Sanjaya, sitting in the carpeted chambers of the Kaurava palace, gained the special faculty of witnessing all that happened and listening to all that was said at the distant battle-field. Grateful to Shri Veda-Vyasa for having given him this wonderful chance of listening to this "Supreme and most profound Yoga," Sanjaya is mentally prostrating to the incomparable poet-sage, the author of the Mahabharata.
DIRECTLY FROM KRISHNA HIMSELF (Yogeshwarat Krishnat) --- The suggestion is NOT that Sanjaya had never heard the philosophy of the Upanishads ever before, and that the novelty of the revelation had stunned him; but that his joy is due to the fact that he got a chance to listen to the Eternal Knowledge of the Upanishads directly from the Lord-of-all-Yogas, Shri Krishna Himself (Saakshaat), from His own sacred lips.
Here also we can see how Sanjaya is sincerely trying to make the blind Dhritarashtra realise that it is not Krishna, the son of Devaki, nor the cowherd boy, but it is the Lord Himself the Yogeshwarah who has revived Arjuna, and who is serving His devotee as his charioteer. The blind king is reminded that his children, though they have marshalled a large army, stand doomed to destruction, since they have to face the Infinite Lord Himself in their enemy ranks.
THE DEEP IMPRESSION CREATED BY THIS IRRESISTIBLE PHILOSOPHY ON THE DEVOTED HEART OF SANJAYA IS VIVIDLY PAINTED:
Herein we have a clear statement of Sanjaya's reactions to his listening to the Lord's Song. He says, "THIS DISCOURSE BETWEEN KRISHNA AND ARJUNA"-between God and man, between the Perfect and the imperfect, between the "higher" and the "lower" --- is at once "WONDERFUL AND HOLY."
The vision and impression created in his heart by the philosophy that was heard are so deep and striking, that Sanjaya admits how irresistibly the memory of those words rises up again and again in his bosom, giving him "the thrill of joy" (Harsham).
Indirectly, Vyasa is prescribing the method of study of the Geeta. It being "a handbook of instruction" on the Art of Living, it has TO BE READ AGAIN AND AGAIN, REPEATEDLY REFLECTED UPON AND CONTINUOUSLY REMEMBERED, until the inner man in us is completely re-educated in the way-of-life that the Geeta charts out for man. The reward for such a painstaking study, and consistency of application has also been clearly pointed out.
One rejoices when one comes to recognise a definite purpose in the otherwise purposeless pilgrimage of man, from the womb to the tomb, called 'life.' The study of the Geeta gives not only a purpose to our every-day existence but also a positive message of hope and cheer to the world. The Geeta picks us up from the by-lanes of life and enthrones us as the sovereign power that rules, commands and orders our own life within.
Thus the Geeta is an infinite fountain-head of inspiration and joy. It provides our mind with a systematic scheme of re-education whereby it can discover a secret power in itself to tackle intelligently the chaotic happenings around us which constitute our world of challenges. The Geeta-educated man learns to RECOGNISE A RHYTHM, to SEE A BEAUTY, and to HEAR A MELODY in the ordinary day-to-day life --- a life which was till then but a mad death-dance of appearances and disappearances of things and beings.
SANJAYA CONFESSES THAT NOT ONLY DOES THE PHILOSOPHY ENCHANT HIS MIND, BUT EVEN THE MEMORY OF THE LORD'S WONDROUS FORM AS THE TOTAL MANIFESTED UNIVERSE HAS A MAGIC OF ITS OWN WHICH WARMS UP HIS HEART:
AS I OFTEN REMEMBER REPEATEDLY THAT MOST WONDERFUL FORM OF HARI --- Lord Krishna, the charioteer, gave the vision of His Cosmic-Form (Vishwaroopa) in an earlier chapter; it is that Form that is indicated by Sanjaya here. The Cosmic-Form of the Lord is as impressive to the man-of-heart, as the philosophy of the Geeta is unforgettable to the man-of-intelligence. The concept of the Lord's "Total-Form" is staggering in the Vedas, and no doubt, highly impressive in the Geeta. But it need not necessarily be a mere poetic vision of the great Vyasa; there are many others whose experiences are almost parallel.
