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I.32,
33 and 34: Arjuna said, "Of what avail is dominion to us, of
what avail are pleasures and even life, if these, O Govinda (Krishna)!
for whose sake it is desired that empire, enjoyment, and pleasure should
be ours, themselves stand here in battle, having renounced life and
wealth: who are they? teachers, uncles, sons, grandfathers, maternal
uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, besides other kinsmen."
I.46 and 47: "If the sons of Dhrtarashtra, i.e., the Kauravas,
with weapons in hand, were to kill me, un-resistant, unarmed, in the
battle, that would be better for me." Sanjaya said, "Speaking
thus in the midst of the battle-field, Arjuna, casting away his bow
and arrows, sank down on the seat of his chariot with his mind distressed
with sorrow."
Overwhelmed by the attachment and consequent weakness, Arjuna decides
to give up the idea of fighting the enemy. At the same time he did not
wish to be called a coward (running away from the battle was tantamount
to cowardice), nor did he want to be blamed for shunning his duty. So,
he starts preaching about the ills of the war and virtues of non-violence.
Those beautiful words, which certainly would have become a saint, were
utterly misfit in the mouth of Arjuna, because he was using them as
a cover for his cowardice. He was being a hypocrite. Arjuna knew very
well that all this flowery talk of non-violence is not convincing even
to himself; it was not certainly going to convince Lord Krishna.
In life we often stifle the conscience and then throw some borrowed
nice-sounding words to console it. But it remains wounded still. Nothing
makes us more unhappy than a wounded conscience. Thus, after the long
sermon on non-violence etc, Arjuna felt sad and depressed.
This sadness, if properly utilized, paves the way for Divine illumination,
as it happened in the case of Arjuna.
