Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

27 – 46 Arjuna’s lamentation (28 – 46) (some Acharya used the word Arjun Vishad Yoga)

– Arjuna gives following four reasons why he will not fight.

32-35 enjoyment

Bg 1.32-35

kiṁ no rājyena govinda

kiṁ bhogair jīvitena vā

yeṣām arthe kāṅkṣitaṁ no

rājyaṁ bhogāḥ sukhāni ca

ta ime ’vasthitā yuddhe

prāṇāṁs tyaktvā dhanāni ca

ācāryāḥ pitaraḥ putrās

tathaiva ca pitāmahāḥ

mātulāḥ śvaśurāḥ pautrāḥ

śyālāḥ sambandhinas tathā

etān na hantum icchāmi

ghnato ’pi madhusūdana

api trailokya-rājyasya

hetoḥ kiṁ nu mahī-kṛte

nihatya dhārtarāṣṭrān naḥ

kā prītiḥ syāj janārdana

Word for word: 

kim — what use; naḥ — to us; rājyena — is the kingdom; govinda — O Kṛṣṇa; kim — what; bhogaiḥ — enjoyment; jīvitena — living; vā — either; yeṣām — of whom; arthe — for the sake; kāṅkṣitam — is desired; naḥ— by us; rājyam — kingdom; bhogāḥ — material enjoyment; sukhāni — all happiness; ca — also; te — all of them; ime — these; avasthitāḥ — situated; yuddhe — on this battlefield; prāṇān — lives; tyaktvā — giving up;dhanāni — riches; ca — also; ācāryāḥ — teachers; pitaraḥ — fathers; putrāḥ — sons; tathā — as well as; eva — certainly; ca — also; pitāmahāḥ — grandfathers; mātulāḥ — maternal uncles; śvaśurāḥ — fathers-in-law; pautrāḥ— grandsons; śyālāḥ — brothers-in-law; sambandhinaḥ — relatives; tathā — as well as; etān — all these; na — never; hantum — to kill; icchāmi — do I wish; ghnataḥ — being killed; api — even; madhusūdana — O killer of the demon Madhu (Kṛṣṇa); api — even if; trai–lokya — of the three worlds; rājyasya — for the kingdom; hetoḥ — in exchange; kim nu — what to speak of; mahī–kṛte — for the sake of the earth; nihatya — by killing;dhārtarāṣṭrān — the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra; naḥ — our; kā — what; prītiḥ — pleasure; syāt — will there be;janārdana — O maintainer of all living entities.

Translation: 

O Govinda, of what avail to us are a kingdom, happiness or even life itself when all those for whom we may desire them are now arrayed on this battlefield? O Madhusūdana, when teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives are ready to give up their lives and properties and are standing before me, why should I wish to kill them, even though they might otherwise kill me? O maintainer of all living entities, I am not prepared to fight with them even in exchange for the three worlds, let alone this earth. What pleasure will we derive from killing the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra?

 

So actually he says kiṁ no rājyena govinda, O Govinda what I will do with such a kingdom.

kiṁ bhogair, what can we enjoy, in fact how we are going to live also if all our loved ones are hatva they are all killed

yeṣām arthe kāṅkṣitaṁ no, so for enjoying with whom we want all this?

rājyaṁ bhogāḥ sukhāni ca, with whom you wanted to enjoy, they are in battlefield ta ime ’vasthitā yuddhe, they are all in war field, that they are all situated in war field and

prāṇāṁs tyaktvā dhanāni ca, so they are ready to give up wealth, their life in the battlefield 

and Arjuna is going to list all those whom he has listed earlier.

Earlier listing was there but that was not Arjuna listing, that was Sanjaya listing what Arjuna saw, now Arjuna is repeating that list and he is speaking that they are all my relatives how can I kill them. So going by the world cup example given earlier, it is not that everyone in your country will be killed but you have to kill all of them to get the world cup, No I can’t do that, so he is saying how can I do that, I can’t kill them.

So actually Arjuna is thinking in terms of his own enjoyment, he is not thinking in terms of his eternal dharma, so obviously the example is not appropriate for this but here I am not talking about objective appropriateness but subjective emotions. So we cannot enjoy if we lost those with whom we will celebrate the joy, so Arjuna is saying the same thing: how I will enjoy, what I will enjoy. So he is saying who all will be killed with whom I would have enjoyed:

ācāryāḥ pitaraḥ putrās

tathaiva ca pitāmahāḥ

so we have discussed this

mātulāḥ śvaśurāḥ pautrāḥ

śyālāḥ sambandhinas tathā

so tatha 

etān na hantum icchāmi

ghnato ’pi madhusūdana

So I don’t have desire to kill them, etān na hantum icchāmi, even if I am killed ghnato ’pi madhusūdana.

śyālāḥ is brother-in-law, like Dhristaduman 

sambandhinas tathā they are all relatives.

