Arjuna’s sixteenth question

Arjuna’s question at the start of the seventeenth chapter is among the few of his questions whose link with the last verses of the previous chapter is self-evident. Most of his questions require a careful understanding of several preceding sections of the Gita as well as its overall philosophical context. His only other question with a self-evident link to the immediately preceding verses is at the start of the eighth chapter. Whereas that question reveals his eagerness to understand new terms, this question reveals his eagerness to understand the nuances of clear-seeming categories. Let’s see how.

The Gita’s sixteenth chapter about godly and ungodly natures concludes by drawing a sharp contrast between them: the ungodly faithlessly reject scripture and pander to their lower desires, whereas the godly faithfully follow scripture and restrain their lower desires (16.23-24). 

Arjuna promptly asks about people between these two categories: what is the fate of those who have faith but in something other than scripture? (17.01). While the question is a natural follow-up to what came before it, it’s remarkable that Arjuna wanted to know something more than Krishna’s black-and-white categorization. Why is Arjuna’s inquisitiveness remarkable? Because Krishna had explicitly assured Arjuna that he belonged on the white side in this categorization (16.05). And Krishna’s descriptions about the ungodly nature (16.11-13) clearly indicated that Duryodhana was on the black side. As this categorization was so comforting for Arjuna, he could easily have settled for it. Yet he didn’t. That he wanted to know about the shades of grey demonstrates his eagerness to gain a holistic understanding of reality, not just a self-congratulatory picture of things. 

Learning from Arjuna, we too can resist the temptation to reduce things to black-and-white and seek deeper understanding. 

One-sentence summary:

Arjuna’s sixteenth question demonstrates his unwillingness to settle for a comforting black-and-white categorization and his eagerness to understand subtle shades of grey. 

Think it over:

• How was Krishna’s sixteenth chapter categorization comforting for Arjuna?
• What does Arjuna’s question tell us about him?
• What can we learn from Arjuna’s question? 

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17.01: Arjuna inquired: O Krishna, what is the situation of those who do not follow the principles of scripture but worship according to their own imagination? Are they in goodness, in passion or in ignorance?

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