Chapter 10
Verses 1-42
Krishna and Arjuna
David Epstein
August 28, 2004

This chapter features both Krishna and Arjuna. It's probably the most in-depth exchange between the two in the Bhagavad Gita. KRISHNA (Verses 1-11): Verse 1: "Hear again mighty Arjuna, hear the glory of my Word again. I speak for thy true good, because thy heart finds joy in me." Verse 2: "The hosts of the gods know not my birth, nor the great seers on earth, for all the gods come from me, and all the great seers, all." Verse 3: "He who knows I am beginningless, unborn, the Lord of all the worlds, this mortal is free from delusion, and from all evils he is free." Verses 4-5: "Intelligence, spiritual vision, victory over delusion, patient forgiveness, truth, self-harmony, peacefulness, joys and sorrows, to be and not to be, fear and freedom from fear, harmlessness and non-violence, an everquietness, satisfaction, simple austerity, generosity, honour and dishonour: these are the conditions of mortals and they all arise from me." What a mixture of attributes. True, they all come from Krishna; but they are to be practiced by humans, and that's what ultimately makes them worthy (both humans and attributes). For if they were merely the attributes (and values) of Krishna, they would be self-contained in the supreme being, and hence in perfection; they would have infinite value in the divine world, and thus no value as measurable by human success or failure. Worthiness only has value in an imperfect world where humans are free to make choices, commit errors, and improve themselves through their own endeavors. This is the hallmark of an evolving culture. I'll go through each of these attributes one by one: Intelligence: Humans need it, and often it's in short supply. Therefore, it's very valuable to humans. Gee, that was a fun syllogism! Spiritual vision: It's hard to see this one, but have faith folks! This is the core of the religious experience. Vision allows people to overcome many obstacles in walking down the pathway to a blissful destination. Victory over delusion: Delusion doesn't just wither away; it must be systematically fought. The battle is between truth and delusion, and the war is fought on the battlefield described in Chapter 1. Patient forgiveness. Forgiving someone for egregious or sinful behavior is a very difficult act. Expressing forgiveness to that person is even more difficult; but being patient about it, forgiving that person for transgressions they commit over a prolonged period of time, well that's as difficult as it gets. The other explanation I can see is to be patient in offering such forgiveness. One shouldn't leap at any opportunity to forgive someone, but rather wait for him to offer an apology, repent for his sins, or even merely asking for forgiveness. Truth: You can't handle the truth! Sometimes it's the most elusive of all the virtues, and even more difficult to discern when it's staring you right in the face. People often avoid the truth to pursuit more convenient and accessible values: self-importance, desires, passions, avarice, power, and a host of others. Embracing truth is hard work, and is not for the timid or weak-of-heart. Yet what is truth? How can we demonstrate it exists, much less prove if something is true? The difficulty is expressed in this 'proof': Let us suppose that there is no truth. Then we can make the statement "there is no truth". But that statement itself is a truth. That's a contraction. Therefore, truth exists. Fine, you say, we've demonstrated truth exists. The problem, however, is that we're presupposing the existence of truth in judging the veracity of each step of the proof. Each step is determined to be true! That's another contradiction. Therefore, we can't prove that truth exist (nor prove it doesn't exist). We just have to accept it on faith and move on. Self-harmony. Being in harmony with one's self is a supreme virtue. This is another way of stating that one should "be true to one's self". The source of personal suffering is to be in dissonance with one's inner being. It prevents one from seeing higher truths. This is not to negate the suffering of people inflicted by others: war, genocide, torture, forced starvation, economic dislocation, family separations. Self-harmony will not alleviate these social-political ills, other than an occasional "warding off the evil spirits" by demonstrating a sense of self-confidence to battle the pernicious forces. Peacefulness. This encapsulates both internal and external peace, for they are strongly interrelated. To promote peace around the world, one must first be at peace with himself. And one can't possibly be at peace with himself if he's actively promoting war. Joys and sorrows. Can we ever have joy without sorrow? Perhaps. The joys we experience don't need to be measure against the sorrows we encounter. They could emerge against a background of emotional neutrality. Yet the nature of reality is that we experience both joys and sorrows; the two are intertwined without any known way to separate them. All we're capable of doing is increasing the level of joy and decreasing the sorrows in our lives. To be and not to be. Long before Shakespeare's famed "To be OR not to be" was this aphorism in the Bhagavad Gita. The difference is that Being and Non-Being are NOT choices in Krishna's world; they are complimentary states of existence unified in a cohesive whole. Being and Non-Being are both to be embraced. Why embraced? Why not merely understood to be a metaphysical reality? Because Krishna makes it clear this is a value. A value can either be accepted or rejected. If accepted, one see's the true nature of the world; if rejected, one must live in a state of delusion. Here, morals and metaphysics merge together. Making the right decision to understand the world will trigger a revelation about how the world truly works. (There's that "truth" factor again. I know, it's a sticky wicket). Of course this is tempered by epistomological considerations. We might not be able to truly experience being and/or nothingness. Rather, it's only possible to obtain knowledge about one or the other, or combinations of the two. However, in Krishna's mind, being and non-being can be simultaneously experienced. Fear and freedom from fear. This is another example of complimentary opposites. We can't fully remove fear from our lives, but we weaken its embrace. We don't strive to eliminate fear, for that is an impossibility, but aim to liberate ourselves from the bondage of Fear governing our lives. It is the psychology of fear, how it dictates what we do, that can be eradicated. If we let fear determine our behavior and associations, then we are doomed to live a life where Fear gives us ultimatums that can only be harmful to us. Harmlessness and Non-violence. Here we see the origins of Gandhi's theory and practice of non-violence (Satyagraha). To resist the temptation of committing violence and aggresion, even when one has been the victim of a violent act or aggressed against, this is the highest virtue. It strenghtens one's inner resolve. Yet this is not to be confused with self-defense. If one is being systematically attacked, then one has the right to fight against the aggressor. The ancient Hindus fought on the battlefield, and modern day Indians have gone to war. Where Krishna and later Gandhi's position is valid is in resisting oppression, occupation, injustice, corruption, social dispossession, or hegenomy. Rather than commiting acts of violence, people can fight against the system by imploying non-violent tactics. It is as much a spiritual as it is a political practice. Everquietness. It's not so important to speak out as it is to listen. When one is quiet, one is more able to listen to one's surroundings. A listener will learn more readily than a talker. This applies to one's inner life as well. One who listens to one's inner self will learn a great deal about oneself. The greatest knowledge to derive from such listening is that the most instructive teacher is the inner-quietness of the soul. Satisfaction. I can't get no. Still, be satisfied with what you got! Simple austerity. Don't let your austerity get too complex. Be strategically austere in areas that will benefit yourself and your neighbors. Austerity certainly builds character, but just as important, it conserves personal and social resources. But keep it simple, smarty. Use your Occam's razor to determine your proper austerity levels. Generosity. Share your wealth and love. Be generous with one's possessions, material or spiritual. Honour and dishonour. Honor and revere all people who bring forth goodness in your life. Dishonor all who are detrimental. Never honor someone or something that deserves dishonor; but never forget to honor someone worthy of it. Verse 6: "The seven seers of times immemorial, and the four founders of the human race, being in me, came from my mind; and from them came this world of men." The seven seers are the great Indian sages (rishis). In Hindu astrology and astronomy, these are the seven stars which comprise the Big Dipper. I don't know who the four founders are. Yet these are all products of Krishna's mind. The universe in a sense is a mental construct, verifiable only by other great minds. Similar to the idealistic immaterialism of Bishop Berkeley, Krishna's universe is composed of a mental substance that empiricists have called perception. It's the thought that counts. Verse 7: "He who knows my glory and power, he has the oneness of unwavering harmony. This is my truth." Verse 8: "I am the One source of all: the evolution of all comes from me. The wise think this and they worship me in adoration of love." This is an interesting concept. According to Krishna, he himself is the source of everything, including the evolution of everything. I doubt that "evolution" was the actual word he used, but conceptually it probably was a description of a perpetually changing world that "aimed towards" some distinctive ends. It's a gradually improving world for the worshippers of Krishna. They undoubtedly saw this to be a self-evident truth. Verse 9: "Their thoughts are on me, their life is in me, and they give light to each other. For ever they speak of my glory; and they find peace and joy." Verse 10: "To those who are ever in harmony, and who worship me with their love, I give the Yoga of vision and with this they come to me." Divine Yoga. Verse 11: "In my mercy I dwell in their hearts and I dispel their darkness of ignorance by the light of the lamp of wisdom." Well, other than the verses I commented about, there