Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 -Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 7

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of  The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

Spiritual Anguish - Slokas 7-8

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 2 - Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 7 

Krishna carrying wooden sandals for his father, Nanda

Karpanyadosha upahat svabhavah prachami tvam dharma sammudha chetah I

Yat shreya syatnih chitam bruhi tatme shishyah te aham shadhimam tvam prapannam II

कार्पण्य दोष उपहत स्वभावः पर्छामि त्वां धर्म सं मूढ चेताः ।

यत् श्रेय स्यात् निः  चितं ब्रुहि तत्मे शिष्यः ते अहं शाधि माम त्वां  प्रपन्नं ।।

My nature is weighed down with the taint of feeblemindedness; my understanding is confused as to duty, I entreat you, say definitely what is good for me. I am your disciple. Do instruct me who have taken reuge in you. 

Arjuna confesses that this crisis has driven him on to a position of a  Kripana. It means that he is inclined to grieve; he has become feeble and an object of pity; it also indicates niggardliness. The Upanishads say that he who does not strive for spiritual enlightment is a Kripana. The man's confession is correct. 

Referring to man's strivings, the Upanishad declares:

Ananya chatreyo anyadutaiva preyaste ubhe nanarthe purusham sinitah I

tayoh shreya ada danasya sadhur bhavati hiyaterthad ya u preyo vrinite II

अनन्य छत्रेयो अन्यदुतैव प्रेयस्ते उभे नानार्थे पुरुषं सिनीतः ।

तयोः श्रेय आद दानस्य साधुर्भवति  हियतेर्थाद य उ प्रेयो वृणीते ।।

One thing is the good and quite another, the pleasant; being different  requisitions, they bind man. Holy becomes he who pursues the good; but  the man falls from the goal, who pursues the pleasant.

Arjuna finds himself at the cross roads between being pleasant and being good. It is the Preyas - being pleasant, that he has been blessed with in plenty all along. Learning and culture, wealth, wives, progeny, kingdom- gifts of this kind add to enjoyment.They come under the category of Preyas. Arjuna comes to know now of the fact that they are of no avail to allay the agony caused by a catastrophe. He wash all along the kinsman and comrade to Sri Krishna now becomes his disciple and supplicates for the gift of Sreyas -  the good. He surrenders himself to the Lord. This frame of mind is a prerequisite to the attainment of spiritual enlightenment. It is a turning point in life. The Lord takes note of this, sympathises with him, infuses courage into him which is the dire need of the hour. The grace of the Lord is unfailing in its descent on the devotees in the hour of need. What comes as  Preyas to Arjuna at this critical juncture now chooses to come as Sreyas.

He who seeks to make a sacred study of the Bhagavad Gita and he who desires to translate its tenets into action would do well to chant this verse every time and to evoke in himself the attitude of self  surrender seen here in Arjuna. It is a prayer complete in itself