BG 2.8

na hi prapasyami mamapanudyad

yac chokam ucchoshanam indriyanam

avapya bhumav asapatnam riddham

rajyam suranam api cadhipatyam

SYNONYMS

na — do not; hi — certainly; prapasyami — I see; mama — my; apanudyat — can drive away; yat — that which; sokam — lamentation; ucchoshanam — drying up; indriyanam — of the senses; avapya — achieving; bhumau — on the earth; asapatnam — without rival; riddham — prosperous; rajyam — kingdom; suranam — of the demigods; api — even; ca — also; adhipatyam — supremacy.

TRANSLATION

I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivaled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.

na hi prapasyami, I am not able to see, how any thing material can solve my problem, mamapanudyad, how this greif can be driven away.

yac chokam ucchoshanam indriyanam, this Choka which means Shoka— as per the Sandhi rules of Sanskrit—so this Shoka is frying me from within. And it is drying up my Indriyas, indriyanam. So when a person becomes very disturbed emotionally, the water content in the body decreases, and they feel their mouth dried up etc. And in this condition Arjuna is telling that avapya bhumav asapatnam riddham, even if he gets bhumav without any asapats means without any enemy for the king have many problems, because he is having a kingdom. But Arjuna is talking about the hypothetical material situation where there is asapat, there are no enemies, but it is not only about enemies, there could be natural calamities like drought, flood etc.

So he is saying riddham, even if I get that rajyam suranam api cadhipatyam, so even if I get kingdom of heaven that will not help, that will not dry up the grief.

Our existence is 3 dimensional

1. Physical (material)

We often think about physical level protection, physical gratification, physical titillation like food, clothing & shelter. These are important no doubt, we need them at a physical level for survival.

2. Emotional (material)

At emotional level also, things are very intense. Even at the physical level there is comfort, but say if problems with boss, wife, relatives, generation conflict with parents are there; it could be so tormenting that physical level conform will not give any comfort. So Arjuna is saying actually I am tormented at emotional level right now yac chokam ucchoshanam indriyanam, physical gratification cannot solve problems at emotional level.

In Chitraketu Maharaj pastimes we see that although he had all opulences, but since he did not have any child he was suffering. He felt; as if garlands of flowers were offered to a starving man. So if a person is starving everything else is irrelevant as compared to the fire that is burning in the stomach. So in that way for a particular problem we need a particular solution.

Arjuna is saying, right now I am tormented at emotional level, and fighting at physical level and winning the kingdom is not a solution. People think that wealth can solve my problem, but wealth cannot bring love and from Vedic scripture we understand that love is not just emotional, ultimately it is the spiritual need.

3. Spiritual (here we are discussing spiritual emotion)

Our emotional level is between material and spiritual. We can get emotions about material things, we can get emotions about spiritual things. When we get emotions about spiritual things, Krishna and Krishna’s devotees, those emotions lift us up. It will take us closer to Sri Krishna. If we think about material emotions, these emotions drag us down, they keep us entangled in material life.

What is the way out? We have to make sure that our emotions are connected to Krishna, then they will lift us out of this material existence. So in the first chapter Arjuna has not talked about emotional perspective, he has talked about physical perspective, this life or next life; it was not devotional or spiritual perspective. So if our emotional needs are at material level, it will cause only trouble; until emotions are connected with Krishna. That’s when there will be purification, elevation, liberation from material and emotional miseries.