Sankhya Yoga
Chapter 2, Verse 7
kārpaṇya doṣopahata svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma samūḍha cetāḥ
yacchreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam
It is poorness of spirit that has smitten away from me, my (true heroic)
nature; my deluded mind is bewildered in its view of right and wrong. I ask
You which may be the better - tell me decisively. I take refuge in You as a
disciple. Enlighten me.
The first word here, kārpaṇya, means “poorness of spirit.” “It is poorness of spirit that has smitten away from me, my (true heroic) nature.” Arjuna knows that his noble nature, his powerful nature, has fled.
“...my deluded mind is bewildered in its view of right and wrong.” He is seeing what is right and what is wrong from the point of view of the mind. His mind is showing him what is right and what is wrong – not his heart, not his consciousness.
“I ask you which may be the better – tell me decisively. I take refuge in you as a disciple. Enlighten me.” Here Arjuna is making himself ready. He says, “Look, I am truly confused. I feel terrible. I don’t know where I stand.”
In the Gita, Krishna often calls materialistic people who are attached to the world ‘kripana’. They miss the purpose of life and depart from this Earth without knowing God, without Realisation. Arjuna is neither greedy nor miserly. It is not out of greed that he is in this state of confusion. His attachment to the world is not for his personal benefit. When you want to find God, if it is for personal gain, and done with pride, it will not lead you anywhere. But if it is to surrender to a greater cause, even if it is not done correctly, if it is not for your personal gain, it will bear its fruit. Arjuna had a great nature. He didn’t want to enjoy himself. He was not thinking, “Oh, I will fight this war for my own enjoyment.”
Here he is saying, “I don’t know what is right, You are Krishna, You are God Himself! But You are telling me the opposite of what I am thinking.” Very often the Guru says something which is the opposite of what the devotee thinks, and the devotee says, “Ah! How is this possible?” But then you must ask: who is the Guru and who is the disciple? Here it’s the same thing. Arjuna is expressing something and expecting Krishna to say nice words to him. But Krishna doesn’t say any nice words to him, so he is taken aback, he is shocked! This also humbles Arjuna so that he is able to accept the Lord as his Guru. He surrenders to Lord Krishna and says, “Enlighten me.” This shows that Arjuna is very wise: but he is not yet enlightened.
Arjuna was Krishna’s best friend. Both saw each other as, “We are best friends.” They always had great respect for each other, but it was mostly as friends, as cousins. They did not have a Guru-disciple relationship. But now Arjuna has changed. In the past, Arjuna always felt equal to Krishna. When they sat and ate, even when they slept, they would sleep in the same room, on the same bed, for they were friends.
However, Arjuna’s confused state makes him realise that even if one thinks of one’s self as being equal to God, God is superior. Even if His actions are the same, in all His actions, He is far superior to the human way of understanding. That’s why Arjuna says, “I take refuge in You as Your disciple.” Arjuna doesn’t say, “Because You are my best buddy, I am going to listen to You now!” No! To take refuge at the Lotus Feet of the Lord, to take refuge at the Lotus Feet of the Guru, one has to put away one’s own pride and one’s own thinking. Arjuna says, “Advise me! Counsel me now! Instruct me! Before I was thinking of You as being the same as me, but now I realise that You are far superior to me.” That’s why Lord Krishna also says, “My devotees, who are completely surrendered to Me, are far superior, because I live in them, and they live in Me.”
Arjuna has now realised that Krishna’s advice is very important and that he needs to be guided by a true guide: and this true guide, is Krishna Himself. Only through that, will he be taken out of his grief and be able to attain the Divine, be able to attain this inner strength so that he can move fearlessly and fight. Who else there can be his best teacher? It is not Dronacharya, not Kripacharya, not Bhishma. It is God Himself.
Even though Krishna has been Arjuna’s best friend, now He becomes his Guru. The instruction of the Guru is like a seed which is planted in fertile land. If the disciple’s heart is like a stone, nothing will grow from it. Do you know the parable in the Bible of the sower? Christ says, “If you throw seeds and they fall on dry land, nothing will grow; if they fall on stones, nothing will grow; but if they fall on fertile land, then they will grow and will bear fruit.”
Here, Arjuna and the Lord are playing the drama of the Guru and the disciple. When one is ready deep within one’s heart, when the heart becomes like fertile soil, then one is ready to receive: before that, no. Therefore Arjuna says, “Lord, I am Your disciple. Take me as Your disciple. I take refuge at Your Feet.”
There are many types of disciples and many types of devotees. It also depends on one’s self-effort and how one is centred: is one centred in the ego, is one centred in pride, or is one centred in the spirit? This verse also says that whoever is not ready will
look elsewhere for things to please themselves. They will not look for the Satguru. But when they are ready, they will look for the Satguru. And once they find the Satguru, they will have the benefit of having the Guru always with them.
Here, therefore, Arjuna declares his discipleship and surrenders to Krishna. He says, “I am not only Your disciple, but I have taken refuge, I have surrendered to You.” What does it mean, ‘to surrender’, ‘to take refuge’? You can be a disciple, or you can even be a part-time disciple who is not surrendered. But Arjuna says, “More than just as a disciple, more than just as a devotee, I surrender myself to You.” In the last part of the verse, the word ‘prapannam’, means to take refuge, to surrender to God. It is
not just the willingness to surrender, it is also accepting that He is greater. When a disciple takes refuge in the Guru, the disciple must completely accept the superiority of the Master. This is what Arjuna is accepting. He says, “I am surrendering to You, and I accept Your superiority: only You can take me out of this ignorance. I throw myself at Your Feet. You are God.” With this, Arjuna’s eyes are brightened and his mind is completely transformed. His whole attitude has changed. With folded hands, he knows that by taking this role of the disciple, that the Lord, the God Almighty, the omniscient and the knower of all hearts, has taken the form of the supreme Master. And that He, who is full of Love, greatness, virtue, knowledge, He who is non-attached,who can’t be touched by karma, by anything, is his dear friend. And from being his best friend, He has become the supreme Guide and the supreme Divinity.”
This is the greatness of the Guru. The Guru does not have just one role. He is not just a teacher. He takes different forms, a multitude of aspects. Because the life of the Guru is not for Himself, but for others. The help and support, the knowledge, the power, the affection that the Guru has for the devotee is amazing and exquisite.
Here Arjuna is also expressing his desire to know more, and he also has in his heart the attitude of surrender to the Lord. When one has this desire to know more, to go deeper and deeper, to not just know in the mind, but deep within the heart, one will happily surrender their life to God. One knows that the only aim in life is Him, is to completely surrender to Him. Then one is ready to receive the true knowledge.
When one is not ready, when one still dwells on the outside knowledge, when one still dwells on things which one thinks are good for oneself, one will always say, “I want this, I want that; I want this and I want that.” They will never ask, “What does God want from me?” In their delusion, they will always think that they are right and that it is
God’s Will for them. But this is just an image that one creates in one’s mind.
Later on, we will see how Krishna enlightens Arjuna and makes him receptive so that he can receive this gift of surrender. He explains to Arjuna what it means to surrender all his duty to Him.
Bhagavad Gita
