Shlok – 1
Sanjay Uvach,
Tam Tathaa Kripayaavishtamashrupoornaakulekshanam |
Visheedantamidam Vaakyamuvaach Madhusoodanah ||

English Translation:

Sanjay Said,
[Then] Madhusoodan (Shree Krishna) said these statements to him (Arjun) who was overwhelmed with compassion, [who had] eyes filled with tears, [and who was] highly grieved.

Exegesis and Central Idea:

In Bhagavad Gita Shlok 2.1, Sanjay informs Dhritraashtra two things:

• Arjun was overwhelmingly filled with compassion, grief, and tears.
• Shree Krishna motivates crying Arjun on the battlefield with his spiritual teachings to make him overcome the level of compassion that was leading to weakness.

Shlok – 2
Shree Krishna Uvach,
Kutastvaa Kashmalamidadm Vishame Samupasthitam |
Anaaryajushtamaswargyamakeertikaramarjuna ||

English Translation:

Shree Krishna Said,
Arjun! How did this impurity [of attachment, fascination, and illusionary things], [which is] the conduct of Anaarya (non-respectable, non-independent, and non-righteous people), [which does] not lead to heaven, and [which is] the cause of disgrace, get established in you at this critical moment?

Exegesis and Central Idea:

Arjun was deviating from the path of righteousness due to rule-based attachment with his Adharmik kinsmen. Therefore, Shree Krishna helped him with enlightenment of Sankhya Yog starting from this Bhagavad Gita Shlok 2.2. He narrates this song of spiritual knowledge to make Arjun understand that Arjun’s attitude was not in line with absolute Dharm (duty). Krishna mentioned scolding Arjuna that he (Arjun) was feeling pity for Kauravas due to the impurities of Moh (excessive attachment) and Maya (illusionary things). He said that those evils were forcing him (Arjun) to not fight with Adharm, making him an Anaarya (non-righteous person). Let’s understand Moh and Maya to understand why God called them impurities.

Moh (Excessive Attachment and Unnecessary Fondness) vs Love 

Actually, there is a very thin line between Moh and Love but that makes a drastic difference in their meaning. Love makes you to ensure complete welfare (Mental and Physical) of the person you love while the Moh makes you to ensure only physical and material appeasement and security of the person you are attached to. Mental welfare, here, means that you need to ensure that the person you love has the capability of understanding what is Dharm (righteousness) and take the decisions accordingly because if he/she does not have that understanding he/she may walk on the path of Adharma that would make them unhappy and unsatisfied internally. On the other hand, Physical and material appeasement means doing those things for a person which he/she wants you to do, even if they are illegit and adharmik (non-righteous), even if they are going to provide him/her only momentary bliss, and even if they going to harm others (individual or masses). In this your only focus remains to ensure that the person, you are doing this for, continues to believe that you are his/her well-wisher instead of being a real well-wisher of him/her which comes only by doing right and ensuring that he/she also does everything right.

Maya (Illusion) vs Truth 

Similar to Moh and Love, Maya and Truth are also differentiated by a very thin line that leaves drastic impact. Maya could be a fact but may not be true in all the cases or forever. For example, your son may be there for you just because he is your son due to Moh, rules, and social pressure but he may also avoid you the moment he comes out of these external forces. However, if he is Dharmik (righteous), he would always be there to take care of you and others even if he does not have any attachment with you, even if he is not under the pressure of any type of social rules, and even if he is in love with someone who does not like you. In all these cases, a Dharmik son would support and take care of you, provided you are not Adharmik (non-righteous). So, your son is Maya when you raise him to take care of you, but he becomes the truth when you raise him to perform Dharm (righteousness). 

There are many other examples that, if you contemplate honestly and independently, would make you understand when the same thing becomes maya and when it is true.

Anyways, what Shree Krishna mentions next is that taking decisions by getting into the control of these impurities would make you Anarya, which is the opposite of Arya. Let’s now understand who Arya is and who Anarya is.

Understanding Arya and Anarya

Arya is a Sanskrit word and Anarya is its opposite word. In ancient Bharat, where Sanskrit was the native language, those people were referred as arya who were noble, honorable,  and respected people of the society. They were not respected and honorable because they belonged to some position, some clan, or had money and power, but they were respected for having Dharmik (righteous) behaviour and thought process. Such people were the centre point of the establishment of Dharm in the society because they did not care about anything materialistic but only Dharm (righteousness). They didn’t care about what people would think of them, but their only focus was to do right, be right, and think right. And when they did not care of what people would think of them or what materialistic would they get in return of doing Dharm, they could perform Dharm (righteous duties) perfectly because there was nothing to deviate them from the path of Dharm. It’s because you get deviated from the right path either due to fear or greed or ego, but when you don’t care of what others will think, you win the fear, when you don’t care of what would you get in return, you win the greed, and when you didn’t care of making your own image but to do the right, you win over ego. And once you have no such obstacle that can stop you from doing Dharm, you perform it with your best efforts, and thus you are called Arya – A person who lives for Dharm (Righteousness). 

