One-pointed Determination
Here, O joy of the Kurus, there is a single one-pointed determination!
Many-branched and endless are the thoughts of the irresolute.
Bhagavad Gita, chap 2, ver 41
The Bhagavad Gita portrays Arjuna as fickle-minded and irresolute. It makes it sound as if Arjuna was somehow dragged into the war, willy-nilly, but seeing so many of his own dear relatives and friends arrayed at the enemy front, he suddenly realized the perversion and folly of this great family conflict. But Arjuna and everyone else of course knew exactly who was going to fight with whom, nothing that Arjuna saw at the battle line was unexpected in the least. They all had known what was to come for quite sometime. The readers of the Bhagavad Gita would be aware of this much, but they generally don't know for how long time. People think that when the stipulated period of exile was over, the Pandavas began negotiations to regain their kingdom but Duryodhana was unwilling to give it back to them, and hence the war was necessitated. Most people believe that the Pandavas committed themselves to the war just one or two months before that first day of the battle on the field of Kurukshetra. It was a rushed affair and Arjuna didn't have much time to think through, and that is the reason why only when he was on the battlefield, surveying the scope of the enemy side, that he could realize the enormity of this mistake. And therefore he wanted to quit or wanted the war that had just commenced to stop. This scenario is not wholly outside the limits of plausibility. The main thing wrong with it is that it is purely based on ignorance and propaganda. The facts are totally different. Once again they expose the scam of the gober swamijis and the sham of the Bhagavad Gita, at least of its context. However it is not difficult to extrapolate from the context to the content.
There is a famous story. Back in the days when Dronacharya was teaching the Pandava and Kaurava children, he thought to take a test of his pupils on one occasion. He placed a toy bird high on a distant tree, and asked the children to take aim at the bird's head. Yudhishthira gets the chance first. After he has set his aim Drona asks him what exactly is in his sight, whether he is able to view the bird, the tree, the master and the brothers. Yudhishthira answers in the affirmative. Drona is disappointed, cancels Yudhishthira's shot and calls the next one in the line. One after another all the children give the same answer, and receive the same treatment. At last, it is Arjuna's turn. Drona puts the same question. Arjuna says, I only see the bird, but not the tree or anything else. Then Drona asks him to describe the bird. Arjuna says, I can't see the full bird either, just the head.
At these words of Arjuna, the hair (on Drona's body) stood on end from delight. He then said to Partha, 'Shoot.' And the latter instantly let fly (his arrow) and with his sharp shaft speedily struck off the head of the vulture on the tree and brought it down to the ground. No sooner was the deed done than Drona clasped Phalguna to his bosom...
Arjuna's concentration is almost psychotic -- obsessive, compulsive. The surroundings and the whole world simply disappear. When Arjuna is focused, his mind is shut off except for that narrow line of focus, and the world all around is shut out. Once Arjuna sets his mind to something, that becomes his only world for the relevant frame of time, be it a small-range target or a long range goal. As the focus becomes directed, the contextual details become blurred into a white haze. Arjuna is the ace of aces in archery, his power of concentration is legendary. There is absolutely no scope for wavering or distraction in such a mind as Arjuna's. His attention has to be totally sharp, utterly steady, free from the impact of the minutest quivering. And archery is not some sport or skill for Arjuna, it is his whole being. The moment the target is set, there is no more looking hither and thither, neither looking back. The arrow is already released mentally, it cannot turn back. (Though, in theory, celestial missiles can be retracted.) Arjuna possessed this kind of extremely trained mind that tended to work with machine-like precision and utmost efficiency. Does this guy appear like he could possibly be fickle-minded, shifty, shaky to any degree under any circumstances? In theory, yes, there could be certain circumstances which could make anyone feel shaky, but the Mahabharata war is anything but that. It is almost like this huge destiny thing that was awaiting everyone in the epic, one towards which most of the major characters have been working for years and decades.
And of all the characters it is Arjuna alone that has been unrelentingly pursuing this goal — with burning indignation and one-pointed determination. Not just for the past couple of years, but for over a decade now. Arjuna is a man on a mission. His objective: to eliminate the top Kuru warriors, who themselves possess legendary prowess. And he went to great lengths, to Himalayas, and then to heaven itself and back, seeking to fulfill the greatest mission of his life. Many of those who read the Bhagavad Gita are generally incognizant of such a fact crucially pertinent to its context.
It all begins during that conversation of the Pandavas at the forest hermitage briefly alluded to in the previous post. Arjuna seems to be absent at the scene, Draupadi is speaking with Yudhishthira, trying to provoke his anger, instigating him to take the initiative to war. She concludes by saying:
That Kshatriya, O son of Pritha, who discovereth not his energy when the opportunity cometh, is ever disregarded by all creatures! Therefore, O king, thou shouldst not extend thy forgiveness to the foe. Indeed, with thy energy, without doubt, thou mayst slay them all!
Now you know where Krishna got inspiration for some of his lines! Compare:
Happy are the Kshatriyas, O Arjuna, who are called upon to fight in such a battle that comes of itself as an open door to heaven!
...People, too, will recount thy everlasting dishonour; and to one who has been honoured, dishonour is worse than death.
Bhagavad Gita, Chap 2, ver 32, 34
At first Yudhishthira is not moved in the least, he harangues back at Draupadi extolling the virtues of keeping anger at bay and cultivating forgiveness.
...Men of learning and of true insight call him to be possessed of force of character who by his wisdom can suppress his risen wrath. O thou of fair hips, the angry man seeth not things in their true light... The ignorant always regard anger as equivalent to energy. Wrath, however hath been given to man for the destruction of the world. The man, therefore, who wisheth to behave properly, must ever forsake anger.
The 'fair hips' is by the way a reference to Draupadi. Compare:
From anger comes delusion; from delusion the loss of memory; from loss of memory the destruction of discrimination; from the destruction of discrimination he perishes.
Gita, chap 2, ver 63
Yudhishthira goes on for scores of verses more praising forgiveness, saying forgiveness is Brahma, forgiveness is sacrifice, the whole universe is sustained by forgiveness and so on. In the first place there is nothing to forgive, their kingdom has been taken away from them in an entirely legal manner, and they are in the forest entirely of their own accord. But a born hypocrite like Yudhishthira cannot be expected to admit this, even if he himself realized as much. Then, like Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, Draupadi brings in all philosophy, metaphysics, God, man, fate, into the talk.
The Supreme Lord and Ordainer of all ordaineth everything in respect of the weal and woe, the happiness and misery, of all creatures, even prior to their births guided by the acts of each, which are even like a seed (destined to sprout forth into the tree of life). O hero amongst men, as a wooden doll is made to move its limbs by the wire-puller, so are creatures made to work by the Lord of all. O Bharata, like space that covereth every object, God, pervading every creature, ordaineth its weal or woe. Like a bird tied with a string, every creature is dependent on God. Every one is subject to God and none else. No one can be his own ordainer. Like a pearl on its string, or a bull held fast by the cord passing through its nose, or a tree fallen from the bank into the middle of the stream, every creature followeth the command of the Creator, because imbued with His Spirit and because established in Him.
Cf:
All this world is pervaded by Me in My unmanifest aspect; all beings exist in Me, but I do not dwell in them. Nor do beings exist in Me (in reality): behold My divine Yoga, supporting all beings, but not dwelling in them, is My Self, the efficient cause of beings.
Gita, Chap 9, ver 4,5
At least Draupadi is simpler, clearer, does not bumble, confuse and then contradict herself in the same line! (‘all being exist in me, … nor do being exist in Me’)
Towards the end of her metaphysical discourse, Draupadi adds an interesting twist:
Beholding superior and well-behaved and modest persons persecuted, while the sinful are happy, I am sorely troubled. Beholding this thy distress and the prosperity of Suyodhana, I do not speak highly of the Great Ordainer who suffereth such inequality! O sir, what fruits doth the Great Ordainer reap by granting prosperity to Dhritarashtra's son who transgresseth the ordinances, who is crooked and covetous, and who injureth virtue and religion!
Why do the good people seem to suffer all the time while the evil people seem to be having a gala party? This is the great question Job puts to God in the Bible, and one that even Bhagavad Gita doesn't answer!
Yudhishthira, however, tries to answer it in his own way. But he is simply outraged at Draupadi's blasphemy and he is infuriated that a woman dare preach him philosophy. He doesn't show it openly though. He says it's only a fool who thinks in such a way, it's only a sinful wretch who believes such and such things, and so on, making references to Draupadi's foregoing speech.
