Krishnas Speech at the Battleground chapter eighteen concluding part

Arjuna must do the war being driven by his a priori instinct despite his wishes against it. Krishna points out that god lives in every heart propelling every man to act. God does this with the help of his magic powers. God is the fulcrum on which the blades of change revolve propelled by the magic power. Krishna asks Arjuna to take refuge with his god. God will grant him eternal kingdom of happiness. Krishna says that he has unlocked the secret of secrets before Arjuna out of love for him. Now, whether Arjuna will take part in the war or not , depends on Arjuna only. Krishna asks Arjuna to give away his mind to Krishna. Arjuna should be a devotee of Krishna. Arjuna should worship Krishna. Arjuna should salute Krishna. Thus Arjuna will attain Krishna. Krishna assures that. The Bible announces “Hear Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, and you must love Jehovah your God with all your whole heart, and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength” (Mark12:29,30). Krishna however means that if instead of worshipping Krishna or any other god one seeks one’s self in the self, same way one will be filed with deathless joy as the seas are filled with water. Krishna has already discussed the issue of war from every possible stand-point. If Arjuna finds them difficult to realize in real life, let him abandon the hair splitting arguments regarding war and its consequences. Let him follow his own self. Or let him obey Krishna. Krishna and the self, of a person are the same. The eternal self or Krishna will redeem him from all possible sins. Arjuna must not lament any more. Krishna says that what he said presently must not be told to people who have no respect for such words and who have no respect for the higher self or for Krishna. Hew who preaches this secret knowledge to those who seek the higher self, will surely attain super love for the self and for Krishna. He who studies the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna will reap the harvests of one who seeks the truth through philosophical deliberations. He who hears the conversation with necessary respect and without any ill-will, will be also delivered from the harsh bonds of the world. Krishna says Arjuna whether Arjuna has heard him with all attention. Are the doubts of Arjuna done away with? Arjuna’s reply is very short. He says that his doubts have been dispelled. His delusion has dissipated. He has regained the memory of his higher self. He will obey Krishna. The way through action is the way out of it. Perhaps this is not true of Arjuna alone. Many other kings and soldiers in the vast assembly heard this conversation. They can now see into the mysteries of death and fight like heroes, getting rid of fear. When battles cannot be avoided, the preacher must prepare their minds to face death four-square. Death! Where are thy pangs? Sanjaya tells the king Dhritarastra that thus ended the thrilling conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. He gratefully remembers the poet Vyasa, by whose grace he could hear those supernal words, unfolding the secret truths of life and universe. This touches upon the function of a poet. It is the poet who makes us see into the life of things and sympathise the hopes and fears that we did not heed earlier. Sanjaya asserts that Krishna is the master of the universe. We heard the master of the universe speak. Sanjaya is thrilled over and over again to remember the conversation between Arjuna and Krishna. The reminiscences of the god-head of Krishna revealed by Krishna himself are still as wonderful. They are the sights before which one faints. Their memory fills Sanjaya with unspeakable pleasure. Thus Sanjaya speaks in behalf of the reader. Sanjaya now tells the king that where Krishna the supreme being accompanies the great archer Arjuna, no one can beat them. Goodness, victory, glory and unfailing righteousness always accompany them. Will Sanjaya’s speech melt the heart of the blind king Dhritarastra? Do we, ourselves, set out for the path as set down by the path-finder Krishna? Krishna addressed Arjuna and deliberated on the mysteries of life and universe. Thereby he addressed the multitude of soldiers ready for fight .His voice has thus addressed the futurity. But as Krishna himself observed earlier, the truth remains ever elusive. Some look upon it with wonder. Some hear it with wonder. Some do not understand the jot or title of what they see or hear. However much eloquent he may have been, what Krishna told is pregnant with what remains untold. It is this absence or the mysterium tremendum that creeps on our skin and that creeps into our hearts. Poetry has its own laboratory where the reader must cultivate the faculty of understanding the presence of absence lying behind the surface meaning of a work of art. Once we learn to read poetry like that we also know how to experience the presence of absence in the show of things of the world. When Arjuna picks up his bow Gandiva, he only sits erect for meditation. The bow is symbolic of his spinal chord. When he had thrown away the bow, he only gave up his meditation and sat with his spinal chord stooping. Now he resumes his meditation. He will fight a crusade against the temptations of the worldly life.