सञ्जय उवाच
तं तथा कृपयाऽविष्टमश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम्।
विषीदन्तमिदं वाक्यमुवाच मधुसूदनः।।2.1।।
श्री भगवानुवाच
कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं विषमे समुपस्थितम्।
अनार्यजुष्टमस्वर्ग्यमकीर्तिकरमर्जुन।।2.2।।
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते।
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप।।2.3।।
Sanjaya said: To him who had been filled with pity, whose eyes were filled with tears and showed distress, and who was sorrowing, Madhusudana uttered these words.
The Blessed Lord said, “O Arjuna, in this perilous place, whence has this impurity come to you, entertained by unenlightened persons, which does not lead to heaven and brings infamy?”
O Partha, do not yield to unmanliness. This does not befit you. O scorcher of foes, arise, giving up the petty weakness of heart.
Osho’s Commentary
Sanjaya says Arjuna is filled with pity, his eyes overflowing with tears. But listen, my friend, is it pity? Or is it something else? There is daya, which you call pity, and there is karuna, which is compassion. They are worlds apart. Pity is a sickness. It is situational. You see a beggar, and a feeling arises in you—not for the beggar, but for your own ego. In that moment of giving a coin, the ego feels nourished, superior. Pity is a beautiful disguise for the ego. Compassion is a fragrance of the soul. It has no cause, no situation. A flower blooms in a solitary forest, its fragrance spreading with no one to receive it. So is compassion. A Buddha is compassionate, not because you are miserable, but because he is an overflowing of bliss. Compassion liberates; pity binds. Arjuna is not filled with compassion. He is drowning in pity. And this pity is a beautiful disguise for his ego. He thinks, “How can I, such a great man, do this terrible deed? It is better that they kill me.” The focus is on the “I,” on his self-image. And Krishna, the master psychologist, sees this immediately. His first words are not of solace; they are a hammer blow. He calls Arjuna’s state “un-Aryan,” an “impurity,” an “impotence.” He is not trying to console a sick man; he is trying to shock him out of his sickness. He attacks the ego directly, for the ego is the root of the disease. He is not a sympathizer; he is a surgeon with a knife. He must cut through the layers of self-deception to reach the real wound.