Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Now for the first time in BG Arjuna started speaking in a prolonged sequence, earlier he has spoken Senayor Ubayor Madhya now he will speak several verses over here.

Bg 1.28

arjuna uvāca

dṛṣṭvemaṁ sva-janaṁ kṛṣṇa

yuyutsuṁ samupasthitam

sīdanti mama gātrāṇi

mukhaṁ ca pariśuṣyati

Word for word: 

arjunaḥ uvāca — Arjuna said; dṛṣṭvā — after seeing; imam — all these; sva–janam — kinsmen; kṛṣṇa — O Kṛṣṇa; yuyutsum — all in a fighting spirit; samupasthitam — present; sīdanti — are quivering; mama — my; gātrāṇi — limbs of the body; mukham — mouth; ca — also; pariśuṣyati — is drying up.

Translation: 

Arjuna said: My dear Kṛṣṇa, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up.

So now we can see that Arjuna’s whole perception is changed, earlier he was saying dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher

yuddhe priya-cikīrṣavaḥ

I.e. Who are the friends of the evil minded Duryodhana who have come to assist him, so the idea was those who come to assist the evil minded are also evil minded, so those whom he was earlier talking as dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher, now he is telling them sva-janaṁ, they are my people. So earlier he was saying they are Duryodhana’s people, now he is saying they are my people dṛṣṭvemaṁ sva-janaṁ kṛṣṇa, this is also first reference to Krishna in BG. Krishna has been referred as Achyuta, Keshava many names, but Krishna is very affectionate name, generally in Mahabharat the name Krishna doesn’t come as frequently as Keshava, Keshava is little bit formal, Vasudeva name also comes, Yadava is there, Krishna comes but not that frequently, Krishna is very intimate name.

dṛṣṭvemaṁ sva-janaṁ kṛṣṇa, dṛṣṭve – I am seeing and what happens by seeing 

yuyutsuṁ samupasthitam, – they are my people but they are ready to fight against me, 

and what happens by this?

sīdanti mama gātrāṇi, – all my limbs are quivering.

mukhaṁ ca pariśuṣyati, – and my mouth is dried up.

So here we can see that Arjuna is showing symptoms of an emotional breakdown, Kripaya Paryavistam as said in the previous verse, now that overwhelming compassion that has come over him is having a physical effect. The physical effect is trembling sīdanti mama gātrāṇi and throat is dried up.

So the important lesson from BG here is, Pratayaksha puts us in illusion and Sabda removes us from illusion.

He came in the battlefield for fighting but he said Aveksheham i.e. I wanted to see, that desire for Pratakshaya Praman and not just Pratakshaya Praman but over-reliance on Pratakshaya Praman that is the problem. We all have to use Pratayaksha Praman, it is not that Pratakshaya Praman is rejected but Pratakshaya Praman should not be treated all important, Pratakshaya Praman is that knowledge which we get from sensory perception. Praman means it is valid so Pratakshaya Praman is also valid source of knowledge but it is not the final source of knowledge. What if a thief says that since pratyaksha pramana is not there so I was not thieving, so Pratakshaya is valid way of knowledge but it is not final way, particularly in transcendental matters where Pratakshaya is not possible, Pratakshaya becomes useless largely speaking unless there is Divya Pratakshaya that means our consciousness is awaken and we perceive at spiritual level, so when there is over reliance on Pratakshaya then it cause forgetfulness of Sabda, then it is serious problem. So Arjuna is overwhelmed by emotion and this disconnects him from scriptural roots, he has been uprooted from the grounds of spiritual knowledge where he has been rooted till now and he has just tossed around by emotions.

So all of us also if we rely too much on Pratakshaya then we will get unduly affected, overly affected, certainly we don’t have to close our eyes we don’t have to reject seeing but we have to remember that what we see from our eyes we have to connect to scripture and based on scripture make sense of things otherwise we will get overwhelmed and we will get mislead so whole point is connect our experience with the scriptures and learn from that so Pratakshaya has to be subordinated with Sabda, so Pratakshaya puts him in illusion and sabda takes him out of illusion. Arjuna’s credit is, when Pratayaksha started bewildering him he doesn’t immediately act on it, what he does is, he consults.

 This can be contrasted by Arjuna’s response with Kaykai’s response, when Manthera started speaking with Kaykai through ears her whole perception is changed, her error was she did not consult anyone, through pratyaksha she got information, here pratyaksha came through ear but it is Pratyaksha in the sense that it comes from sensory perception, it is not scriptural knowledge and instead of consulting anyone she decided to act on it, in this world we cannot avoid sensory perception we have to use sensory perception as we are living in the world but sometimes sensory perception is misleading and such time we have to consult scriptures, we have to consult Guru, Sadhu and Shastra and understand proper situation, so Arjuna sets that example that he now moves towards proper understanding.

So Srila Prabhupada mentioned in purport that since Arjuna is a pure devotee so he is feeling compassion, it is a noble emotion to be compassionate when we see others suffer  

End of transcription.