If the philosophy of the Geeta, as it reveals to us the glorious purpose in life, inspires and thrills the thinking aspect in man, the vision of the smiling Lord of Vrindavana BEHIND EVERY NAME AND FORM, BENEATH EVERY EXPERIENCE, UNDER EVERY SITUATION, adds a life-giving joy and a maddening ecstasy to the drunken heart of love.
Given the freedom, I suppose, Sanjaya would have written a full length Sanjaya-song on the Lord's Divine Song! When the head is thrilled with the silence of under-standing, and the heart is intoxicated with the embrace of love, man gets transported into a sense of inspired fulfilment.
TO EXPRESS THAT SATISFACTION, LANGUAGE IS A FRAIL VEHICLE; THEREFORE, WITHOUT DILATING MUCH UPON WHAT IS UPPERMOST IN HIS MIND, SANJAYA SUMMARISES THEM ALL INTO A DECLARATION OF HIS BURNING FAITH, IN THIS CONCLUDING STANZA OF THE BHAGAWAD GEETA:
This is the closing stanza of SRIMAD BHAGAWAD GEETA, which contains altogether seven hundred and one verses. This concluding verse has not been sufficiently thought over and commented upon by the majority of commentators of the Geeta. The superficial word-meaning of the verse, in fact, can only impress any intelligent student, at its best, as rather drab and dry. After all Sanjaya is expressing his private faith in and his personal opinion about something which the readers of Geeta need not necessarily accept as final. Sanjaya, in effect, says: "Where there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, and Arjuna, ready with his bow, there prosperity (Sree), success (Vijaya), expansion (Bhooti), and sound policy (Dhruva-neeti) will be; this is my sure faith."
After all, a student of the Geeta is not interested in Sanjaya's opinion, and it almost amounts to a foul and secret indoctrination, if Sanjaya means, diplomatically, to inject into us his own personal opinion. The Geeta, as a "Universal Scripture" would have fallen from its own intrinsic dignity as "the Bible of man" had this stanza no Eternal Truth to suggest, which readily invokes a universal appeal.
The perfect artist, Vyasa, could never have made such a mistake; indeed, there is a deeper significance in which an unquestionable truth has been expounded.
KRISHNA, THE LORD OF YOGA (Yogeshwarah Krishnah) --- All through the Geeta, Krishna represented the Self, the Atman. This spiritual core is the Ground upon which the entire play of happenings is staged. He can be invoked within the bosom of each one of us through any one of the Yoga-techniques expounded in the Geeta.
ARJUNA, READY WITH HIS BOW (Paartho-Dhanurdharah) --- Paartha represents, in this text book, "the confused, limited, ordinary mortal, with all his innumerable weaknesses, agitations and fears." When he has thrown down his "instrument" of effort and achievement, his bow, and has reclined to impotent idleness, no doubt, there is no hope for any success or prosperity. But when he is "READY WITH HIS BOW," when he is no more idle but has a willing readiness to use his faculties to brave the challenges of life, there, in that man, we recognise a "PAARTHA READY WITH HIS BOW."
Now putting these two pictures together --- Lord Krishna, the Yogeshwarah, and Arjuna, the Dhanurdharah --- the symbolism of a way-of-life gets completed, wherein, reinforced with spiritual understanding, man gets ready to exert and pour in his endevours, to tame life and master prosperity. In such a case, there is no power that can stop him from success. In short, the creed of the Geeta is that spirituality CAN be lived in life, and true spiritual understanding is an asset to a man engaged in the battle-of-life.
