The Bhagavad Gita Read Online Free PDF Page A

pleasures of victory and kingdom. Here they are in battle gear ready to give up their property and even their lives. It’s all so useless, Krishna. Even though these enemies want to kill me, I don’t want to kill them — not even for the kingship of the whole world or even the heavens. If these great prizes hold no interest for me, why should I wage a bloody war for this paltry kingdom?
    36-37  “‘I would be forever ashamed, Krishna, if I were to kill my kith and kin. I could never find any satisfaction in such slaughter. Though their bows are drawn to kill, to slay these people would be a sin. So what if they’re evil? They’re my relatives. How could I ever again be happy?
    38-39  “‘I know they are overcome with greed. And I know they are blind to the evil in all their treachery. But does that justify my being blind too?
    40-41  “‘Old friend,’ Arjuna continues to Krishna, ‘when a family declines, its traditions are destroyed, and the entire family loses its sense of oneness. Without unity, the women get corrupted, and with the decline of women the world is plunged into chaos.
    42-45  “‘Social turmoil is hell, Krishna, for the family, for the destroyers of the family, and for the whole society. It is said that those who destroy family unity have to live in hell. Ah! And yet here am I, goaded by greed, ready to kill my own kinsmen!
    46  “‘Krishna, if those same relations attack me and kill me, unresisting and unarmed on this battlefield, so be it. Death would be better for me!’”
    47   At those final, labored words of Arjuna, Sanjaya stopped his commentary for a moment and then told the blind old king what he saw. “Now, the great warrior Prince Arjuna, overcome by anguish in the middle of the battlefield, slumps to his chariot seat and flings his bow and arrows to the floor of the chariot.”

CHAPTER 2
THE PATH OF KNOWLEDGE
( Sankhya Yoga )
     
“ . . . the cessation of your pain and sorrow will depend on how well you overcome your ignorance of your True Self that lives within you.”
     
      1  Arjuna’s eyes were burning with tears of compassion and confusion. The blind old king was rejoicing, thinking an easy victory was at hand. Sanjaya continued his straightforward report of the distant battlefield:
     
      2  As Krishna watches the once-brave warrior prince plunge into pitiable weakness His normally soft eyes become steely, and He speaks. “Arjuna, where does all this despair come from? This egoistic self-indulgence at a time of crisis is shameful and unworthy of you. You are a highly evolved, cultured man who is supposed to live a truth-based life, a life of dharma. And yet yourconfused mind is unbalanced and would not know truth if it hit you over the head.
     
      3 “I know you are astounded at My lack of commiseration, but you must not yield to this feebleness! Truth and right can never be obtained by the weak. You are a great warrior, a proven winner. Cast off this faintheartedness. Stand up, O scorcher of enemies!”
     
    4-5  Arjuna interrupts: “I can’t believe you’re telling me to fight!” He shakes his head as though trying to clear his mind. Krishna sits quietly. Arjuna breathes deeply and blurts, “How?” The word hangs in the air between them. “How?” he repeats, “How can I not be weak, Krishna? For me to attack Bhishma, who has been like a grandfather to me, and assault my beloved former teacher Drona, would be wrong! I should revere these elders, not shoot at them. I don’t want a blood-smeared victory.
    6  “If I kill them, I would not care to live, Krishna. It would be better to be killed myself. Ah,” he mutters ruefully, “I don’t know which way to turn. Either way, winning or losing this battle, I lose.”
     
Arjuna Becomes the Disciple,
Krishna the Divine Teacher
     
    7-8  “I’m utterly confused,” Arjuna continues, “as to what is my duty. I can’t think of any remedy for this awful grief that has dried up my