Yudhishthira now launches a panegyric on virtue, says virtue is everything, virtue is all that he cares for, nothing else matters in the least, not kingdoms, not wealth, not life itself. Nobody can ever conceive him of doing anything which is not conducive to virtue (except gambling and staking kingdom, brothers, wife and children, presumably). Draupadi tries to defend herself a little, and then goes off into an even deeper and lengthier Dharma talk than before. Again interesting resemblances with the Bhagavad Gita, especially the Karma Yoga sections. Then Bhima jumps into the conversation and starts provoking and insulting Yudhishthira, supporting Draupadi and expressing his own anguish.
It could be slightly amusing to see Bhima, the duh-duh dufus hulk, talking so coherently and at such length:
Afflicted with the vows, thy cry is Religion! Religion! Hast thou from despair been deprived of thy manliness?
Compare with the very first verses of Krishna in the Gita:
Yield not to impotence, O Arjuna, son of Pritha! It does not befit thee. Cast off this mean weakness of the heart. Stand up, O scorcher of foes!
Gita, chap 2, ver 3
Bhima continues:
Cowards alone, unable to win back their prosperity, cherish despair, which is fruitless and destructive of one's purposes. Thou hast ability and eyes. Thou seest that manliness dwelleth in us. It is because thou hast adopted a life of peace that thou feelest not this distress. These Dhritarashtras regard us who are forgiving, as really incompetent. This, O king, grieveth me more than death in battle. If we all die in fair fight without turning our backs on the foe, even that would be better than this exile, for then we should obtain regions of bliss in the other world. Or, if, O bull of the Bharata race, having slain them all, we acquire the entire earth, that would be prosperity worth the trial. We who ever adhere to the customs of our order, who ever desire grand achievements, who wish to avenge our wrongs, have this for our bounden duty. Our kingdom wrested from us, if we engage in battle, our deeds when known to the world will procure for us fame and not slander.
Compare:
Further, having regard to thy own duty, thou shouldst not waver, for there is nothing higher for a Kshatriya than a righteous war.
The great car-warriors will think that thou hast withdrawn from the battle through fear; and thou wilt be lightly held by them who have thought much of thee.
Thy enemies also, cavilling at thy power, will speak many abusive words. What is more painful than this!
Slain, thou wilt obtain heaven; victorious, thou wilt enjoy the earth; therefore, stand up, O son of Kunti, resolved to fight!
chap 2, ver 31, 35, 36, 37
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna's speech fails to have any impact on Arjuna at this stage. Arjuna still sits there dumb as a dodo, keeping on listening. But interestingly Bhima's speech in the Mahabharata turns out to be much more effective. It has almost a magical effect on Yudhishthira, who simply forgets his long sermons of a while ago, forgets all about virtue, forgiveness, scriptures, heaven and all that, almost instantly!
First a stunning admission by Yudhishthira:
I cannot reproach thee for thy torturing me thus by piercing me with thy arrowy words. From my folly alone hath this calamity come against you. I sought to cast the dice desiring to snatch from Dhritarashtra's son his kingdom with the sovereignty. It was therefore that, that cunning gambler—Suvala's son—played against me on behalf of Suyodhana. Sakuni, a native of the hilly country, is exceedingly artful. Casting the dice in the presence of the assembly, unacquainted as I am with artifices of any kind, he vanquished me artfully.
He finally admits to his naked covetousness, boundless greed, and exceeding stupidity that landed them all in this trouble. Now since he has acknowledged all these stupid and sinful things within himself, he must have realized that it wouldn't be a big deal if he sank a little more into sinfulness. Yes, now vengeance is just fine, forgiveness and virtue can go to dogs! Still, he has some vestigial qualms. Yudhisththira says to Bhima, we have suffered so much anyway, let's just wait a few more years and see. It takes a little more cajoling from Bhima for Yudhishthira to give a full green signal. But there are some major difficulties. Yudhishthira gets into practical matters now.
Hear from me something about what, proud of thy might, O Bhima, and led away by thy restlessness, thou thinkest should be immediately begun. Bhurisravas, Sala, the mighty Jarasandha, Bhishma, Drona, Karna, the mighty son of Drona, Dhritarashtra's sons—Duryodhana and others—so difficult of being vanquished, are all accomplished in arms and ever ready for battle with us. Those kings and chiefs of the earth also who have been injured by us, have all adopted the side of the Kauravas, and are bound by ties of affection to them. O Bharata, they are engaged in seeking the good of Duryodhana and not of us. With full treasures and aided by large forces, they will certainly strive their best in battle....
