Verse-11
Chapter 2 — Sānkhya Yog
Verse 11
🕉 Original Sanskrit Shloka
|| Shree Bhagavaanuvaacha ||
aśocyānanvaśocastvaṁ prajñāvādāṁśca bhāṣase
gatāsūnagatāsūṁśca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
🕉 English Translation
📜 Translation
English
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for yet speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.
Shrimad Bhagvad Gita is a forceful motivator for an enlightened life. It is a straightforward impartial thinking and a clear attack through words; somewhere for awakening simple and easy motivation has been given and elsewhere a harsh warning and sometimes a sharp sarcastic style has also been used. Arjun's so-called speechs full of wisdom. This speech was declared as baseless by Lord Krishna in just one sarcastic word–you speak wise-seeming words (pragyavadanch bhashyase)! You are talking like an intellectual but you are actually a fool. To think oneself to be more wise than required is also foolishness in actuality. Especially when one is in the presence of superior persons, not heeding to what they have to say but trying to justify one's own opinion to be right, is sheer intellectualism. The real benefit of knowledge is that after acquiring knowledge, our understanding should be established in that knowledge. This should be for ourselves as well as for others. Just oral expression cannot be said from any viewpoint to be meaningful aspect of knowledge.
To experience knowledge in essence is the enlightenment of life and in this enlightenment, the existence of sorrows is not possible. If sorrow still exists, it means that the understanding is not established in knowledge; the state is still of intellectualism. Arjun is speaking the words of wisdom but at the same time is dejected and also indecisive about his duty. The state of awareness of the duty and natural happiness are the natural expression of enlightenment; whereas in Arjun it is clearly observable that both these features are lacking. The state without no grief is the ornament of human life. From the viewpoint of the Gita inspiration grief is not right and nor has human birth been given for grieving.
The word 'ashochya' is a divine inspiration for humanity. O human! It is not behooving for you to grieve. But a large number of persons consider grief as a normal state of life. The first verse of the Gita itself is clarifying that grief is not a natural state but one which is superimposed. The nature of the individual soul is 'adhyatma' i.e. self-knowledge and spiritual law of being.