Today's confusions in society and man's helpless insignificance against the flood of events --- inspite of all his achievements in science and mastery over matter --- are seen, because the Yogeshwarah in him is lying neglected, uninvoked. A happy blending of the sacred and the secular is the policy for man as advised in the Geeta. In the vision of Sri Veda-Vyasa, he sees a world-order in which man pursues a way-of-life, wherein the spiritual and the material values are happily wedded to each other. Mere material production can, no doubt, bring immediately a spectacular flood of wealth into the pockets of man, but not peace and joy into his heart. PROSPERITY WITHOUT PEACE WITHIN IS A CALAMITY, GRUESOME AND TERRIBLE!
The stanza at the same time refuses to accept the other extreme; Yogeshwarah Krishna could have achieved nothing on the battle-field of Kurukshetra without the Pandava Prince, Arjuna, "ARMED AND READY TO FIGHT." Mere spirituality without material exertion and secular achievements will not make life dynamic. I have been trying my best to bring out, as clearly as I can, this running vein of thought throughout the Geeta, which expounds the PHILOSOPHY OF HARMONY and explains its plan for man's enduring happiness.
Krishna, in the Geeta, stands for the MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED. Naturally, it is the ardent faith of Sanjaya that when a community or nation has its masses galvanized to endure, to act, and to achieve (Paartha, the bow-man) and if that generation is conscious of and has sufficiently invoked the spiritual purity of head and heart in themselves (Krishna, the Lord-of-Yoga), in that generation, prosperity, success, expansion, and a sound and sane policy become the natural order.
Even in the arrangement of these terms --- prosperity, success, expansion and sound policy --- there is an under-current of logic which is evident to all students of world history. In the context of modern times and the political experiences, we know that without an intelligent and STEADY POLICY, no government can lead a nation to any substantial achievement. With a sound policy, EXPANSION of all the dormant faculties in the community is brought out, and then only the spirit of co-ordination and brotherhood in the fields of achievement comes to play. In this healthy spirit of love and cooperation, when a disciplined people work hard, and when their efforts are intelligently channelised by the sound policies of the government, SUCCESS cannot be far away. Success thus earned, as a result of national endeavour, disciplined and channelised by a firm, intelligent policy, should necessarily yield true PROSPERITY. A saner philosophy we cannot find even in modern political thought!!
Enduring prosperity must be that which arises from successful endeavour, that is the result of cooperative and loving effort and this cannot yield any success unless it is nurtured and nourished, guarded and protected, by an intelligent and sound policy.
It now becomes quite clear that it is not only Sanjaya's faith, but it is the ardent conviction of all men of self-control and disciplined mind (Sanjayas), trained to think independently.
There are some commentators of the Geeta, who draw our attention to this concluding word in the Geeta, "my" (mama), and to the opening word in the Geeta, "Dharma." Between these two words the seven hundred stanzas are hung together as a garland of immortal beauty, and so these commentators summarize the meaning of the Geeta as "MY Dharma" (Mama Dharma). The Geeta explains the nature of man, MY Dharma, and the nature of Truth, MY Dharma and how the true life starts when these two are in harmony and come to play in one single individual. The ideal nature of all true students of the Geeta, therefore, should be a glorious synthesis of both the SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE expressed in their equipoise and character, and the DYNAMIC LOVE expressed through their service to mankind and their readiness to sacrifice.
Thus, in the UPANISHADS of the glorious Bhagawad-Geeta, in the Science of the Eternal, in the scripture of YOGA , in the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, the eighteenth discourse ends entitled:
THE YOGA OF LIBERATION THROUGH RENUNCIATION
The closing chapter is entitled as Liberation through Renunciation (Moksha-samnyasa-Yoga). This term is very closely reminiscent of the Asparsa-Yoga of the Upanishads, and the definition of Yoga as given by Krishna Himself in an earlier chapter To renounce the false values of life in us is at once to rediscover the Divine nature in each one of us which is the essential heritage of man. To discard the beast in us (Samnyasa), is the Liberation (Moksha) of the Divine in us.
OM TAT SAT
MAMA SADGURU TAPOVANA CHARANAYOH
"At The Feet Of My Master Tapovanam."
Om Om Om Om Om
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
