Notes
Part I: Arjuna’s Despair on the Field of Battle
1 Gandhari’s 101 children born through ectogenesis included Duryodhana, ninety-nine other sons and a daughter (
Mahabharata, Book I [
Adi-parva], Chapters 107 and 108).
2 Arjuna’s despair on the battlefield of Kurukshetra is described in verses 1.21 to 2.9 of the
Bhagavad Gita. In the Bhakti tradition, Arjuna is regarded as a warrior who has overcome fear, lamentation and confusion. By the arrangement of Krishna, who we learn later in the
Bhagavad Gita is the Universal Teacher seated in the heart of all beings, Arjuna goes through this dark night of the soul so that Krishna may disclose the secrets of yoga.
3 Bhagavad Gita, 1.45. Text numbering in the second half of Chapter 1 varies slightly according to the edition of the
Gita. Unless indicated otherwise, all English translations of Sanskrit verses from the
Bhagavad Gita in
Yoga and the Dark Night of the Soul are the author’s. The presentation of the
Gita’s teachings herein follows the ancient Bhakti tradition, as taught to the author by his teacher within an authentic wisdom lineage (
sampradaya).
4 Indications of Arjuna’s fear:
Bhagavad Gita, 1.30, 1.35–36 and 2.5–6. Arjuna’s lamentation:
Bhagavad Gita, 1.27, 2.1, 2.10–11 and 1.46. Arjuna’s confusion:
Bhagavad Gita, 2.7 and 2.11. Although Arjuna appears to speak words of wisdom, he is in fact utterly bewildered, as Krishna recognizes and tells him. If Arjuna were in a state of clarity, he would not be overwhelmed by sorrow and he would know exactly what to do. Arjuna’s confusion leads to a loss of meaning and purpose, doubts as to what he should do, lack of resolve, and complete paralysis.
5 Arjuna’s physical symptoms are described in
Bhagavad Gita, 1.28–30 and 2.1.
6 At the end of the
Mahabharata, long after the great battle at Kurukshetra, the Pandavas and Draupadi retire from royal life and travel north on foot. On the steep slopes of the great mountain Meru, when Arjuna drops to the ground, lifeless, Yudhishtira reveals that Arjuna’s failing was his pride in his own heroism, leading him to disregard all other bowmen and to utter boastful words that proved untrue (
Mahabharata, 17.2.21–22).
7 Some of Arjuna’s epithets in the
Bhagavad Gita: “Scorcher of the Enemy” (2.3, 2.9, 4.2, 4.5, 7.27, 9.3, 10.40 and 18.41), “Hero of the Kurus” (11.48), “Tiger Among Men” (18.4) and “Holder of the Bow” (18.78).
8 Bhagavad Gita, 2.34–36.
9 Arjuna questions the purpose of living:
Bhagavad Gita, 1.32. Arjuna considers going into battle unarmed:
Bhagavad Gita, 1.46.
10 Arjuna casts aside his weapons:
Bhagavad Gita, 1.47. Arjuna considers a life of begging:
Bhagavad Gita, 2.5.
11 Based on notes from an interview with Gaura on 15 Nov. 2013, supplementing my personal observation of the tragedy and its aftermath.
12 Bhagavad Gita, 2.2–3, paraphrased. Arjuna has just presented some viable arguments against engaging in battle, but Krishna’s first response is to dismiss the whole case as being just an emotional outpouring, and not worthy of a reasoned reply. Rather than seeking to answer Arjuna’s arguments, Krishna turns immediately to the emotional trauma at the heart of them.
13 In particular, see
Bhagavad Gita, 2.7.
14 That is why at the end of the
Bhagavad Gita, the visionary Sanjaya declares that wherever there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, and wherever there is Arjuna, there will surely be unusual triumph (
Bhagavad Gita, 18.78).
15 Bhagavad Gita, 1.1: “Dhritarashtra said: Having assembled on the field of dharma at Kurukshetra, seeking battle, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, O Sanjaya?” This opening verse, which is full of deep significance, serves to establish the perspective of spiritual blindness. Through the emperor’s inquiry, it establishes at the very outset the foundational theme of the entire
Bhagavad Gita as one of action—the type of action that leads to optimal outcomes.
