In his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita entitled God Talks With Arjuna, Paramahansa Yoganandaji wrote: “The obvious interpretation is for the inspiration of the ordinary man; the hidden metaphor is for the serious practitioner of the yoga science.”
Senior YSS sannyasi Swami Smaranananda Giri explores the esoteric meaning of the Bhagavad Gita in a discourse entitled “Arjuna’s Refusal to Fight: The Devotee’s Reluctance to Overcome Bad Traits,” which presents practical insights from Yoganandaji’s commentary on slokas 20 to 47 of Chapter I.
Taken literally, these slokas depict the eve of the war of Kurukshetra, when Arjuna surveys the opposing warriors that he has to fight and becomes despondent. He gives Bhagavan Krishna many reasons why he should not fight, arguing that it is in his best interest to avoid incurring the sin of killing his own relatives for the sake of gaining a material kingdom.
Similarly, the devotee often feels reluctant to slay his own familiar materialistic tendencies to gain the spiritual joy of the soul through the practice of meditation. And so he decides to refrain from the practice of sadhana that would make him a spiritual conqueror.
This inspiring talk was given in October 2023 during the Sadhana Sangam at the Yogoda Satsanga Sakha Ashram in Noida, and is a part of a series of discourses by Swami Smaranananda on the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, as interpreted by Paramahansa Yogananda.
We invite you to watch this discourse which is now available for viewing on the YSS website and YouTube channel.
To view the other discourses in this series, please visit the link shared below:
