{"id":25862,"date":"2021-01-29T20:54:43","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T00:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=25862"},"modified":"2021-02-05T15:44:23","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T19:44:23","slug":"arjuna-in-the-bhagavad-gita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/arjuna-in-the-bhagavad-gita\/","title":{"rendered":"Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita: Prince and Pupil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who is Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em>? What is his role in the story and what lessons does he learn?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em> is a prince who learns that he will go into battle facing his family. He seeks out Krishna for help and learns about seeking God and fulfilling his dharma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As The Bhagavad Gita <\/em>begins, two mighty armies face each other across the field of Kurukshetra, which is located to the north of modern-day Delhi. The Pandavas<\/em>, led by Prince Arjuna, are about to wage war against their kin, the Kauravas<\/em>, who have usurped the throne of Hastinapura. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em> is conflicted because he doesn\u2019t want to fight against his own family. He turns to his childhood friend and charioteer Krishna, who is actually an incarnation of the god Vishnu, for advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arjuna and Sri Krishna<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Prince Arjuna leads the Pandavas\u2019 army. His chariot is driven by Sri Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, who has taken a mortal form in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em>. Krishna has been Arjuna\u2019s friend and advisor throughout his life, but he can\u2019t fight this battle. Leading the army is Arjuna\u2019s dharma\u2014his duty and destiny.<\/strong> Krishna is only there to support him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: \u201cSri,\u201d sometimes spelled \u201cShri,\u201d is a term of respect that doesn\u2019t have a direct translation.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em> sees that the fighting\u2019s about to start, he asks Krishna to drive his chariot in between the two armies so that he can take a closer look at his enemies. When he sees the people in the Kauravas\u2019 army, he recognizes many of them as his own family and friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arjuna is overcome with despair. He tells Krishna that he doesn\u2019t want to fight against his own family, and that his family fighting within itself will lead to chaos in the kingdom. He also says that there are great heroes and respected scholars on the other side, and Arjuna questions how he could ever live with himself if he killed them in battle. Arjuna says that it would be better to lay down his weapons and let the Kauravas kill him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krishna replies that, though Arjuna is speaking from the heart, he is also speaking from ignorance.<\/strong> Although physical bodies can be destroyed, a person\u2019s essence will be reborn again and again, unchanged, through the process of reincarnation. Therefore, Arjuna wouldn\u2019t be killing anybody, and there would be no reason to grieve for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krishna compares reincarnation to the changes that a person goes through over a single lifetime, from childhood to adulthood to old age. You wouldn\u2019t say that a person became someone else after growing up, and in the same sense, you shouldn\u2019t think of someone who\u2019s been reincarnated as becoming a different person<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only the Eternal Is Real<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Krishna explains that temporary things shouldn\u2019t be considered real. Pain and pleasure, heat and cold, and even life and death are temporary.<\/strong> Similarly, the temporary bodies of the men Arjuna will fight against aren\u2019t real; their true selves are eternal and immutable, and change bodies as a living person changes clothes. Knowing that, Krishna asks rhetorically, how can Arjuna kill or be killed by them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who understand the difference between the real and the illusory will remain calm in any situation, unaffected by either hard times or good times. Such people have taken a key step toward breaking the cycle of reincarnation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em> can\u2019t currently separate his ideas of the temporary bodies from the true souls that inhabit them, Krishna points out that death and rebirth happen to everyone. These men will die whether or not Arjuna kills them, and there\u2019s no point in mourning the inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulfilling Dharma<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Next, Krishna reminds Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita<\/em> of his dharma. He\u2019s of the kshatriya <\/em>caste, a warrior and a leader, and therefore it\u2019s his duty to fight in this battle. He should be excited for the chance to wage war against evil, as there\u2019s no higher calling for a kshatriya.<\/strong> Fighting this battle will nearly guarantee Arjuna entrance to heaven while he waits for his next life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, if Arjuna refuses to fight, he\u2019d be going against his dharma. Doing so would hurt his chances of reaching heaven and\u2014possibly even worse for a kshatriya\u2014disgrace him in life. Great heroes on both sides of the battle would think that Arjuna had withdrawn out of cowardice or weakness, and his reputation would be irreparably damaged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Hindu tradition divides people into four castes. Brahmins are the highest caste, the priests and spiritual leaders. Kshatriyas like Arjuna are just below them, the caste of warriors and rulers. Below that are the vaishyas, who are merchants and landowners. The lowest caste is the shudras, or servants, who do the bidding of all others.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Below even the shudras are the untouchables or outcastes, who do distasteful work such as street sweeping and latrine cleaning.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who is Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita? What is his role in the story and what lessons does he learn? Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita is a prince who learns that he will go into battle facing his family. He seeks out Krishna for help and learns about seeking God and fulfilling his dharma. Read more about Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,6],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-25862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-spiritual","tag-the-bhagavad-gita","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nArjuna in The Bhagavad Gita: Prince and Pupil - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who is Arjuna in The Bhagavad Gita? 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