Why sannyasa ashrama of Sidhartha was accepted but Arjuna was asked to deny?

[Medhavini Sakhi Devi Dasi JPS]

Hare Krishna Dandavat Pranams

To my understanding, Arjuna was not denied sanyasa!…. Krsna explained how one has to choose one’s varna/ ashrama according to guna, karma… Finally after giving all instructions, Krsna said yatha icchasi tatha kuru to Arjuna indicating that Arjuna, now do what you desire. So Arjuna still had the freewill at the end of the Bhagavad Gita siminar by Lord Krsna to take up the path of sanyas if he wanted to. But he, being pure devotee of Lord, said karishye vacanam tava, will follow your instructions and performed the fighting of Kurukshetra war for the pleasure of Lord.

The underlying principle here is that it is not so much important which varna or ashrama we belong to, but to practice devotional service under the guidance of a bonafide spiritual master/ spiritual mentor and reawaken our dormant love for Krishna… trust that helps….

Your servant

Medhavini Sakhi Devi Dasi

[Priyanka Sinha]

Hare Krishna Mata JI,

Dandvat Pranam,

Thank you for the nice reply Mata ji.

But still I could not make out why Krishna’s instructions were to fight the battle rather he could have instructed him to take Sannyasa and someone else of his brothers could play his role because in anyway Krishn ji was self sufficient enough and victory was always on his side only.

[Medhavini Sakhi Devi Dasi JPS]

Hare Krishna

PAMHO AGTSP AGTSSGG

It is perfect understanding that whoever Krsna might have chosen, victory would have been theirs because of the exclusive presence of Madhava, the husband of Goddess of Fortune on their side. So whether it was Arjuna or Yudhishtira or Nakula whomever, Lord Krsna would have chosen, they would have definitely emerged victorious.

Krsna is abhijnah svarat – all knowing & completely independent – Out of Krsna’s supreme will, Krsna chose Arjuna and Krsna mentions in BG 9.1 – idam tu te guhyatamam pravaksyamy anasuyave – I choose you Arjuna because you are non- envious of Me. There are so many devotees who are non-envious and Krsna knows each one of them as He is abhijnah – all knowing, but Krsna chose Arjuna to become nimitta matram – an instrument to give this knowledge of Bhagavad Gita to all mankind.

Regarding the query of why Krsna did not instruct Arjuna to take sanyasa ashram is for the reason mentioned by Krsna in BG 3.21 – yad yad acarati sresthas tat tad evetaro janaaha – Whatever a leader performs, the common men follow that. Arjuna was a leader chosen by Lord Krsna to set a path for all mankind to follow. Arjuna had to set the path of performing his svadharma of fighting, by following instructions of his spiritual master, who in this case happened to be Lord Krsna Himself!

Indeed, without changing Arjuna’s ashram to sanyasa, Lord Krsna ensured that Arjuna practiced the essence of sanyasa dharma. i.e. Arjuna gave up his own mental speculative idea of false renunciation of going to the forest, while his mind would be contemplating on war being of ksatriya nature. He had various ideas why not to fight the war as he expressed to Krsna in chapter 1 – he would be incurring sinful reactions, would not be able to enjoy kingdom after killing kinsmen,Dronacharya & others, no protection for ladies resulting in varnasankara). He gave up all those speculative ideas and got ready to fight the war as per the guidance of his spiritual master, who happened to be Krsna Himself.

Lessons for us: Like Arjuna, we should also give up our attachment to our own ideas of renunciation/ austerity/ service and follow instructions of our spiritual master/ spiritual authority coming in bonafide parampara as by pleasing our spiritual authority, we will please Krsna ( yasya prasadad bhagavat prasado – Guruvashtakam)

Krsna gave general principles to be followed by mankind through Arjuna. For any specific application of any principle, especially when in doubt, best is to ask our spiritual authority according to directions given bin 4.34 of BG (tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya)… They would help us apply the general principle in our specific context to further advance in our devotional service/ Krsna consciousness.

Another lesson for us through this is that we may consider anything morally correct or incorrect according to our limited understanding of the scriptures, but we NEED TO CHECK WITH OUR SPIRITUAL MASTER/ SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY IF OUR UNDERSTANDING IS CORRECT & APPLY THE PRINCIPLE ACCORDING TO THEIR GUIDANCE.

Also, another point worth contemplating is that there is no need to compare why Siddhartha/Gautam Buddha took sanyasa and why Arjuna was not allowed to take Sanyasa as the Lord decides what is best in different time, place & circumstances to fulfill various purposes. The purpose of Buddha’s incarnation was to stop violence to animals which was rampant at the time due to misintrepretation of vedic texts pertaining to offering animals in sacrifice. More importantly , SUCH COMPARISON DOES NOT FACILITATE OUR PROGRESS IN BHAKTI AND HENCE IT WOULD BE SRAMA EVA HI KEVALAM (useless endeavor)

I hope this addresses your query in entirety… Thank you for your wonderful question. I would also request senior devotees to make addition/ correction as they may deem appropriate. Many Thanks, Kind Regards,

Yours in service

Medhavini Sakhi Devi Dasi

[Medhavini Sakhi Devi Dasi JPS]

Hare Krishna

PAMHO AGTSP AGTSSGG

Just wanted to add here that no question is useless. I also ask a lot of questions, sometimes those questions dont help us progress in devotional service, but just a query of why Lord or our Gurus choose/ decide in a particular way that’s not as per our plan… or our ideas of how we think we can do that seva in a nice way….. but as my siksha guru says, overanalysis leads to paralysis…. best is to accept every situation as the will of Lord especially when we dont get the answers that satisfy us…. Utilise every situation as an opportunity of how I can serve in this situation to please Guru and Gauranga… that would please Them and by Their mercy, if not now, later we may just about find the answers to those queries! I conclude by repeating my siksha Guru’s words, until then, chant Hare Krishna and be happy!!! Hope that gives some additional perspective….Hare Krishna!

[Priyanka Sinha]

Thank you Mata ji for taking your precious time to answer my question,

Hare Krishna and Dandvat Pranam,

Ys,

Priyanka Sinha