Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Bg 1.25

bhīṣma-droṇa-pramukhataḥ

sarveṣāṁ ca mahī-kṣitām

uvāca pārtha paśyaitān

samavetān kurūn iti

Word for word: 

bhīṣma — Grandfather Bhīṣma; droṇa — the teacher Droṇa; pramukhataḥ — in front of; sarveṣām — all; ca — also; mahī–kṣitām — chiefs of the world; uvāca — said; pārtha — O son of Pṛthā; paśya — just behold; etān — all of them; samavetān — assembled; kurūn — the members of the Kuru dynasty; iti — thus.

Translation: 

In the presence of Bhīṣma, Droṇa and all the other chieftains of the world, the Lord said, “Just behold, Pārtha, all the Kurus assembled here.”

So now Sri Krishna took the chariot between the two armies assembled and He took the chariot in front of Bhisma and Drona 

bhīṣma-droṇa-pramukhataḥ, they are the chief of the Kaurava Armies 

sarveṣāṁ ca mahī-kṣitām, and there are so many people who are Lords mahī-kṣitām, 

uvāca pārtha paśyaitān, and Krishna said, O Partha you wanted to see now, see this paśyaitān

samavetān kurūn iti, just see how everybody is assembled over here for the sake of fighting,

So indication is given that everyone is ready to fight Arjuna, what exactly you wanted to see?

Actually the warriors are there to fight and it is time for action not just seeing.

 

So, Sri Krishna is surprised but He is saying pārtha paśya, O Partha please see what you wanted to see, I have fulfilled your desire. So the point which has come over here is that, actually there is great power of illusion which comes through eyes and if power of illusion comes through eyes anyone and everyone can get bewildered, so now we will see how Arjuna will get bewildered just by seeing uvāca pārtha paśyaitān, so when he sees Pasya, by that pasya he gets illusioned. So, generally speaking in this world Maya comes through eyes and Sri Krishna comes through ears, ofcourse this is very general statement, sometimes Sri Krishna can also comes through eyes when we take darshan of deities and Maya can also comes through ear when we hear gossip and blasphemy, but in a broad sense what we see Pratyaksha that has lot of capacity to drag us in illusion. So when we look at the things of this world we think O’ there is so much pleasure here and I have to just get it, I have to work hard, make some arrangement and I have to enjoy. So it seems that the pleasures are readily available and we have to just get it. This is one aspect of illusion that the pleasure is readily available, easily available on the other hand there is illusion that where is Krishna? He is somewhere far away, don’t make any bearing/meaning in my life, He is far away so through our eyes we feel the pleasure real & available and we feel that Krishna is remote & irrelevant, that is how Pratyaksha Praman can drag us away from Krishna and drag us deep into Maya, so we have to be very careful when we use Pratyaksha Praman, we cannot walk around in this world with our eyes close, we have to have our eyes open but that doesn’t mean that our heart and head are receptively receiving everything. We have to have intelligence and we need to discriminate, then we will be able to act safely. So this demonstrates that even a person who is as exalted as Arjuna, he is such a person who is accompanied by Krishna, such a person can also be bewildered if such a person over relies on Pratyaksha and ignores Sabda, the words of scripture, Kshetriya duty is to fight to protect, fight for religion.

Ch1 – 01 to 25 is Sanya Nirichaya Yoga

End of transcription.