II: 6

[Krishna Jaya]

Chapter 2, Verse 6

 

“Which will be worse

To win this war, or to lose it?

I scarcely know,

Since if we kill the sons of Dhritarashtra,

None of us will wish to live.” 

 

Srila Prabhupada:

 

"Dhritarashtra (the father of Arjuna’s cousins, all of whom are about to die) must have been very glad to hear that Arjuna was not going to fight and was instead leaving the battlefield for the begging profession. Although Arjuna was, for the time being, overwhelmed with pity due to family attachment, he is about to surrender unto Krishna, the supreme spiritual master, as a disciple. This indicates that he will soon be free from the lamentation resulting from family attachment and will experience enlightenment.  Then he will surely fight."

 

Baba Hari Dass:

 

“Once while all the Gopis (young women head over heels in love with Krishna) were taking a bath in the Yamuna River, Krishna secretly came and took away their clothes, which were lying on the riverbank, hung them on a tree, and then climbed the tree himself.  When the Gopis finished their bath, they saw Krishna in the tree with their clothes hanging beneath him.  They would not come out of the water to put on their clothes.  Their body-consciousness prevented them from coming out of the water.  The story has deep meaning.  Krishna is God (transcendental consciousness).  The Gopis are Jiva (individual consciousness).  The water is Maya (illusion).  As long as a Jiva identifies wholly with a separate self, it can’t emerge from the illusion even though it knows that God is near.  It is the snare of ego-consciousness which stops us from seeing the truth.  When the clothes of ego are discarded voluntarily, then all become one.”

 

[The clear vision that results from this experience allows one to see what the right thing to do is in any situation, and then one does it, as an instrument of the higher power.]