Arjuna said: O Janārdana! If you consider buddhi (knowledge) superior to karma, then why, O Keśava, do you engage me in terrible action? With your seemingly contradictory statements, you are bewildering my intellect. Therefore, decide and tell me that one thing by which I may attain the supreme good.
Commentary: By the word 'Janārdana', Arjuna seems to express this sentiment: O Śrī Kṛṣṇa! You are the fulfiller of everyone's prayers; therefore, you will certainly fulfill mine as well.
'If you consider knowledge superior to action... why do you engage me, O Keśava?' — There is a weakness in the human heart that when asking a question, it desires the speaker's answer to support its own view or doctrine. This is called a weakness because to resolve to follow the speaker's instruction, whether agreeable or entirely contrary, is true valor; all else is merely weakness or cowardice. Due to this weakness, a person finds it difficult to endure adversity. When he cannot bear adversity, he dons the cloak of goodness, meaning that in the guise of goodness, evil arrives. The evil that comes under the guise of goodness is very difficult to renounce. Here, in Arjuna, the evil of abandoning duty has arrived under the guise of the goodness of renouncing violence. Therefore, he is considering knowledge superior to obligatory action. For this reason, he asks here: If you consider knowledge superior to karma, then why do you engage me in the terrible action of war?
In the thirty-ninth verse of the second chapter, the Lord, with the word 'buddhir yoge', spoke only of equanimity (samatā); but Arjuna understood it as knowledge. Therefore, he says to the Lord: O Janārdana! You said earlier, 'I have explained this buddhi in Sāṅkhya; hear of it now in the context of Yoga. Endowed with this buddhi, you will cast off the bondage of action.' But the bondage of action is cast off only when there is knowledge. You also said, 'Action is far inferior to the yoga of wisdom (buddhi-yoga)' (2.49). If, according to your view, knowledge is superior and better than action, then you should not engage me even in scripturally enjoined auspicious actions like sacrifice, charity, and austerity, but only in knowledge. On the contrary, why are you engaging me in an extremely cruel action like war, in which one must slaughter men all day?
Earlier, Arjuna's mind was filled with enthusiasm for fighting, and in that fervor, he told the Lord, 'O Acyuta! Place my chariot between the two armies so that I may see those assembled here with whom I must fight.' But when the Lord placed the chariot between the two armies, in front of Bhīṣma and Droṇa and the other kings, and said, 'Behold these Kurus,' Arjuna's familial attachment was awakened. With the awakening of attachment, his inclination turned away from war, from action, and towards knowledge; because in knowledge, one does not have to perform terrible actions like war. Therefore, Arjuna says: Why do you engage me in terrible action?
Here, the word 'buddhiḥ' is taken to mean 'knowledge'. If the word 'buddhiḥ' here is taken to mean 'equanimity' (samatā), then the charge of contradictory statements would not be established. The reason is that in the forty-eighth verse of the second chapter, the Lord commanded Arjuna to perform action while established in yoga (equanimity). The charge of contradictory statements would be valid only if, in Arjuna's understanding, there were two different things, and only then would this question arise: If, according to your view, knowledge is superior to action, then why do you engage me in terrible action? Secondly, in His answer to Arjuna's question ahead, the Lord speaks of two paths of steadfastness — the steadfastness of the wise through the yoga of knowledge and the steadfastness of the yogis through the yoga of action. This also makes it logically consistent to take the meaning of the word 'buddhiḥ' in Arjuna's questions as 'knowledge'.
Any seeker can obtain the correct answer to his question only by asking with reverence. It is not possible to obtain the correct answer by raising objections with a skeptical mind. Arjuna has complete faith in the Lord; therefore, the sentiment revealed by the above question is that if the Lord commands, Arjuna can engage even in terrible action like war for his welfare.
'With your seemingly contradictory statements, you are bewildering my intellect' — The sentiment in these words of Arjuna is: Sometimes you say, 'Perform action' — 'kuru karmāṇi' (2.48), and sometimes you say, 'Take refuge in wisdom' — 'buddhau śaraṇam anviccha' (2.49). With these seemingly mixed statements of yours, my intellect is becoming bewildered, meaning I cannot clearly understand whether I should perform action or take refuge in knowledge.
Here, the use of the word 'iva' (as if) twice indicates Arjuna's faith in the Lord. Due to this faith, Arjuna accepts the Lord's words as correct and also understands that the Lord is not bewildering his intellect. But because he does not understand the Lord's words precisely, the Lord's statements seem contradictory to him, and it appears to him as if the Lord is bewildering his intellect with His words. If the Lord were bewildering Arjuna's intellect, then who would remove Arjuna's delusion?
'Therefore, decide and tell me that one thing by which I may attain the supreme good' — Decide between whether my welfare will come from performing action or from knowledge, and tell me that one thing for my sake by which I may attain welfare. I said earlier as well, 'Tell me that which is assuredly good for me' — 'yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṃ brūhi tan me' (2.7), and now I am saying the same thing.
Connection: In the next three verses (the third, fourth, and fifth), the Lord answers Arjuna's words, 'with your seemingly contradictory statements'.
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