Conclusion of chapter seventeen

So spake the Lion, the destroyer of the elephant in the form of sins, the Sun, the expeller of the darkness in the form of the three kinds of afflictions, the Lord of Goddess Lakshmi, the warrior Narahari—Lord Krishna. At this, Arjuna found himself engulfed in the bliss of the Self in the way the Moon gets gulped in moonlight. A war is a sort of merchant, who measures, with the measure (in the form) of sharp points of arrows, the flesh of fallen victims, one after another. In such a terrible crisis how could Arjuna (afford to) enjoy the kingdom of Self-bliss? Nowhere else could.be found such a unique rise of luck.

Samjaya said, “O King of Kauravas, my heart melts at the sight of such a merit in an enemy, and he has become (as it were) our Preceptor preaching us happiness, for had he not asked any questions of the Lord how would the latter have given out the secret of his heart, and how could we have got the vision of the Supreme. We were in a darkness of ignorance, rotating in the wheel of births, and he brought us into the temple of the Light of Supreme Brahman. Arjuna has put us—you and me, under such great obligation and so he must be looked upon as the very brother of sage Vyasa in relationship to preceptorship. At that stage Samjaya thought to himself that that sort of extravagance (in this regard to Arjun’s praise) would only prick (wound) the heart of Dhritarashtra, and consequently he had better stop it there. Dropping therefore that subject Samjaya started with the topic of which Partha asked Lord Krishna. Jnanadev [Jnanadeva], the disciple of Nivrttinath [Nivrtti Natha], said, “I shall also follow his (Samjaya’s) course and be attentive.” (433)