wasn't too much interesting or new under the sun. The one comment I would make about Verse 11 involves the lamp: it can be carried by Krishna, or perhaps he lets those who are in need of wisdom hold it. If they are predisposed to shed their ignorance, they will become absorbed in the light of wisdom; otherwise they will drop the lamp and it will shatter into bits and pieces (though even in this case, they could still get partially imbibed in the flickering, sputtering light). ARJUNA (Verses 12-18): Verse 12: "Supreme Brahman, Light supreme, and supreme purification, Spirit divine eternal, unborn God from the beginning, omnipresent Lord of all." Krishna certainly can't claim he's a Rodney Dangerfield. He's getting plenty of respect. Verse 13: "Thus all the seers praised thee: the seer divine Narada; Asita, Devala and Vyasa. And this is now thy revelation." Verse 14: "I have faith in all thy words, because these words are words of truth, and neither the gods in heaven nor the demons in hell can grasp thy infinite vastness." Infinite vastness can't be grasped even by the greatest minds. Something that is infinite can't be grasped; it can only be approximated, or slowly approached. It is the unreachable altar. Verse 15: "Only thy Spirit knows thy Spirit: only thou knowest thyself. Source of Being in all beings, God of gods, ruler of all." Arjuna, in effect, has just composed a wonderful prayer. It reminds me of the Kiddush Jews recite for Shabbat: "Praised art thou, oh Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who is the creator of the fruit of the vine." Verse 16: "Tell me in thy mercy of thy divine glory wherein thou art ever, and all the worlds are." This is a very interesting concept: mercy within glory where one resides. Of course it's not just anyone; it's Krishna, God of gods. Nevertheless, it's a concept that can apply to all human beings. Mercy is the act of expressing kindness or compassion, when alternatively, one could be acting with maliciousness or evil intent. Mercy involves a choice to be good. Glory is the state of highest achievement, honor, or splendor; it is the height of praiseworthiness. So for mercy, the act of intentional kindness, to be immersed in glory, the supreme height of splendor, this is indeed a marvelous state of existence. And it should not be viewed as any mere coincidence, for mercy and glory are not only mutually compatible, but they are necessities to each other. Verse 17: "For ever in meditation, how shall I ever know thee? And in what manifestations shall I think of thee, my Lord?" Verse 18: "Speak to me again in full of thy power and of thy glory, for I am never tired, never, of hearing thy words of life." Arjuna doesn't ask any difficult questions this time around, and I find that disappointing. In these verses, he is completely a devotee of Krishna. Yet in this role, he has offered some poetic words of appreciation, respect, devotion, love, and reverence. It's still nice to hear. KRISHNA (Verses 19-42): Verse 19: "Listen and I shall reveal to thee some manifestations of my divine glory. Only the greatest, Arjuna, for there is no end to my infinite greatness." If he doesn't say so himself. Verse 20:  "I am the soul, prince victorius, which dwells in the heart of all things. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all that lives." He's beginning to answer Arjuna's question posed in Verse 17. Verse 21: "Among the sons of light I am Vishnu, and of luminaries the radiant sun. I am the lord of the winds and storms, and of the lights in the night I am the moon." More answers to the Verse 17 question. Here, we see Krishna affirms he is a direct intervener in the forces of nature. He is no detached Deist creator, that's for sure. Verse 22: "Of the Vedas I am the Veda of songs, and I am Indra, the chief of the gods. Above man's senses I am the mind, and in all living beings I am the light of consciousness." Indra is the great Indian god, the god of war and supreme warrior; he is the Hindu (Vedic period) equivalent of Zeus and Thor. At the same time, Krishna is also the supreme mentalist, for human minds are all part of him. He is also the breath of consciousness. Krishna is basically covering all bases of existence. Verse 23: "Among the terrible powers I am the god of destruction; and among monsters Vittesa, the lord of wealth. Of radiant spirits I am fire; and among high mountains the mountain of Gods." Hmm. Here is a God that takes responsibility for even the destructive forces in nature. Will he also claim he's the source of evil? I don't think he'll go that far. We shall see. Regarding that he is the fire, remember that fire can lethally burn someone as well as being the source of illumination. Verse 24: "Of priests I am the divine priest Brihaspati, and among warriors Skanda, the god of war. Of lakes I am the vast ocean. These are all new gods to me. This is an educational verse more than anything else. Verse 25: "Among great seers I am Bhrigu; and of words I am OM, the Word of Eternity. Of prayers I am the prayer of silence; and of things that move not I am the Himalayas." He is the spoken word, he is the silence, and he forgot to mention that he is everything in between. And though he could very well move mountains, he is the range of mountains that doesn't move. Again, this