So it all boils down to this! Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Ashwatthama — how to conquer these four people? (Jarasandha and some others that Yudhisthira mentions are dead by now anyway.) These Pandava guys, with Arjuna at the helm, have previously injured a great number of kings, and stole much wealth from them in the spirit of debauched wantonness. They could all come against them in a pack. All that talk on virtue and forgiveness a little while earlier was just a sham, Yudhishthira simply had a practical issue in mind. It is extremely difficult to fight with the enemy, so put on the garb of virtue and feint forgiveness! What a neat strategy! But his brother Bhima simply wouldn't let him peacefully practice his virtue. So the truth is finally prized out of Yudhisthira!
Yudhishthira goes on for a good while more describing the formidable might of the enemy. Now a hilarious reaction from Bhima, kinda cute:
Hearing these words of Yudhishthira, the impetuous Bhima became alarmed, and forbore from speaking anything.
Imagine Bhima sitting mum, helpless!
It cannot simply be in the very nature of things! And so Vyasa, knowing that his intervention is immediately required, appears on the scene exactly at the same instant, not a moment before, not a moment later! The Pandavas receive him warmly. And Vyasa speaks:
O, Yudhishthira, O thou of mighty arms, knowing by spiritual insight what is passing in thy heart, I have come to thee, O thou bull among men! The fear that is in thy heart, arising from Bhishma, and Drona, and Kripa, and Karna, and Drona's son, and prince Duryodhana, and Dussasana, I will dispell, O slayer of all foes, by means of an act enjoined by the ordinance. Hearing it from me, accomplish it thou with patience, and having accomplished it, O king, quell this fever of thine soon.
The author of the story himself is on the side of the Pandavas. What more do they need! Still, the author doesn't seem to have any intention of finishing the story quickly, so the path to victory becomes an arduous one. Vyasa takes Yudhishthira to the side and says:
O best of the Bharatas, the time is come for thy prosperity, when, indeed Dhananjaya—that son of Pritha—will slay all thy foes in battle. Uttered by me and like unto success personified, accept from me this knowledge called Pratismriti that I impart to thee, knowing thou art capable of receiving it. Receiving it (from thee), Arjuna will be able to accomplish his desire.
The Mahabharata war is entirely Arjuna's battle. The rest of the warriors on the Pandava side are mere accessories to Arjuna. Just in the way Drona set him a shooting target back in the days of childhood, Vyasa himself sets Arjuna a target now. Yudhishthira would soon instruct this secret technique called Pratismriti, whatever it is, to Arjuna and from then on Arjuna would essentially be seeing only thing in his mind's eye: the heads of Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Ashwatthama, and Duryodhana. The author of the Bhagavad Gita, though, is clueless and completely out of sync and Vyasa and his storyline! He just rudely barges in and inserts whatever nonsense he wants, making Arjuna speak whatever nonsense!
On the occasion imparting this knowledge of Pratismriti to Arjuna, Yudhishthira says to him:
O Bharata, the whole science of arms dwelleth in Bhishma, and Drona, and Kripa, and Karna, and Drona's son. They fully know all sorts of Brahma and celestial and human and Vayavya weapons, together with the modes of using and warding them off... Thou alone art our sole refuge. On thee resteth a great burden. I shall, therefore, O chastiser of all foes, tell thee what thou art to do now. I have obtained a science from Krishna Dwaipayana (Vyasa). Used by thee, that science will expose the whole universe to thee. O child, attentively receive thou that science from me, and in due time (by its aid) attain thou the grace of the celestials. And, O bull of the Bharata race, devote thyself to fierce asceticism. Armed with the bow and sword, and cased in mail, betake thyself to austerities and good vows, and go thou northwards, O child, without giving way to anybody. O Dhananjaya, all celestial weapons are with Indra. The celestials, from fear of Vritra, imparted at the time all their might to Sakra. Gathered together in one place, thou wilt obtain all weapons. Go thou unto Sakra, he will give thee all his weapons.
