2.11 – The Lord said, “Although sorrowing over those who ought not to be grieved for, you yet speak wise words; but the discriminating mourn over neither the living nor those who are dead.”

Sri Krishn tells Arjun that while he grieves for those who are unworthy of such grief, he also speaks words of wisdom, but men of discernment mourn neither for those whose souls have departed nor for the ones who are living. They do not grieve for the living because they shall also die. That means that Arjun only talks like a wise man; he does not know the reality.

2.12 –“It is not that either you or I, or all these kings, did not exist in the past, nor is it that our being will come to an end in the future.”

It is not,Sri Krishn explains, that he, the accomplished teacher, or Arjun-the devoted pupil, or all these kings with the vanity that is characteristic of rulers of men, did not exist at any time in the ages to come. The accomplished teacher is for ever, and so are affectionate disciples as well as rulers who symbolize the perversions of passion and moral blindness. Here, besides throwing light on the permanence of Yog in general, Yogeshwar Krishn has particularly stressed its existence in the future.

2.13 –“Since the embodied Spirit passes through infancy, youth, and old age in the body, and then transmigrates into another body, men with steadfast minds do not grieve over his passing away.”

As the embodied soul waxes from childhood to youth, then wanes to old age, and assumes one new body after another, wise men are not prey to infatuation. At some time a man is a boy and then he grows into a young man. But does he die by this? Then he grows old. The Self is ever the same; only the condition of the physical body in which he resides goes on changing. There is no crack in him when he changes over to a new body.
This change from one physical body to another will continue until the Soul is united with the Supreme Spirit who alone is beyond all change.

2.14 –“There are sensations of heat and cold, and of pain and pleasure, O son of Kunti, as senses meet their objects. Bear them patiently, O Bharat, because they have a beginning and an end, and are transient.”

The contact of senses and their objects, which generates pleasure and pain, and feelings of cold and warmth, is occasional and momentary. Arjun should, therefore, abandon them. But instead of that, he is shaken by the mere thought of pleasures that are derived from the union of senses and their objects. The family for the sake of whom we yearn for pleasures and the teacher, whom we revere, both represent the attachment of senses. But the causes of this attachment are momentary, false and perishable. Neither shall our senses always meet with objects they enjoy, nor shall they always be capable of enjoyment. So Arjun is counselled to give up sensual pleasures and learn to withstand the demands of his senses. But why is Arjun counselled thus? Is it a Himalayan war in which he has to endure cold? Or is it a desert war in which he has to suffer heat? As knowledgeable people say, the actual “Kurukshetr” has a moderate climate. During the mere eighteen days that is the total duration of the Mahabharat war, is it possible that seasons will change: that winter and summer will come and go? The truth is that endurance of cold and heat, of happiness and sorrow, of honour and dishonour, depends upon the seeker’s spiritual endeavour.

The Gita is, as we have seen more than once, an externalization of the inner conflict that rages within the mind. This war is the war between the gross physical body and the Self which is aware of his identity with God.It is a conflict in which ultimately even the forces of divinity grow inert after they have subdued unrighteous impulses and enabled the Self to become one with God.

When there remains no impiety, what else is there for pious impulses to fight? The Gita is thus a picturization of inner conflict that rages within the mind.

2.15 –“So, O the noblest of men (Arjun), one who is possessed of equanimity in pain and pleasure, and firm, and untormented by these (feelings produced by the meeting of senses with their objects), deserves (to taste) the nectar of immortality.”

The steadfast man, who regards sorrow and happiness with equipoise and is not troubled by his senses and their association with objects, is worthy of the state of immortality that realization of the Supreme Spirit brings.

Here Sri Krishn refers to an attainment, namely amrit, literally the drink of immortality. Arjun had thought that in return for the war he would be rewarded with either a heavenly abode or the authority to rule over the earth. But now Sri Krishn tells him that his prize will be amrit rather than the pleasures of heaven or earthly power.

[As expounded by most revered Gurudev Swami Adgadanand Paramhans]

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“Humble Wishes”