Good teachers are concerned about knowing and delivering their lessons well. Great teachers are concerned about ensuring that their students understand the subject. To that end, they encourage students to ask questions as they arise in the students’ minds. When such questions are answered, the students gain not just greater clarity about the subject but also greater faith in the teacher: “This teacher isn’t just delivering a memorized discourse; they know their stuff.” 

Let’s consider how the Gita reveals Krishna to be a great teacher. Within its 700 verses, the Gita contains 17 questions. That is, Arjuna asks a question approximately every 40 verses. The very fact that Arjuna asks so many questions indicates that he feels Krishna’s openness and competence in answering questions. 

Let’s consider how Krishna handles three kinds of difficult questions:

“Your recommendation is unclear”: This is Arjuna’s implication when he asks essentially the same question thrice — is it better to work or to renounce — at the start of the third, fifth and eighteenth chapters, Krishna doesn’t get impatient or irritated; he patiently addresses the issue, each time from a different or deeper perspective to improve Arjuna’s understanding. 

“Your point is difficult to believe”: Arjuna raises this question when Krishna states that he enlightened the sun-god long ago (04.04). Without taking the objection personally, Krishna calmly points to the multiple lives they both have had as eternal souls and asserts his ability to remember them all due to his divinity. 

“Your process is difficult to practice”: This is Arjuna’s concern on hearing about the process of dhyana-yoga that centers on controlling the mind (06.33-34). Krishna empathically acknowledges that controlling the mind is tough and then gently asserts that it is possible by suitable practice and detachment. 

One-sentence summary:

Krishna’s calm, clear, composed answers to Arjuna’s many questions reveal him to be a great teacher. 

Think it over:

  • What differentiates a great teacher from a good teacher?
  • What do Arjuna’s asking many questions in the Gita tell us about Krishna?
  • By seeing Krishna’s approach in the Gita to answering questions, what can you learn about answering questions? 

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06.33: Arjuna said: O Madhusudana, the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.

 

To know more about this verse, please click on the image