is another way of saying he's the Unmoved Mover. The next few verses feature variants of Pantheism often found in Hinduism, interspersed with theological and philosophical tenets. Verses 26-31: "Of trees I am the tree of life, and of heavenly seers Narada. Among celestial musicians, Chitra-ratha; and among seers on earth, Kapila. "Of horses I am the horse of Indra, and of elephants his elephant Airavata. Among men I am king of men. "Of weapons I am the thunderbolt, and of cows the cow of wonder. Among creators I am the creator of love; and among serpents the serpent of Eternity. "Among the snakes of mystery I am Ananta, and of those born in the waters I am Varuna, their lord. Of the spirits of the fathers I am Aryaman, and of rules Yama, the ruler of death. "Of demons I am Prahlada their prince, and of all things that measure I am time. Of beasts I am the king of beasts, and of birds Vainateya who carries a god. "Among things of purification I am the wind, and among warriors I am Rama, the hero supreme. Of fishes in the sea I am Makara the wonderful, and among all rivers the holy Ganges." ** All of these verses are very descriptive and very explicit. Krishna is not just an elephant, but the king of men. He's not just a cow, but the creator of love. And if it weren't enough that he was a snake, we discover that HE is the ruler of death. He's a demon, he's Father Time, the king of beasts, the wind, Rama, the great fishies of the sea. Krishna is everything to everyone. He's what every politician aspires to!! Verse 32: "I am the beginning and the middle and the end of all that is. Of all knowledge I am the knowledge of the Soul. Of the many paths of reason I am the one that leads to Truth." All knowledge is important in one context or another; but according to Krishna, the knowledge of the Soul is supreme. A similar argument applies to reason. Every "path of reason", by its very nature, must be desirable to the inquisitive mind; yet the one that leads to Truth is supreme. Notice that he's not referring to small 's' soul or small 't' truth; those are compelling yet disputable entities. He's directly refering to the big cheese in both cases: the immutable Soul and the transcendental truth. Verse 33: "Of sounds I am the first sound, A; of compounds I am coordination. I am time, never-ending time. I am the Creator who sees all." Prime mover, omniscient, eternal Krishna. Verse 34: "I am death that carries of all things, and I am the source of things to come. Of feminine nouns I am Fame and Prosperity; Speech, Memory, and Intelligence; Constancy and patient Forgiveness." That's quite a diversity of attributes! He's covering the gamut of human existence. Verse 35: "I am the Brihat songs of all songs in the Vedas. I am the Gayatri of all measures in verse. Of months I am the first of the year, and the seasons the season of flowers." Beautiful. Verse 36: "I am the cleverness in the gambler's dice. I am the beauty of all things beautiful. I am victory and the struggle for victory. I am the goodness of those who are good." They had gamblers who threw dice back in those days?! That seems difficult to believe, but this is the translation of that segment of the verse. Besides that, in this verse, Krishna leaves no doubt that he's the pure essence of things beneficial to humanity: beauty, victory, goodness. He's the core of all of these attributes. Verse 37: "Of the children of Vrishni I am Krishna; and of the sons of Pandu I am Arjuna. Among seers in silence I am Vyasa; and among poets the poet Usana." He's just about anyone to everyone. He's even the person (Arjuna) he's speaking to. Verse 38: "I am the sceptre of the rulers of men; and I am the wise policy of those who seek victory. I am the silence of hidden mysteries; and I am the knowledge of those who know. Again he's emphasizing government and victory (re: war policy). Yet once he dispenses with the pleasantries, he's back on track with the "silence of hidden mysteries" and the pure essence of another wonderful attribute called knowledge. Verse 39: "And know, Arjuna, that I am the seed of all things that are; and that no being that moves or moves not can ever be without me." Past, Present, Future, cause & effect, action & reaction ... it's all found in Krishna's existence. Verse 40: "There is no end of my divine greatness, Arjuna. What I have spoken here to thee shows only a small part of my infinity." Verse 41: "Know thou that whatever is beautiful and good, whatever has glory and power is only a portion of my own radiance." OK got it already! Verse 42: "But of what help is it to thee to know this diversity? Know that with one single fraction of my Being I pervade and support the Universe, and know that I AM." He spends all of this time expounding upon his own diversity, pointing out all of these wonderful attributes in nature, humans, existence, and so forth. Then he says it's not all too important. But the real kicker is what follows: Just with a small fraction of his being, HE pervades the entire universe. One naturally wonders what the great majority of his existence is being used for (perhaps some of it is used to sustain himself). Yet when he says "I AM", he becomes the supreme Existentialist. He not only is everything and everyone, he is their pure existence and identity.