Bhagavad Gita Series -1 : Krishna vs Arjuna conversation
Tuesday, April 19, 2022, Winston Salem, North Carolina
An Analytical approach to Bhagvad Gita:
Background:
Back in India and in online media, I have heard people saying Arjuna keeps bothering Krishna and doesn't let Krishna talk or keep interrupting. He was a bothering and talkative student.
Problem definition:
So, I dived to see the real landscape of the conversation between the two to see what is the reality.
- Was Arjuna interrupting as people say ?
- Was Arjuna Talkative in Bhagavad Gita ?
Data Study:
From digging Bhagvad Gita, verse by verse: the data shows the other way, both statements are baseless.
From verse by verse study:
- Arjuna spoke: 79/ 700 verses = 11.3 %
- Krishna Spoke: 581/ 700 verses = 83 %
Arjuna spoke only 11 %, remaining 6 % was spoken by Sanjaya, Dhrstastra and Duryodhana combined.
And Look at the graph:
Only at 2 places, Arjuna talks in length:
- Initially, Arjuna laments in Chapter 1
- Again he describes the Cosmic Form of Krishna in Chapter 11
Conclusion:
Apart from Chapters 1 and 11, he hardly interferes with Krishna. In many chapters, he asks one or two questions or no questions at all, let's Krishna drive the discourse.
From this study, I conclude Arjuna was neither interrupting Krishna nor talkative.
People were making outlandish statements without a deep or complete study of Bhagvad Gita.
Lessons Learned by me:
Till this study, I personally felt and believed that Arjuna and Krishna were volleying Questions and Answers, To and Fro.
So, Arjuna-Krishna must be speaking 50%-50% but actually, in reality, it is only 11%- 83%.
So, I busted my own myth.
So, I also consumed a popular opinion without deep diving. This work was a good exercise for myself.'
By the way, I read Bhagvad Gita more than twice before this study, and still, my mind was buying or manufacturing such notions, only deep study relieved me of such beliefs and non-factual notions.
