Gita in brief according to my understanding-2

The second fundamental question that arises after this is if the body is the Khetra then who really is Arjuna and who is Krishna? 

Is Arjuna a particular mortal being or does he represent something else.  Before answering the question let us look at the following slokas.

Antabanta ime deha nityasokta saririna,

Anasino prameyasya tasmat yudhasaya bharata….Chapter 2 verse 18.

Which literally means “Fight, O Bharat (Arjun), because while the bodies which clothe the Soul are said to come to an end, the embodied Spirit itself is forever, indestructible, and boundless.’’

Krishna says to Arjuna “Fight o Arjuna as all bodies are mortal”. He goes on to add that "for a Khatriya (Click on highlighted khatriya to know more) there is no such thing as more rewarding as a fight for dharma (lawful)”(Chapter 2, sloka 31).

He also says that “If you lose the war you will win a place in heavens and if you win you will rule over earth” (Chapter 2, sloka 37) although Arjuna had already proclaimed that “Even if I am given the empire of entire earth and the coveted seat of the ruler of heaven, I am not ready to fight this war” (Chapter 2, sloka 8).

Now returning to the question who is Arjuna?

I feel that Arjuna does not represent a man in particular. The word Arjuna represents divine love (anurag) for the god which is born out of piousness (Pandu). Because if he had been a mere mortal then there would have been no point in Krisna standing as guard for him in the battle field when he (Krishna) himself says that the body is mortal and the soul is immortal.  

Now the question that arises is who is Krishna?

If we believe that Krishna is god then we have to look at the portion of Gita which says “There is no such thing as other God. But whenever a man influenced by desire worships any other God then I myself posing as other God satisfy his desire”(Chapter 7, sloka 21). He also says that “all the species upto Brahma is bound by the cycle of life and death” (Chapter 8, sloka 16).

If we believe that he is incarnation stemmed by these sloka of Gita “Whenever there is an increase in ungodliness and unlawfulness over holiness, I manifest myself and come to destroy evil” (Chapter 4, sloka 07) then one should look at the sloka that follows this sloka more carefully. “My Birth and death are divine which can’t be seen through the mortal eyes and only can be seen by a yogi who knows the reality and thus experiencing the divine phenomenon the yogi is saved from the cycle of life and death”(Chapter 4, sloka 8).

So from the above discussion it becomes clear that Krishna is neither god nor an incarnation. Then who is he?

Krishna himself defines who he really is when he says “only by worship carried on through innumerable births does a sage gain identity with him.” (Chapter 6, sloka 45)There is then not even the least distance between them. He says again that “among all who worship him the wise man of realization is I believe identical with me” (Chapter 7, sloka 18). So it is clear that Krishna is a yogi. One who has become one with godhead or the one and only god, Paramatma. Through his mouth it is now that God himself speaks. It is the same state where Prophet Muhammad had reached through yogic practices and so through him was the Quran revealed.

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