For some strange reason, Yudhishthira advices Arjuna to perform austerities garbed in fully military uniform! Maybe the armor and weapons would constantly remind him of the battlefield. So the plan is to procure all the weapons of the gods in order to fell the foe, kill all the Kaurava warriors. Arjuna sets himself to the task right away and heads for the Himalayas to practice severe asceticism. At the moment of departure, Draupadi once again reminds him that Duryodhana called her 'cow' in front of everyone in the court assembly! Meanwhile Indra/Sakra himself comes to know of Arjuna's bold mission. When Arjuna is on his way deep in the mountains, Indra meets him. The god of heaven grants a boon to Arjuna. Arjuna of course seeks the knowledge of the secret celestial weapons. Indra tries to dissuade him saying what is the need for weapons when Arjuna can ask for all the pleasures and prosperity of the world. But no, Arjuna doesn't want anything to do with any such things. He could have asked Indra to have a most splendorous city erected in the forest and then they could have raised a whole kingdom around it! But no that would have been a creative and useful thing, not of particular appeal to a warrior like Arjuna. Arjuna knows only how to shoot arrows and kill people, and he has now got the greatest opportunity to fulfill the very raison d'etre of his life. He is not going to spoil it just like that. What he wants is vengeance, vengeance and nothing else. See what he says to Indra:
Thus addressed, Dhananjaya replied unto him of a thousand eyes, saying, 'I desire not regions of bliss, nor objects of enjoyment, nor the state of a celestial; what is this talk about happiness? O chief of the celestials, I do not desire the prosperity of all the gods. Having left my brothers behind me in the forest, and without avenging myself on the foe, shall I incur the opprobrium for all ages of all the world.
Indra gets the point. He advises him to meditate on Lord Siva first. Arjuna proceeds ahead and finds an ideal spot to practice his austerities.
And the mighty warrior, beholding those rivers of sacred and pure and delicious water and their charming banks, became highly delighted. And the delighted Arjuna of fierce energy and high soul then devoted himself to rigid austerities in that delightful and woody region. Clad in rags made of grass and furnished with a black deerskin and a stick, he commenced to eat withered leaves fallen upon the ground. And he passed the first month, by eating fruits at the interval of three nights; and the second by eating at the interval of the six nights; and the third by eating at the interval of a fortnight. When the fourth month came, that best of the Bharatas—the strong-armed son of Pandu—began to subsist on air alone. With arms upraised and leaning upon nothing and standing on the tips of his toes, he continued his austerities. And the illustrious hero's locks, in consequence of frequent bathing took the hue of lightning or the lotus.
He was eating once in a fortnight, and then stopped eating altogether. Most of the time he was standing on his toes, with his hands arched above his head in fervid prayer. It went on for years. And all this for what? To kill Bhishma, Drona and others! Does this fellow bear any remote resemblance to the one in the Bhagavad Gita, who upon seeing Bhishma and Drona seems to have suddenly remembered that they are his own grandfather and teacher?
Siva finally appears to Arjuna, and Arjuna asks him the boon:
O illustrious god having the bull for thy sign, if thou wilt grant me my desire, I ask of thee, O lord that fierce celestial weapon wielded by thee and called Brahmasira—that weapon of terrific prowess which destroyeth, at the end of the Yuga the entire universe—that weapon by the help of which, O god of gods, I may under thy grace, obtain victory in the terrible conflict which shall take place between myself (on one side), and Karna and Bhishma and Kripa and Drona (on the other) —that weapon by which I may consume in battle Danavas and Rakshasas and evil spirits and Pisachas and Gandharvas and Nagas—that weapon which when hurled with Mantras produceth darts by thousands and fierce-looking maces and arrows like snakes of virulent poison, and by means of which I may fight with Bhishma and Drona and Kripa and Karna of ever abusive tongue, O illustrious destroyer of the eyes of Bhaga, even this is my foremost desire, viz., that I may be able to fight with them and obtain success.
In the above passage, Arjuna repeats twice the names of Bhishma, Karna and his former teachers Drona and Kripa! Imagine the rage boiling within! Shiva says to Arjuna that the weapon Brahmasira cannot be dispensed (Ashwatthama gets his hands on it somehow), but he may take away Shiva's favorite weapon called Pasupata. He says nobody in all the universe possesses something like this, and nobody in the worlds can resist it. He also warns Arjuna that an unwarranted usage of this weapon could lead to the destruction of the whole universe.