16 One meaning of the name Duryodhana is “dirty fighter”. Duryodhana was adept at using underhand and nefarious means to gain an advantage, a quality symptomatic of greed. In Chapter 16, Krishna will tell Arjuna that greed destroys the self and is one of the three passages to a tormented existence (
Bhagavad Gita, 16.21).
17 Oscar Wilde,
Soul of Man under Socialism (1891); published in Oscar Wilde,
Collected Works of Oscar Wilde (1997), p. 1046. Interestingly, Oscar Wilde made this significant remark after going through a deep crisis of his own, which helped him understand life with greater clarity.
18 Dhritarashtra is a compound word derived from
dhritam rashtram yena saha, “one who has plundered someone’s land”.
19 The
Bhagavata Purana (11.23.59) explains that the perception of friends, neutral parties and enemies, and the life built around those perceptions, is “constructed out of darkness”. In other words, this mindset betrays our own spiritual sightlessness, the invisible dark night of the soul.
20 Dhritarashtra is the son of the great sage Vyasa himself, author of the
Mahabharata, which contains the
Bhagavad Gita.
21 Dhritarashtra’s advisers include great seers and sages like Sanjaya, his brother Vidura, Bhishma and his father Vyasa.
22 The aging emperor previously witnessed Krishna’s wondrous Universal Form, revealing Krishna’s identity as the Soul of the Universe, in the royal court of Hastinapura before the war. This was a form similar to the one Krishna will show Arjuna in Chapter 11 of the
Bhagavad Gita. Dhritarashtra will also hear the same
Bhagavad Gita as Arjuna, narrated to him by Sanjaya from within the palace compound. Yet the blind king, who does not possess the qualities of a genuine seeker of wisdom, clings to his cherished illusions. The opening verse of the
Bhagavad Gita therefore sets out the characteristics of the unqualified listener, in contradistinction to those of the paradigmatic pupil Arjuna.
23 This allegory is often used to elucidate the teachings of Shri Prahlada in
Bhagavata Purana, 7.5.5. The seer-child Shri Prahlada highlights how we experience ongoing anxiety when we accept our illusory stories to be real (
asat-grahat, “grasping the unreal”). This retelling of the allegory from memory combines details from other renditions I have heard over the years. In
Bhagavata Purana, 7.5.11, Shri Prahlada explains that the powerful hold our narrative has on us is a product of “illusion”. The Sanskrit word for illusion,
maya, means “not that”.
24 The
Bhagavad Gita is contained in the part of the
Mahabharata known as
Bhishma-parva, “The Book of Bhishma”. When Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya what happened at Kurukshetra, the battle is already on its tenth day and Bhishma has been brought down. Interestingly, it was on this same battlefield that Parashurama, Bhishma’s own military teacher, single-handedly annihilated the single largest army of warriors and kings; and it was here that Parashurama fought his pupil Bhishma for 27 days, unable to defeat him. Dhritarashtra and his son Duryodhana therefore pinned their hopes for victory on the seeming invincibility of Bhishma, who had the power to choose the time of his own death. And yet, significantly, as Dhritarashtra speaks this opening verse of the
Gita, the mighty Bhishma has already fallen.
25 This is further reinforced by the story-within-a-story narrative structure of the
Mahabharata, the epic tale within which the
Bhagavad Gita is situated. The
Mahabharata is recited by the sage Vaishampayana to King Janamejaya, who is the great-grandson of Arjuna. In other words, when Krishna speaks the
Bhagavad Gita, the reader or listener already knows that the great battle of Kurukshetra, fought to determine which family lineage will inherit the throne, will result in Arjuna’s descendants continuing the Kuru dynasty and inheriting the earth. When Dhritarashtra asks his opening question in the
Bhagavad Gita, we know that Arjuna’s future is already secured for at least four generations.
26 Krishna differentiates between the divine and destructive qualities in Chapter 16 of the
Bhagavad Gita, entitled
daivasura-sampad-yoga, literally, “the yoga of the wealth of the gods and of the ungodly”.
27 Bhagavad Gita, 18.78 (the closing verse of the
Gita): “Where there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, and where there is Arjuna, Holder of the Bow, there is good fortune, unusual triumph, strength, and abiding wise conduct. That is my conclusion.” This, ultimately, is Sanjaya’s answer to Dhritarashtra’s initial question. Good fortune: translates
shri, which can also signify “prosperity”, “happiness”, “wealth” or “beauty”. Unusual triumph: translates
vijaya. The prefix
vi- is often used to denote something special or unique in quality or significance. Strength: translates
bhuti. The word can also mean “might”, “power”, “well-being”, “prosperity”, “wealth” or “fortune”. It often refers to the extraordinary power developed by yogis. Abiding wise conduct: translates
dhruva niti. The word
niti signifies, among other things, “wise conduct” or “ethics”.
