CANTO 1 CHAPTER 15  

Lessons from Arjuna's Remembrance of the Lord 

Introduction: 

Arjuna grief-stricken and overwhelmed, his mind fixed on the Lord, reveals to Mahārāja 
Yudhiṣṭhira that Śrī Kṛṣṇa his dear friend is now lost to him. 

Arjuna relates incident a ter incident how Kṛṣṇa empowered and protected him and his 
family. We are very much aware of the different incidents which Arjuna is relating to but 
here these incidents Arjuna is relating in a way that he is taking lessons from and 
deepening his remembrance of the Lord. 

Thus, I would like to specially focus on these lessons that Arjuna took as a key, in order 
to increase our attachment to Lord. We also in one way or other would have undergone 
many circumstances both before and a ter Kṛṣṇa consciousness, may be the intensity 
would not have been as the Pandavās and but according to what we can tolerate and 
according to the level of surrender each individual would have got lessons from the Lord 
so that we can get closer to Kṛṣṇa. 

ŚB 1.15.4 

sakhyaṁ maitrīṁ sauhṛdaṁ ca sārathyādiṣu saṁsmaran 

nṛpam agrajam ity āha bāṣpa-gadgadayā girā 

Synonyms 

sakhyam — well-wishing; maitrīm — benediction; sauhṛdam — intimately related; ca — 

also; sārathya-ādiṣu — in becoming the chariot driver; saṁsmaran — remembering all 
these; nṛpam — unto the King; agrajam — the eldest brother; iti — thus; āha — said; 
bāṣpa — heavily breathing; gadgadayā — overwhelmingly; girā — by speeches. 

Translation 
Remembering Lord Kṛṣṇa and His well wishes, benefactions, intimate familial relations 
and His chariot driving, Arjuna, overwhelmed and breathing very heavily, began to 
speak. 

Purport 

The supreme living being is perfect in all relations with His pure devotee. Śrī Arjuna is 
one of the typical pure devotees of the Lord reciprocating in the fraternal relationship, 
and the Lord’s dealings with Arjuna are displays of friendship of the highest perfect 
order. He was not only a well-wisher of Arjuna but actually a benefactor, and to make it 
still more perfect the Lord tied him into a family relationship by arranging Subhadrā’s 
marriage with him. And above all, the Lord agreed to become a chariot driver of Arjuna 
in order to protect His friend from warfare risks, and the Lord became actually happy 
when He established the Pāṇḍavas to rule over the world. Arjuna remembered all these 
one after another, and thus he became overwhelmed with such thoughts. 

Arjuna, remembering Lord Krsna and his loving exchanges with him as his sakhyaṁ 
well-wisher, maitrīṁ - benefator, sauhṛdaṁ - intimate familial relations and his chariot 
driving- sārathyādiṣu 

Śrīla Visvanatha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments: 

sakhyaṁ is mutual a fection and helping each other, maitrīṁ is sakhya mixed with dasya and 
Sauhṛdam is sakhya mixed with vātsalya. 

Arjuna remembers 

Ø​ K
​ ṛṣṇa’ s favors and protection: 

Ø​ I​ ntimate moments with Kṛṣṇa 

Ø​ ​Focusses on Lord’s Instruction 

Kṛṣṇa’ s favors: 
Ø​ b
​ andhu-rūpiṇā - treated me exactly like an intimate friend 

Bhakti involves three things: the lover, the beloved, and the loving relationship. In 
bhakti, all three are eternal. The lover, the individual soul, is eternal; the beloved, the 
Supreme Soul, is eternal; and the loving relationship, bhakti, is also eternal. 

Kṛṣṇa is served by the devotees in so many rasas, transcendental mellow, or humor. 

Somebody is serving as servant. Somebody is serving as friend. Somebody is serving as 
father and mother. Somebody is serving as conjugal lover. These are five primary 
mellows in which a devotee is connected with Kṛṣṇa. And there are other seven rasas 
also. ey are not primary; secondary. Somebody is serving Kṛṣṇa as enemy. Just like 
the asuras, they also serve Kṛṣṇa---as enemy. Somebody is serving, giving pleasure to 
Kṛṣṇa, by fighting with Him. 

