Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Now after describing this Arjuna will give another reason:

So Arjuna has given various reasons first he gave reason for compassion, how can I kill others. Then he gave reason as enjoyment, how can I enjoy with all my relatives killed, now he is going for another reason and saying what about sinful reactions? We kill our own relatives and we get sinful reactions.

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

36-38 fear of sinful reactions

Bg 1.36

pāpam evāśrayed asmān

hatvaitān ātatāyinaḥ

tasmān nārhā vayaṁ hantuṁ

dhārtarāṣṭrān sa-bāndhavān

sva-janaṁ hi kathaṁ hatvā

sukhinaḥ syāma mādhava

Word for word: 

pāpam — vices; eva — certainly; āśrayet — must come upon; asmān — us; hatvā — by killing; etān — all these;ātatāyinaḥ — aggressors; tasmāt — therefore; na — never; arhāḥ — deserving; vayam — we; hantum — to kill;dhārtarāṣṭrān — the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra; sa–bāndhavān — along with friends; sva–janam — kinsmen; hi — certainly; katham — how; hatvā — by killing; sukhinaḥ — happy; syāma — will we become; mādhava — O Kṛṣṇa, husband of the goddess of fortune.

Translation: 

Sin will overcome us if we slay such aggressors. Therefore it is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra and our friends. What should we gain, O Kṛṣṇa, husband of the goddess of fortune, and how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?

pāpam evāśrayed asmān, we will be taking shelter of Papa, it will come upon us, generally we talk about Asraya in positive sense but actually to take shelter of papa means let papa come upon us, papa will cover us, so it is not a shelter but it is a burden. So shelter is used in that sense here.

hatvaitān ātatāyinaḥ, if we will kill them, ātatāyina, ata means stretched tai means bow, so ātatāyina means those who come with stretched bow means those who are aggressors, those who come with the intention to destroy or kill.

tasmān nārhā vayaṁ hantuṁ, tasmān, therefore we should not kill them because we will get sin, nārhā vayaṁ hantuṁ, it is not appropriate for us to kill them.

dhārtarāṣṭrān sa-bāndhavān, so sons of Dhritarashtra and other relatives, we should not kill them, 

If we kill them sva-janaṁ hi kathaṁ hatvā, this is 3rd time Arjuna is using the word sva-jana, they are all my relatives, how can I kill them, 

sukhinaḥ syāma mādhava, O Madhava what happiness can we get? Again the name Madhava is significant over here, Madhava refers to Krishna as Lord of goddess of fortune, so when He is Lord of Goddess of fortune that means He is bestower of fortune. The one who bestows the fortune she is on His side, she is her internal potency, so wherever He is, there is good fortune.

So Arjuna implication over here is why are you bringing misfortune upon me Lord, so Srila Prabhupada writes in Purport that God is all auspicious, God never desire harm for anyone, Krishna never every brings misfortune to anyone, to say nothing of his devotees, but sometimes we may feel that God is bringing misfortune. So we have to understand that Sri Krishna’s actions may not be pleasant but they are always benevolent, pleasant means that which feels good, benevolent means that which does good, like a surgeon who does surgery in the body. Similarly the surgical knife of Krishna is cutting here attachment i.e. the bodily misconception, the illusion which has come from bodily misconception, so this is going to bring supreme fortune for Arjuna.

Srila Prabhupada has explained what are the ātatāyina:

Now we can see that Pandavas have suffered in all six ways from Kauravas, that means Kauravas were ātatāyina.

There are six kinds of aggressors:

(1) a poison giver [Duryodhana given poison to Bhima],

(2) one who sets fire to the house, [Lakshagriha]

(3) one who attacks with deadly weapons [when Pandavas were sent to exile, Duryodhana planned to attack them with full army, that time Vyasa deva came and cursed that if he dare this, he is cursed to be destroyed, Abhimanyu Killing, Asvasthama killed the sons of Draupadi and tried to kill Maharaj Parikshit in womb],

(4) one who plunders riches, [gambling match – those who are staking the wealth should play, not that other person stakes the wealth and another person plays ]

(5) one who occupies another’s land, [same as previous point] and

(6) one who kidnaps someone’s wife [Dushashana tried to disrobe Draupadi, Karna’s remark, Duryodhana’s showing his thigh etc, Jayadratha tried to kidnap her].

Such attackers have already done bad karma and they deserve to be punished, so the punishment to such crime is capital punishment and for killing them there is not bad reaction, and if a Kshatriya doesn’t kill them, that person will get karma reaction in future life but Kshatriya will also get some reaction as he fails to administer them by giving proper punishment.

Here they are aggressors and relatives, so as per culture, relatives should be protected. So that is Arjuna’s confusion, shall he act as per Kshatriya Dharma or Kula Dharma. So he is thinking Kula dharma is more important. Kshatriyas have to show saintliness in different ways as Lord Ram has punished Ravan.

End of transcription.