And at the moment when Arjuna receives the weapon from Shiva,
...the whole earth, with its mountains and woods and trees and seas and forests and villages and towns and mines, trembled. And the sounds of conchs and drums and trumpets by thousands began to be heard. And at that moment hurricanes and whirlwinds began to blow. And the gods and the Danavas beheld that terrible weapon in its embodied form stay by the side of Arjuna of immeasurable energy. And whatever of evil there had been in the body of Phalguna of immeasurable energy was all dispelled by the touch of the three-eyed deity.
Arjuna is now armed with the most terrible weapon in the whole universe, set ready to wreak vengeance on the Kauravas. With this weapon, he could destroy the vast Kaurava army in a single stroke if he so desired. But that doesn't sound like much fun, he wanted to fight, defeat and kill! Therefore, to obtain other celestial weapons but of far lesser magnitude, he turns towards various gods. Since Siva manifested himself before Arjuna, all the lesser gods promptly follow suit and in fact all of them land around Arjuna all at once. Arjuna is overjoyed.
The god Yama says to Arjuna,
O sinless one, by thee shall be vanquished in battle the highly virtuous grandsire of the Kurus—Bhishma of great energy—who is born of the Vasus. Thou shalt also defeat all the Kshatriyas of fiery energy commanded by the son of Bharadwaja in battle... And, O son of the Kuru race, O Dhananjaya, thou shalt also slay Karna of fierce prowess, who is even a portion of my father Surya, of energy celebrated throughout the worlds.
Yama is blessing Arjuna to kill his own half-brother! The gods Yama, Varuna, and Kubera bestow upon Arjuna mighty weapons. Then Indra takes Arjuna to heaven. Instead of squandering his time in having great fun in the heaven, Arjuna is fiercely committed to his weapons training here also! No break, no respite — until he sees the heads of Bhishma, Drona and others falling down! To achieve more flexibility in wielding the weapons, he also learns classical dance during his long stay at heaven. Seeing his son keenly learning all the martial arts, Indra gets the idea that it is better if Arjuna also became 'conversant with the arts of acquitting one's self in female company.' He sends Urvasi, the chief of Apsaras, to see Arjuna. But Arjuna is in no mood for all this now. He just wants to see the heads roll down and nothing else. He gives some excuse to Urvasi and sends her back unceremoniously.
Arjuna's continues with his intense training regime, relentlessly honing his skills. Meanwhile, down on earth, the Pandavas are passing their time in the forest and going on pilgrimages. During one of these tours, Yudhishthira meets a sage, and intimates him of the great plan of destruction and Arjuna's central role in it:
Not inferior unto Indra and fully competent (for the task), I have sent that son of a god to see the lord of the celestials and obtain weapons from him. Bhishma and Drona are Atirathas. Kripa and the son of Drona are invincible; these mighty warriors have been installed by Dhritarashtra's son in the command of his army. All these are versed in the Vedas, are heroic, and possessed of the knowledge of every weapon. Endued with great strength, these always desire to encounter Arjuna in fight. And Karna also of the Suta caste is a mighty warrior versed in celestial weapons... Urged by the sons of Dhritarashtra even as the wind urgeth the fire, Karna like unto the all-consuming fire at the end of the Yuga that is sent by Death himself, will, without doubt, consume my troops like unto a heap of straw. Only that mighty mass of clouds called Arjuna, aided by Krishna like unto a powerful wind, with celestial weapon representing its fierce lightning, the white steeds, the rows of white cranes coursing underneath and the unbearable Gandiva, the rainbow ahead, is capable of extinguishing the blazing flame represented by Karna by means of its arrowy showers let off with unflagging steadiness. That conqueror of hostile cities, Vibhatsu (Arjuna), will, without doubt, succeed in obtaining from Indra himself all the celestial weapons with their fullness and life. Alone he is equal, I think, unto them all. Otherwise it is impossible (for us) to vanquish in fight all those foes, who have attained to eminent success in all their purposes. We shall behold Arjuna, that repressor of foes, fully equipped with celestial weapons, for Vibhatsu having once undertaken a task, never, droopeth under its weight.
Thats Arjuna — once undertaken a task, never droopeth under its weight! If only the drooping dropsy-stricken author of the Bhagavad Gita did some homework before he set out to write the greatest scripture of Hinduism! Dropsy, by the way, is water accumulating in a part of the body. This anonymous author of the Gita must have accumulated water all over in his brain, that explains why his Arjuna is all watery, watery, wishy-washy, and his Bhagavad Gita is such a damp squib!