So everything has got some characteristic. So we are living entities. We have got our 
characteristics. That is sanātana. I am sanātana, eternal, and my characteristic is to 
serve God. If I don't serve God, then the characteristic will remain there. Then I'll have 
to serve māyā, in the illusion that I have become master. 

(Sp Bg Lecture, Hyderabad, Nov 29, 19 

Ø​ d​ eva-vismāpanaṁ - my astounding power which astonished even the demigods 

yad yad vibhūtimat sattvaṁ śrīmad ūrjitam eva vā 

tat tad evāvagaccha tvaṁ mama tejo-’ṁśa-sambhavam 

Any glorious or beautiful existence should be understood to be but a fragmental 

manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s opulence, whether it be in the spiritual or material world. 
Anything extraordinarily opulent should be considered to represent Kṛṣṇa’s opulence. 

No one, therefore, can be independently powerful in any measure without being 

endowed by the Lord. When the Lord descends to the earth along with His eternal, 
ever-liberated associates, He not only displays the divine energy possessed by Himself, 
but also empowers His associate devotees with the required energy to execute His 
mission of incarnation. 

The power and energy which were bestowed upon Arjuna were required for fulfillment of the mission 
of the Lord, but when His mission was fulfilled, the emergency powers were withdrawn from Arjuna 
 because the astounding powers of Arjuna, which were astonishing even to the denizens of heaven, 
were no longer required, and they were not meant for going back home, back to Godhead. 

The lesson is, therefore, that no one should be puffed up for his powers borrowed from the Lord. 
The sane man should rather feel obliged to the Lord for such benefactions and must utilize such 
power for the service of the Lord. Such power can be withdrawn at any time by the Lord, so the 
best use of such power and opulence is to engage them in the service of the Lord. 

Kṛṣṇa’s protection

Ø​ ​Vanquish the enemies:

Kṛṣṇa’s wonderful dealings with the Pāndavas which Arjuna is recalling here
Arjuna was lamentingly remembering the incident in the absence of the Lord.

Event highlighted  Lesson learnt  Application of the lesson 

All the bad omens mentioned by King    
Yudhiṣṭhira 

Could target the fish and gain the hand of    

Draupadi 

He is dear to every living entity, both    

in the liberated and conditioned state.

The Lord is the summum bonum and

therefore the vital principle of
everything. As the living being is the
important factor in the material body,
for without the living being the
material body has no value, similarly
without Paramātmā the living being
has no status quo.

The conditioned souls, who do not

have self-realization, accept the
material body as the dearmost. The
idea of the dear most is then spread all
over the body, both concentrated and
extended. The attachment for one’s
own body and its extensions like
children and relatives is actually
developed on the basis of the real
living entity. As soon as the real
living entity is out of the body, even
the body of the most dear son is no
longer attractive. Therefore the living
spark, or eternal part of the Supreme,
is the real basis of affection, and not
the body. Because the living entities
are also parts of the whole living
entity, that supreme living entity is the
factual basis of affection for all. 
Demon Maya Danava was saved by Arjuna.    
Arjuna saved his life, and as a result of this
the demon felt obliged. He reciprocated by
building a wonderful assembly house for the
Pāṇḍavas, which attracted the extraordinary
attention of all state princes. 

Built Indraprastha - Demon Maya rendered    

service unto King Yudhiṣṭhira by building a
wonderful assembly house The demon Maya
Dānava was an inhabitant of the forest
Khāṇḍava, and when the Khāṇḍava Forest
was set on fire, he asked protection from
Arjuna.

The club of Bhīmasena was also a gift of    

Maya Dānava.

Bhima defeated Jarasandha    

Killed those who offended Draupadi    
Saved from anger of Durvasa Muni    
I astonished Śiva    
I killed Nivatakavaca demons and regained    
Virata’s cows
 
 Ø   

Vanquish the enemies: 

Ø​ D
​ efeated Indra 

Ø​ I​ ndraprastha - Demon Maya rendered service unto King Yudhiṣṭhira by building 

a wonderful assembly house 

Ø​ T
​ he club of Bhīmasena was also a gift of Maya Dānava. 

