Chapter 3, Verse 2
vyāmiśreṇaiva vākyena
buddhiṁ mohayasīva me
tad ekaṁ vada niścitya
yena śreyoham-āpnuyām
You seem to bewilder my intelligence with a confused and mingled speech of contradictions; tell me then, decisively, the one way by which I may attain the highest good.
“You seem to bewilder my intelligence with a confused and mingled speech of contradictions.” Here, you see the state of Arjuna. He is confused. No doubt that this confusion arose in his mind as soon as he heard the Lord say that knowledge is superior to Karma Yoga. “Tell me then, decisively, the one way by which I may attain the highest good.” Arjuna is completely surrendered to the Lord. He just wants to understand. He wants to take every opportunity to get rid of this confusion which is inside of him so that he can attain the highest good.
Arjuna says, “You are confusing me with these words. It is too much for me! I can only understand one way; here there are many ways! I am bewildered by what you are saying.” This doubt is still in his mind. Here the Lord is playing with Arjuna’s mind. Arjuna is still looking at the yoga of the Self from the point of view of the mind. He has already forgotten that God had told him, “You should rise above duality! Only when you rise above duality, can you become a true yogi.”
Arjuna says, “There is a lot of contradiction in all the knowledge that you have given to me.” He can’t determine what his duty is. He can’t make up his mind whether Lord Krishna wants him to fight or to renounce all action.
In the last two verses of Chapter 2, Lord Krishna says that a yogi can do anything! He is free, because his mind is not focused on the fruit of the action. In his mind, Arjuna doesn’t know what to do: “Do you want me to renounce all action, or do you want me to fight?” He carries on thinking – if God wants him to renounce action, what can he do after such renunciation? Like we were saying in the previous chapter, the mind always thinks ahead.
In order to stop the mind from thinking ahead, to not feed the mind so that other unwanted thoughts arise, Arjuna surrenders to the Lord. He is humbly submitting himself to the Lord and is willing to change himself. If the Lord tells him to renounce fighting, he will do it. If the Lord tells him that he has to fight, he will do it. But here, what he can’t understand with his mind is – how can the mind be calm? He is still hanging onto the mind – but with attentiveness, with willingness to change. Arjuna is removing his own will, little by little. Yes, he is renouncing, little by little, his own will so that his inner will, which is in accordance with the Guru, which is in accordance with Sri Krishna Himself, will free him. He asks, “Lord, what is the highest good?
Bhagavad Gita