28 A traditional approach for understanding an ancient Indian text is to compare the opening verse of the text with its closing verse. In the first verse of the
Bhagavad Gita, the sightless Dhritarashtra, now powerless to affect the outcome of events, asks Sanjaya what has taken place at Kurukshetra. The verses that follow are Sanjaya’s narration of what has occurred. The closing verse of the
Gita (18.78, presented in the previous footnote), however, is Sanjaya’s personal response directed at the intent behind Dhritarashtra’s opening question. Thus, the opening verse of the
Gita serves as an anchor, allowing the narrative to come full circle. In doing so, this verse provides a sharp contrast between the perspective of attachment and the perspective of enlightenment.
29 The location in Kurukshetra where Krishna spoke the
Bhagavad Gita is known as Jyotisar, or that place which illuminates the dark night of the soul. In Sanskrit, Jyotisar means “Essence of Illumination”.
30 Early on in the
Bhagavad Gita, Krishna defines yoga specifically as “skill in action” (
Bhagavad Gita, 2.50). The word yoga itself derives from the Sanskrit root word
yujir, meaning to connect, to join together, to unite. Yoga allows us to unify, or unite, the field of dharma (
dharma-kshetra) and the field of action (
kurukshetra). All action occurs in the present moment, the field of now. Therefore, when we make the field of now a sacred place, we are practising yoga. And through yoga, we can connect with Krishna, the source of wisdom and the guardian of dharma.
31 Catherine Ghosh expresses this well in “Are You Hiding Depression Behind Your Yoga?” Elephant Journal [website], published 2 May 2011.
32 See Shri Shrimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja,
The Essence of Bhagavad Gita (2000), pp.14–15. Renowned commentators in the Bhakti tradition employ allegorical interpretations as an additional perspective to illuminate inner teachings of the
Mahabharata and
Bhagavad Gita. For example, Shri Madhvacharya (CE 1238–1317) highlights the allegorical meaning of the warriors on both sides of the battlefield in his
Mahabharata-tatparya-nirnaya (2.144–9).
33 See
Bhagavad Gita, 4.42.
34 In Indian temple architecture, the innermost sanctum is called the
garbha-griha, which means, literally, “womb chamber”, from the Sanskrit words
garbha for womb and
griha for house. This inner chamber represents a microcosm of the universe, and is where the temple deity resides. Two temple domes usually rise above this “womb chamber”, one above the other, forming a vertical axis that symbolizes the axis of the world.
35 In his
Gitartha Samgraha, Shri Yamunacharya, a senior contemporary of Shri Ramanujacharya, divides the
Bhagavad Gita into three equal portions of six chapters each (1–6, 7–12 and 13–18). The first teaching, “Set out on the journey of the soul”, encapsulates the introductory verses of the
Gita, in which Arjuna describes his dark night of the soul and sets off on his inner journey, requesting Krishna to be his yoga teacher. “Let every step be its own reward” encapsulates Krishna’s teachings on Karma-yoga, found in the first six chapters of the
Gita. “Let discernment be the warrior’s sword” encapsulates Krishna’s teachings on Samkhya in the final six chapters of the
Gita. And “Let sacred love be your only goal” encapsulates Krishna’s most confidential instructions on Bhakti-yoga in the middle six chapters of the
Gita, teachings he again emphasizes at the very end of the
Gita.
36 In seminars and workshops on the
Bhagavad Gita, participants usually identify as being spiritual, although not necessarily as religious. When I ask what they mean by “spiritual”, they offer different but complementary insightful replies, and usually a common thread is a deeper understanding of oneself. In Sanskrit, a similar word to “spirituality” is
atma-gatih, “the path of the soul” or “the journey of the self”. By this elegant definition, spirituality is everything that takes us forward on our journey of the soul.
37 Bhagavad Gita, 2.50:
yogah karmasu kaushalam (“yoga is skill in action”)
40 Catherine Ghosh makes this insightful observation in “Yoga in The Gita: Love Changes Our Perception”, Elephant Journal [website], published 25 Mar. 2012.