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I am an avid follower of Krishna's Bhagavad Gita. I came across the following

Krishna mentions

śrī bhagavān uvāca prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha manogatān | ātmany-evātmanā tuṣṭaḥ sthita-prajñās tad-ocyate || 2.55 ||

The Lord said: When one relinquishes all the desires arising in the mind, O Arjuna, when one is satisfied in oneself with the Self, then one is said to be of steady wisdom (sthita-prajña).

If Krishna mentions that stithpragya is the way of life, then why does he do so many things such as help Arjun in every possible way and help him win the war? If he was stithpragya why was he one-sided showing attraction towards Arjuna and aversion towards Duryodhana?

I mean no disrespect to the book, readers, followers and Krishna himself, it would be great to know why does he contradict himself?

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  • yato dharmah tato krishnah. – user1195 Apr 30 '18 at 17:49
  • So you conclude that Strithpragya means left the everything emotions from inside? If yes then you are terribly wrong. One emotion is Love which one shouldn't exclude ever coz Love is Lord(Krishna) himself. Without love devotion, penance are useless. If you don't love anything then that's mean you don't love even Lord/Dharma. Krishna wan't favoring Arjuna, Krishna was favoring dharma which was key reason of his incarnation. – Vishvam May 1 '18 at 8:29
  • "help Arjun in every possible way and help him win the war? why was he one-sided showing attraction towards Arjuna" You are wrong here. Did you forgot, before starting war both Arjuna and Duryodhan went to Lord Krishna for asking to help them in war. And Lord krishna granted their wish without partiality. Duryodhan wished for Krishna's army hence Krishna granted his whole army to Duryodhan. Arjuna wished for Krishna himself hence krishna granted himself to Arjuna. Whatever being wished by both Duryodhan and Arjuna, Krishna grated that wish. So on what basis you said Krishna favors Arjuna? – Vishvam May 1 '18 at 8:33
  • @Rishabh what is this love you talk about? are you saying Lord Krishna is just an emotion? what’s the reason for doing penance? isn’t it to achieve something or should i say “Desire”? I believe Duryodhana loved many other things but he don’t love Lord/Dharma? what happened to dharma when countless soldiers died in the war, just because he wanted to maintain equality? what about abhimanyu vadh? why didn’t he save him? why did he help draupadi during vastraharan? why did he help arjuna during jayadrath vadh from agni samadhi? wasn’t duryodhana doing his dharma? – vin May 1 '18 at 17:29
  • @vin You are saying exact same wordings which once said by Uddhav to Krishna. Uddhav was telling Krishna that emothions of love are useless. One shud overcome of it. Then Krishna decided to teach uddhav a lesson of love. He send him to gopies with a letter written by Lord Krishna. You shud read story of Uddhav brig yatra. Then you will realize that true penance is love. – Vishvam May 2 '18 at 8:25
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In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna reveals himself as the Self of all things in his role as Acharya to Arjuna. Thus, it behooves us to strive and understand the verses of the Gita with this in mind.

If Krishna mentions that stithpragya is the way of life, then why does he do so many things such as help Arjun in every possible way and help him win the war? If he was stithpragya why was he one-sided showing attraction towards Arjuna and aversion towards Duryodhana?

I mean no disrespect to the book, readers, followers and Krishna himself, it would be great to know why does he contradict himself?

In the Mahabharata, before the commencement of the War and after its Declaration, Krishna is approached (simultaneously) at his home by none other than Duryodhana and Arjuna each hoping to persuade Krishna to ally with them in the coming war. In this situation, Krishna puts himself on the balance with his army on the other side and offers them a choice - the choice of support of Krishna's army versus just the support of Krishna himself. While Duryodhana asked for the army, Arjuna is content with Krishna by his side.

It is immediate from this incident that Krishna is not averse to Duryodhana for he would not have offered himself in that case - this serves to highlight Krishna's equanimity and supremely steady wisdom; Moreover, as the Self of all beings, he is sticking by his words:

"When one relinquishes all the desires arising in the mind, O Arjuna, when one is satisfied in oneself with the Self, then one is said to be of steady wisdom (sthita-prajña)".

For Arjuna who is satisfied with the Self, namely Krishna, it is only fair that Krishna would try to help Arjuna in every possible way to win the war including the Gita Upanyaasam which, since Arjuna surrenders himself to the Self i.e., Krishna, steadies Arjuna's wisdom!

Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05007.htm

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  • thanks for the answer, maybe i am wrong, but if that's the case, there are occasions when duryodhana is insulted by draupadi and jayadratha death, bhishma vadha, duryodhana vadh etc..i don't see any equanimity in the following scenarios? – vin Apr 30 '18 at 15:29
  • @vin Can you specify one incident mentioned in your comment completely? It makes it easier to clarify your question. – DirghaChintayanti Apr 30 '18 at 15:35
  • Consider jayadratha vadh, why does Krishna use his sudharshana chakra to actually create an eclipse? – vin Apr 30 '18 at 15:40
  • Since Jayadratha was hiding, this was the way he flushed him out from behind Duryodhana and thus help Arjuna. It is part of the war efforts. – DirghaChintayanti Apr 30 '18 at 15:48
  • Yes, I have read it too!! :) A war can never be won with equanimity, one of them has to lose and other of them has to win..just my opinion :) – vin Apr 30 '18 at 15:51
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  1. Why does he do so many things such as help Arjun in every possible way and help him win the war?
  2. Why was he one-sided showing attraction towards Arjuna and aversion towards Duryodhana?

This is answered in this famous shloka of Bhagavad-Gita:

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।

अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ॥४-७॥

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।

धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४-८॥

Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O Bharata, and there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I Myself come forth ; for the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-doers, for the sake of firmly establishing righteousness, I am born from age to age.

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    exactly my point.. why does he bother if there is righteousness or unrighteousness? doesn't it again begin the same stuff all over again, good and bad,wrong correct etc? – vin Apr 30 '18 at 15:25
  • sthita-prajña means give up desires...which commentary says a sthita-prajña should not do धर्मसंस्थापना.... – YDS Apr 30 '18 at 15:36
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    "sthita-prajña means give up desires" shouldn't we consider धर्मसंस्थापना a sort of a desire? – vin Apr 30 '18 at 15:47
  • @vin In my opinion, धर्मसंस्थापना is not a desire... – YDS May 1 '18 at 18:07
  • @vin "धर्मसंस्थापना a sort of a desire?" Q. Do you know who is Lord Vishnu? Ans. he is palankarta. Q. And do you know what are duties of palankarta? Ans. To protects world/humanities/dharma. Q. Do you know how one can protect those? Ans. By destroying Adharma. This is what Krishna did And this is what Lord Vishnu does in his every incarnation. Its duty of Lord vishnu to remove adhama from Earth. Moreover, Brahma gave birth to humans, plants etc. What will u say it was desire of Brahma. AND Shiva destroys everything that Brahma produces on correct time, coz of his desire? – Vishvam May 2 '18 at 14:40

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