BG 2.10

tam uvaca hrishikesah

prahasann iva bharata

senayor ubhayor madhye

vishidantam idam vacah

SYNONYMS

tam — unto him; uvaca — said; hrishikesah — the master of the senses, Krishna; prahasan — smiling; iva — like that; bharata — O Dhritarashtra, descendant of Bharata; senayoh — of the armies; ubhayoh — of both parties; madhye — between; vishidantam — unto the lamenting one; idam — the following; vacah — words.

TRANSLATION

O descendant of Bharata, at that time Krishna, smiling in the midst of both the armies, spoke the following words to the grief-stricken Arjuna.

tam uvaca, unto that person spoke hrishikesah. So hrishikesah spoke like this prahasann, smilingly, eva denotes certainly, bharata refers to Dhritarashtra, tam refers to Arjuna. Arjuna spoke to hrishikesah, “I am telling this to you, senayor ubhayor madhye..” so this word is used to explain the dramatic nature of setting scene of BG. This scripture which is spoken, right in the middle of the battle field. vishidantam idam vacah, so vishidantam, has been mentioned earlier also in same chapter, first verse; wherein Arjuna similarly lamented, in 2.2 Krishna spoke. So next verse onwards 2.11 Krishna will continue, but there is a difference. In 2.2 Krishna gave a pep talk, because Arjuna expressed his decision not to fight, and he kept his bow aside. But Arjuna didn’t make any inquiry, he didn’t ask for instructions.

All of us give instruction to others, nothing is given as freely and as eagerly as advice. So in BG 2.2 Krishna does not give advice / instruction, but just gives a pep talk, and refrained from advising further. So what does this indicate?

We are also giving classes, distributing books etc. but those are general instructions, but beyond that if we interfere in someone’s life without the instruction being asked for, then it often backfires, because unwanted help is often seen as interference and not as assistance.

If help is seen as interference and not assistance then generally the consequences are that, such help is not appreciated or accepted. If people don’t want help and that time we provide help, then it becomes interference and often leads to strained relationships. Of course this doesn’t mean that if someone is walking off the 10 story building cliff, we let them walk off? Bhakti Siddanta Swaraswati Thakur said, when we see people making mistakes we feel obligated to help.

We have an obligation to help everyone by generally giving Krishna’s instruction. Krishna says that one who does that is very dear to Me but unless we have good relations with someone, and we go ahead dispensing personal instruction, it can backfire badly. So we should be careful when someone asks for help, we can give, otherwise we can give general suggestions and see if it helps, then can go further.

When Arjuna didn’t ask for instruction, Krishna didn’t gave him any. Only when Arjuna surrenders to Krishna in BG 2.7, then Krishna gives instructions. And someone can say that, the surrender in 2.7 may be casual. But 2.8 makes it very clear when Arjuna said na hi prapasyami mamapanudyad, “Nothing will work, I don’t see any other solution, I need to be move to higher level of consciousness, I need higher vision of life, What is my dharma? I need to know that, only then things will be clear to me, so now Arjuna surrenders to Krishna. Now, the Lord will start to speak and will not give pep talk. Krishna will start delivering on serious instructions.

So now here prahasann iva bharata, Viswanath charavarthi Thakur explained about prahasann iva, prahasann means smiling. So this seems to be a very contrasting situation. We saw in 2.1 Ashrupurna kulekshnam, one person is crying and another person is smiling in BG 2.10. So suppose we see two people talking and for one, tears start streaming from their eyes, the other person is smiling; then we will see what is this going? So if someone is crying at least we should sympathize. So is Krishna, so heartless that he is smiling. Actually prahasann iva, “smiling as if”.

Krishna was smiling as suddenly the dynamics of the situation changed. A friend has suddenly become a disciple. As friends they are equals, but suddenly what has happened is a friend has become a disciple. When the friend has become a disciple and surrenders to the spiritual master, Krishna is pleasantly surprised (in lila) to see this change. So what happens is, if one person is having a problem, another person will laugh at the problem. And his friend will also take it as nothing serious (as if the problem is not serious).

Just as Bhima suggested Krishna, when he was going as shanti doot, that please try if war can be avoided. Krishna jovially commented, “Bhima, have you become fearful lately, until now, you were raging to fight, and waiting for the moment.” Then again Bima became angry and said, he is not fearful.

So when a disciple approaches a spiritual master seeking an answer for a serious problem, and the spiritual master laughs at them; the disciple’s heart will sink. So here Krishna wanted to laugh, but He restrained himself, and it is as if He is smiling. prahasann iva bharata. That is why it is, as if smiling. And of course Krishna knows that through Arjuna, he is going to give wisdom which will not only benefit Arjuna, but to the rest of humanity for all time to come.