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TEXT 26 atha cainam nitya-jatam
SYNONYMS  atha--if,
however; ca--also; enam--this soul; nitya-jatam--always
born; nityam--forever; va--either; manyase--so think;
mrtam--dead;
tatha api--still; tvam--you; maha-baho--O mighty-armed
one; na--never; enam--about the soul; socitum--to
lament; arhasi--deserve.
TRANSLATION If, however,
you think that the soul is perpetually born and always dies, still you
still have no reason to lament, O mighty-armed.
PURPORT There is always
a class of philosophers, almost akin to the Buddhists, who do not believe
in the separate existence of the soul beyond the body. When Lord Krsna
spoke the Bhagavad-gita, it appears that such philosophers existed,
and they were known as the Lokayatikas and Vaibhasikas. These
philosophers maintained that life symptoms, or soul, takes place at a certain
mature condition of material combination. The modern material scientist
and materialist philosophers also think similarly. According to them, the
body is a combination of physical elements, and at a certain stage the
life symptoms develop by interaction of the physical and chemical elements.
The science of anthropology is based on this philosophy. Currently, many
pseudo-religions--now becoming fashionable in America--are also adhering
to this philosophy, as well as to the nihilistic nondevotional Buddhist
sects.
Even if
Arjuna did not believe in the existence of the soul--as in the Vaibhasika
philosophy--there would still have been no cause for lamentation. No one
laments the loss of a certain bulk of chemicals and stops discharging his
prescribed duty. On the other hand, in modern science and scientific warfare,
so many tons of chemicals are wasted for achieving victory over the enemy.
According to the Vaibhasika philosophy, the so-called soul or atma
vanishes along with the deterioration of the body. So, in any case, whether
Arjuna accepted the Vedic conclusion that there is an atomic soul, or whether
he did not believe in the existence of the soul, he had no reason to lament.
According to this theory, since there are so many living entities generating
out of matter every moment, and so many of them are being vanquished at
every moment, there is no need to grieve for such an incidence. However,
since he was not risking rebirth of the soul, Arjuna had no reason to be
afraid of being affected with sinful reactions due to his killing his grandfather
and teacher. But at the same time, Krsna sarcastically addressed Arjuna
as maha-bahu, mighty-armed, because He, at least, did not accept
the theory of the Vaibhasikas, which leaves aside the Vedic wisdom.
As a ksatriya, Arjuna belonged to the Vedic culture, and it behooved
him to continue to follow its principles.
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