In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna’s main “Charama Shloka” as part of the Bhagawad Gita which explains that He is the one who is the sole refuge to all living beings in the entire world. Moreover, Bhagawan Krishna assures and reassures Arjuna that He is the one who washes away all the sins, thereby paving the way to attain the highest “Moksha”. When Bhagawan says “Aham tvaa Sarva Paapebhyo Moksha ishyaami”, He gives a great assurance that He is the only one who is responsible of removing all the “Paapa Karma” from Jeevatmas like us, however, we’ve to be sincere in our attempt of our “Karma Yoga”, ‘Gnyaana Yoga” and walking the path of “Bhakti Maargam”. We should be meticulous in following whatever Bhagawan Krishna is instructing us to do, and if we’re doing so, He says “Maasuchaha”, which means, “Please do not worry!” This is the assurance that Bhagawan gives Arjuna and to all of us!
Now, we’ve to understand one thing in-depth here – When Bhagawan says “Maashuchaha”, He intends to wipe out the sadness in Arjuna. We’ve seen earlier that before the Gita commenced, Arjuna was in a great despair and towards the end of the Gita, Arjuna was in an even greater despair! His sadness hadn’t changed, even after 700 shlokas of the Gita! However, the context of sadness in both the cases are different – Initially before the Gita commenced, Arjuna was sad because he got carried away emotionally upon seeing all his family members in front of him at the battlefield. However, towards the end of the Gita, this emotional drain has been grossly taken care of by Bhagawan Krishna. However, Arjuna’s sadness now is because even after Bhagawan declares that He is the supreme Lord of this world and every action happens only with His divine “Anugraha”, Arjuna is being given an option to choose a path to traverse, so as to attain Bhagawan! Why should Bhagawan give this option to Arjuna? Instead, why can’t Bhagawan Himself choose the path for Arjuna? Moreover, Arjuna’s doubt is that, even if Bhagawan guides us with the path to attain Him, the “Paapa Karma” would come and haunt in between and would be a stumbling block to proceed further. How do we overcome that?
In fact, this doubt makes Arjuna even more sad and worried! This is where Bhagawan Krishna gives a great assurance to Arjuna that he doesn’t need to worry about the “Paapa Karma” coming in between! Bhagawan replies thus, “Oh Arjuna! If I’m there to ensure that your Paapa Karma is destroyed, why should you worry about it? You choose the path and start walking without any worries! Whatever stumbling blocks come on the way – I’m there to remove everything! Merely performing your “Karma Yoga” and “Gnyaana Yoga” is not going to bring you to me at any point in time! If you do it with complete surrender to me, you are easily going to attain me! Oh Arjuna! Please remember this always – I’m there with you at all times. You should make up your mind to surrender to me! Once you do so, you do not need to worry about any stumbling block and this is my assurance!”
As Bhagawan says thus, Arjuna gets convinced. As Arjuna once again has the smile in his face, Bhagawan continues further thus, “Oh Arjuna! Please understand – I’ve told you all whatever came to my mind because you are very dear to me. However please remember – Whatever I’ve told you till now is a huge secret. You should not share anything of these with anybody, especially if you come across “Abhaktas” (People who are “Naastikas”). You should not tell all these things to people who are jealous of me!” Saying thus, Bhagawan lists out several kinds of people to whom this Bhagawad Gita should not be shared with! We might wonder here – “Oh wow! How did Bhagawan Krishna straightaway give such a secretive Gita to Arjuna straight away without asking a single question to him? How did Bhagawan Krishna give the Gita to Arjuna without putting him to test? How did Bhagawan give the Gita to Arjuna without understanding whether he is worthy of it or not?” The answer is very simple – The infamous incident wherein Draupati was stripped in front of the entire “Sabha” came in front of Bhagawan Krishna’s eyes for a moment before the Gita commenced! On one hand, the war has to happen because Draupati should get justice for what she had to undergo. On the other hand, here is Arjuna who is shattered and is not ready to fight the war! So what does Bhagawan do? He has to somehow make Arjuna fight the war, isn’t it? Thus, the only way to make Arjuna get up again and fight is to give this secret to him! Thus, the bigger reason behind the birth of this famous Bhagawad Gita is Draupati getting justice!
So for today, let us understand this point clearly and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 