This is the closing stanza of SRIMAD BHAGAVAD GEETA, which contains altogether seven hundred and one verses. This concluding verse has not been sufficiently thought over and commented upon by the majority of commentators of the Geeta. The superficial word-meaning of the verse, in fact, can only impress any intelligent student, at its best, as rather drab and dry. After all Sanjaya is expressing his private faith in and his personal opinion about something which the readers of Geeta need not necessarily accept as final. Sanjaya, in effect, says: “Where there is Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, and Arjuna, ready with his bow, there prosperity (Sree), success (Vijaya), expansion (Bhooti), and sound policy (Dhruva-neeti) will be; this is my sure faith.” After all, a student of the Geeta is not interested in Sanjaya’s opinion, and it almost amounts to a foul and secret indoctrination, if Sanjaya means, diplomatically, to inject into us his own personal opinion. The Geeta, as a “Universal Scripture” would have fallen from its own intrinsic dignity as “the Bible of man” had this stanza no Eternal Truth to suggest, which readily invokes a universal appeal.
The perfect artist, Vyasa, could never have made such a mistake; indeed, there is a deeper significance in which an unquestionable truth has been expounded.
KRISHNA, THE LORD OF YOGA (Yogeshwarah Krishnah) — All through the Geeta, Krishna represented the Self, the Atman. This spiritual core is the Ground upon which the entire play of happenings is staged. He can be invoked within the bosom of each one of us through any one of the Yoga-techniques expounded in the Geeta.
ARJUNA, READY WITH HIS BOW (Paartho-Dhanurdharah) — Paartha represents, in this text book, “the confused, limited, ordinary mortal, with all his innumerable weaknesses, agitations and fears.” When he has thrown down his “instrument” of effort and achievement, his bow, and has reclined to impotent idleness, no doubt, there is no hope for any success or prosperity. But when he is “READY WITH HIS BOW,” when he is no more idle but has a willing readiness to use his faculties to brave the challenges of life, there, in that man, we recognise a “PAARTHA READY WITH HIS BOW.”
Now putting these two pictures together — Lord Krishna, the Yogeshwarah, and Arjuna, the Dhanurdharah — the symbolism of a way-of-life gets completed, wherein, reinforced with spiritual understanding, man gets ready to exert and pour in his endevours, to tame life and master prosperity. In such a case, there is no power that can stop him from success. In short, the creed of the Geeta is that spirituality CAN be lived in life, and true spiritual understanding is an asset to a man engaged in the battle-of-life.
Today’s confusions in society and man’s helpless insignificance against the flood of events — inspite of all his achievements in science and mastery over matter — are seen, because the Yogeshwarah in him is lying neglected, uninvoked. A happy blending of the sacred and the secular is the policy for man as advised in the Geeta. In the vision of Sri Veda-Vyasa, he sees a world-order in which man pursues a way-of-life, wherein the spiritual and the material values are happily wedded to each other. Mere material production can, no doubt, bring immediately a spectacular flood of wealth into the pockets of man, but not peace and joy into his heart. PROSPERITY WITHOUT PEACE WITHIN IS A CALAMITY, GRUESOME AND TERRIBLE!
The stanza at the same time refuses to accept the other extreme; Yogeshwarah Krishna could have achieved nothing on the battle-field of Kurukshetra without the Pandava Prince, Arjuna, “ARMED AND READY TO FIGHT.” Mere spirituality without material exertion and secular achievements will not make life dynamic. I have been trying my best to bring out, as clearly as I can, this running vein of thought throughout the Geeta, which expounds the PHILOSOPHY OF HARMONY and explains its plan for man’s enduring happiness.
Krishna, in the Geeta, stands for the MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE SECULAR AND THE SACRED. Naturally, it is the ardent faith of Sanjaya that when a community or nation has its masses galvanized to endure, to act, and to achieve (Paartha, the bow-man) and if that generation is conscious of and has sufficiently invoked the spiritual purity of head and heart in themselves (Krishna, the Lord-of-Yoga), in that generation, prosperity, success, expansion, and a sound and sane policy become the natural order.
Even in the arrangement of these terms — prosperity, success, expansion and sound policy — there is an under-current of logic which is evident to all students of world history. In the context of modern times and the political experiences, we know that without an intelligent and STEADY POLICY, no government can lead a nation to any substantial achievement. With a sound policy, EXPANSION of all the dormant faculties in the community is brought out, and then only the spirit of co-ordination and brotherhood in the fields of achievement comes to play. In this healthy spirit of love and cooperation, when a disciplined people work hard, and when their efforts are intelligently channelised by the sound policies of the government, SUCCESS cannot be far away. Success thus earned, as a result of national endeavour, disciplined and channelised by a firm, intelligent policy, should necessarily yield true PROSPERITY. A saner philosophy we cannot find even in modern political thought!!
Enduring prosperity must be that which arises from successful endeavour, that is the result of cooperative and loving effort and this cannot yield any success unless it is nurtured and nourished, guarded and protected, by an intelligent and sound policy.
It now becomes quite clear that it is not only Sanjaya’s faith, but it is the ardent conviction of all men of self-control and disciplined mind (Sanjayas), trained to think independently.
There are some commentators of the Geeta, who draw our attention to this concluding word in the Geeta, “my” (mama), and to the opening word in the Geeta, “Dharma.” Between these two words the seven hundred stanzas are hung together as a garland of immortal beauty, and so these commentators summarize the meaning of the Geeta as “MY Dharma” (Mama Dharma). The Geeta explains the nature of man, MY Dharma, and the nature of Truth, MY Dharma and how the true life starts when these two are in harmony and come to play in one single individual. The ideal nature of all true students of the Geeta, therefore, should be a glorious synthesis of both the SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE expressed in their equipoise and character, and the DYNAMIC LOVE expressed through their service to mankind and their readiness to sacrifice.
