Bg. 2.11 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

श्री भगवानुवाच अशोच्यनन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे । गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥ ११ ॥

Verse text

śrī-bhagavān uvāca aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajṣā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

Synonyms

śrī-bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said ; aśocyān — not worthy of lamentation ; anvaśocaḥ — you are lamenting ; tvam — you ; prajṣā-vādān — learned talks ; ca — also ; bhāṣase — speaking ; gata — lost ; asūn — life ; agata — not passed ; asūn — life ; ca — also ; na — never ; anuśocanti — lament ; paṇḍitāḥ — the learned.

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

11. The Lord said: You, while lamenting for what is not worthy of lamentation, are speaking words of wisdom. The wise men do not lament for the gross body or the subtle body.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

11. The Lord said: You, lamenting for what is not worthy of lamentation, are speaking words of wisdom. The wise men do not lament for the gross bodies, the subtle bodies, or the souls.

Purport

The Lord at once took the position of the teacher and chastised the student, calling him, indirectly, a fool. The Lord said, “You are talking like a learned man, but you do not know that one who is learned – one who knows what is body and what is soul – does not lament for any stage of the body, neither in the living nor in the dead condition.” As explained in later chapters, it will be clear that knowledge means to know matter and spirit and the controller of both. Arjuna argued that religious principles should be given more importance than politics or sociology, but he did not know that knowledge of matter, soul and the Supreme is even more important than religious formularies. And because he was lacking in that knowledge, he should not have posed himself as a very learned man. As he did not happen to be a very learned man, he was consequently lamenting for something which was unworthy of lamentation. The body is born and is destined to be vanquished today or tomorrow; therefore the body is not as important as the soul. One who knows this is actually learned, and for him there is no cause for lamentation, regardless of the condition of the material body.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

“O Arjuna, this lamentation of yours caused by attachment to friends and relatives is the cause of bewilderment. Your power of discernment arising from your concerns starting in verse four with ‘How can I fight against Bhīṣma and Droṇa?’ are the cause of lack of wisdom.” That is stated in this verse. “You are continually lamenting (anu śocaḥ) for what is not worthy of grief (aśocyān). Thus you are uttering words of wisdom to Me, who am trying to enlighten you. You speak words (vādān) of wisdom (prajṣā) as in verse four.” The intention behind the Lord’s words is the opposite: “Actually you have no wisdom.” “This is because those who are wise (paṇḍitāḥ) do not lament for the gross bodies from which life has passed (gata asūn)—since the bodies are destructible by their very nature. Neither do they lament for the subtle bodies from which the life airs have not passed (agata asūn), [Note: The life airs go with the subtle body after death, and enter a new body along with the subtle body at birth. Viśvanātha has taken as asu literally as the life air, and agatāsūn as those bodies from which the life airs do not depart, the subtle bodies. If we were to take agatāsūn as meaning the gross body from which the life air has not yet departed, then there would be no reason for even the fool to lament for it.] for those subtle bodies will certainly be destroyed before liberation. They do not lament because they accept the inherent natures of all of the gross and subtle bodies. But fools lament when life airs pass from the gross bodies of fathers and others, and do not generally understand about the subtle bodies. Enough of such fools! All these, including Bhīṣma, are souls equipped with gross and subtle bodies. Because of the eternal nature of their souls, there is no cause for lamentation. Previously you said that dharma-śāstra was stronger than artha-śāstra. But I say here that jṣāna-śāstra (teaching about ātmā) is stronger than dharma-śāstra.”

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

As Arjuna stood silently, the Lord began deriding his intelligence. “O Arjuna, you are lamenting (anvaśocaḥ) for the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra who are not even worthy of lamentation (aśocyān). And you speak words supposedly from wise people such as ‘Seeing my relatives and friends gathered for fighting my limbs are weakening’ and ‘How can I fight those worthy of worship?’ But you do not have even a drop of wisdom. Those who are wise do not lament for the gross bodies from which the life airs has departed (gatāsūn) nor for the subtle bodies from which the life airs have not departed (agatāsūn), [Note: The life airs go with the subtle body after death. The life airs and the subtle body separate from the gross body at death.] nor for the souls (indicated by the word ca). This is the meaning. Is lamentation caused by the destruction of the gross body or the destruction of the subtle body? There should be no lamentation because the destruction of the gross bodies is inevitable due to their nature. There should be no lamentation for the destruction of the subtle body since it is indestructible until liberation. There should be no lamentation for the soul, because it is devoid of the six changes, and is eternal. There should be no cause at all of lamentation for those who know the nature of the body and the soul. It has been said that there is predominance of dharma śastra over artha śastra. That may be so, but that dharma śastra is refuted by the stronger jṣāna ṣastra. The mistake of thinking things are worthy of lamentation which are not worthy of lamentation is the quality of a fool. This is not suitable to you, who are learned.

Surrender Unto Me

Krsna starts His instructions by telling Arjuna : "You are a fool! Now listen and you will learn something!"