Sankhya Yoga
Chapter 2, Verse 1
sañjaya uvāca
taṁ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭaṁ
aśā-pūrṇā-kulekṣaṇam
viṣīdantam idaṁ vākyam
uvāca madhusūdanaḥ
Sanjaya says: To him thus invaded by pity, his eyes full and distressed with
tears, his heart overcome by depression and discouragement, Krishna speaks these words.
In this state, Arjuna is completely distressed and overtaken by faint-heartedness.
Looking at his friends and relatives, he starts to cry. He is not just talking, he is crying terribly. He is overtaken by grief and fear that the family will be destroyed. That will bring great sin and negative karma to him, to his family, and to their descendants. It will be complete destruction. In this verse, it is very important to understand why Sanjaya doesn’t call the Lord, ‘Krishna’. Instead he refers to Lord Krishna as madhusūdanaḥ, which means the slayer of Madhu. Madhu was a very fierce demon who was killed by
Krishna.
Sanjaya is reminding Dhritarashtra, the evil-minded, blind king, that Lord Madhusudana Himself, Sri Krishna Himself who had slain the demon Madhu, is there as Arjuna’s charioteer. He is warning Dhritarashtra saying, “He killed this terrible demon – so what about your sons who are on the battlefield? They’re nothing compared to the demon Madhu! This great demon had been terrorising not only the people, not only the world, he had even been terrorising the devas in Indra Loka! How powerful Krishna is! And look at your sons, what are they? Sorry, they are a bunch of idiots. Even when Krishna went to see them as a messenger of peace, they chose to be blind. They have such stupidity, they don’t see. They don’t see that the great Madhusudana is here as Arjuna’s charioteer.”
Everybody, including the Kauravas, knew what Krishna had done in His youth in Vrindavan. They knew about all the demons He had killed. But they still chose to be ignorant. Sanjaya continues, “The slayer of that great demon is here. Surely the Pandavas will be victorious! The Pandavas will win! Don’t count on your sons to win!”
It is this Lord – the One who killed the demon Madhu – it is Him, who will now talk to Arjuna, who is depressed and unwilling to fight. Sanjaya warns, “Dhritarashtra, be ready, because all these tyrants, all these persecutors, will be removed. If the Lord Himself has chosen to be present here, how could your sons be victorious? They can’t
be!” Sanjaya is reminding him that even if Arjuna is overtaken by distress and faint- heartedness, Krishna is there to change everything.
Sanjaya was revealing this to Dhritarashtra after the tenth day of the war. He said, “If you want peace, tell your children to stop. There is still time! Your hundred sons have not yet been slain. As long as Bhishma Pita was still fighting, nothing could happen to any of them, because he was a big shield for them. But now, what will happen? Now it’s imminent that your hundred sons will die.”
You see, when people start on the spiritual path, when they feel this inner strength, even if they look outside and feel pity for others, the negativity of the outside will not affect them. They will be strengthened; they will have a shield around them and feel protected.
Bhagavad Gita,
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