Chapter 6, Verse 38
kaccin-nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaḥ
chinnābhram iva naśyati
apratiṣṭho mahābāho
vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi
Does he not, O mighty-armed, lose this life of human activity and Brahman Consciousness to which he aspires, and falling from both, perish like a dissolving cloud?
Ay yi yi! Imagine, what the state of Arjuna is! See what he is already creating in his mind? It’s catastrophic, it’s apocalyptic!
Arjuna wants to understand what would happen at the time of death to the bhakta, to the devotee who had done his duty, with full faith and love, doing what he had to do, without being attached to the fruits of his actions, yet he became diverted from his practise.
Arjuna also wanted to know what would happen to the one who received Diksha from a Guru, but did not utilise it in a proper way during his life. The one who let go of the spiritual path due to worldly attachments, even if he had this deep feeling that God had guided him on the spiritual path and had led him to his Guru, strayed away and didn’t practise, didn’t make use of the blessing he had received. When one receives Diksha in one’s life, it is a great blessing! But what happens if, even at the time of death, this one fails to focus the mind on the Guru and on God?
“Perish like a dissolving cloud.” When all the clouds are together, they appear very mighty, ready to strike lightning and burst into a storm. Whereas when a little cloud gets separated from the group and stands by itself, it becomes weak, and after some time it dissolves and it disappears. This is similar to what happens when someone lets go of the spiritual path. Being deprived of both Heaven after death and God-Realisation while alive, this bhakta gets lost and suffers a spiritual downfall.
Here the mind of Arjuna is thinking, “If I don’t listen to what Krishna is saying, if I don’t lift up my bow and fight, I will probably be doomed. Let me ask Him, maybe He has a sideways solution.”
Bhagavad Gita
