Surrender Is Not Based🔗

On Your Convenience

2.4 Arjuna said:

O killer of Madhu, how can I oppose in battle,

Bhishma and Drona, who are worthy of my worship?

2.5 I would rather beg for my food in this world than kill the most noble of teachers.

If I kill them, all my enjoyment of wealth and desires will be stained with blood.

2.6 I cannot say which is better; their defeating us or us defeating them.

We do not wish to live after slaying the sons of Dhritarashtra who stand before us.

2.7 My heart is overwhelmed with pity and my mind is confused about what my duty is.

I beg of you, please tell me what is best for me. I am your disciple. Instruct me as I seek refuge in you.

2.8 Even if I were to attain unrivalled dominion and prosperity on Earth or even lordship over the Gods,

How would that remove this sorrow that burns my senses?

Despite what Krishna had said to him with total clarity, that Arjuna should get up and fight, Arjuna now recounts all his previous arguments. It is as if he had not heard Krishna at all or not heard him right.

He once again implores Krishna, ‘You, as the Lord of the universe, have the right to destroy what you please. You destroyed the demons Madhu and Kesin and you destroyed many other enemies. You are justified because you are the Lord. How can I, a mere mortal, be bold enough to wage war against my grandfather and my teacher, with the intent to kill them? They are ones I should worship, not destroy. I shall be condemned if I fight them.’

He continues, ‘It is better for me to seek alms as an ascetic or even a beggar than kill these elders. Once my hands are stained with their blood, how can I enjoy worldly pleasures? I am confused as to which would be better, for them to slay me or for me to slay them? How can we live after slaying our kinsmen and elders?’

Arjuna says further, ‘Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of misery and weakness. I can see no solution to my dilemma. Even if I slay these people and gain control over the Earth, or even control over the heavens, what good will it do me? In this condition, I ask you to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am your disciple and the soul is surrendered unto you. Please instruct me.’

I must now tell you an important truth. Here Arjuna says, ‘My soul is surrendered unto you.’ This is a lie.

Had his soul been truly surrendered to Krishna, he would simply have followed what Krishna said and would not have waited for an intellectual explanation.

I have seen many people in the same situation.

A small story or rather, a piece of history:

One night around midnight I got a call from one of our devotees who was a government officer, pleading for my help for a serious problem. He said that if he could not have my help, suicide was the only alternative for him. I asked him to come the following morning and said that we would do whatever had to be done to take care of his problem. He, however insisted on a solution right then.

After hearing the details of the problem I assured him that his problem would be taken care of, but he should come the following morning anyway, so that the problem could be analyzed properly, and to ensure it did not repeat itself. He replied that coming the following morning was not possible, because he had to go to work!

When he was speaking of his problem, he said his life itself was at my feet and that as my disciple he had surrendered completely and only I could save him. But when I asked him to come on the following day, he said he had to go to office!

Arjuna is in exactly the same position. He says his soul is surrendered to Krishna but when Krishna asks him to do His bidding, he is not ready to do so and is confused!

Surrender out of confusion is not surrender, as you do not even know if you are doing the right thing.

Understand that surrender after clarity of śāstras, or intelligence, is true surrender.

Here Arjuna surrenders only verbally as he says that he is confused.

You must either do what you think is right or do as the master instructs.

Here Arjuna wants the master to say what he wants to hear, not what the master wants to say. So, although Arjuna says he has surrendered, he has not done so.

Time and again, people come to me for advice and ask me, ‘Swamiji, I have this problem. Please advise me what to do. Whatever you tell me I shall do.’ Then, if I ask them to come to the ashram for a few days or attend a meditation course because I know it will help them, they give me a dozen reasons why it cannot be done. They cite all other important tasks that they need to complete before they undertake anything that I suggest to them.

Some even say, ‘Swamiji, the time has to be right before we do that. Perhaps the time is not right.’

Nonsense... simply nonsense! Understand, you are not controlled by some unknown destiny that you can conveniently blame just because you cannot do something right. Your destiny is in your own hands.

An enlightened master, on the other hand, has no control over what he does. Everything that he does is in the hands of the universal power, Parāśakti.

I cannot move a little finger or utter a word without the active direction of the universal energy, but each one of you, every one of you, has the power to decide what you want to do. So does Arjuna.

Arjuna is asking Krishna to tell him what he needs to do in the same way that I just described to you how people come and ask me. If what I tell them is in line with what they want, they will agree. So will Arjuna. Krishna knows this only too well.

However, only out of compassion, Krishna continues to express and teach him the Truth. Here begins the śāstra. The two verses that Krishna speaks are sutra, techniques. But as Arjuna is not ready to receive them, he has to commence the śāstra, the background knowledge.

At this point Arjuna has not yet completely surrendered to Krishna. He is confused. He is in dilemma. He knows that his duty is to defeat his enemies and kill them if needed, but his enemies are his kinsmen, his elders and his teachers. The relationship, the saṁskāra of his relationship with them, makes him hesitate. Arjuna brings up all that he knows from scriptures, from tradition and from hearsay, doing whatever he can to avoid the unpleasant decision to fight his own kith and kin.

Krishna, fully aware of his dilemma, moves forward in his mission to destroy that identity. The master is a surgeon who removes the cancer of ego. This is what Krishna does throughout the Gita dialogue. To give Arjuna credit, he stays through this surgery. Many weaker men would have run away from the operation theatre, this battlefield, with no desire to let go of their identities. The greatness of Arjuna lies in his determination to listen to his master and be guided by him.

So he implores his master, ‘Krishna, please tell me what to do. I am your disciple. You are my refuge.’

It is this readiness to surrender to the master that redeems Arjuna and helps him win the war, which in reality is the war within himself.

This is the war that each one of us is fighting each day, if we are truly aware. This is the war that we need to fight to drop our ego, our mind, and the identity that binds us to all the bondages upon this earth.

Whatever you think is yours and whatever you think is you, is different from the truth.

It is the master who can lead you through the path of this self-discovery, as Krishna is now leading Arjuna.

To be led, you need the attitude of surrender.