Ø​ B
​ hima defeated Jarasandha 

Ø​ K
​ illed those who offended Draupadi 

Ø​ S
​ aved from anger of Durvasa Muni 

Ø​ I​ astonished Śiva. 

Ø​ I​ killed Nivatakavaca demons and regained Virata’s cows. 

Remembering intimate moments with Lord 

Arjuna remembered Lord all the time, How can we remember the Lord

Even while chanting I tend to sleep but we can see in the case of Arjuna who is chanting
while sleeping how can we reach to that level from the level where we are ?

Definition of smaranam 

Smaraṇam means trying to understand more and more about the Supreme Lord 

It is one the nine process of devotional service described by Prahlada maharaja 

Remembering the Supreme Lord 

"Some way or other, if someone establishes in his mind his continuous relationship with 
Krsna, this relationship is called remembrance. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam. 
The word smaranam means "remembering." If we chant and hear, then remembrance 
will automatically come, and then we shall engage in worshiping Krsna's lotus feet 
(sevanam). (​Teachings of Queen Kunti, Chapter 19) 

hearing and chanting about Lord Visnu (sravanam kirtanam visnoh) will help us 
contemplate or meditate upon the Lord. (​ Teachings of Queen Kunti, Chapter 5) 

"As soon as you become expert in hearing and chanting, then the next stage is 
smaranam. Smaranam, thinking of. Anything you speak or hear, later on you 
contemplate, you meditate, smaranam. So smaranam is the third stage.  

Sadhana level remembering  

Anta kale ca mam eva smaran muktva kalevaram 

Prahlada Maharaja - The Personification of Remembering 

Personification of remembering 

"Prahlada Maharaja, he was put into so many difficulties by his atheist father, 
Hiranyakasipu, but he was simply remembering Narayana, Krsna. Because he was a 
child, five years old, how he can fight with his father? His father was the greatest 
demon, powerful, and he was against the child. So he used to simply think of Krsna, 
smaranam." 

Srila Prabhupada Lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam, 02-22-73, Auckland 

"​Prahlada Maharaja​, a five-year-old boy, had to undergo a great deal of suffering at the 
hands of his father, who was torturing him for being a devotee. The boy was trampled by 
elephants, thrown from a mountain, placed in burning oil and thrown into a snake pit, 
yet he was silent during this whole ordeal.  

Haridasa Thakura​, a Muhammadan by birth, was a very great devotee and was always 
chanting Hare Krsna. That was his only fault. However, the Muslim Kazi called him 
forth and said, "You are a Muhammadan, born in a great Muhammadan family, yet you 
are chanting this Hindu Hare Krsna mantra. What is this?" Haridasa Thakura mildly 
replied, "My dear sir, there are many Hindus who have become Muhammadans. 
Suppose I have become a Hindu? What is wrong with this?" The Kazi became very angry 
and ordered Haridasa Thakura to be whipped in twenty-two bazaars. This essentially 
meant that he was to be beaten to death, but because he was such a great devotee he did 
not actually feel the pain. Although a devotee may sometimes have to suffer, he tolerates 
the suffering. At the same time, he is very kind to conditioned souls and tries to elevate 
them to Krsna consciousness. This is one of the primary features of a devotee's life. 
People are always putting a sadhu into difficulties, but he does not give up his job, which 
is to spread Krsna consciousness so that others may become happy. It was Prahlada 
Maharaja who said: "My Lord, I am not suffering, for I know the art of being happy." 
How is this? "Simply by hearing about You and chanting about You I am happy." This is 
the business of a devotee--hearing and chanting about the Lord. This is sravanam 
kirtanam visnoh smaranam. Now this sravanam kirtanam is taking place all over the 
world through the Krsna consciousness movement." 

RESULTS OF REMEMBERING THE LORD: 

1. Visnu Purana,  

"Simply by remembering the Supreme Personality of Godhead all living entities become 
eligible for all kinds of auspiciousness. Therefore let me always remember the Lord, who 
is unborn and eternal."  

2. In the Padma Purana the same remembrance is explained as follows:  

"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Krsna, because if 
someone remembers Him, either at the time of death or during his span of life, he 
becomes freed from all sinful reactions."