Gita 02.01 The intensity of Arjuna’s emotion conveys the potency of Krishna’s solacing wisdom
sañjaya uvāca
taṁ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭam
aśru-pūrṇākulekṣaṇam
viṣīdantam idaṁ vākyam
uvāca madhusūdanaḥ (Bg 02.01)
Word-for-word:
sañjayaḥ uvāca — Sañjaya said; tam — unto Arjuna; tathā — thus; kṛpayā — by compassion; āviṣṭam — overwhelmed; aśru-pūrṇa-ākula — full of tears; īkṣaṇam — eyes; viṣīdantam — lamenting; idam — these; vākyam — words; uvāca — said; madhu-sūdanaḥ — the killer of Madhu.
Translation:
Sañjaya said: Seeing Arjuna full of compassion, his mind depressed, his eyes full of tears, Madhusūdana, Kṛṣṇa, spoke the following words.
Explanation:
This verse summarizes Arjuna’s grief-stricken condition, which led to the speaking of the Gītā.
taṁ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭam—Arjuna was overwhelmed by intense distress (kṛpayāviṣṭam), completely overwhelmed by it. His eyes were filled with tears, and he was profusely crying (aśru-pūrṇākulekṣaṇam).
There is a distinction between the experience of emotion and its expression. Grief, for instance, has an internal experience and an external manifestation, such as crying or other visible expressions. However, the two do not always have a one-to-one correlation.
In some cases, people express grief as a profession. There is a class of individuals known as rudālīs—professional mourners. When an influential person passes away, these individuals are hired to cry at the funeral. Just as some are paid to sing a person’s praises during their lifetime, these mourners are paid to grieve publicly.
Since rudālīs are professional criers or grievers, their outward expression of sorrow may be intense, yet they may have little or no actual experience of grief, as they are merely hired and paid to mourn—often for someone they do not even know. This illustrates an instance where emotion is expressed without being genuinely experienced.
The other extreme consists of those who are highly stoic and able to conceal their emotions. In reality, no one is entirely without feelings, though individuals differ in their capacity to experience and express them.
Some people may have deep emotions but choose not to express them, while others wear their emotions on their sleeves, becoming visibly emotional or even crying over trivial matters. Those who are highly expressive in this way often struggle with managing their emotions.
On the other hand, stoic individuals endure distress and adversity with a heroic sense of unemotionality. For them, the ability to conceal or even repress emotions is seen as a mark of strength.
To conceal an emotion means that one feels it but chooses not to express it. To repress an emotion means that one does not even acknowledge its existence. Concealers experience emotions but do not reveal them to others, whereas repressors refuse to acknowledge their emotions even to themselves.
A third category consists of those who neither feel nor express emotions. This occurs when a person has no emotional investment in a particular subject. For example, a cricket match between India and Pakistan can evoke intense and volatile emotions among Indians and Pakistanis. However, for many Americans, who are generally unfamiliar with cricket, there is little to no emotional involvement, regardless of which team wins or loses. In such cases, there is neither the experience nor the expression of emotion.
We can classify these four categories based on the internal experience of emotion and its external expression:
1. No experience, no expression – The person neither feels nor expresses emotion.
2. Experience but no expression – The person feels emotion internally but does not show it outwardly.
3. Expression but no experience – The person outwardly displays emotion without actually feeling it.
4. Both experience and expression – The person feels emotion deeply and expresses it openly.
For a warrior like Arjuna, who is on the battlefield and trained to be battle-hardened, intimidation is a strategic strength, while vulnerability is seen as a serious—if not fatal—weakness. If a warrior reveals emotional vulnerability, it can be exploited by the opponent.
The principle of ‘hitting where it hurts’ applies not only in warfare but also in sports like boxing. A boxer seeking to gain the upper hand will repeatedly target their opponent’s weak spot, capitalizing on their vulnerability.
Similarly, if we acknowledge that no one is completely emotionally invulnerable, we can see that everyone has weaknesses. However, a wounded warrior who does not show pain may intimidate the opponent, making them believe that a fierce battle still lies ahead. Conversely, if the warrior reveals their pain, the opponent may gain a surge of confidence to go for the kill and end the fight. This is why warriors are trained not to display emotion.
For a warrior like Arjuna, publicly expressing emotion—especially on the battlefield—indicates immense internal turmoil. When emotions become so overwhelming that they can no longer be concealed, they manifest outwardly. Arjuna’s tears, shed in the midst of battle for all to see, reflect the depth of his grief. This grief of such overwhelming, oceanic magnitude will ultimately be dispelled by the wisdom of the Bhagavad-gītā. Thus, by recognizing the intensity of Arjuna’s suffering, we can better appreciate the potency of the Gītā’s wisdom.
Suppose a child is crying loudly, fervently, and feverishly, and the mother speaks a few words to console him. If the child, upon hearing the mother, becomes silent, the relatives and onlookers would consider the mother to be highly skilled in comforting her child.
Similarly, if a person in deep grief seeks counseling—entering the room distressed, crying, and heartbroken but emerging peaceful and composed—we would recognize the grief counselor as an expert.
Similarly, by considering the depth of Arjuna’s emotional turmoil—he, a battle-hardened warrior trained to conceal emotions deemed weak, was openly shedding tears of fear, grief, and lamentation—we can better appreciate the empowering and consoling nature of the Bhagavad-gītā.
The Mahābhārata is an epic, and within that epic, Arjuna undergoes epic distress. It is Kṛṣṇa who relieves him of that distress, demonstrating the profound, transformative, and empowering nature of the Gītā’s teachings.
Thank you.
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