कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभाव:

पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेता: |

यच्छ्रेय: स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे

शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ||2:7||

I am confused about my duty, and am besieged with anxiety and faintheartedness. I am Your disciple, and am surrendered to You. Please instruct me for certain what is best for me.

This is the prayer that convinced the Lord to help Arjuna. Notice Arjuna surrenders himself completely before he is ready to accept His teachings. Arjuna, being very perceptive, also recognizes:

1. The problem is his own fault and not anyone else's
2. Faults are of being anxious and faint-hearted. Anxiety is about the future, and faint-heartedness is about the present.
3. The result is a lack of understanding of what his duty is in such circumstances. Shree Krishna later says that the clarity of duty is one of the most important traits of a yogi
4. He does not ask for the removal of the difficulties or lament why he got stuck in such situation. He realises that at this time, he just needs to act but he is unclear about his duty.

It takes a very capable student like Arjuna to choose Krishna over his Narayani Sena

• Lord Krishna accepts the position of chariot driver to Nara (Arjuna).
• He declares war from justice’s side upon war being final (Bhishma blowing conch)
• Lord tests
  • Arjuna in 21,22,23 verses used the following words for Pandavas (war-minded warriors, two armies), Kauravas (war-minded warriors, two armies, evil-minded Duryodhana’s well-wishers) - Notice no word in there to denote either kith or kin. Arjuna asked the Lord to place his chariot between the two armies and keep it there till he had observed the war-minded warrior, with whom he had to wage the war.
    • In the immediately next verse - 24, the Lord moved his chariot between the two armies, (a) stood in front of Bhisma and Drona knowingly and said the following - “O (b) Partha, behold all these (c) Kurus assembled here”.
    • By doing this, the Lord was trying to test him and knew that Arjuna would fail since he was still in the state of delusion, so that the Lord could then deliver the Gita
    • Obviously, the Lord was right. Arjuna, on seeing his kith and kin, changed his tone and said:
      • अर्जुन उवाच | दृष्ट्वेमं स्वजनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम् || 28|| सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति | वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे रोमहर्षश्च जायते || 29|| गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तात्त्वक्चै व परिदह्यते | न च शक्नोम्यवस्थातुं भ्रमतीव च मे मन: || 30|| निमित्तानि च पश्यामि विपरीतानि केशव | न च श्रेयोऽनुपश्यामि हत्वा स्वजनमाहवे || 31||
      • Arjun said: O Krishna, seeing my own kinsmen arrayed for battle here and intent on killing each other, my limbs are giving way and my mouth is drying up. My whole body shudders; my hair is standing on end. My bow, the Gāṇḍīv, is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning all over. My mind is in a quandary and whirling in confusion; I am unable to hold myself steady any longer. O Krishna, killer of the Keshi demon, I only see omens of misfortune. I do not foresee how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle.
      • न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च | किं नो राज्येन गोविन्द किं भोगैर्जीवितेन वा || 32|| येषामर्थे काङ्क्षितं नो राज्यं भोगा: सुखानि च | त इमेऽवस्थिता युद्धे प्राणांस्त्यक्त्वा धनानि च || 33||
      • O Krishna, I do not desire victory, kingdom, or the happiness accruing to it. Of what avail will be a kingdom, pleasures, or even life itself, when the very persons for whom we covet them, are standing before us for battle?
      • and so on, he tries to justify his actions by
        • one should not kill one’s kinsmen even for the sovereignty of three worlds - 34, 35
        • this action will accrue sin - 36
        • we won’t be happy by killing our kinsmen - 37
        • these people’s judgement is clouded, they don’t see sin, we do - 38,39
        • destruction of family leads to destruction of traditions which leads to impiety - 40
        • women become corrupt which leads to intermixture of castes - 41
        • the offsprings (”race destroyers”) don’t offer rice and water, and thus manes also have a downfall - 42
        • traditions get destroyed - 43
        • families dwell his hell for indefinite period of time - 44