Arjuna is on the battlefield, but on the opposite side are those who are dear to him — his grand uncle Bhishma, his teacher Drona, and his uncle Salya — and Arjuna is overcome with emotion. He drops his bow, and says he cannot fight. In his mind would have flashed images of Bhishma treating him with affection; he must have thought of Drona’s kindness to him. Whatever Drona had taught his son Aswattama, he had taught Arjuna too. Arjuna is confused and distressed.
The time to advise him has arrived. One who has no worries is not willing to listen to advice. But one who is anxious and unhappy will pay attention if offered advice. And so Lord Krishna makes use of Arjuna’s confused frame of mind to teach him the Bhagavad Gita, which is also His advice for all of us who are confused about our roles in life, said M.K. Srinivasan, in a discourse.
When Arjuna drops his bow, the Lord smiles. Why does He smile? The people Arjuna is refusing to fight may be his relatives, but they also happen to be people who have contributed to Arjuna’s misery. Were they not silent spectators when Draupadi was shamed in court? Were they not the people who had tried to force the Pandavas out of hiding so that they could send them back to exile again? And now when Duryodhana is going to wage war against the Pandavas they are with him, although he had been unjust.
They had not stood on the side of what was right, and yet Arjuna had a soft corner for them. The Lord is now going to make Arjuna see how wrong he is to refuse to fight such people, and that is the reason for His meaningful smile.
