Chapter 2, Verse 10
tam uvāca hṛṣikeśaḥ
prahasann iva bhārata
senayor ubhayor madhye
viṣīdantaṁ idaṁ vacaḥ
To him thus depressed and discouraged, Krishna, smiling, O king, speaks these words between the two armies.
Here, Sanjaya is expressing interest in seeing the Lord smile. The smile of the Lord is saying, “Hey, now you are ready!” It has been Arjuna himself who has requested Lord Krishna to bring the chariot between the two armies. Arjuna has first been in the spirit of challenging: but when he sees the two opposing armies, he falls into a depression. He becomes very disturbed and grief-stricken. It is this Arjuna who now asks the Lord to guide him and to remove from him the pain which is overwhelming his mind. So Krishna smiles.
When the Guru sees that the disciple is really ready, he has the same smile! The disciple can ten thousand times ask, ask, ask, ask, and the Guru will give whatever He has to give. But when the disciple is truly ready, even without asking, all will be given. This is the smile that Lord Krishna gives to Arjuna. He says, “Ah! I see that now you are
ready.”
When one is confused, there is only one thing one has to do: hold tightly to the Feet of God. This is a natural state, you know? Whenever something goes wrong, who do you call? You say, “Oh my God!” You don’t say, “Oh my mother! “Oh my father!” or “Oh my friend!” You don’t do that! When your mind is battling, when you see that you are confused, when you see that something inside is coming up, the first thing you say is, “Aaaahh! My God!” This is a natural reaction – you just do it; maybe you don’t even realise that you are doing it. But this is when the soul reacts and says, “God, you are the creator! This is a reminder that You are the Ultimate. In every situation, You are the Ultimate! In good situations, You are the Ultimate! In bad situations, You are the Ultimate! And beyond that, You are still the Ultimate!” This is the state that Arjuna is expressing. The Lord is looking at this mental state of Arjuna and laughing. He says, “Yes, My dear, I can now see that you are ready to receive the greater knowledge of the Self. You are ready to fight and transform yourself.”
Bhagavad Gita