And he said I cannot kill them even if they kill me, api trailokya-rājyasya, he said I cannot kill them even for the sake of three worlds, what to speak of hetoḥ kiṁ nu mahī-kṛte, 

nihatya dhārtarāṣṭrān naḥ

kā prītiḥ syāj janārdana

O Janardana by killing them what will I gain.

So here we see that Sri Krishna is referred by many names, first line in 32 He is referred by Govinda, kiṁ no rājyena govinda, O Govinda what will the rajya give to us.

Then in 34 He is referred by Madhusudhana, ghnato ’pi madhusūdana, and then in last line in 35 verse He is referred as kā prītiḥ syāj janārdana.

So we will see that Krishna and Arjuna refer to each other by various names. So actually name is also opulence of a person, if you call other person by name it is intimate and if a person has many names that is like opulence of that person, then which name one is using that also indicates the mood sometimes, two friends when they talk to each other they call them by formal names and when they are with themselves they will call by nicknames and the way we call the person indicate our emotional state and it will accordingly effect the person, so these various names are also indicating Arjuna’s thinking.

In Gopal, “go” can be cows or senses, so protector of senses.

So Govinda means one who gives pleasure to the senses. So how Krishna is delighter of senses, so when we serve Krishna our senses get supreme delight, when we look at the beautiful things of this world our eyes can give some pleasure but when we train our eyes to keep looking at Krishna, gradually we become purified, we start holding Sri Krishna’s supreme beauty, then pleasure the senses gives is far-far greater than what we get by worldly looking of good objects. Similarly our tongue, it can give us some pleasure by eating, it can give some pleasure by bragging (if I speak my own glories) but, when we actually speak about Krishna and we glorify Krishna, the pleasure the tongue can give us is far-far better. So, when we talk about Krishna as Govinda is the delighter of the senses, we may say how is that possible? Krishna tells to give up sense gratification but the paradox of Bhakti is by giving up sense gratification we get greatest sense gratification actually, glorifying Krishna by our senses we get supreme sense gratification and there are many verses by Vaishanavas which say, O tongue sing the holy name.

Jihve sadaiva Bhaj Sundarni

Namani Krishnasya Manoharani

Samasta bhakt-arthar ti vinasnani

Govind Damodara Madhaveti

O tongue! I am praying to you, Jihve sadaiva, always, Bhaj Sundarni, chant / worship the holy name in a very respectful way.

Jihve sadaiva Bhaj Sundarni

What should we worship? Namani Krishnasya Manoharani, so he is not just saying names are sweet, madhur is often said, he is saying beautiful names. So generally we talk about beauty for something which is perceived by eyes, for example who will say that this Prasad is beautiful, we will say this prasadam is delicious but Acharyas say Jihve sadaiva Bhaj Sundarni, the Sundar names of Krishna, why? Because when the holy name of Krishna invokes His presence then that presence actually pervades, permeates, conquers all our senses, from that nama rupa is revealed and the rupa is all attractive so it is trans-sensory experience. It begins with the senses but it goes beyond the senses, Namani Krishnasya Manoharani, so it gives joy to the senses and the experience also goes to the mind, then the joy is so deep so fulfilling and all of one’s misery goes off, samasta bhaktartha vinasinani, all the miseries goes away, for example one gets joy after lot of effort, people think that it is worth it, for example someone takes trouble of going to stadium to watch match with lot of effort and at the end his favorable team wins so how he feels Samasta artha ti vinasnani, similarly at physical level a devotee may have misery but when he feels Krishna’s love and His presence which is invoked by chanting of the holy name in a prayerful and devotional way then samasta bhaktarthi vinasinani, so all miseries destroyed, so Krishna is called Govinda, when we use our senses to serve Him, He gives greatest delight to our senses. 

Here Arjuna is telling, O Krishna I told you my mouth is dried up, my limbs are trembling so he said my senses are aflame, my skin is burning, O Krishna why are you putting me in such situation where all my senses are drying up and are suffering terribly, you are Govinda, you give pleasure but actually Krishna will give pleasure to Arjuna by engaging him in devotional service.

And He is Janardana, protector of Jana, Ardhan means protector and Jana means people, you have to protect people, why are you engaging me in something which will cause destruction of the people 

Jan+ ardhana => Protector of Jana

Jana + rdhana => Killer of demons.

Janardana can mean -> Jan + Ardhana OR Jana + rdhana, depending on how the prefix can be separated it can be protection of people or it can be destruction of people. So Krishna has come here to rid the world of ungodly elements, those who are the burden on the earth and in that sense Janaardana. He is always well wisher but his well wishes are sometimes displayed by ridding the bodies of sinful people, their sinful propensities are temporarily checked and disruption of law & order in society, which they are causing because of their demonic activities are stopped, that is how Paritraya sadhu nam Vinashaya ca duskritam, Janardhana, protection of people for sadhus, paritraya sadhu nam, destroyer of people for duskritee, so Krishna is going to do both here.

End of transcription.