Arjuna in Mahabharata

Many people feel that the Gita should be taken to begin with the Second Chapter. The actual teaching starts from the eleventh verse of the Second Chapter; so why not take it as the real beginning? A gentleman once argued that the Lord had called 'a' (the first letter of the Nagari alphabet) as His Vibhuti (manifestation) among the letters of the alphabet and the eleventh verse begins with it; therefore, it should be taken as the beginning. That apart, it would be right in more than one sense to take this as the real beginning of th eGta. Nonetheless, the preceding introductory portion has a value of its own. Without it we would not have properly understood Arjuna's standpoint and the genesis of the Gita.

Many content that Arjuna had reduced himself to the state of a eunuch and the Gita was preached to restore him to manhood and induce him to fight. In their view the Gita preaches not only Karmayoga (the philosophy of action) but also yuddhayoga (the philosophy of war). But a little thinking will show the error in this view. Eighteen divisions of army were ready for the battle. Can we say that the Lord, by making Arjuna listen to the Gita, made him worthy to face that army in battle? It was Arjuna who quailed; not the army. Was then the army braver than Arjuna? It is just inconceivable. It was not out of fear that Arjuna was shying away from the battle. He was a great warrior who had fought hundreds of battles. He had single-handedly routed Bhishma, Drona and Karna when they had invaded Virat's kingdom. He was, in fact, known as one who knew no defeat; a man among men. Valor was in every drop of his blood. Krishna, in fact, did try to needle him by attributing impotence to him; but it proved to be off the mark. He had then to go deep into different aspects of the spiritual knowledge. It is thus clear that it is too simplistic to think that the aim of the Gita is to remove unmanliness.

It is also said that the Gita is meant to make Arjuna willing to fight by removing his inclination towards non-violence. With this too, I do not agree. To understand this point, we have to examine Arjuna's standpoint. The First Chapter and its extension in the Second are useful in this context.

Arjuna had come to the battlefield with a firm resolve and a sense of duty. Being a kahatriya (member of the warrior varna), fighting was in his blood. Every attempt to avoid war had failed. Even though the Pandavas had pitched their claims at the minimum and Krishna Himself had tried to mediate, all that had been in vain and the war had become inevitable. In these circumstances, Arjuna had brought together many kings, made Krishna his charioteer, and is now on the battle-field. He asks Krishna with heroic ardor, "Place my chariot between the two armies, so that I can have a look at the people who have assembled here to fight with me." Krishna complies. Arjuna looks around. And what does he see? He finds his kith and kin, his near and dear ones arrayed on both the sides. He finds four generations of his own people intent on fighting to the finish. It is not that Arjuna had no idea of what he was going to see. But the actual sight, as is always the case, had a devastating impact. Seeing his kinsmen on the battlefield, Arjuna lost his nerve and deep anguish assailed his heart. In the past, he had slain innumerable warriors in many a battle, but he had never before felt so despondent, never had his bow Gandiva slipped from his hands, never had he trembled so, never had tears welled up in his eyes! then, why all this was happening now? Was he coming to abhor violence like King Ashoka. Certainly not, it was nothing but attachment to his kith and kin. If those in from of him had not been his kinsmen, he would even now have felt no qualms in severing their heads and merrily tossing them around. But attachment to his kith and kin clouded his sense of duty, and then he started philosophizing. When a man with a sense of duty is caught in delusion, he cannot face his naked lapse from duty. He tries to justify it by citing lofty principles. The same thing happened with Arjuna. He now started putting before Krishna, to convince him, the spacious argument that was in itself was sinful, that it would destroy the clan, eclipse dharma and lead to moral corruption, scarcity and devastation, and would thus be disastrous to the society.