Sri Krishna undertook to carry the Divine Light unto Arjuna

Sri Krishna undertook to carry the Divine Light unto Arjuna

In all situations Sri Krishna was the friend, philosopher and guide of Arjuna, He had even given away his sister Subhadra in marriage to his friend. Finally when the Great War broke out He chose to play the charioteer to His chum. It was on this momentous occasion that He imparted to his friend His supreme teaching immortalized as the Bhagavad Gita. A greater help than this could not have been rendered.

The relationship between the individual soul and the Cosmic Reality has thus been personified. Through countless births and deaths the former is a ward to the latter. Enthroned as it were in the heart of the Jivatman, the Paramatman escorts him through a series of earthly experiences. The mundane wants are appropriately supplied. The embodied soul is privileged to own all that is grand and useful. Finally ensues a crisis which puts earthly splendours to test. Pomp, power, property, pedigree and all such coveted endowments do then seem empty and purposeless. Understanding becomes clouded. Mind becomes overwhelmed with despondency. Life then seems a phantom. Sooner or later, in a greater or a smaller measure such an experience comes to every soul. There is no escape from it. Knowledge of the Supreme is the Sovereign remedy in such a crisis. It is to the man of Self-knowledge that the plan and purpose of life become revealed. The basis of existence, the goal of action, the imperativeness of death—these mysteries of nature become self-evident to the man of Self-knowledge and to none else. Time was ripe for Arjuna to be enlightened on these fundamentals. Till then he had enough of worldly enjoyment and experience, Next he had to go into the root-cause of everything. The Lord undertook to carry the Divine Light unto him.

Source: Srimad Bhagavad Geeta-Commentary by Swami Chidbhavananda

Swami Chidbhavananda belonged to the Ramakrishna Order of Monks. He was a disciple of Swami Shivananda who was a direct disciple of Parmahamsa Sri Ramakrishna.  Swami Chidbhavanandaji founded the Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam and has written over 125 books, the most famous being his commentary on the Srimad Bhagavad Geeta.