Bg. 2.9

BG 2.9

Devanagari

सञ्जय उवाच एवमुक्त्वा हृषीकेशं गुडाकेशः परन्तपः । न योत्स्य इति गोविन्दामुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह ॥ ९ ॥

Verse text

saṣjaya uvāca evam uktvā hṛṣīkeśaṁ guḍākeśaḥ paran-tapaḥ na yotsya iti govindam uktvā tūṣṇīṁ babhūva ha

Synonyms

saṣjayaḥ uvāca Saṣjaya said ; evam thus ; uktvā speaking ; hṛṣīkeśam unto Kṛṣṇa, the master of the senses ; guḍākeśaḥ Arjuna, the master of curbing ignorance ; param-tapaḥ the chastiser of the enemies ; na yotsye I shall not fight ; iti thus ; govindam unto Kṛṣṇa, the giver of pleasure to the senses ; uktvā saying ; tūṣṇīm silent ; babhūva became ; ha certainly.

Translation

Saṣjaya said: Having spoken thus, Arjuna, chastiser of enemies, told Kṛṣṇa, “Govinda, I shall not fight,” and fell silent.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

9. Saṣjaya said: Having thus spoken to Hṛṣīkeśa, Guḍākeśa, afflicter of enemies, telling Govinda “I will not fight,” became silent.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

9. Saṣjaya said: Having thus spoken to Hṛṣikeśa, Guḍakeśa, afflicter of enemies, saying ‘I will not fight,’ to Govinda, remained silent.

Purport

Dhṛtarāṣṭra must have been very glad to understand that Arjuna was not going to fight and was instead leaving the battlefield for the begging profession. But Saṣjaya disappointed him again in relating that Arjuna was competent to kill his enemies ( paran-tapaḥ ). Although Arjuna was, for the time being, overwhelmed with false grief due to family affection, he surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa, the supreme spiritual master, as a disciple. This indicated that he would soon be free from the false lamentation resulting from family affection and would be enlightened with perfect knowledge of self-realization, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and would then surely fight. Thus Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s joy would be frustrated, since Arjuna would be enlightened by Kṛṣṇa and would fight to the end.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

“What did Arjuna then do?” Saṣjaya replies with this verse. Arjuna, the conqueror of sleep, first said to Hṛṣikeśa, the controller of the senses, “I do not see how I will drive away this lamentation through fighting.” Arjuna, the afflicter of enemies, then said to Govinda, the knower of all the Vedas, “I will not fight.” Saṣjaya, by mentioning the name Hṛṣikeśa, controller of the senses, indicates that the Lord will make Arjuna manifest intelligence to engage in the battle. By using the word Govinda, the knower of all the Vedas, he suggests that the Lord will make Arjuna accept his dharma to fight. In this way Saṣjaya extinguished the hope which rose in Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s heart of gaining the kingdom for his own sons.

Surrender Unto Me

Arjuna is calling Krna Hrisikesha which means "the master of the senses". By this naming is to be understood that Arjuna is saying: "You are the Master of my senses and You want me to fight so I am going to fight! But in any case for the time being I am not going to fight! Even though I know, by Your order, I will fight! You are my Master!" Krsna, in the next verse does something very interesting: