The Dhaarmik Traditions - Indic Studies Foundation

"My nature is weighed down with the taint of feeblemindedness; my understanding is
confused as to right duty. i entreat you, say definitely what is good for me.
i am your desciple. do instruct me who have taken refuge in you."
Arjuna confesses that this crisis has driven him to the position of a 'kripana'. the
upanishad says that he who does not strive for spiritual enlightenment is a 'kripana'.
"anyacchreyo 'nyadutaiva preyaste ubhe nanarthe purusam sinitah
tayoh zreya adadanasya sadhur bhavati hiyate 'rthad ya u preyo vrnite"
"one thing is the good and quite another, the pleasant; being of different requisitions,
they both bind man. holy becomes he who pursues the good, but falls the man from
the goal, who chooses the pleasant."
Kathopanishad, II-1
Arjuna finds himself now at the cross-roads between the pleasant and good, between
Sreyas and Preyas. he who was all along the kinsman and comrade of sri krishna, now
becomes a disciple and supplicates for the gift of 'sreyas'- the good. He surrenders
himself to the lord. this frame of mind is prerequisite to the attainment of spiritual
enlightenment. He who seeks to make a sacred study of the bhagavad gita will do well
to chant this verse every time and to evoke in himself the attitude of self-surrender
seen here in arjuna. it is a prayer complete in itself.
Bhagavan said to Arjuna:
"karmaNyevAdhikAraste mA phaleSu kadAcana
mA karma phalahetur bhUr mA te saGgo 'stvakarmaNi"
"yogasthaH kuru karmANi saGgam tyaktvA dhanaJjaya
siddhy asiddhyoH samo bhUtvA samatvaM yoga ucyate"
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