Krishna does not sympathize with Arjuna’s arguments. Rather, He reminds Arjuna that his duty is to fight and orders him to overcome his weakness of heart. Arjuna is torn between his aversion to killing his relatives and Krishna’s desire that he should fight. Aggrieved and confused, Arjuna asks Krishna for guidance and becomes his disciple.

Krishna takes up the role of Arjuna’s Spiritual Master and teaches him that the soul is eternal and cannot be killed. Dying in battle promotes a fighter to the heavenly planets, so Arjuna should rejoice that those persons he is about to kill will achieve superior births. A person is eternally an individual. Only his body perishes. Thus, there is nothing to lament.

Arjuna’s decision not to fight is based on his desire to enjoy life with his relatives, even at the cost of wisdom and duty. Such a mentality keeps one bound to the material world. Krishna advises Arjuna to engage in buddhi-yoga, work without attachment to the results. By fighting in this way, Arjuna will free himself from the cycle of birth and death and become eligible to enter the kingdom of God.

The Bhagavad-gita is universally renowned as the essence of India’s spiritual wisdom. Spoken by Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to His intimate devotee Arjuna, the Gita’s seven hundred verses provide a definitive guide to the science of self-realization. The Gita contains knowledge of five basic truths: God, the individual soul, the material world, action in this world, and time. It lucidly explains the nature of consciousness and the universe, answering questions posed by philosophers for centuries, such as “What is the meaning of life?” and “Where do we go after death?”

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