It seems every Indian thinks the most important thing Krishna stresses in the Bhagavad-gita is that “You should do your duty.” Krishna's instructing Arjuna to do his duty as a ksatriya and fight in the battle is certainly a very strong theme in Bhagavad-gita:
tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara yudhya ca
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir mām evaiṣyasy asaṁśayaḥ
"Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me, and at the same time you should continue your prescribed duty and fight. With your mind and activities always fixed on Me, and everything engaged in Me, you will attain to Me without any doubt." (Bg. 8.7)
Arjuna is a ksatriya, a fighter, and therefore his duty is to fight. All political avenues have been explored and there is no alternative to the fight. Therefore it is Arjuna’s duty to fight. And Krishna is instructing him to fight. The situation is quite difficult for him however because practically speaking all the soldiers on the battlefield on both sides are Arjuna's friends and family members. Therefore in the beginning Arjuna becomes bewildered.
Although Arjuna knows it is his duty to fight, when he is seated on the chariot in the middle of the two armies, Pandavas on one side and Kurus on the other side Arjuna looks everywhere on both sides and sees only friends and family members and his teachers. Everyone is related to him in some way. So he thinks that if they fight this will be a great disaster and even if he is victorious in the battle because so many friends and family members will be killed on both sides. Arjuna is feeling that his life would not be worth living, even though he may be victorious in the battle. So he decides, “Krishna I shall not fight.” And he proposes going to the forest and living under a tree as if he give up the fight his reputation as a great fighter would be spoiled as everyone would think that he fled from the battlefield in fear of being killed after seen the very strong army of the Kurus.
In this position Arjuna is completely bewildered and he does not know what to do. So he surrenders to his friend Krishna. The relationship between Krishna and Arjuna changes at this moment. In the beginning of the discussion they were friends, but Arjuna becomes bewildered and does not know what to do so he accepts his friend Krishna as his spiritual master, as his guru and surrenders to Him.
kārpaṇya-doṣopahata-svabhāvaḥ
pṛcchāmi tvāṁ dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ
yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṁ brūhi tan me
śiṣyas te ‘haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam
"Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me." (Bhagavad-gītā 2.7)
So you see what has happened here. Krishna has instructed Arjuna that he should do his duty as a Ksatriya and fight. But Arjuna realized that if he does that then it will be disastrous for his friends and family who will mostly all get killed. So Arjuna is thinking that it would be better for everyone if he did not do his duty. Then the battle would not take place and his family members would not be killed.
Arjuna says here that he is confused about his duty. So the real point here is that Arjuna does not know what his duty is so is surrendering to Krishna and saying to Krishna “Please instruct me.” Arjuna is now Krishna's disciple, a soul surrenderd to Krishna and he will now do whatever Krishna tells him to do.
So the actual central point of the Bhagavad-gita, is really to surrender to Krishna in the mood of Arjuna, “Please instruct me.”
At this point it does not matter what Arjuna thinks is his duty. Actually at this point Arjuna is completely confused about his duty. On one hand he knows that he has the duty as a ksatriya and he should fight but on the other hand he has another duty to his friends and family and does not want to see them killed. So Arjuna is confused about his duty. So Bhagavad-gita is not actually about “doing your duty.” Arjuna does not even know what his duty is, so how can he do his duty? Many of us are also in the same position. We are confused about our duty.
The message of Bhagavad-gita is surrender to Krishna and get Krishna to instruct us, “please instruct me,” to let Krishna claify to us what is our duty.
It is not that we know what our duty is and Bhagavad-gita is telling us that we must do that. No. Bhagavad-gita is telling us to surrender to Krishna and let Krishna instruct us as at to what our duty is. Of course in Arjuna's case he was speaking with Krishna directly, but for us Krishna advises that we approach Him through His bona fide spiritual master and the spiritual master can let us know what we should do, what is actually our duty. Of course we can also hear from Krishna and from Sirla Prabhupada and from a careful study of Bhagavad-gita a thoughtful person can conclude what is his duty. Krishna will speak to him and Prabhuapda will speak to him...
These things can be discussed very elaborately and for a long time but really the Indian idea that Krishna is telling Arjuna to do his duty is a very superficial understanding of the Gita. It is true of course. Because when Arjuna surrenders to Krishna Krishna does instruct him to fight. But Krishna could have also instructed Arjuna to leave the battlefield and Arjuna would have done that also if that is what Krishna wanted him to do. The point is Arjuna accepted Krishna as His spiritual master and agreed to do whatever Krishna instructed him to do. Arjuna surrenderd to Krishna.
So the real point of Bhagavad-gita is surrender to Krishna. Not doing one’s duty. Actually one's duty is to surrender to Krishna and Krishna actually concludes His instructions to Arjuna in the Gita by saying exactly this:
sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." (Bg. 18.66)
This is a very radical way really for Krishna to conclude His instructions in the Bhagavad-gita with. In India and all over the world they have invented so many dharmas, or occupations, or religions and Krishna is concluding here that Arjuna should give up all these dharmas or religions and simply surrender unto Him. So this is Krishna's real message, the real conclusion of Bhagavad-gita. Surrender to Krishna. This is the main message.
This is adapted from Srila Prabhuapda's Bhagavad-gita As It Is. If you do not have the book please get it and read it from:
http://krishnastore.com/bhagavad-gita-as-it-is-with-bonus-dvd-h-krishna-407.html
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http://krishna.org/arjunas-bewilderment/
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Madhudvisa dasa
http://www.krishnastore.com/
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