On the contrary, those who are in the control of all these impurities and many others, are most likely to perform Adharma. Remember, not only performers but supporters and silent spectators of the acts of Adharma are also Adharmis, and all such people are called Anarya.

Krishna further mentions that this attitude of yours that makes you Anarya would neither get you heaven nor enhance your prestige. Let’s understand heaven and the prestige here.

What is Heaven?

Most of us have heard and read that heaven is a place filled with luxuries where we may go after death by performing good deeds when alive. I do not have any problem with any such place existing anywhere and I neither deny the claims that noble souls go there. My point is that we need to understand what Swarga (heaven) means. Based on the Bhagwat Geeta Shlok 2 of chapter 2:

• Anaryas don’t go to heaven which means Aryas go to heaven.
• Aryas are those noble souls or people who perform Dharm.
• Dharm is those activities that you do for the welfare of innocent masses (current and future generations).

What does it prove? It proves that heaven is a place where those people reside who are the performers of Dharm (righteousness) but not those who are just consumption focused. There are facts to prove this thing in ancient Indian history and scriptures. Sages, Brahmans (real brahmans but not the ones who are called brahman just due to their birth in that clan), and our scriptures tell us that:

• Heaven is the place where deities reside.
• Main deities who have been mentioned to reside in heaven are Indra (deity of rain), Vayu (Air), Agni (fire), Chandra (moon), Jal (water), etc.
• Now we should think of what they do. The answer comes that all these deities are those natural Dharm (properties) that are for the survival of living beings on earth.
• It means where such people live who unbiasedly work for the welfare of all innocent living beings, that place is called Swarg (heaven).
  

So, after doing all this contemplation, we learned that Krishna wanted Arjun to do those selfless acts which are for the welfare of current and future generations and that is what Dharm means. By doing Dharm, Arjun could make that part of earth a heaven-like place and once he is dead, he would go to that heaven which you get after death because you only need to perform Dharm (righteousness) to achieve that after-life heaven too. But because we don’t know how that heaven is going to be, running after that would be a blind faith but making that place a heaven, by performing Dharm (righteousness), where you live or work, would be a real thing. But in doing that you must have to have the guts to identify Dharmik and Adharmik people, and crush those who are Adharmik, and cherish those who are innocents and Dharmik. That’s what Krishna wanted Arjun and all other humans to understand.

 What is Keerti (Fame) and Why is it needed?

Keerti (fame) means being renowned for doing good in every walk of your life. It does not just mean that you market yourself as a good person and continue doing bad deeds. It also doesn’t mean to be known by the masses by doing bad deeds because that means Apkeerti (defame). Now the question is why you should work for the Keerti (fame) when you need to go away from Maya (illusion) because fame is also an illusion. Let’s understand:

Keerti (fame) is Maya (illusion) when you want to achieve it for your personal satisfaction. If you do everything just because you want to be famous and want to be a celebrity, you are running after Maya (illusion).

Keerti (fame) is the truth when you don’t want to achieve it but it is going to be a byproduct of your good deeds. Why? Because when you don’t want to be famous but the position and work you are involved in is going to make you famous, you need to ensure that you become famous for doing right. Because future generations would anyways know you and about you, as you are their history, and if you are written in the history for doing Adharma (non-righteous acts), you may inspire them to do the same non-righteous acts. On the contrary, if you are famous for doing Dharm (good deeds and righteous acts), you are more likely to inspire them to do the same righteous things.

Therefore, keerti (fame) is not something you need to take care of for your own respect in the society, but it is something you need to take care of to ensure that you are not inspiring others to do wrong. 

Conclusively, Krishna suggests Arjun to fight because that was not for Arjun’s personal benefit but for the welfare of masses (current and future generations). And if Arjun would continuously think about himself and his kinsmen, he would not be able to perform Dharm (righteousness) which would, slowly and gradually, make that place Aswarg (hell). And this act of Arjun of not doing what was right would defame him, and because he is the history of Indian civilization, he was a lot likely to inspire future generations to behave like him and not do what is right.

What are the key teachings from this verse of Bhagavad Geeta?

The key takeaway is that we should only focus on doing Dharm (what is right for every living being) but not on how would it impact to ourselves, because if we continue to think about our own self, we would be deviated from working for actual public welfare which would make the lives of many people hell and, perhaps, ours too.